It was the middle of summer.

Inside the Shepard Villa, a young woman sat on an expensive leather sofa, lazily enjoying her bubblegum. Her flawless skin seemed to glisten under the sunlight.

She was as beautiful as a work of art.

She puffed and blew a bubble even larger than her face.

“Bonnie’s just not good enough for me, okay? I’m canceling the wedding!”

The man standing in the doorway threw the young woman a disgusted look.

Bonnie’s mother, Vera Shepard, was alarmed.

“Hadwin, I know I can’t really blame you for this because Bonnie is always fooling around.

“But her grandpa and your grandpa wanted you to marry her. How could you cancel the wedding just like that?”

Vera shot Bonnie a glare.

“Apologize to Hadwin now, and promise that you’ll never fool around again!”

Bonnie popped her bubblegum and looked up defiantly.

“Apologize? He should be the one apologizing to me! He broke his promise to marry me and insulted

me!”

Vera was infuriated.

Before she could say a word, Bonnie continued, “Besides, I’ve never fooled around, okay? He’s the one who’s been cheating on me! So I don’t care if the wedding is canceled anyway.”

“Bonnie! Why, you—”

Vera spoke through clenched teeth.

“Enough, Vera.”

Holding up his hand, Hadwin interrupted and said, “Bonnie’s beauty is only skin deep. I appreciate inner beauty more.

“I’ll never marry someone like her, even if she begs me to. There’s only one girl I’ll ever marry-

He looked upstairs lovingly.

“And that’s Trina.”

“Hadwin!” Moved, Trina Shepard rushed downstairs.

“Trina!” Hadwin strode over to the stairwell and opened his arms.

Trina threw herself into his embrace.

Tears welled up in Trina’s eyes. “I can finally marry you now!”

“I’m sorry, Trina, I should have canceled the wedding sooner.”

“It’s all right. I know you had your reasons…”

As the couple made eyes at each other, Bonnie received a text:

“Ms. Bonita, the research is at its final stage. Elite soldiers have been sent to escort you for your safety. We’re arriving now.”

Bonnie wrote a reply: “Be right out.”

She spat out her bubblegum, got up, and headed toward the door.

Trina, who was secretly watching her, thought Bonnie was leaving because she felt ashamed.

But she didn’t think Bonnie had been humiliated enough.

“Don’t go, Bonnie! I’m sorry for what happened. Hadwin and I love each other. You can just blame me for this, okay? It’s not his fault.”

Bonnie calmly looked over her shoulder.

“Fuck off, bitch,” Bonnie said impassively.

“Won’t you forgive me? Why don’t you hit me so you can feel better?”

Trina took Bonnie’s hand and used it to slap her own face.

“What the hell are you doing, Bonnie? How dare you assault your sister!”

Vera charged over and smacked Bonnie’s hand away.

Bonnie looked down and saw the red mark on her hand.

After a few seconds, she gazed up at Vera.

Vera was her biological mother, but she had always been partial to Trina, who was adopted.

A teary–eyed Trina started to choke up. “It’s not her fault, mom. It’s all on me. I shouldn’t have stolen her fiancé. I-”

Before she could finish, Bonnie interrupted.

“Why would I blame you? You’re a born slut. You can’t help yourself, can you?”

Trina was infuriated, but she couldn’t ruin her nice girl image.

“Trina’s your younger sister, Bonnie! How could you say such a thing?”

Vera looked at Bonnie in disappointment.

Bonnie, however, was impassive.

“She is not my sister.”

20 years ago, Bonnie and Trina were accidentally switched at birth by a nurse.

It wasn’t until five years ago that the truth came to light, and she was brought back to the Shepard family from the countryside.

Vera continued to raise Trina as she didn’t want her to live in poverty.

Instead of making it up to Bonnie, Vera became biased against her due to her rural upbringing.

“How could you say something so hurtful? I might not have given birth to her, but she’s still my daughter. Don’t ever say that again!”

Vera often wished that she had given birth to Trina instead.

Bonnie had heard that many times.

“I need to go. I’m not coming back tonight.”

Bonnie headed to the door.

“What? You’re going out to fool around again?” Vera was angry.

“It’s not like that,” Bonnie replied.

“Then what have you been doing? Spill it!” Vera shouted.

Bonnie pursed her lips with a frown. “It’s classified. I can’t tell you.”

She left the villa before Vera could say another word.

“What did I do to deserve such a daughter?”

Outside, Bonnie reached the gate.

She saw more than a hundred green armored vehicles come roaring over.

Suddenly, a deafening ‘whoop–whoop–whoop‘ was heard, accompanied by gusts

Bonnie looked up and saw a dozen helicopters hovering in the sky, ready for action. of strong wind.

