1 Misery and Suicide

"Let go of the door handle, you wench!"

A grumpy short old man, who was the landlord of a shabby and run-down apartment complex, unpleasantly shouted at the woman. She refused to let go of the knob and was wrestling with him for a couple of minutes, however, it all ended with a kick in her stomach, which she instinctively and desperately tried to protect, definitely out of habit.

Her body was pushed to the back and the door was slammed shut, signaling the start of her homeless life. With no more money to pay the rent, what's bound to happen has happened way before Lily's expectations.

With a hollow expression, she slowly stood up, patted the dust off her knees and jacket then picked what little baggage was thrown around her.

"Rot in hell you perverted foggy!"

Lily didn't forget to curse at the landlord and spit at the door, which was an action totally unbecoming of a lady like herself. Initially, she thought that her exceptional beauty would win her a few points with the old man and he'd let her stay for a couple more months but it turns out he's rather stingy and perverted.

'I would rather live in the streets than sleep with him!'

The woman fixed her long red hair into a pony-tail and snorted. She was wearing casual sportswear but the hot weather made her sweat profusely, moreso when she was dragging her luggage under the blazing sun.

25 this year, Lily Whitmers reached the end of her quite miserable road. When she went up against her parents and was disowned, she didn't think much about it, however, through the hard way, she learned that being a responsible and self-efficient adult while trying to achieve your dreams is not an easy thing, not at all, in fact.

Ever since she was young, Lily dreamed of becoming a successful and popular singer, one that can move people's hearts with a melodious, angelic voice. She wants to soothe those who are feeling down and energize the youngling with her singing, which wasn't bad, by the way.

She thoroughly thought about her choices before deserting her family and what made her determined is her apparent talent for what she seeks. Lily's voice was by no means bad, she had that 'musical' talent, and all that she lacked is training.

In the past, she did manage to enter an agency but the problem was staying there and making a name for yourself. The competition in all agencies is fierce and those above you will try to suppress you using vile tactics. When a talented beauty suddenly makes her appearance, those uglier yet more popular will eliminate a potential rival before he or she will even rise up, that's the only way of assuring your monotonous fame.

Various things happened and it ended up with her getting pregnant and kicked out, obviously. To make matters worse, she lost her first unborn baby in an accident, which scarred her deeply, more than even getting ousted.

Since that day, Lily quit singing and only worked odd jobs that didn't pay well but still allowed her to get by, somehow. What's problematic, however, are the loan sharks that keep pestering her daily.

When she left her family, she literally had nothing in her name, hence her connection with those people, who did lend her money but the ludicrous and ever-increasing interest made it so that she can't escape this loop.

Two years after getting kicked out of the agency, she got pregnant again but due to getting severely beaten down by these loan sharks and transported to a hospital by a total stranger, she was told that she had lost her baby, which only had a few weeks to see the light of day.

The successive misfortune affected Lily's personality, dramatically changing it. She used to smile frequently and act kindly but now, she became a shrewd and calculative person.

She knew that one must follow the brain's logical thinking and not the heart's inexplicable and risky emotions, which, more often than not, affects one's judgment and makes them do absurd things.

Unfortunately, the persistence of the loan sharks, who visited her at work and wreaked havoc and caused her to get fired on multiple occasions. And thus, she became jobless, and now she is also homeless.

There is no way her family will take her back now that she's stooped so low… as for friends, she had none. The one she previously viewed as friends had backstabbed her to advance further in their careers.

Basically, Lily now is penniless, friendless, and homeless, which is why the first thought she had was suicide. She gave her best but life didn't give back so, for Lily, it's time to end things.

The girl brought what little luggage she had and went to the Bell Bridge, which was the biggest in Orchid City, fully prepared to jump off to her death.

It's the middle of the summer but the weather gets inexplicably cold at night, especially the river.

Lily spent the whole day absent-mindedly gazing at the passerby and when the curtain of night finally fell, she began with throwing her luggage, one after the other, then she stepped forth.

