A Date? Not again. But she had to...

The nurse carefully examined the coat before saying, "I don't know exactly. You were wearing this coat when you were admitted to the hospital. I think it should belong to one of the officers."

Annabella pondered for a moment before nodding her head. "Oh, it's like that."

She patted the coat with a smile on her lips. "Thank you for saving me."

Bang!

The door to the ward suddenly pushed open entirely. A young lady who was wearing high heels and a v-neck red gown barged into the ward like a storm.

"Anna!" She screamed before running towards Annabella and hugging her before crying.

"I thought I lost you."

Annabella: "..."

"Crazy!" She snapped, rolling her eyes. "I just..." She stopped midway before lowering her eyes.

Grana blinked confusingly before asking, "You just what? I can't understand anything."

Annabella sighed before saying the whole story to her friend.

"It happened like that."

Grana shook her head in disbelief. "What a fucking dog! He really had the guts to do such a lame thing like that!" She thought for a while before asking, "What happened to that dog after being caught up?"

Annabella shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe went to the police station?"

"That bastard should be rotten in jail forever." Grana cursed, "Must die and go to hell afterwards."

Annabella let out a deep sigh.

"Anne, are you sad? Seems like you held hopes for him. You even decided that he was your future husband but now..." Grana was worried.

Annabella chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I did have hopes for him. But it doesn't mean that I freaking loved that man! It's all because of my mom. I just wanted to make her happy."

Grana sneered. "Oh really?! You want to make her happy by marrying a scumbag! A douchbag! A pathetic loser! A raper!"

"Enough, Grana. I don't need your lectures right now. Just take me home already... I mean after I give my statement." Annabella said, tired.

"Hmm... Okay, okay. By the way, you can tell your mom what happened today. That way she would never bother you to date some useless guy again." Grana suggested.

Annabella firmly shook her head.

"I can't make her worry by saying that. Sorry, I really can't!"

Grana bit her lips. She didn't know what to say anymore.

----------------------------

Annabella dragged her tiresome body towards her room. She took a warm bath as usual and ate her dinner silently.

Mrs Parker was a bit surprised at her daughter's somehow strange behaviour.

"Sweetie, how was the date today?"

Annabella almost wanted to puke when she remembered about that doggy man. She managed to restrain herself from exploding by taking a few deep breaths.

"Good." She said more like whispering.

"What good?" Mrs Parker was impatient. "I want it in detail, okay?"

"Mom," Annabella cried. "I'm tired. Don't ask about men ever again."

Mrs Parker was taken aback.

"What dear? Please tell Mommy... What happened? Tell me the truth! You're so weird today. I can tell that something isn't right."

Annabella's eyes turned red. She wanted to hug her mother tightly and cry in her warm embrace. But she knew that if she told the truth, her mother would never forgive herself for what happened to her only daughter, her only child.

Annabella looked at the ceiling to prevent the tears from coming out.

"Nothing, Mom. He just tried to kiss me forcefully although I refused him."

"What?" Mrs Parker's eyes widened in shock. "He tried to kiss you? Who did he think he was? Your boyfriend... your husband...? I never knew that someone could be this shameless. Don't meet him ever again, you got me?"

Annabella nodded her head. She knew that she was on the verge of crying. Thus, she quickly drank a sip from her juice before saying, "I'm full. Gonna go, bye mom, good night!"

She quickly ran to her room and closed the door shut before running towards the bathroom. Opening a tap, she cried while sitting in a corner of the bathroom and hugging her knees.

The next four days...

Annabella's day-to-day life continued with the same routine. She woke up late and rushed to the office. In the evening, when the work was finished, she went to her home, drenched in sweat. Eating and sleeping, she repeated the same thing. Until the fifth day...

"Wake up, Sweetie. It's already 9.45 now!" Mrs Parker's loud voice made Annabella groan unhappily before turning to the other side of her bed.

"Wake up!" Apparently, Mrs Parker still didn't give up.

"Mom," Annabella pouted her lips, her eyes closed. "It's Saturday! I don't have to go to the office today, okay? Let me sleep!"

Mrs Parker shook her head. "It's not about the office. You have an early date. He'll reach there at 10 AM. So hurry up and get ready already! I'll feed you if you want me to."

Annabella jolted awake. "What did you say? A date?"

"Of course."

Annabella gritted her teeth when she recalled her recent date. She felt so disgusted even though it had happened a few days ago. She even had a nightmare regarding that incident. Nevertheless, she still got out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up.

Annabella didn't try to dress up like before. She just wore a simple knee-length black gown along with short black heels and a simple silver necklace.

However, her simplicity still couldn't hide the beauty of her curvy body. It even emphasized the pale but fair skin tone of hers.

Grabbing her small handbag, Annabella went to the main door saying, "Mom, I'm leaving."

"Go, go, go!" Mrs Parker waved her hands impatiently. "It's 10.20 AM! You're already so late."

"I know."

"Remember to eat breakfast with him." Mrs Parker shouted behind her.

"Hmm.."

Annabella didn't have time to eat her breakfast so Mrs Parker felt a little bad. She asked Annabella to eat with her date because of that.

Within fifteen minutes, Annabella managed to reach the coffee shop on time. Her whole body froze when she saw the board.

'Ruckwarna coffee shop.'

Annabella: "..."

She was beyond shock. Out of all the coffee shops in Zeriah City, why this guy also chose this cafe? Why???

It was the coffee shop where that life-ruining devil worked as a waiter. She promised herself not to step on that place ever again but here she was... getting back at her words after just a few days!

A tall, average-looking guy with dark brown hair and black eyes, smiled from ear to ear as soon as he saw Annabella coming inside the cafe, looking around.

"Hi, Miss Annabella! I'm here." He stood up from his chair and waved his hand at the fair beauty who was dressed in black.

Annabella was surprised. She carefully sized him up. He wasn't that much of a handsome man. Still... he looked decent. He had a moustache anchored by a chin strip as he shaved it to royale goatee style. There was a crescent shape black mole on the corner of his right cheek. He had a narrow forehead, wide cheekbones and a narrow chin giving off the look of a Diamond.

Annabella raised her eyebrows and interrogated him suspiciously. "How did you know?"

The diamond-faced man smiled even wider.

"A lucky guess I think."

Annabella squinted her eyes, clearly not that much of satisfied with his answer. Still, she pulled a chair out of the table and sat on it before saying, "Sorry for being late. Mom informed me about this date at the last minute."

The diamond-faced man smiled. "It's okay. I don't mind."

Annabella shook her shoulders. "I don't care whether you do mind it or not."

The man chuckled. "You're pretty straightforward. I quite like it," Saying that he even winked at her.

What kind of men her mother was asking her to date??? They all were nothing else but trash!

"Don't misunderstand me," The man quickly said when he looked at the beauty's face which was darkened like a piece of charcoal. "I was just kidding. Don't take it to heart. You're an honest girl and I was saying that I liked people with sincere hearts."

"Oh, I understand," Annabella uttered lazily. Then she said to him, "I'm hungry. Shall we take breakfast together?"

Diamond-faced man: "..."

"...Oh, I don't have enough money with me." He gave her an apologetic smile. "Can I trouble you to pay by yourself for today?"

Annabella: "...."

She blinked in confusion before slightly nodding her head.

"Sure, no probs." She said, still dumbfounded.

Annabella called out to a waiter with a throbbing heart and fortunately, the waiter boy was nowhere to be seen. It was another waiter boy who took her order.

After a few minutes...

The entire table was filled with many dishes. The diamond-faced man licked his lips before asking, "Shall I join you? I know you can't possibly eat this much."