Soldiers dressed in matching camouflage uniforms swiftly descended from the vehicles and surrounded Bonnie in an orderly fashion.

Their leader saluted Bonnie. "Please get in the car, Ms. Bonita."

"Why did you bring so many people here?"

Bonnie scanned her surroundings, noting not only the large number of people but also the heavy weaponry they held.

"You're a national treasure of Arvandor, Ms. Bonita. We can’t let anything happen to you. I would have brought at least ten times more soldiers if you hadn’t said something.”

The man who said that was Brigham Hartley. He wore navy blue epaulets on his shoulders adorned with yellow trim.

He stood tall and had an imposing presence.

"Come on, I'm just going to the research institute. Besides, I can take care of myself, okay?" Bonnie said nonchalantly.

"The whole world is waiting for the results of your research. If you succeed, it’ll be a game-changer for human civilization. We’ll do anything to ensure your safety and keep anyone else from finding out your true identity!" Brigham said, excitedly. He was a huge fan of Bonnie.

Bonnie raised her brow and tried to change the subject.

"Oh, where's Jim?"

"He's gone overseas to join the International Fighting Championship. I'll be in charge of your safety for now."

"Okay, let's go." Bonnie got into the vehicle.

The Shepard family butler heard the commotion and went out to the gate to find out what was going on. He was shocked to see Bonnie being escorted away by soldiers in camouflage.

"Oh, no, ma'am! Ms. Bonnie’s been taken away by the police."

"What on earth happened?" Vera was astounded.

"I have no idea, ma'am! An army of police officers cornered her and took her away."

Vera quickly rushed out of the villa, followed by Trina and Hadwin.

When they reached the gate, the helicopters

Were long gone, and Vera only saw the SUVs moving away.

"What the hell?" Vera grew pale and held a hand to her heart.

"Has Bonnie broken the law?" Trina asked.

"So many people came to get her! What could she possibly have done?" Hadwin frowned.

Murder?

Multiple homicides?

Or something even crazier?

They had no way of knowing for now.

***

Two days later, a round of applause erupted in the top laboratory of the city of Pyralis.

"Woohoo! We've finally succeeded after working on the research for a whole year."

"We owe it to Ms. Bonita. We couldn't have developed the new carbon nanomaterial so soon without her guidance!"

"That's right, she's the reason why we succeeded! We’ll be able to make advancements in every industry in the country once this nanomaterial is widely adopted. This is great news for Arvandor!"

"We're going to wow the whole world!"

Thrilled, the highly respected and elderly professors cheered like children.

Bonnie, however, continued to drink her coffee calmly.

One of the elderly professors approached her.

"I’ve just received a call from the National Research Institute, Ms. Bonita. They’d like to know when you’ll be available to hold the press conference."

"Well, that's up to them."

The old professor asked tentatively, “Do you mind if I take care of it?”

"Go ahead," Bonnie said.

"Oh, and even the International Collaborative Research Organization has called to ask about this now that we've garnered nationwide attention. You need to come to the press conference, okay?"

He was worried because Bonnie was usually low-key and almost never showed up at events like this.

Bonnie hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay."

'Woohoo!'

The professor whooped inwardly in relief. He really thought she would say no.

If she had, he would have been placed in a difficult position because the higher-ups would insist he make her go.

"I'll deal with it then."

"Sure." Bonnie waved him off and continued to drink her coffee.

Her phone vibrated.

The caller ID showed that it was Sigmund Knight.

Bonnie answered it, and the old man's excited voice came through.

"I heard your wedding’s been canceled, Bonnie. Congratulations!" He laughed heartily. 

She had expected him to say this, so Bonnie waited for him to finish.

"Now, according to our agreement, you would think about marrying my grandson if you were no longer engaged. It’s time to fulfill your promise."

Bonnie raised her brow. "Okay, but will your grandson agree to this? He's the hottest bachelor in Pyralis. He could have any girl he wants."

"He has to. Oh, I asked him to pick you up at a supermarket near the research institute so he wouldn't find out your true identity.I've given him your number. He’ll text you when he arrives."

Her phone dinged as she received a message that read "I'm here."

Sigmund heard it and quickly said, "My grandson must have texted you. Go meet him now."

"Okay," Bonnie answered indifferently. She left the institute after bidding the professors goodbye.

As she stepped out of the building, she saw an eye-catching black Maybach.

"That looks familiar…"

Three years ago, she successfully treated the father of a rich tycoon from overseas.

She had been given a limited-edition Maybach as a gift—there were only ten in the world.

She didn't like driving, so she gave it to Sigmund for his birthday.

Just as Bonnie remembered what happened, the driver's window lowered, revealing a handsome face.

