Yvonne Sutton woke up in the middle of the night, parched. She sat up, disoriented. Remembering something, she quickly felt the space beside her. She relaxed when her hand found Claire Lawrence. She grabbed her phone to check the time, then went to the small living room outside to get some water.

After drinking some water, she lay down on the living room floor.

The night was deep and dark, and she felt a little cold. Suddenly, she had a strong urge to call Wyatt Shaw and hear his voice.

She made the call, and he answered almost immediately.

"What’s wrong?" His gentle voice came through the phone.

Yvonne wanted to speak but let out a drunken hiccup first. "I... HIC... miss... you..."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "I’ll be home as soon as I can."

"I wanted to tell you something..."

"What is it?"

"Can I get a dog?"

"Are you asking me if *I* can scoop poop for your dog, is that it?"

"Huh?"

She had really just wanted to ask if he would agree.

When she was young, her family had a dog for twelve years, but it died the year she started high school. Ever since, she had wanted to get another one, but Vincent Reed didn’t like dogs and wouldn’t let her.

"Okay. I’ll give it baths, brush its fur, scoop its poop, and feed it. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters."

Yvonne’s eyes grew warm, and she felt like crying.

"You’re so good to me."

"Good girl. Go back to sleep."

"Okay. I’ll wait for you to come home."

In the conference room, the heads of various departments held their breath, waiting for President Shaw to finish his call.

The head of the tech department, who had just been subjected to a soul-crushing interrogation by President Shaw, suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to cry upon hearing that gentle voice. ’How can the difference between people be so vast?’ he thought. ’I want President Shaw to treat me gently, too. Even if it’s just to gently say: Get lost.’ Yes, he wanted to escape this place!

The others felt much the same. They were all trying to guess which deity on the other end of the line could make the ruthless President Shaw, a man who wouldn’t bat an eye at killing, lower himself like this. He was even willing to scoop dog poop?

It was completely backwards!

After hanging up, the smile vanished from Wyatt Shaw’s face instantly. He looked at the people below him. "This laughable proposal is what all your departments came up with together? Should I give you all a day off to get your heads checked?"

On the third day, Yvonne was woken by the sound of the doorbell.

She glanced at the still-sleeping Claire Lawrence, then threw on a robe and went downstairs to open the door. It was two housekeepers. The floor tiles had been laid, and the whole place needed a thorough cleaning.

She asked the two housekeepers to start cleaning downstairs while she went upstairs to wake up Claire.

"I’m going furniture shopping today. Want to come with me?"

Claire struggled to sit up for a moment before flopping back down. "My head hurts. I want to sleep."

"They’re installing the cabinets today, so it might get loud," she added.

Claire rolled over. "As long as they don’t dismantle this bed, I’m not getting out of it."

Yvonne smiled. "Alright, I’ll order you some breakfast then. Make sure you eat it."

"Mmm, okay."

Yvonne got dressed, and just as she was about to leave, her phone chimed. She took it out and saw a message from someone saved as ’Husky.’

’Husky? Who’s that?’

She opened the message and saw a location and a time, followed by a line of text: *Director Sherman doesn’t like people who are late, nor does he like flatterers. Remember these two points.*

Yvonne was confused for a good while before she remembered who it was. Silas Rhodes. He had asked to add her on WeChat, she’d agreed, and then she’d saved his contact as ’Husky’ right in front of him.

Back inside, Yvonne woke Claire up again and showed her the message.

Claire was also confused for a moment, then she shrieked.

"Yvonne, you’re my savior!"

"Don’t get too excited. Go to the audition first."

That woke Claire right up. She bounced happily to the bathroom to wash up, but one look in the mirror made her cry out.

"This mop of turkey-red hair!"

There was no way she could go to an audition like that. Yvonne quickly went with her to get her hair dyed black, then called a taxi for her.

"Driver, please hurry. She’s running late."

Yvonne only breathed a sigh of relief after watching the taxi disappear into the distance.

As she took the subway to the furniture store, she suddenly remembered that she seemed to have gotten up for water last night, and then... and then she’d called someone.

A thought struck her, and she quickly checked her call history.

Just as she’d thought. She had called Wyatt Shaw.

She’d said she wanted a dog? And he’d said he was willing to scoop its poop?

Yvonne clapped a hand over her mouth. ’What have I done!’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

That afternoon, an excited Claire called her. She’d passed the audition! It was only a small supporting role, not even high enough to be ranked in the credits, but she finally had a job.

"I’m heading to Stratos Entertainment now. Wait for my good news!"

"Okay."

After choosing the furniture, Yvonne was taking the subway home when Mina Adler sent her a voice message, telling her to get online and check out the drama. She went online, looked at the trending topics, scrolled down a bit, and saw a video of Wendy Winters crying in an elevator after being rejected from her audition for Director Sherman’s new movie.

Claire had been chosen, but Wendy had been rejected.

She didn’t understand the world of acting and had even less interest in gawking at Wendy’s misfortune. She glanced at it once and closed the page.

When she got back to her villa and was passing Vincent Reed’s, she saw him and Wendy Winters getting out of a car.

Wendy’s eyes were still red. When she saw Yvonne, her expression darkened, and she went straight inside.

"You know Silas Rhodes?" Vincent Reed asked her.

She couldn’t be bothered to deal with someone clearly just looking for trouble, so she kept walking toward her house.

"Silas Rhodes is surrounded by countless women. He’s only interested in you because you’re something new!"

Seeing that Yvonne was ignoring him, Vincent Reed angrily stepped forward and grabbed her arm.

"You don’t actually think he’d fall for you, do you?"

Yvonne forcefully shook his hand off. "Vincent Reed, please, stop pestering me! You and I are over. What I do and who I associate with is none of your business!"

Enraged, Vincent Reed shoved Yvonne against the wall, pressing his body against hers.

"Vincent Reed!" Yvonne roared.

Vincent stared intently at Yvonne’s face. When he saw the defensiveness and disgust in her eyes, his expression froze.

"You... you just broke up with me, and you’re already so eager to find a replacement?"

"Let go of me!" Yvonne shoved hard at Vincent.

"Are you that desperate? That starved for a man?"

"You bastard!"

"You’re used goods, and you still want to climb into a bed of the Rhodes Family? You really don’t know your place!"

Yvonne finally broke free and slapped Vincent across the face.

"I can’t believe I liked scum like you for eight years. I must have been blind!"

With that, Yvonne strode to her front door. Just as she was about to enter the code, Vincent caught up and grabbed her arm again.

His face was a mask of fury as he glared at her.

"You hit me. Yvonne Sutton, you dared to hit me!"

"If you don’t let go of me right now, I’m calling the police!"

"Wendy was rejected. I know you were behind it. I’m only giving you one warning this time. If there’s a next time, I won’t let you off!"

"Well, I must be pretty amazing then. But what’s the use of spouting this nonsense at me? Why don’t you tell her to work on her acting instead!"

"Yvonne Sutton!"

"Stop shouting at my doorstep. If the neighbors don’t know any better, they’ll think I’ve got a rabid dog in my yard!"

Vincent glared at her, and she glared right back at him.

Just then, Wendy Winters appeared a few steps away and called out, "What are you two doing?"