Chapter 3

Before I became the pampered Haley Sterling, I was just an orphan girl in a run-down shelter in this city.

On the day the Sterling family came to adopt, the director gathered all the girls in the courtyard, lined up like products for inspection.

I was small and malnourished. I was easily pushed into the very back by the bigger, healthier kids.

Every child there knew that being chosen meant escaping hunger and cold. It meant a ticket to heaven.

Gradually, I found it hard to breathe. Survival instinct kicked in, and I started waving my arms frantically, trying to be seen.

After what felt like forever, the suffocating crowd suddenly parted.

I opened my eyes, and Julian was standing right in front of me.

I remember that day clearly. The old oak tree in the courtyard had just sprouted its first green leaves of spring.

A gentle breeze swept across my face, carrying the scent of damp earth and fresh grass.

The young boy looked down at me, placing a pale, slender hand on my head.

"Her. I'll take her."

Those simple words, like a divine decree, changed my life forever.

I went from an ugly duckling stuck in the mud to the high-society daughter of the Sterling family.

Only later did I find out why Julian chose me.

The Sterlings' biological daughter, Angelica, had drowned.

Before she went under, she had waved her arms helplessly, just like I did.

My adoptive parents were always busy, and Julian didn't really have any feelings for me.

I was basically raised by the nannies.

But while the nannies could provide gourmet meals and a warm, luxurious bed, they couldn't stop the bullying at school.

Back then, my classmates called me a charity case, a parasite, and a thief who stole someone else's life.

I kept my head down and let them drag me through the dirt. I knew protesting was useless; no one would stand up for me.

Until the day Julian was sent by our mother to attend my parent-teacher conference.

He saw them throwing trash and broken pencils at my head. He heard the vulgar insults they hurled at me.

Only then was I rescued from that never-ending nightmare.

The kids who bullied me were forced to kneel in a row, apologizing to me.

They cried, slapping their own faces.

But I knew they weren't kneeling to me.

They were kneeling to the terrifying, cold-faced teenager standing beside me.

Julian had saved my life once again.

When did I start developing those forbidden feelings?

Was it when he shielded me from the bullies, holding my shoulders?

Was it when his hand covered mine, teaching me my first piano piece?

Or was it during my first extravagant birthday party, when he looked at me with such tenderness amid the crowded room?

I wasn't greedy or shameless. I never intended to expose this dirty, secret crush.

If only that accidental, intoxicating kiss had never happened.

That day, I thought I saw a glimmer of hope.

Like a drowning person, I reached out, thinking he would save me again.

But instead, I got his freezing words: "Haley, you're sick. You disgust me."

Julian, you saved me, only to drag me down to hell with your own hands.

You made me, and you destroyed me.