Rachel felt like her fingertips were on fire, burning intensely, and her heart was pounding hard in her chest.
Oh my God, what's happening to me?
She quickly pulled her hand back, her face flushed. "Alright... alright, let's eat. The food will get cold if we don't." With that, she buried her head in her plate and started eating quickly.
He smiled slightly, watching her nearly bury her face in her bowl. The amusement in his eyes seemed to deepen. "Do you like me, Rachel?"
"Of course I do," she replied almost without hesitation.
"I like you too, Rachel. A lot," he said with a warm smile, as if he hadn't found anyone this interesting in a long time.
After the inspection at the city management office, Mackenzie turned to Rachel and said, "Rachel, our high school classmates are planning a reunion this weekend. You should come."
A reunion? Rachel chuckled to herself. In her current situation, attending a reunion would only invite ridicule. "No, I have plans. I won't be able to make it," she said.
"Come on, it's rare for everyone to get together. What plans could you possibly have? Just join us," Mackenzie urged, clearly eager for Rachel to attend the reunion.
Back in high school, Rachel had been the top student and the class beauty. If she showed up like this now, it would surely shock everyone. Mackenzie couldn't wait for their old classmates to see Rachel's current state.
"I have to work this weekend. You don't think my job gives me weekends off, do you?" Rachel replied.
Mackenzie was momentarily at a loss for words. She had indeed forgotten.
"But…"
"I need to take out the trash now. We'll talk later." Without waiting for Mackenzie to finish, Rachel turned and walked away.
She wasn't naive; she could clearly see Mackenzie's intentions.
What she didn't expect was that despite her efforts to avoid him, on Sunday, the deputy director specifically assigned her to deliver a document to someone at the City Management Bureau—located in one of the luxury clubs in Shen City.
Ordinary sanitation workers couldn't even get into such clubs. But when she arrived at the club entrance, a staff member, as if expecting her, was waiting and led her through a side door into the club.
The staff member opened one of the private rooms. Inside, the large room was filled with people.
As soon as Rachel stepped in, she heard a somewhat familiar voice say, "Look who's here!"
Rachel saw Mackenzie, Vanessa, and several high school classmates. The one who spoke was Mackenzie.
In an instant, she understood. This was all Mackenzie's plan. Since Mackenzie worked at the City Management Bureau, the sanitation department leaders naturally wanted to maintain good relations. If Mackenzie mentioned needing to see a trivial document and specified who should deliver it, the deputy director would certainly comply.
"See, I told you! Our class beauty is now a sanitation worker!" Vanessa said with a smug smile.
At that moment, Rachel's sanitation worker uniform stood out like a sore thumb in the luxurious private room.
"Isn't this our class's top student and beauty? After three years in prison, I almost didn't recognize you. Ralph used to dote on you, didn't he? How come he's letting you work as a sanitation worker now?" someone sneered.
Rachel's body stiffened slightly. The name Ralph always stabbed at her heart every time she heard it.
The person who spoke stepped closer. She recognized him as Silas, from a well-known family in Shen City. He had chased after her back in school.
When she started dating Ralph, Silas had even tried to assault her. Ralph had taught him a lesson, and only then did Silas back off and stop bothering her.
Rachel ignored Silas and walked straight to Mackenzie, handing over the documents. "These should be the files you wanted."
Mackenzie gave a fake smile as she took the papers. "Rachel, I'm really sorry to trouble you again."
Just as Rachel was about to leave the room, Silas grabbed her arm from behind. "Why the rush? It's a reunion; let's catch up."
He held a glass of red wine to Rachel's lips. "Come on, drink this. You were jailed for drunk driving, right? Don't tell me you can't drink."
Rachel pressed her lips tightly and turned her head away, pushing Silas off with all her strength.
Silas stumbled, spilling the wine all over himself. Furious, he slapped Rachel across the face. "You think you're still Ralph's girlfriend? You're just a street cleaner now. Don't refuse my toast!"
He grabbed a bottle of wine and poured it over Rachel's head, drenching her.
Mackenzie chuckled. "Rachel, you should apologize to Silas. Maybe he'll forgive you."
Apologize? Rachel found that laughable. She was the one being humiliated, yet she was supposed to apologize?
Rachel bit her lip, her clear eyes flashing with defiance despite her messy state.
But her defiance only made Silas angrier. "Rachel, you still think you're Ralph's girlfriend? I'm giving you a chance to make amends. No one would stand up for you even if I took you right here!"
Silas pushed Rachel to the ground.
With a ripping sound, her clothes tore, exposing her skin.
"No!" she screamed.
But the so-called classmates just stood there, silent, not even moving to help.
Three years in prison, barely seeing sunlight, had left her skin paler than most, but covered in scars. Some of these scars were still fresh, looking scary and ugly.
These were all from her time in jail.
She struggled to cover herself and tried to get up. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her hand.
She froze and looked down to see Vanessa's high heel digging into the back of her right hand.
"Hey, Rachel, what's the rush? You haven't properly apologized to our dear Mr. Shen yet," Vanessa sneered, her eyes full of cruelty, wanting Rachel to suffer even more.
She pressed down harder with her heel.
The awful pain in her hand reminded Rachel of prison days when her bones were broken piece by piece. Back then, she couldn't fight back, forced to take it like an ant.
But now, Rachel gathered all her strength, yanked her left hand free from Silas's grip, and shoved Vanessa off her right hand. Then she dashed out of the room as fast as she could.
She had to escape. She had to get out of there!
Clutching her torn clothes, Rachel ran desperately. Suddenly, a powerful force knocked her to the ground, and a heavy foot stomped hard on her back.
Pain... so much pain!
Her back felt like it was burning.
She heard Silas's voice right in her ear, "What, you think you can escape from here? Don't you know my family is a shareholder in this club... huh?"
Silas's words trailed off suddenly.
Then, Rachel heard a voice she knew all too well, "Silas, what do you think you're doing?"
Rachel's body instantly froze. That voice... it was Ralph.
Once, she thought he would protect her from every storm, but in the end, he discarded her without a second thought.
Rachel couldn't stop trembling. She never imagined that after getting out of prison, their reunion would be so humiliating.
"So, you're here dining with your fiancée today? What a coincidence. Your ex-girlfriend is having dinner with me too. But she refused to drink with me and made me unhappy. You want to stand up for her?" Silas sneered, yanking Rachel's hair and forcing her to look up at Ralph.
Ralph's familiar face came into view.