Chapter 4

After work, Simon would come to pick her up.

I sat under a few pear trees outside the set, drenched from the rain.

I didn't know how long had passed when the black Rolls-Royce returned.

Simon got out of the car and walked towards me, saying, "Go home and change."

I didn't look up.

He softened his tone slightly, "Don't blame Cecilia, she's just upset and needed to let it out."

Seeing that I still didn't respond, Simon grew impatient, "That's enough, Diana, who are you having a grudge with?"

I sniffed, holding back tears, and looked up at him. "Simon, it's been three years, and now Cecilia is back too."

"Let me go," I said.

His face changed slightly, "Where do you want to go?"

I picked up the canvas bag next to me and took out a piece of paper from it.

"I've applied for a top foreign university for a master's degree in biology, they've already sent me an acceptance letter..."

Before I could finish my sentence, Simon forcefully took the papers from me and tore them into pieces.

He grabbed my wet wrist and pushed me into the car.

His burning palm was pressed against my cold arm, gradually transferring warmth.

Under the dim car lights, Simon looked at me with a chilling gaze.

"Don't even think about it, you're not allowed to go anywhere," he said.

"Diana, you're my girlfriend."

After that day, I never went to the set again.

Simon found a new assistant for Cecilia and arranged for me to work in his company as his personal assistant.

"From now on, you'll be with me," he said.

Playing with the pen in his hand, he looked up at me and softened his tone slightly.

"That day on set, it was Jasmine deliberately provoking you and Cecilia. I've taken care of it, she won't be cast in any more films."

Seeing that I didn't react or respond, Simon's face grew stern.

With a warning tone, he said, "Diana, don't push your luck."

Was it me who was pushing my luck?

Jasmine was only upset because she lost the role, so she intentionally provoked Cecilia.

Both Simon and I knew who the real culprit was.

But because I angered him that day, he purposely tormented me in the car, disregarding my drenched state.

These days, I have been running a low fever.

After taking medicine and feeling drowsy, I didn't have the energy to argue with him.

I just slightly lowered my head and said, "I understand."

In the evening, after Cecilia finished work, I drove Simon to have dinner with her.

As soon as she saw me, she coldly said, "Simon, I don't want to argue with you. Don't bring anything that spoils my appetite."

Simon glanced at me and said, "Wait in the car."

I nodded and turned to leave.

On my phone, there was an email from the school advisor regarding my application.

[Diana, the acceptance letter has been mailed to you. When can you come to the school for registration? After reviewing your resume, I have applied for the highest amount of scholarship for you. I am very excited to mentor a talented and hardworking student like yourself.]

I clasped my hands in the air.

It felt as if by doing so, I could grasp the shattered pieces of the acceptance letter that were torn apart and discarded by Simon.

That night, Simon didn't come home.

He sent me a message: [I'm taking Cecilia home, you don't have to wait for me.]

I asked: [Are you staying overnight?]

He replied bluntly: [Diana, that is none of your business.]

I drove to the cemetery in the suburbs.

That was where my grandmother was buried, it has been over two years now.

The photo embedded in the gravestone was taken during her final moments.

She was seriously ill at the time.

The money we saved by scrimping and borrowing from teachers and classmates over the years amounted to over three-hundred-thousand dollars.

To Simon, that was just the cost of a night of drinking with friends or the price of a handbag for a companion.

But to me, it was an insurmountable obstacle.

After the surgery, grandma held my hand and repeatedly reminded me.

We shouldn't consider this money insignificant just because it's nothing to Simon.

So, for the past three years, I had acquiesced to Simon, even to unreasonable demands.

"But, do I want to spend the rest of my life, my dreams and aspirations, continuing to be wasted here?"

The cemetery was empty, with only the sound of wind and the chirping of insects.

My grandmother on the gravestone silently looked at me.

She will never answer me again, forever.