Chapter 4

“I’m not taking this job.”

The man coldly tossed out the words, releasing me.

I stared blankly as he turned and strode out.

What did he mean? Was he looking down on me?

A male model, daring to choose his clients.

This was outrageous! How dare he choose his clients! I was going to leave him a five-hundred-word scathing review!

Furious, I sprang from the bed.

I threw on my clothes and chased him out, yelling.

“If you won't do it, plenty of others will! I'll buy even better ones in a bit! Ten of them!”

The figure ahead in the hallway suddenly paused.

The man turned his head, his expression complex.

“If I refuse, you'll just buy someone else?”

He crossed the distance between us in a few steps.

His tone was almost heartbroken.

“Can't you think of something better? Give up that idea, do you *have* to… do *that*?”

Why couldn't I have some worldly desires?

Men aren't the only ones with needs, you know.

Just as I was about to argue with him.

A familiar, irritating voice suddenly sounded behind me.

Someone called out with a smile: “Zara Campbell, what are you doing here?”

I turned back, annoyed.

Sure enough, I saw a handsome but utterly repulsive face – my ex-boyfriend, Bryce Coleman.

Bryce’s silk robe was loosely tied.

A trail of vivid red hickeys snaked from his neck down to his collarbone.

Several ambiguous scratch marks were half-hidden beneath the fabric on his chest.

Who knew whose bed he’d just gotten out of.

Not long ago, I discovered he was frequently hooking up with other people.

When I caught him in the act, he casually zipped up his trousers, leaned against the hotel headboard, and lit a cigar.

He exhaled a perfectly formed smoke ring, smiling faintly at my furious questions.

“It's just for fun, don't worry.”

He reached out to take my hand, his voice almost gentle.

“You’re my only real girlfriend.”

It was like ice-cold water poured directly onto the magma of my surging anger.

In that moment, I suddenly calmed down.

Bryce might have looked human, just like me, but the chasm in our beliefs was wider than the gap between species.

You can't reason with a dog, and there was no point in arguing further.

I pulled my hand away from his touch and slapped him hard across the face.

“Not anymore.”

As I left, I saw him standing there stunned.

The cigar, which he'd been holding leisurely, fell to the carpet, burning small, irreparable black marks.

I closed my eyes, trying to suppress the unpleasant memories that rose in my mind.

But the dog across from me wouldn’t stop barking.

Bryce eyed me, idly stroking his chin with interest.

“Are you here to check up on me? You just said you wanted to break up, but you're already regretting it?”

He chuckled: “You little hypocrite.”

…Oh my god! If I had committed a crime, the law should punish me, not put me through this torture by disgust.

I felt so sick I wanted to throw up.

Then I thought, I shouldn't be the only one suffering.

I looked around, grabbed Kaelen by the arm, and intimately linked mine with his.

“Don't say such silly things. My boyfriend will get mad.”

Bryce was incredibly self-absorbed.

He believed his little ex-girlfriend would be pining for him, so me quickly finding someone new was another slap in the face.

Hearing my words, Bryce's expression indeed stiffened.

A moment later, a malicious smile suddenly appeared on his face.

“Oh really? Well, then he should call me 'senior.'

“After all, he's just playing with my sloppy seconds.”

“...!”

I felt a chill run through my body.

The next instant, my hand was suddenly enveloped in a warm grip.

Kaelen took half a step forward, blocking Bryce's slimy gaze from me.

He coldly swept his eyes over the suggestive marks on Bryce's body.

“Are you calling yourself even sloppier?”

Society taught women to be ashamed of their sexual experiences, but men boasted about how many women they'd slept with. Bryce probably never expected Kaelen, another man, to break that unspoken rule and judge him by the very standards society imposed on women.

Bryce gaped for a long moment.

Finally, unable to maintain his civilized facade, anger filled his eyes: “You…”

“Want to fight?”

Kaelen cut him off, stepping forward until he was right in front of Bryce.

His six-foot-three frame and imposing, muscular build instantly made Bryce look like a scrawny stick.

Bryce stared at him darkly.

After a long pause, his gaze went past Kaelen's shoulder and landed on me.

The intensity in his eyes seemed to want to flay me alive.

“Fine. I'll remember this.”