Chapter 12 Bow Down And Accept Defeat

• Yasmin looked at the photo and found that it was, indeed, Lionel. Serena had probably captured him on her phone secretly— the quality of the photo was abysmal, but it was enough to capture the overwhelming aura of power that was radiating from the man.
• “Oh, forget about it. I would never get together with a guy like Mr. Holloway. He’s colder than ice and he has a mouth like a devil’s. You would be frozen to death before you could even ask, ‘how do you do.’ “ Yasmin had no interest in Lionel. Well, truth be told, she had felt her heart flutter after the first night they met— Lionel was simply too handsome; he was far too accomplished, and it was impossible for one to have not noticed him at first glance.
• However, the ensuing events had brought Yasmin to have a change of heart. Lionel had turned out to be someone who was very difficult to get close to. Besides, after she found out about his identity as the company’s boss, she had quickly extinguished what little hope she had of getting together with him.
• “Yasmin, you don’t understand anything!” Serena sat up in bed with her head resting on her hands. Her eyes looked a little starry, and her mouth was slightly ajar as she daydreamed aloud. “A man like Mr. Holloway is the best sort of man there is! Think about it— he’s the sort of guy who would give his all to the woman who manages to win his heart! If you don’t have the courage to pursue him, he’ll be the sort of man that you’ll only be able to admire from afar for the rest of your life. However, once you manage to wrap him around your finger, you can get him to do anything for you! Perhaps you could even get him to kneel before you and admit defeat!”
• “Wrap him around my finger?” A scandalous image of Lionel lying naked and expressionless in bed as she teased him with an arsenal of whips popped into her mind. Yasmin shivered in horror at the idea. “You seem to understand him very well, don’t you?”
• Yasmin understood Serena’s logic, but she didn’t feel inclined to agree to her statement. She picked up a glass of water from the bedside table and took a sip from it. Serena had likely brought up that topic to change the subject and shift Yasmin’s attention away from the sad news of her mother. However, Yasmin couldn’t help but worry anyway.
• The previous night, Jane had informed her that Linda was back. Barely a day later, Rosanne had found Clara, making her so upset that she needed to be hospitalized. Yasmin suspected that the matter wasn’t as simple as it had seemed to be.
• “Oh, right, Yasmin. You still haven’t told me how you met Mr. Holloway.” Serena finally recalled the important question that she was going to ask Yasmin. Snuggling up to her with shining eyes, Serena asked excitedly, “You said that he has a mouth like a devil’s, didn’t you? And what was that about you returning his clothes to his assistant? Tell me honestly— have you slept with him yet?”
• “Slept with him? Don’t be ridiculous!” Yasmin grabbed a book, smacking Serena’s head with it. She had no wish to continue on such a topic.
• However, Serena refused to concede to her. Seeing as such, she leaped over and started to tickle Yasmin, causing her to squeal uncontrollably. She was very sensitive to tickles, and Serena made her laugh until tears were streaming out of her eyes. Seeing as such, Yasmin had no other option but to tell the latter everything.
• “Wow! How could things have gone so haywire on your blind date? Anyway, it’s just my opinion, but I think that Mr. Holloway has a thing for you!” Serena exclaimed.
• Yasmin, who had been taking another sip of water, accidentally spat it out on Serena again. “Oh, do be quiet!”
• Serena pouted as she stared at Yasmin indignantly, water dripping down from her fringe.
• “I’m sorry about that! Try not to make me laugh while I’m drinking water next time.” Yasmin didn’t sound sorry at all— on the contrary, she took one look at Serena and burst into laughter, rolling all around the bed simultaneously.
• “Ugh!” Serena dashed huffily into the bathroom to wipe her face dry. A minute later, she came out and uttered solemnly to Yasmin, “Yas, don’t laugh at me. I’m telling you the truth! My instincts have always been accurate— I really do think that Mr. Holloway likes you in a romantic manner.”
• Yasmin rubbed her forehead tiredly as she replied, “My dear, we only just met each other yesterday!”
