Annie woke up to her obnoxiously loud alarm set everyday at 6:00am, almost destroying it with her fist. Annie didn’t have much to be thankful for in life, with her 8 step-sisters always harassing her for some unknown reason and the rest of her family which also hated her too for reasons beyond her control, however, she was glad that she could at least be thankful for one thing in her life. Suddenly, the door slammed open and a joyful little boy came rushing into her room to greet her, his hair a messy wreck of blonde curls and his sparkling blue eyes shining as always. “WAKE UP MOMHLJKFXGGH;JKTFSHG” the boy yelled at fucking 6am in the goddamned morning. Annie bolted upright in shock just as her son flew into her arms. The five year old boy was named Star, and greatly resembled Annie with their shared blonde locks and light skin, their only mismatched attribute being her brown eyes and his blue ones. Annie, in all honesty, thought his name was fucking stupid, and would have never named her son this. However, it was Star’s father who decided that having such a cringey name would be beneficial for the child, even though Annie knew deep inside that this would definitely get the poor boy bullied at school.

‘Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz…’ out of the corner of her eye, Annie noticed her phone buzzing signalling that somebody was attempting to call her, on the screen flashing an ominous name. Annie rolled her eyes and simply turned her phone off, not bothering to listen to another one of her step-sisters complaining about how poor and ugly she was, even though Annie was actually fairly attractive and everyone else around her just looked either insanely plain or exceedingly beautiful for some reason. Annie decided that now would be a good time to get out of bed so that she and Star could get ready for their day. After all, today was a fairly important day as it was Star’s first day at school.

“C’mon Star, let’s get ready for school,” Annie yawned and got herself out of bed. Being a single mother was not a luxurious nor enviable position, the fact that Star had woken her up 3 times during the night was a grim reminder of this fact. And yet, this still did not change the terrible reality which was that Annie inevitably had to show up to work, regardless of the permanent fatigue that parenthood had bought upon the young lady. Shortly after preparing a simple breakfast of toast and peanut butter for herself and Star, Annie took her son to his first day at school. The school which Star was enrolled in was nothing fancy as Annie did not have the funds to pay the tuition fees of a well-renounced school, however, as long as she knew that her little boy was taken care of properly, Annie felt that she could rest a little easier.

“Be a good boy for your teachers, ok?” Annie smiled at her child. It had seemed like only yesterday did she have the little bundle of joy cradled in her arms blissfully, ignoring one of her many step-sisters which had come to taunt her about her lack of a significant other. Annie didn’t really like to admit it, but Star had been the product of a one-sided romance involving her and an old schoolmate. Annie hated to admit this even more, but this one-sided affection had originated from her falling for a cold and mysterious classmate, who she happened to run into during her college days after being out drinking with friends one night. Annie had always thought she had forgotten the emotions she held towards him, however, whenever she stared into those deep blue eyes, she had always ended up falling back into her bottomless obsession… actually, now that she did think about him, she felt like she would gladly smash his face in after he promised to take responsibility for their kid before promptly ditching her and Star once he was born. In fact, if she had the chance to right now, she felt that she would definitely hospitalise him and make him feel an amount of pain similar to what she had felt during labour. Alas, no such luck.

After bidding farewell to her child, Annie began to make her way towards her part-time job. Since she never finished college, Annie had a hard time finding jobs that she could work that would allow her to both look after Star and provide for the two of them. Ironically enough though, the only jobs she should seem to find that would fit these conditions were waitressing jobs at high-end restaurants, which somehow still only payed her the bare minimum wage. For another odd reason, Annie would always seem to attract unwanted attention from handsome and wealthy young men, whether it be one of her step sisters trying to frame her for attempting to sleep with one of these people, or simply an unenviable amount of sexual harassment. In fact, Annie usually got more money off of the court cases won from these unfavourable situations than she did at her part-time jobs, thanks to most of the perpetrators being rich and horny bastards.

Upon her arrival at work, Annie was promptly met with the bloodthirsty gazes of her fellow coworkers piercing through her skull. Annie found that no matter where she worked at, she was usually met with hatred directed towards her for some unknown reason, not that she cared much as any friends she did manage to make usually betrayed her by selling out her dignity to one of her step-sisters’ schemes. Regardless, Annie didn’t really give a shit anymore, and proceeded to ignore the cold glares of her coworkers. After clocking in, Annie then started to do the things that she would usually do at work, keeping in mind the time and how long she had left until her shift finished. Today, her shift happened to run until late in the night, and so she had prepared earlier for Star to be picked up and looked after by her grandmother, Teresa, who was for some reason the only person to treat Annie and her son with basic human decency. Annie never could understand why everyone around herself hated her being, it was entirely unreasonable to do so, she had figured a while ago that the author of this story must’ve just wanted Annie to suffer miserably for some strange and unknown reason. Was it perhaps a self insert from the authors own sad and miserable life? Or perhaps a self-reflection of a strange and somewhat masochistic hidden desire? Either way, in Annie’s opinion, it was kinda cringe.

As Annie began to think about ways to further break the fourth-wall, time started quickly flying by and soon enough, it would be the end of her shift at the restaurant. After the manager left, calling her slurs like ‘whore’ and ‘bitch’ for some reason, Annie would soon be free to close up the restaurant and head back home to her son, or so she thought. As the manager served their regular exaggerated and unnecessary insults to Annie, another customer came in, a tall man with white hair and blue eyes that looked annoyingly familiar to the waitress. Annie had to, unfortunately, resist the urge to kick him in a place that would disable him from having any more children due to the manager still dishing out an array of colourful insults, this time going so far as to insult Annie’s mother, not that Annie really minded as her mother was indeed a bitch. Just as Annie’s manager was about to unnecessarily slap her in the face, it was always the face for some reason, the mysterious customer seized the wrist of her boss, making them turn around in shock. “M-Mister Xian!” The manager exclaimed, “Wh-what are you doing herE?!?!?1?”

