The room was a mess.
Women's lingerie and men's ties were tangled together, creating an atmosphere of intimacy.
Ariana's cheeks were flushed as she stared blankly at the ceiling, realizing she had given herself away.
The sound of water from the bathroom stopped and the man emerged confidently with just a towel wrapped around his waist.
His broad shoulders and narrow waist showcased perfectly defined muscles, not overly pronounced but impressively strong.
A drop of water slowly trickled down his chest, disappearing into the towel, exuding temptation.
With a mischievous smile, he asked, "still savoring it?"
He leaned over the bedside, "want to go again?"
Ariana quickly sat up, again? wasn't he worried about exhaustion?
He might not be tired, but she was!
"No more," she said, grabbing her bag from the bedside and pulling out her phone to transfer money to him.
He watched as she typed in five zeros.
After completing the transaction, Ariana waved her phone, "It's done."
"You always do this?" he asked, puzzled.
"I'm always generous," she tried to sound experienced, though it was her first time in such a situation.
She just didn't want him to laugh at her.
Before he could say anything else, she blocked him right in front of his eyes.
The man furrowed his brows immediately, "you blocked me? what do you mean?"
As Ariana slipped into her clothes, she replied, "we're square now."
"Square?" It dawned on him that she might have mistaken his identity.
While Ariana was getting dressed, he circled around the bed to the other side and picked up her handbag, finding a pink jade pendant inside.
"Don't you remember me?"
Ariana didn't even glance at him, just smiled, "there's no need for that, is there?"
They'd already done the deed and the money was exchanged, there was no point in small talk.
"You saved me," he said, shaking the pendant.
Ariana looked up at him briefly and chuckled, "that pendant? if you like it, you can have it."
The man persisted, moving closer to Ariana again, "you saved my life. Don't you remember?"
Ariana looked at his alluring face and couldn't help but laugh.
"At the Dynasty Club, you must be quite popular, right? you won't have trouble finding a wealthy lady."
Ariana assumed he was awkwardly trying to flirt, hoping to latch onto her success.
However, the man looked at her seriously. "A year ago, on July 7th, on State Road 313, I was dying, you took me to the hospital, did you forget?"
Ariana's heart skipped a beat at the mention of July 7th.
It was a memorable day, a festival of love.
Someone had secretly told her that her childhood sweetheart, Simon, was going to propose to her that day.
Filled with anticipation, she instead found him in bed with Claire.
Ariana drank herself into oblivion, crashed her car into a ditch and suffered a concussion, leaving her in a daze for the next month.
From that day until now, a whole year had passed and her life had changed dramatically.
"Do you remember?" the man asked eagerly, noticing the slight change in Ariana's expression.
She snapped back to reality, "sorry, you've got the wrong person, I didn't save you."
Her face was grim.
"Then where did you get this jade pendant?" the man demanded, holding it up.
"A friend gave it to me," Ariana replied coolly, unwilling to revisit the past.
The man seemed ready to say more when Ariana's phone rang, she answered it and her already indifferent expression was tinged with sadness.
"Fine, I'm heading back."
She hung up the phone, her expression dark and stormy.
"Hey!" the man called out.
Ariana felt a wave of irritation, she pulled another bank card from her pocket, "there's three hundred thousand in this card, for one night with you, four hundred thousand should be more than enough, stop bothering me!"
With that, she tossed the card at him and walked away briskly.
The man held the card, a faint smile playing on his lips.
A mere four hundred thousand to get rid of him?
Did she even know who he was?
Lucas, known as the Prince of the Capital, the heir to the most prestigious family in the city, she thought four hundred thousand would be enough?
---
Ariana drove back home or more accurately, to the Summer Family estate.
She once had everything going for her—a privileged background, loving parents and a childhood sweetheart fiancé, Simon.
But three years ago, everything changed with the arrival of another girl. Claire.
She was the true heiress of the Summer Family.
Claire had been taken by a malicious nurse at birth and Mr. Summer, to spare his wife the heartbreak, adopted the abandoned Ariana.
Ariana felt guilty, as if she had taken someone else's life.
So, she became even more considerate, trying her best to be filial to her adoptive parents and kind to Claire, even though it was clear they favored Claire more, she dared not utter a word of complaint.
But Claire shouldn't have gotten into Simon's bed! she knew Ariana was about to marry Simon.
When Ariana returned to the Summer family home, Claire rushed over and knelt on the ground.
"Sis, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Please forgive me!"
Claire knelt there, holding Ariana's hand, crying pitifully.
It was her usual trick and over the years, Ariana had suffered because of it.
"Don't kneel!" Charles walked over and helped Claire up. "Claire, you didn't do anything wrong."
"Dad, I did wrong, I shouldn't have let myself fall for Simon and I definitely shouldn't have slept with him, the worst part is, I'm pregnant with Simon's child."
Ariana stared wide-eyed at Claire. "You're pregnant?"