• Serena gazed at her unblinkingly. “Have you never heard of love at first sight?”
• Love at first sight? Hearing this, Yasmin’s heart skipped a beat. However, she burst into laughter almost immediately. “Serena, do your instincts mean to tell you that Mr. Holloway, a man who was born to an aristocratic family and who has a net worth that rivals that of a small country, fell in love at first sight with me? Let me remind you that I’m merely a lowly employee at his company who’s invisible to most people.”
• Serena nodded her head gravely.
• Yasmin flung a pillow at her as she snapped, “Get out of here! Do you think that you’re living in a Korean drama where a rich CEO would fall in love with a poor girl?”
• Serena caught the pillow sulkily. “Oh, whatever. Don’t believe me, then!” She thought about it and acknowledged the fact that the difference in Yasmin and Mr. Holloway’s status meant that a relationship was unlikely to blossom between them. However, she still believed in her own instincts.
• Today, when Yasmin had fallen on Lionel twice in the car, Serena had taken notice of the expression on Lionel’s face as he gazed at her friend...
• There was nothing that was impossible on this earth. Love, at first sight, could definitely happen between two people.
• As the night went on, Serena fell asleep quickly, but Yasmin remained wide awake. Her childhood had been a very blissful one— her mother had been a school teacher, and her father had left his job twenty years prior, starting his own business. Although their family was not wealthy by any means, she never had to worry about her next meal.
• It wasn’t until she was twenty-one years old that she understood how fragile happiness could be.
• Back then, her best friend of many years, Linda, had knelt before her and informed her that she was pregnant with Henry’s baby. Linda had begged her to give them her blessings. Yasmin had taken a long time to come to terms with it, but what happened afterward sent her entire life crashing down around her.
• She had never suspected that the girl who had transferred to her primary school one day, who had entered and left her home as she pleased, who often acted cute to her father, and who looked just a little too much like her, was actually her half-sister...
• This was the sort of crazy plotline that one would find in a Mexican soap opera. However, it happened to Yasmin instead.
• Just as Yasmin was about to fall asleep, there was a quiet knock on the door. She heard Jane’s voice outside. “Yasmin, are you asleep?”
• “Not yet!” Worried that she would wake Serena up, Yasmin whispered softly in reply before she put on her robe and rushed out of the room.
• Jane glanced at her and asked, “Is Serena here?”
• “We went out for dinner just now and we returned a little late. She decided to rest at my place instead. Anyway, why were you looking for me?” Yasmin asked, seeing that she had detected a trace of worry on Jane’s face.
• Jane pursed her lips and wanted to say something, but decided against it in the end. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something and asked, “Yas, could— could you lend me three thousand first? I’ll return the money when they give me my pay next month.”
• “Sure! Wait here for a moment.” Yasmin went into her room and returned with her phone. “I don’t have that much cash on me right now. Is it okay if I transfer the money to you?”
• “No problem!” Jane nodded her head vigorously. Her phone beeped with a new notification, and she looked down to see that Yasmin had transferred the money to her. “Thanks,” Jane uttered gratefully once again, “I’ll return the money the moment they give me my pay!”
• “It’s okay, it isn’t urgent!” Yasmin wanted to ask Jane why she had suddenly needed to borrow money, but she recalled that Jane had told her this morning that her mother and brother were dropping by for a visit.
• Because they had been roommates in university and were renting a flat together now, Yasmin had a pretty clear understanding of Jane’s family situation. The blood-sucking relatives of her were probably here to borrow money from her again. Otherwise, there was no way that someone as independent and as strong-minded as Jane would have borrowed money from a friend.
• Yasmin watched as Jane entered her room, her thin frame swaying slightly in the wind. She couldn’t help but sigh. Indeed, every family was unhappy in its own way— nobody could go through life without a single hitch.
• Just as she felt as though her world was crashing down around her, and that she was the most unfortunate person on earth, life had found a way to show her that there were some people who didn’t even have their own fates in their hands.