Lorena didn't understand how she had managed to get through the suffocating atmosphere of that vast hall. Even when hundreds of camera flashes were constantly firing in her direction, she had never felt this breathless.

Throughout the entire gala, she did only one thing.

Breathe. She did nothing but breathe.

She drilled her gaze into the patterns, the ornate motifs carved into the lavish architectural walls. Stare at the chandeliers long enough and they would blur her vision.

A chaotic swirl, spinning without end. Voices echoing, laughter without names.

Until the chest that had been rising and falling could no longer contain the turmoil called "emotion." It screamed, demanding to be released.

///////////////////////

At the end of a long corridor with no destination, the sound of heels striking the floor rose sharply in the still air. Like the prelude to something waiting to erupt.

A light touch on her shoulder.

Lorena spun around, using all her strength, and drove a punch straight into that face.

Her eyes were bloodshot. Rage, bitterness, hatred all tangled within.

The woman's face snapped to the side. Natsha staggered, trying to steady her breathing. She shook her head lightly, willing the blur before her eyes to clear.

The corner of her lips had never fully healed; now the wound was worse. One side of her mouth bruised purple. Blood pooled, her right cheek flushed red. That punch, Lorena had truly used all her strength.

Natsha braced herself against the wall and looked at her. That gaze only made Lorena more furious. She swung another punch into Natsha's stomach. She hit without restraint, without mercy.

Natsha clutched her abdomen, drawing in a sharp breath of cold air. A kick to her leg made her knees buckle. Another strike. Lorena's foot slammed straight into her chest.

Natsha collapsed face-up on the floor, limbs slack. Lorena straddled her, grabbed the collar of her vest, and yanked her up.

"Bastard!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "Why aren't you fighting back? WHY?"

Lorena jerked her collar violently. But Natsha only looked at her with that same gaze.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH THAT LOOK!" Hypocritical. Disgusting. Lorena wanted to gouge out those eyes right then and there.

Natsha raised her hand and gently placed it over the trembling hands gripping her collar.

"Let me say something, okay?" She said, her voice hoarse. She coughed a few times.

Lorena wanted to firmly say "no" but her lips refused to move.

"It's fake."

Two short words, striking straight into Lorena's mind. Enough to cool the extreme heat that had wanted to burn down whatever dared trespass her forbidden ground.

With difficulty, Natsha pushed herself upright. Her stomach twisted painfully as the bruised muscles were forced to work again.

She gently wrapped an arm around Lorena's waist. Eyes half-closed, she leaned the cheek that hadn't been struck against Lorena's shoulder.

"Emily and I are only cooperating a little. Before I entered the entertainment industry, my father gave me a condition. I have to get married before I turn twenty-nine. If I refuse, then I must obediently apprentice under him and take over the corporation." She explained, her body barely intact yet still swaying softly, as if soothing someone.

"The child in Emily's womb isn't mine either. It's hers and her beta's. Because of certain circumstances, she and I had no choice but to work together." Natsha could feel Lorena's body no longer rigid like before, gradually relaxing.

"I planned to settle everything first, then come find you. But you kept unintentionally hovering in front of me, so I couldn't hold back." She smiled. Her eyes were half-closed, yet their shape still curved slightly with a small, secret joy.

"Who was hovering in front of whom?" Lorena said in a low voice, faintly dark.

"Mm. It's fate that made you appear in front of me." Natsha corrected herself, yet remained incorrigible. Not a trace of seriousness.

"Don't doubt me." Natsha softened her voice. "What I said that night was true."

That night's words... Right. Had she found the answer within her own heart yet?

"Why..." Lorena hesitated. "... did you say that?"

"Because it was from my heart." Natsha pulled away from her shoulder. Her face shifted rapidly through expressions, only for her to hiss in pain at her own movement.

"Besides, the deadline is almost here." Natsha shrugged, supporting herself with her hands behind her. The expression that Lorena considered "shameless" but the public deemed "pure and innocent" appeared once more.

"If I say 'yes' are you planning to propose to me right away?" Lorena frowned, lips curling upward.

"How did you know?" Natsha nodded rapidly, eyes lighting up.

Lorena's lips twitched at Natsha's excessive enthusiasm. Did this person even know how to spell the word "dignity"?

Natsha fumbled beneath her white shirt and pulled out a silver chain threaded through a metal ring encased in brilliant red ruby fragments.

Lorena had only asked casually, intending to make things difficult for her. Yet somehow ended up cornering herself instead.

She immediately stood up abruptly. Her eyes darted everywhere except at Natsha's face.

"Are you insane?" Lorena exhaled sharply, her voice slightly unsteady. "At least be crazy in moderation."

She lifted her foot and walked away, her steps chaotic enough to be obvious to the naked eye. Natsha froze, then called after her.

"I'm serious!"

Natsha dragged her battered body after Lorena.