"Hi, you're Bonnie Shepard, right?"

"Yup." Bonnie nodded, She sized up the man in front of her.

He was wearing an open-collared floral shirt with a peculiar-looking necklace around his neck, and seemed incredibly frivolous.

Was this Sigmund's grandson? What the hell?

"Woah, I didn't expect you to be so pretty!" he praised, then turned to someone in the back seat. "Ivor, you lucky son-of-a-bitch! Sigmund has good taste."

When Bonnie heard him say that, she knew she had been mistaken.

As she was about to open the car door, a cold voice from the back seat said, "I don't give a shit, okay? I want nothing to do with her."

Bonnie impassively opened the door and got into the car.

She was amazed when she saw Sigmund's actual grandson.

Although she was only 20, she had been to many countries and seen many good-looking men, but very few had impressed her like this.

However, she quickly looked away because she wanted nothing to do with him as well.

Besides, she noticed that the man kept working on his laptop and didn't even bother to look at her.

She could tell he didn't want to be there either.

"Ms. Bonnie, I'm Ged Franklin, Ivor's best friend," Ged spoke as he drove.

"Oh, hi," Bonnie answered politely.

"I hope you don't mind me asking this. Is it true that you haven’t graduated from high school yet even though you're 20 already?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're going to take the college entrance test soon, huh? Do you need any help getting into university? My grandfather teaches at Pyralis University…"

Ged kept talking, but Bonnie merely responded with "uh-huh".

He thought that she and Ivor were similar.

Ged got bored with Bonnie’s monosyllabic answers and stopped asking her questions.

But at that moment, Bonnie spoke.

"The car used to be Sigmund's, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Ged asked curiously.

Bonnie said truthfully, "Well, I gave it to him as a gift."

As he heard that, Ivor looked up at her—

When Ivor saw Bonnie's beautiful face, his eyes lit up, which rarely happened.

It wasn’t just because of her looks. It was also because of what she had just said.

Ged burst out laughing. "That's a good one! You're funny, I'll give you that."

"You don't believe me?"

Bonnie didn't care if they believed her, but she wanted to tell the truth.

She looked serious, but Ged started to doubt her.

"Do you know what car this is? Do you really expect us to believe that you gave it to Sigmund?"

It was clear that he didn't think she could afford it.

Bonnie nodded, "This model was launched three years ago by Mercedez, with a global limited edition of ten units, I think."

She remembered that was what the tycoon had told her.

Ged's eyes went wide. 'She knows?

'She knows, but she still has the nerve to claim that she gave this to Sigmund? She's f*cking unbelievable!

'How could Sigmund want Ivor to marry her? She's so full of sh*t!'

Ged decided not to pursue the matter out of respect for the Knight family.

Soon, the car reached the Knight Residence.

"We're here," Ivor told Bonnie impassively.

She opened the door and got out.

Ged looked over his shoulder at Ivor. "Bro, I know it's none of my business, but Sigmund’s made a bad choice."

Ivor said, "I told you, I wanted to have nothing to do with her."

Ged was relieved he was not interested in her.

Sigmund was waiting at the door. When he spotted Bonnie, his cloudy eyes lit up.

"You're finally here, Bonnie! What do you think of my villa?"

Bonnie looked inside the luxurious living hall. It had crystal chandeliers, genuine leather sofas, and exquisite tiles.

"It's not bad."

"Marry my grandson then, and you can raise your children here. Will three kids be enough? Hmm, make it seven!"

Ged laughed. "Come on, Sigmund, get off their backs! They’re grown adults, after all."

Sigmund ignored him. He took Bonnie's hand and put it on Ivor's.

They quickly pulled their hands apart.

"Grandpa, I brought her here like you wanted, and that's as far as I'm willing to go. I'm in no mood for romance, so please stop trying to play cupid, okay?" Ivor said grimly.

"No mood for romance? You're into girls, aren't you? Or are the rumors true? That you always hang out with Ged because you're gay?"

Ged spat out his water.

"I'd be proud to be gay, but I'm straight, all right?"

"Yeah, right!"

Ged was speechless.

Ivor knew that Sigmund was keen to set him up with Bonnie, so he tried to dissuade him. "She and I aren't right for each other."

"How so?"

Ivor glanced at Bonnie and said solemnly, "Grandpa, you're right that I've always been a bit of a snob, but there's a reason for that. I skipped grades and was admitted directly into Pyralis University.

"Ever since I became CEO of the company, I've led it to great success, and we've become the leader in many fields!"

Sigmund frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

Ivor narrowed his eyes and glanced at Bonnie. He said coldly, "She's not good enough for me."

"She's not good enough for you? Don’t you know that she's—"