Chapter 2
“Aria, are you sure you want to go? Although it’s officially an exchange program for dance students, it’s actually a three-year closed training known as the ‘dance world’s reform school’! Every year people drop out because they can’t handle it.”
“Once I submit your name to the school, it can’t be withdrawn. Think it over carefully.”
Faced with her teacher’s questioning, Aria still nodded firmly.
“Teacher, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll go.”
As long as she could get away from Ethan Foster, she would go through fire and water. How could it be worse than a year in prison?
The teacher sighed lightly.
“Alright then, you’ll leave in seven days.”
Seven days?
Aria was taken aback.
“By the way, does your uncle know about this? He used to handle all your affairs with me. Is he going abroad with you this time?”
She didn’t know how to respond to that.
After a long silence, she finally replied in a low voice.
“He can’t go.”
Just as she finished speaking, the door was pushed open.
Aria quickly hung up the phone and met Ethan’s gaze.
He came in carrying a glass of warm milk and dinner, which he set down on the coffee table.
“I can’t go? Go where?”
Aria flipped her phone face down, startled as she stood up. But when she saw the food, she reflexively rushed over and knelt down, pouring the milk into the bowl and then dumping it all into her pocket.
Then she kowtowed to Ethan three times, saying over and over:
“Please don’t hit me, I haven’t eaten in a week.”
Ethan was shocked by this scene, disgust evident in his voice.
“Aria Collins! What are you doing now!”
“If it wasn’t to get your body healthy so you can donate a kidney to Sophia as soon as possible, I absolutely wouldn’t have let you out in your current state!”
“Do you want to go back in there?”
Ethan stormed out, slamming the door behind him. The anger surging through him nearly broke through his self-control.
Actually, the first moment he saw Aria today, his heart ached terribly.
The little girl he once cherished and protected had been tortured to skin and bones, completely losing her former adorable appearance.
But he couldn’t allow that kind of immoral relationship to happen, so he hardened his heart to teach her a lesson.
He thought that after he married Sophia and everything was settled, she would still be his most precious girl.
After Ethan left, Aria gradually came back to her senses.
This wasn’t the reform school. She was back home.
Aria went through her nightly routine mechanically.
From time to time, the sound of a woman’s gasps and moans could be heard from the room across the hall.
Without thinking, she knew how intense it must be in there.
Perhaps they were deliberately letting her hear. The woman’s voice became increasingly clear.
But Aria hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in so long that she fell into a deep slumber within minutes.
The next morning when she woke up, she smelled the aroma of delicious food wafting up from downstairs.
She had just sat down at the dining table when Sophia smiled and poured a glass of wine.
Then under Aria’s gaze, she downed it in one gulp.
Sophia’s body immediately began turning red at an alarming rate, breaking out in hives all over.
Aria looked at her with concern.
“Don’t you know you’re allergic to alcohol? I’ll go call the family doctor.”
Sophia gave her an inscrutable smile, then suddenly cried out.
“Ethan, help!”
Ethan rushed over. Sophia’s tears immediately began falling.
“Aria, I don’t know why you forced me to drink. I clearly said I’m allergic to alcohol and can’t have even a drop.”
Aria opened her mouth to explain, but was angrily cut off by Ethan.
“I warned you last night to keep your dirty thoughts to yourself! If anything happens to Sophia, I absolutely won’t let you off!”
“Keep an eye on her until I get back!”
Ethan anxiously picked Sophia up and rushed out the door.
Everything happened so fast that Aria had no time to react.
It wasn’t until she met Sophia’s provocative gaze that she realized she had fallen into Sophia’s trap.
Sophia was certain Ethan wouldn’t listen to any of her explanations right now, and she was right.
Aria’s eyes darkened, a hint of self-mockery in them.
Just how confident and fearless must Sophia be to drink that glass of wine without hesitation?
In the year she spent in reform school, Ethan had completely become another woman’s man.
Aria no longer harbored any lingering attachment. She got up and went upstairs to pack her bags.