Maybe it's true that joy brightens one's spirits. The pleasure of helping others had diluted the gloom in his heart. Alexander was considering whether to get a divorce. For Aurelia, he had given up his career for nearly three years. Although he had family assets to inherit, he would rather start a new career of his own. The Stellar Grand Hotel was the core of his private assets, and around it, he had business plans he hadn't yet had time to realize. Now was just the right moment. He had invested one million in Aurelia back then, and now the company's market value was fifty million. He and Aurelia had not signed a prenuptial agreement. After the divorce, he didn't intend to ask for much. He just wanted to take back his original principal. He sat in the dim living room with one lamp on and thought about what came next. Not with bitterness. More like a man looking at a map and finally deciding which road to take after standing at the junction for too long. He had been patient. He

The blanket had slipped off the bed.Alexander noticed it before anything else. It was bunched on the floor beside the sofa where Mia had half-fallen, half-settled, her head tilted at an angle that would hurt in the morning, her fingers still loosely wrapped around his wrist.He stayed very still.Her grip was light. The kind that comes from exhaustion rather than intention. He could have pulled free without waking her. He almost did but she tightened her hold without opening her eyes, and he went still again."Don't go yet," she murmured.It was the same thing she had said earlier. He wasn't sure she knew she was saying it again.He sat on the edge of the sofa and waited until her breathing evened out completely.Then, carefully, he lifted her fingers from his wrist one by one.She didn't stir.He picked up the blanket from the floor and laid it over her. Tucked the edge gently around her shoulder. She turned slightly into it, the way people do when something warm reaches them in sl

He came down the stairs fast.The woman saw him before the men did.Her eyes found him over their shoulders and something shifted in her expression immediately with alarm."No, no, please don't." Her voice carried across the distance, urgent and low. "Just call the police please. I don't want you getting hurt because of me. These people are dangerous."Alexander walked past her anyway.He stopped in front of the group and looked at the man at the front."Don't be afraid," he said, without turning around.The one at the front was the largest. Broad, loud, the kind of man who relied on size and noise and had never had to develop anything more sophisticated than that.The man looked Alexander over slowly, top to bottom, the way someone looks at something they have already decided is beneath them."We belong to the Deng family," he said. "This girl here is someone our manager has taken an interest in. So I'm going to ask you once." He tilted his head. "Which family are you from? State you

She arrived at the office twenty minutes late and hungry.She had stood in the kitchen for a full three minutes that morning, opening and closing cupboards with the particular frustration of someone who knew exactly what they wanted and had no idea how to make it. Alexander handled breakfast, he always had. A light congee when her stomach was bad, soft eggs when she was tired, something warm and easy to digest because he had learned years ago that she couldn't face heavy food in the mornings.She had ended up eating half a cracker and leaving.Her assistant met her at the elevator with a stack of files and one look at her face."There's coffee on your desk," he said carefully."I know," Aurelia said, walking past him.She sat down, opened the first file, and stared at it without reading a single word.Her stomach made a noise.She pressed a hand to it and told herself it was fine.Nahir Virel arrived at ten past nine.He appeared in her doorway unannounced, one hand braced against the

After another long and humiliating morning, Alexander sat on a wooden bench in the small park near the residential complex. He unwrapped a simple convenience store rice ball and ate it slowly under the bright afternoon sun. Pigeons wandered nearby, unbothered by the world.Shouting and crashing sounds suddenly echoed from the old boxing gym at the entrance of the complex. He finished his food, wiped his hands, and walked toward the noise.Inside, six thugs were destroying the place. They had overturned heavy bags, smashed trophies, and were kicking in display cases. The chubby owner stood in the middle, hands raised, pleading desperately.Alexander stepped through the door. “That’s enough.”The thugs turned. One laughed loudly. “Look at this beggar trying to play hero.”The owner’s face went pale. “Young man, please leave! These are Black Dragon Gang members. They’re lawless. They’ll kill you without thinking twice. Just go!”Alexander calmly took off his jacket and handed it to the t