Alyssa went to work in her father’s car every morning, with her father sitting in the back seat. After they reached the Second Hospital, she would finish the remaining distance on foot.

Sometimes Basil would pick her up when she was off work, and when he didn’t, she would walk to the hospital where her father worked, and went home with her father in his car.

Alyssa had been in a bad mood lately. Basil had been talking about getting married, but she thought it was too soon. They had been fighting over it.

Basil loved her. The thing he wanted most in his life was to marry her and spend the rest of his life with her. But he had been under huge pressure in the past few days. His parents were persistent in forcing him to break up with Alyssa. Sharon was hot for him and did everything she could to pursue him. Yet Alyssa had been engrossed in work and slighted him. All this bugged him immensely and made him want to scream.

Alyssa treated her family, her friends and her beloved one warmly. She wasn’t pushy, and everyone that socialized with her would find her frank and sincere, which were two characters that fewer and fewer young people possessed nowadays.

One day, Basil took her to the biggest club in the city—Dark Night, a pretty name.

Sitting in the bar, they watched men and women dancing with their bodies pressed close against each other. Alyssa had drunk too much. Her face was crimson from the wine. With the lipstick on, her lips glowed in the light, tempting and lustrous. Attracted, Basil failed to suppress his desire and kissed her on the lips.

Alyssa had never been intimate with him in public. She always maintained a devil-may-care air, and she told dirty jokes better than men. But deep down, she was old-fashioned. She refused to have sex with her boyfriend before they got married. They had been dating for years, but never slept together. It was unbelievable in this era.

As a young man, not to mention one who loved her, Basil desired her, of course.

Every time she was in his arms, he got excited.

And she blushed and her heart raced at his touches. Right now when his lips touched hers, her heart was consumed by his tenderness and passion.

It felt like a sweet dream. The music, the people around them, and everything else were forgotten. At this moment, she could only see him, feel him, and hear him.

She felt she couldn’t breathe. After what seemed like forever, Basil finally let go of her. The intoxicating kiss made her dizzy. She shook her head to clear her mind and patted her cheeks. Then she said to him, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’m coming with you,” he offered.

Alyssa nodded.

She had her principles—she donned old-fashioned clothes before she went to a bar, and she never allowed herself to get tipsy when she was alone.

Ever since she had started hitting bars, she had always stuck to her principles.

In the bathroom, she splashed cold water on her face to sober herself up. And it helped.

Afterwards, Basil escorted her back to the lobby. There was a commotion. Some people were gathering. Out of curiosity, she walked over to find out what was going on.

To her surprise, she saw her brother Gareth Lin fighting against some vicious-looking hooligans. Some of them had tattoos on their arms.

Luckily, Gareth was not alone. Some of his classmates were with him. The fight was fierce. Both sides were eager to take their enemies down. One of the hooligans, who wore a loud shirt, broke a wine bottle and was going to smash it against the back of Gareth’s head.