As Zhu Li Hua struggled against her captors' strong grip, a horrifying thought crossed her mind. It wasn't the Section Chief who ordered these men, was it? That would be a bit much for someone, despite sexually harassing his female employs to use as he still did work at a law firm of all things.

If it were though, she'd rather bite her tongue and die than be humiliated by that fat bastard!

At first, Zhu Li Hua thought they may have been trying to take her to a location outside of the hotel but to her mild surprise they brought her up the elevator and into a private suite, throwing her onto a king-sized bed with an 'oof' sound coming from her, her tied wrists aching slightly.

Her crisp white blouse was now wrinkled from all her struggling and her hair had fallen in her face, making her blow it away in anger at her handling.

What made her still, however, amidst all of the commotion, was a masculine figure seated in an armchair next to the bed, calmly sipping a glass of red wine as her two captors came in and deposited her onto the bed, his sharp eyes, for lack of a stronger word, were completely terrifying to meet, sending chills down her spine.

Clothed in a black dress shirt with rolled-up sleeves and trousers, he had a cold and uncaring aura around him as he swirled the red liquid around the glass, his black hair neatly parted to one side. He seemed to be in his late twenties, somewhat older than her though in the same ten's.

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Li Hua glared at the man fearlessly, her blood hot in anger as she pulled against her wrist restraints.

At the sound of her voice, the man set the wineglass down on a small table beside his chair with a clink and turned his head to look down on her, down sitting up in the bed glaring back at him fiercely.

"I see..." He began slowly, as if partially expecting her reaction. "You don't recognize me, then."

His words confused Zhu Li Hua to the point of a headache. Of course, she didn't recognize this gangster. Was he the victim of a lawsuit or something?

The man stood and walked over to the bed where she eyed him suspiciously, her heart racing in nervousness as he stalked closer to her, taking the raven lock of her hair that had fallen in her face, and tucking it gently behind her ear.

"I'm meeting someone here tonight," She threatened him to back off as he became uncomfortably close to her. "If I go missing, he'll call the police!"

The man chuckled deeply at that, as if terribly amused by her attempt. "Your marriage prospective, you mean? I don't think he'll be coming actually..."

"How did you know about that?"

"It's in my interests to know." He shrugged, moving his knee off the bed and away from her as he sat back down in the armchair in a relaxed posture.

"Tch. Don't you know that both manhandling and kidnapping are crimes?"

"Hoh? Is that supposed to be a threat?" The man waved a hand to call over one of his men stationed at the door, who brought another bottle of wine for him before backing away subserviently.

"How cute," He chuckled by the levity of the situation.

Biting her lip, Li Hua thought she had never been so irritated by one person before since she was a child. She had always prided herself on keeping a calm and composed attitude towards people, needed the character to make up for her youth in her business, though this man was unravelling it bit by bit.

"Are you honestly trying to scare me by pretending to be an underworld criminal?" She scoffed at him, finally getting a reaction at that when he stood up and slammed his hand onto the headboard of the bed next to her, causing her heart to beat rapidly.

His face was brought so close to hers that she could see small flecks of warm brown in his otherwise narrowed, coal-black eyes before he turned his head and she felt his gentle breath dancing on her ear and causing a red dusting across her cheeks.

"Do I look like I'm pretending?" He breathed, running a single finger down the small bit of thigh that her skirt didn't reach, ending just above her knee and pushing it up slightly, causing loud protests from Zhu Li Hua before she was rescued by one of the man's henchmen.

"Ah...Boss? Your second uncle is back." He informed the man, earning an annoyed 'tch' sound as he retracted his hand but moved it up to her face, holding her chin with one hand as he waved the other man off in understanding.

"I can't play to my content today, so don't go running off on me, doll." He teased as he pressed a light kiss on her forehead that was surprisingly chaste before walking off and out of the room, his henchmen opening the door for him as he disappeared off into the halls outside.

―――

Almost immediately after he left the room, some voices were heard outside talking quietly before the suite door opened once more, this time to reveal a bespectacled man who gave a sympathetic look towards the young woman.

Stepping towards her cautiously, her head down and hair covering her expression, he quietly removed her wrist ties and stepped back as she sat there unmoving, the soft sound of tears falling onto her extended legs and matching the shaking of her shoulders.

She hadn't felt so helpless since she was a child after that event happened and now, despite her confidence at achieving her goals in becoming a prosecutor as such a remarkable young age, she felt it all wash away as she realized how pathetic she was just then.

She hated when she felt her naive youth status glare back at her, reminding her that she didn't have all the wisdom of her peers and teachers...only a false sense of maturity and self-assurance.

"Miss," The man gave her sincere advice in consolation at seeing her tears, pushing up his glasses out of habit, but also trying to make sure she didn't get any ideas of legal action. She was a prosecutor, after all.

"That young master isn't just anyone. There wasn't anything you could and can do against him... so the best I can say is that he probably won't remember you since he was only playing around. I hope you can forget this too."

Zhu Li Hua ignored the man completely, standing up off the bed and brushing the tears off her face while smoothing down her blouse, she walked calmly out without a word as he panicked, not knowing whether she'd keep her silence.

"Look, we're willing to pay 300,000 in compensation―!"

"Keep that money and go buy yourself a coffin!" Li Hua whirled her head around, glaring fiercely at the man as she slammed the door behind her.

Walking down the hall corridor, her heels tapping against the white tile, her fists clenched at her sides as her eyes shifted to the side again and became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. As she blinked, they dripped from her eyelids and slid down her cheeks.

Bitting her lip tightly in an attempt to hide any sound that wanted to escape from her mouth, she sternly reminded herself that there was no one in this world who had never cried before, but they still had to clench their teeth and move forward.