By the time Ethan returned home, the noise and tension of the auction hall still lingered faintly in his mind, but the silence of his apartment felt completely different. It was calm, controlled, and almost too quiet after everything that had happened.He closed the door behind him and stood there for a moment, his hand still loosely holding the antique ring he had just won.The warmth from earlier had not completely faded.It was weaker now, but it was still there.Subtle.Persistent.Unsettling.Ethan exhaled slowly and walked toward the table in the center of the room. His movements were steady, but his thoughts were anything but calm. Too many things from tonight did not make sense, and the more he tried to ignore them, the more they pressed against his mind.He reached into his pocket again and pulled out the other ring.The one Shen Fei had given him days ago.At the time, he had accepted it without thinking too deeply about it. It had seemed like a strange but harmless gift, so

Sebastian did not sleep well that night either.But unlike Olivia, whose thoughts were filled with confusion and doubt, Sebastian’s mind burned with something much sharper.Humiliation.The memory of the auction replayed in his head again and again, each moment more irritating than the last. The way the room had gone silent. The way Ethan had stood there, calm and untouchable. The way everything had slipped out of his control.Sebastian stood by the window of his office, staring out at the city lights below, his expression cold and unreadable.“…He made me look like a fool,” he said quietly.And that was something he could not accept.Not now.Not ever.But Sebastian was not reckless.He was not the type to charge forward blindly and make the same mistake twice. If the auction had taught him anything, it was that Ethan was not someone who could be handled directly.At least not yet.So instead of confronting him again—Sebastian chose something else.Something quieter.Something far m

The commercial center was bright, polished, and impossibly clean, the kind of place where everything—from the marble floors to the glass storefronts—reflected wealth without trying too hard.Ethan walked through it calmly, his hands in his pockets, his expression neutral as his gaze moved from one store to another. He was not in a hurry, nor was he particularly interested in anything specific. It was simply another place, another environment, another space filled with people trying to present themselves as more important than they really were.To him, it was all the same.But to everyone else—This place meant something.Status.Class.Position.And because of that, it didn’t take long for things to go wrong.“Ethan?”The voice came from his left, sharp and unmistakably familiar.Ethan stopped walking.Slowly, he turned his head.And there they were.Olivia’s mother stood slightly ahead, her posture straight, her expression already shifting into something unpleasant the moment she rec

By the next morning, the city was already talking.It started quietly, like most things did, with a few clips posted online by people who had been at the commercial center the day before. Short videos. Blurry angles. Snippets of voices and reactions.But that was enough.Because what those videos showed—Was not what anyone expected.Ethan walking calmly into a luxury store.Olivia’s family standing behind him, clearly waiting for something to go wrong.The staff’s sudden shift in attitude.The private room.The black card.And finally—The confirmation.The moment everything changed.Within hours, the videos spread.Shared.Reposted.Analyzed.And by the time the afternoon came around, Ethan was no longer just a name whispered in private circles.He had become something else.A mystery.“Who is this guy?”“I’ve seen him before. Wasn’t he at the auction too?”“They said his money was suspicious, but does that look suspicious to you?”“No one gets treated like that without serious back

The shift between Ethan and Sofia didn’t happen all at once.It wasn’t dramatic.It wasn’t loud.It didn’t come with some big moment that everyone could point at and say, that’s where everything changed.Instead—It happened quietly.Naturally.Like something that had always been there, just waiting to take shape.At events, Sofia stayed close to him, not in a way that drew attention, but in a way that made things easier.Smoother.More controlled.She didn’t speak over him.She didn’t try to lead.But whenever something felt off, she was there, stepping in just enough to redirect conversations, to guide situations before they turned awkward.“You don’t have to answer that,” she told him once, her voice low as a businessman tried to pry too deeply into his background.Ethan glanced at her briefly before looking back at the man.“I don’t mind,” he said calmly.Sofia tilted her head slightly, studying him for a second before giving a small nod.“Then keep it vague,” she added quietly. “