A widely known rumor circulated within Yale Universitys campus—that the schools belle, Sarah Thompson, was being kept by someone, a greasy middle-aged man to be exact.
Her close friend, Emily Davis, was extremely indignant about this, always arguing with anyone who dared to voice such claims.
Sarah Thompson herself was equally furious, always chiming in after Emilys arguments, "Yes, yes, what do you mean by greasy middle-aged man? Jake Williams is debonair and successful! How can he be considered greasy?"
Emily would immediately back down, feeling defeated as she led Sarah away from the crowd.
Whats a pig teammate? This is it.
"Miss Thompson, when Im defending you, could you please just keep quiet and stay out of the way?" Emily said, leading her towards the school gate with a mix of disappointment and anger.
Sarah looked at her friend innocently but couldnt help but mutter a rebuttal, "I... I didnt say anything wrong."
"You—" Emily was left speechless and noticed a car pulling up to the school gate. She sighed, resigned, and waved her hand, "Alright, alright, your Jake Williams is here. Hurry up and go!"
Upon hearing Jakes name, Sarahs face lit up. She looked towards the gate, waved goodbye to her friend, and rushed over.
She left Emily shaking her head helplessly.
This silly girl wasnt being kept; she was clearly in a romantic phase.
In reality, what Emily didnt know was that the relationship between Sarah and Jake Williams, when laid out clearly, did indeed belong to a kept relationship.
The only thing she got right was that Sarah had genuinely fallen in love with Jake Williams.
For instance, now that the two hadnt seen each other for two weeks, only Sarah was chattering away while Jake occasionally responded with a cold monosyllable and nothing more.
Seeing his lack of interest, Sarah sat quietly beside him.
After a long silence, she couldnt help but ask again, "Where have you been these past two weeks?"
"None of your concern," Jake glanced at her, clearly not in the mood for a detailed conversation, "You just need to be available when called, and the money wont be少了your."
Hearing this, Sarahs heart was pricked with pain, and she stopped talking.
Seeing her silence, Jake frowned slightly, fixed his gaze on her face, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Your parents havent come looking for you recently, have they?"
Having gambling parents meant money was a bottomless pit.
Four years ago, it was because of their huge gambling debts that they wanted to use Sarah, who was still in high school, to repay the debts, even selling her to a casino.
If it werent for Jake Williams, who happened to pass by and save her, she would have been unrecognizable by now.
Therefore, she was not surprised that she fell in love with Jake Williams. He was the god who saved her from the flames, and from then on, she would do anything for him at his command.
"No, they havent come looking for me, Mr. Williams, thank you," Sarah hesitated, still not daring to call him by his first name.
Jake relaxed his brows and nodded slightly, "I dont like unnecessary troubles around me."
The moment she stepped through the door of the Williams residence, a faint, strange fragrance wafted over. Sarah was puzzled.
Upon closer inspection, she saw an incense burner on the tea table in the hall, and the fragrance was emanating from it.
She looked back at Jake, "When did you buy this incense burner?"
"A few days ago, from an old friend. Youll like it."
For some reason, Sarah felt that Jakes gaze when he said this held a complex emotion she couldnt understand.
She wanted to say something more, but the next moment, she suddenly felt her eyelids grow heavy, her feet softened, and she fell directly to the ground.