As soon as Alyssa let go of Terrel’s hand, he covered his crotch painfully with both hands and knelt on the floor, still screaming. He sounded in so much pain that when Neville listened to him scream he couldn’t help feeling as if it was himself who had gotten kicked in the crotch. He knew Alyssa. She would do that whenever she got into a fight with a man.

While Terrel was still on the floor, she walked to where he had sat, and picked up the contract on the desk. The sum of money had been corrected, and Terrel had signed it.

Grimacing while enduring the pain, Terrel said to his men, “Catch her!”

Alyssa wouldn’t let them, of course. Holding the contract with her left hand, she grabbed the pistol on the desk with her right hand and pointed it at Terrel’s head.

“Go ahead. Let's find out who is quicker. If I’m dead, you won’t live either,” she challenged.

The air was full of tension. The bodyguards held their breath, afraid that she might really shoot their boss.

To their surprise, after a while, she put the gun back on the desk, picked up an apple from the fruit tray and started munching on it. The bodyguards walked forward to catch her, but Terrel gestured for them to back down.

Alyssa was still munching at the apple. She twirled it in her hand, as if she had never eaten anything so delicious.

With her mouth full, she asked inarticulately, “Why did you change your mind?”

She still remembered how he had brutally turned her down. This man was cold and arrogant. Now he had suddenly changed his mind and signed the right contract. He must be up to something.

“Somebody asked me to,” Terrel replied.

He raised his head, his gaze fixed on a spot. Through the screen, his eyes met Neville’s.

“Somebody? Who?”

By now, she had finished the apple. She must have really loved it, because she picked up a second and started munching. Terrel frowned with disdain. “My brother.”

“Who is your brother?”

Alyssa asked, licking the juice on the corner of her mouth.

“My brother is my brother. He told me not to tell you.”

“Heh, I’ve met a lot of people who give a shove to a falling wall. This is the first time I’ve met someone who helps people anonymously.”

Alyssa wondered who was influential enough to make Terrel give up ninety million.

“It must be my friend in America...” she mumbled, nibbling the apple thoughtfully.

She gnawed at her lower lip and ate up the rest of the apple. After that, she walked up to Terrel and said to him, “Well, tell him never to tell me that he helped me with this. I can pay him back nine hundred bucks. But ninety million? If he asks me to repay him, let him wait until I’ve earned it penny by penny.”

Terrel was shocked to hear that. Shouldn’t she have been moved to tears by now? Or at least show a single sign of being grateful?

“It's me who saved you ninety million. If you want to thank somebody, it should be me,” Terrel announced.

He didn’t want Neville to take all the credit.

“Are you kidding me?

I cried and begged in your office, but you remained nonchalant as if your heart were made of stone. But before I reached the airport, you brought me back here. You changed your mind because of your brother. So I have him to thank for this.”

Terrel felt unfair. Neville and he had argued over this matter.

He had had the new contract drafted, and signed it himself, despite knowing that he would lose a lot of money over it. However, in the end, the girl wasn’t grateful at all.

“Humph, look how arrogant you are now. Who can imagine this is the same girl who had cried her heart out in my office?” Terrel taunted.

Alyssa wasn’t embarrassed. She maintained her composure and looked at him as if he was an idiot.

“Women’s tears are supposed to be shed in front of men, because most of men will go soft when they see a woman crying. I didn’t know you back then, but it was worth a shot.”

Terrel gaped at her words. So, all the tears and the despair were just an act? Wow, so manipulative!

“Anyway, thanks. Oh, give three bows to your brother for me. Thank him for helping me out. But I won’t be able to repay him this life, so maybe next life.”

Holding the contract, Alyssa was on cloud nine as if she had just made ninety million.

She made her way towards the door. Then suddenly she turned around and walked backwards as she teased Terrel, "Hey, handsome, if I had met you a few years earlier, I would have chased after you. You’re so charming when you smile.”

Alyssa was always charmed by good-looking men. Terrel was her type, tall, handsome. The stud earring on his left ear added wildness to his presence. When he smiled, his two protruding canine teeth were revealed. His almond eyes were bright like rays of morning sunshine. Alyssa had thought him good-looking at first sight.

“What the hell?” To Terrel’s surprise, he found himself flustered, a tinge of embarrassment creeping across his face. For the first time in his life, he was teased by a woman.

Upstairs, Neville was mad.

Damn you, Terrel! I chased after her for five years and ended up in failure. You did nothing, and now she is saying that she wants to pursue you! Go to hell! he cursed.

Alyssa, on the other hand, felt that life was hopeful and full of surprises now that her purpose had been achieved. She had been both physically and mentally exhausted. The two apples helped.

After she walked out of the house, Terrel turned on the monitor in the yard and watched. Alyssa kissed the contract and suddenly turned her head. At first, Terrel thought she had found out he was watching. But then she flashed a wicked smile and muttered to herself, “Humph, I’ve read so many love stories. You thought I couldn’t handle you? A piece of cake. Alas! To think about it, it was quite scary. They are gangsters. Gotta run! I will never come here again.”

She rubbed her shaking legs and started running. Pissed, Terrel could hardly contain his impulse to smash things in the living room. What the fuck? I lost so much money because of some stupid love stories?

Neville laughed so hard he rolled onto the floor.

This was the Alyssa he knew. When you messed with her, she would either get back at you verbally or shower you with her fists.

She was hot-tempered, bossy but also mischievous and adorable. That was why he liked her. Her appearance always brought a smile to his face. He had never felt this way about anyone else.

Alyssa went straight to the airport and came back to China by the earliest flight. When the plane touched down, she felt that her new life had just started. After all this, she decided not to be kind and cordial to people anymore.

Kind people made easy targets.

Business people cared only about interests.

They didn’t give a damn about other people. It was sad and pathetic.