Both her bare legs were on the edge and her head was lowered, eyes gazing at the calm river, seemingly welcoming her with both arms.

Some of the cars passing behind stopped, people took their phones and started filming but, cruelly enough, none tried to step in and stop her.

Lily didn't pay them any attention, she didn't even turn around. She took a deep breath, inhaling the chilling air, and was just about to jump off only to feel a pair of arms wrap around her legs, almost causing her to fall head-first.

"Miss Lily! Please stop!"

A bespectacled young man wearing a grey suit was frantically trying to stop the woman. He pulled her back and repeatedly said,

"Don't do it! I still haven't proposed…"

Before he could finish, Lily angrily snapped at him

"What's your problem? You could've killed me!"

Seeing her react with such ferocity, the young man was speechless.

"But you were going to kill yourself." He squeezed those words out of his mouth, his voice barely audible.

Unfortunately for him, Lily didn't even hear what he said, she continued venting her frustration on the poor man.

"Are you even aware of what you've done? You ruined everything! My life is gone because of you! Are you satisfied? How can you call yourself a man? To begin with, why did you grab my legs? Are you actually a pervert?!"

Faced with such a nonsensical rambling of the opposite party, who he needed to please, secretary Ron wiped his sweating forehead and hesitantly raised his arms, trying to calm the furious woman.

"Miss Lily, please calm down and let me explain."

Only when she was out of breath did Lily stop talking. While hyperventilating, she listened to the red-faced Ron.

"I'm here to offer you a once-in-a-lifetime deal."

"What?"

Lily sized the secretary up and down then mockingly commented,

"You look like those scammers."

"Ah…" Words got stuck in Ron's mouth as he coughed thrice, trying to brush off her words. His daily outside is respectable and fit for a man of his position but, apparently, he looked no different than a scammer, much to his surprise.

"I'll keep this short… come with me if you're willing to sacrifice your life for my boss."

"Ha? What did you say?"

Sadly for Ron, the way he phrased it infuriated Lily even more, however, he managed to save himself in the nick of time

"I, I meant that you should marry my boss to get countless benefits!"

"No, thank you."

Lily looked uninterested as she waved her hand at the secretary, who desperately grasped one of them and pleaded with a pitiful expression

"Miss Lily, please listen to the full story then you can decide. Please!"

Seeing him act like this, she briefly hesitated before meekly nodding her head and following him to his car, which, by the way, was an expensive and famous brand.

...

The woman thoroughly scanned the interior of the car, which didn't pale in comparison to the exterior. The seats were made of black leather and very comfortable to sit on, furthermore, it was much warmer than outside.

"I don't have all night, speak."

"A-ah! Yes yes!"

Roman, who was nervously driving, cleared his throat and explained,

"My boss is in need of a woman and I think you're the perfect candidate!"

Ron paused for a brief second before continuing, "Please do not misunderstand. Though you'll marry my boss, you're not obliged to do anything beyond acting 'close' in certain events. In fact, you'll rarely meet each other. Also, you'll be provided with a place to live and enough money to fully enjoy your life. You can even be a singer again."

Once she heard the last thing, Lily's eyes narrowed and she coldly said,

"I see that you've investigated me."

"Of course!" confidently replied Ron, finding it natural to do such a thing.

"I can't just let any woman get close to my boss. He's an influential and powerful person and not anyone can approach him."

"Then why did you choose me?"

"Because you fit the description I was looking for. First, a non-famous person, second, a beautiful person, third, someone who'll benefit a lot from marrying my boss and will not try to ruin things."

"How can you be sure that I won't ruin things?"

In response to that, Ron glanced at her and stated,

"With all due respect, miss Lily, your attempt to kill yourself earlier is a clear sign that you've given up on everything. Someone like you, from my point of view, won't try to trick me or my boss, you'll just enjoy the benefits. After all, if you really were that kind of person, you would have used your beauty to garner attention instead of trying to suicide."