Chapter 1 The Missing Woman

• "I'm not some mannequin. I do love you… I can give it all to you. I can give you my everything…" The woman muttered those words before letting out an agonized but passionate cry. Before she could say anything else, the man forced his lips onto hers once more. After all the action and screaming, they returned to a state of silence…
• The skies were still dark when Sarah Walker next woke up. There was a neon red sign that flashed outside the window, creating a rather eerie-looking reflection on the surface of the window. She widened her eyes to look at the man fast asleep beside her. His firm and muscular arm rested on top of her chest.
• Sarah felt wide awake then, and she was sober enough to know that the man she had just slept with wasn't her ex-boyfriend, Joseph Scott. This man was much stronger and fiercer than Joseph. Joseph had always been gentle to her… Sarah felt a sharp ache in her chest before she tugged her lips into a smirk. She was scoffing at herself. I probably proved myself to this guy. I probably showed him that I'm not some mannequin and that I'm not unresponsive… But so what? Joseph still broke up with me because I'm a puzzled, unromantic orphan who has a dead mother and a father who doesn't want her. There's nothing I can offer him.
• That's why he broke his promise during graduation. He dumped me on that day and proposed to his classmate, Sofia, instead! Sofia Parish of the Parish Family in Astonville!
• Sarah's five-year relationship with Joseph seemed like nothing more than a joke after what he did that day. All of her classmates laughed at her as well. As Sarah thought about this incident, she couldn't help but tear up. Sarah was from Astonville as well, but after her parents had a divorce, she followed her mother to Tillbank City, where she stayed with her grandparents.
• However, her grandparents had passed away since, and her mother was gone as well. The only thing that kept Sarah in Astonville was her desire to start a family with Joseph. After Joseph dumped her, Sarah felt like a kite with a broken string. How dumb must I have been to pour my heart out to a man who turned out to be so pretentious?!
• Sarah wiped her tears off her cheeks before she pushed the man's arm away and got out of bed. She felt around in the dark and got herself dressed in her clothes before packing her things up. She didn't leave a trace of herself in the room. She didn't take a single glance at the man's face—she didn't know who he was, and she didn't want to know.
• Right as she turned around, she noticed something reflective on the ground. She bent down to pick up a watch. After checking it out for a while, she decided to put it into her bag before she left the room. Her eyes were dry by the time she stood on the empty street outside—she had run out of tears by then. She pulled her phone out and dialed the number of the first person that came to mind. The person on the other end of the line was the only blood tie she had in the whole world.
• "What is it, Sarah?" The person picked up her call in a matter of seconds. Sarah teared up the moment she heard the concern in the other person's voice. "I want to leave Tillbank," she uttered between sobs.
• …
• The sun showered Tillbank City with warmth the next morning. Adam Parish's head felt heavy when he first woke up. He knitted his brows as he sat up in bed. He was flooded by memories of the night before—someone had drugged him before a drunk and crazy woman charged into his room. He had intended to push her out, but the woman clung onto his waist before she clumsily planted kisses on his cold lips… He lost his mind after that.
• Adam widened his eyes before he turned to look at the other side of the bed. It was empty! He threw the sheets aside to find some dried blood on the bed. He froze for a moment before he strode to the washroom and pushed the door open. It was empty inside as well. Adam frowned as he picked his clothes up from the ground. My watch is gone. His pupils shrank as he wondered, Who was that woman? Could she have tricked me into this?
• "I want you to find the woman who came into my room last night!" Adam made a call. The other person nearly dropped his phone upon hearing Adam's words. "No one entered your room last night, Mr. Parish! We caught the person who drugged you!"
• The woman wasn't the one who arranged this? Adam felt himself calming down for a while, but he soon got annoyed at the situation again. "Are you guys even doing your job? A living human being entered my room and left without your knowledge! I'll give you guys one hour to find that person and bring her to me!"
• "What was the woman's name? How did she look like?" the person asked in a shaky voice.
• Adam was speechless. He had no idea! All he knew was that she had a really attractive scent that made him lose all control of himself. He felt like he couldn't have enough of her the night before! Blood rushed up to his cheeks as he thought about this. "She stole my watch!" he barked into the phone.
• Tillbank City was in chaos that day. Everyone heard the news about a public figure searching for a female thief. She had stolen an extremely expensive watch! However, no one managed to locate the female thief even after a few days. They didn't know her name or what she looked like. In the end, the public figure revealed what his watch looked like and offered a reward of ten million for anyone who could find it.
• After that, tons of women brought their watches to Adam. However, all of those were fake items, and Adam ended up throwing them out. The reward was still offered, but no one had the guts to offer their fake watches to Adam after hearing what he did. In the end, the case of the stolen watch remained a mystery to Tillbank City.
• …
• Six years later, a gorgeous woman stepped out of Astonville's international airport. She was dressed in a white t-shirt and denim jeans. A large pair of sunglasses covered half of her fair face, concealing her bright, innocent eyes. She carried two big luggage bags with her, and a young boy dressed in a matching outfit was sitting on top of one of the bags. The boy looked about five or six years old, and his porcelain-like skin made him look almost like a doll. Anyone who saw him would want to pinch his cheeks.
• The young boy had a pair of sunglasses as well, but he had pushed them up on his head to reveal his big eyes, which darted around the place. "Mommy, is this the place that uncle stays at?" The young boy looked up as he spoke in a childish voice.
• Sarah nodded. Her heart felt heavy as she looked out at the blue skies in front of the airport. Astonville. I've been wandering for years now, yet I'm back here again!