As she had expected, a leopard would never change its spots, even after five years.

She glanced at the breakfast laid out on the table and said, “Mr. Hunt, I have something to attend to and have to skip breakfast. I’ll be off.”

She didn’t forget to pat Ray’s head before shutting the door behind her.

Tyler looked at the empty plate opposite his, the corner of his lips tugging upward.

Ray approached him, rubbing against his calf as though comforting him.

Tyler glanced at the invitation card under a book on the table.

Very soon, they would meet again. Tonight.

Rachel and Cecilia met at a cafe, coincidentally bumping into William and Samantha, who were having a tussle.

Samantha looked disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed as she tugged at the hem of William’s shirt.

“William, tell me! Where were you last night?”

“I told you I was at the office, but you refuse to believe me. Check the surveillance footage in the office if you want to.”

William smoothed out his jacket, the tenderness in his eyes for Samantha in the past all but gone.

Rachel was long over it, but lamented inwardly at the scene before her.

No matter how loving a couple, one would naturally become more sensitive and possessive as the days passed. Their ugliest sides would be exposed to each other.

Without enough love between them, tolerating each other day by day would be an impossible task.

At that moment, Samantha tried to stop William from leaving.

In Rachel’s mind, Samantha had always been adorable, pure, and innocent. Her favorite pastime was behaving coquettishly with William.

Rachel had never seen Samantha acting so desperate and repulsive.

In fact, it was worse than how she had behaved in the past.

William couldn’t hide the irritation in his eyes. “I need to attend a meeting later. You know that many things have been cropping up at work. Can’t you just put aside our personal issues for the time being?”

Samantha, however, was bent on getting to the bottom of the matter. “I just have one question. Why were you with Rachel last night? Don’t you love me, William?”

Just then, William received another call from work. He lifted his phone for Samantha to see, all out of patience.

“You can see it for yourself. I must return to the office right now. We’ll talk more back home.”

With that, he pushed her away and walked toward his car parked along the road.

Samantha’s face flushed red with anger, biting her lip hard as she watched William walk away. Incidentally, her gaze met Rachel’s. Filled with bottled-up rage, she marched toward Rachel.

Seeing the aggressive look in Samantha’s eyes, Rachel prepared herself for an outburst.

To her surprise, Samantha’s knees dropped to the ground.

Rachel took a step back in fright. “Ms. Judd, what are you doing?”

Rachel was fully prepared for battle, but Samantha surprised her by kneeling before her.

Instead of fighting head-on, smart people would often choose to hide a dagger behind a smile. A hidden dagger was more dangerous, after all.

Samantha’s eyes were red and brimming with tears as she looked pitifully at Rachel.

“Rachel, I know you must have hated me back then. You must have hated William for loving me so deeply and letting you down, but you can’t force love. I’m content with how things panned out between William and me. Can’t you just let us be?”