Annie rolled her eyes, the manager acting as if the restaurant was already closed and customers couldn’t just enter and leave as they pleased. In fact, there were still a few customers in the restaurant finishing up their meals, why did no one step in to help Annie? Even though they were just background characters, they should surely still notice that Annie’s manager was literally just about to slap her?? “You shouldn’t damage things that belong to other people,” Mr Xian replied, looking at Annie dead in the eyes with the straightest expression possible. Annie nearly choked.

“Please let me hit this guy, manager,” Annie pleaded, “I swear I’ll make sure he isn’t able to remember any of this in hospital, please.” The young man in front of Annie scoffed and grabbed her chin with his left hand, his frosty touch forcing her warm brown eyes to look up into his icy blue ones. Annie was this close to punching him in the face. This. Fucking. Close.

“As if you would dare to lay a finger on me,” Mr Xian mocked, playfully tracing his cold thumb over her lower lip, “After all, I am the father of our child.”

Our child.

Our child.

Since. Fucking. When. This fucker didn’t even pay for child support, he just up and dipped as soon as he named the poor kid a stupid name that would definitely get him bullied later on in life. Annie immediately hooked her right leg around his, making it buckle from underneath him, before grabbing his left arm swiftly and flinging him to the side into her bitchass manager. Annie didn’t really understand why every handsome male she met was noticeably taller than her, it’s not that she was short or anything either, every guy she met was just extraordinarily large. However, knowing this also gave Annie a chance to prepare for any future encounters with any problematic men, and so she had studied in advance a tactical way to avoid her towering opponents, secretly waiting for a day to come when she could beat the shit out of Harrison Xian. Today was that day. “Look, Xian,” Annie sighed, looking pitifully into his wide eyes filled with pure shock at her ruthless movements. Annie couldn’t really blame him, after all, the last time they had met was when Annie was heavily in love with the cold-blooded bastard. The current Annie was different though, and would definitely slap past Annie if she could.

“You ditched me with a child for five years, not even paying fucking child support or anything, and now you seriously come back to me out of nowhere barging back into my life acting all lovey-dovey hero-like for whatever fucking reason-” Annie pondered to herself for a moment, wondering how he managed to walk in at the exact same time as she was about to receive her daily harassment from her manager, let alone how he found her in the first place. “Wait a minute, how did you manage to find me?”

Annie had moved after Harrison Xian had ditched her, how the **** did he know which city she lived in, let alone where she worked? “Have you been stalking me or something?”

At this, Harrison’s pearly white cheeks slowly transformed into a deep crimson hue as he quickly looked away from Annie’s disgusted gaze. Annie would have had a stronger reaction if this was the first time she had been stalked, however, much to her own dismay, this was not the first time such an event had taken place. Annie wasn’t really sure why, but she had been stalked quite a few times by men, despite being a single mother minding her own goddamn business. Who knew, perhaps stalking young and overworked single mothers with a crippling caffeine addiction was a problem in this neighbourhood. However, some randos were one thing, but this bastard was an entirely different story. Just as the store closed and all the customers left, Annie managed to get a few good punches into the sorry lad before her manager was able to pry the angry lioness away from her somehow conscious prey.

(DISCLSIMER: this is a work of fiction, it’s also a parody romance novel and is meant to be taken comically. All the characters etc are fictional and are not related to real people or places in any way, shape or form)

If there was one thing that Annie enjoyed, it was her blissful Friday’s off. Annie was never scheduled to work a Friday shift, and Star was at school on Friday’s, thus, Annie had the whole day to herself… or so she liked to believe. Unfortunately for Annie, most of her Friday’s were spent on going grocery shopping for the week or running errands, this time she was out shopping for food. Annie sighed to herself, being an adult was indeed difficult. Such woes almost made her miss the time she spent with her family during her youth, being harassed daily yet having a free roof over her head and a guaranteed bed to sleep in most nights… almost. Annie quickly finished off picking up the items on her grocery list before heading to the check out to secure this week’s meals. After successfully paying for her items, her card didn’t decline thank god, Annie picked up her grocery bags and started walking the long journey back to the small apartment where both Star and herself resided. Annie didn’t make a lot of money at her part-time job, and so she couldn’t afford luxuries like a car or fuel and thus, had to travel most places via public transport or on foot. Unfortunately for Annie, public transport sucked in her area and so she usually had to make most of her journeys on foot. Suddenly, out of the corner of Annie’s eye, she caught a glimpse of two young men in a back alleyway, whispering amongst themselves and overall, looking pretty suspicious. Annie sighed to herself, she knew that she didn’t live in the best area, but still, did they really have to be doing this stuff in broad daylight? Annie couldn’t really believe how careless some people were. She decided to continue on, ignoring the two fellows, when suddenly a loud gunshot sounded from the opposite direction as one of the two young men in the alleyway dropped flat on the ground, a pool of dark red liquid forming around his head. Annie froze. What?

Annie knew that she didn’t live in the most desireable location, she knew that her neighbourhood wasn’t particularly the best nor safest place to reside in, and yet, out here, in broad daylight, some absolute lunatic was out here shooting a damn gun at two shady people in an alleyway. Annie wasn’t even that far from the Main Street, it wasn’t even afternoon yet, it was exactly 11am in the morning, and yet some absolute buffoon had the audacity to shoot a godamned gun right next to a grocery store. Annie turned around to have a good look at the idiot who thought it was a smart idea to go shooting guns in broad daylight, making the decision to go straight to the police station after giving whoever it was a good earful. Her brown eyes peered up into two crimson red ones, glaring at her from underneath a white fedora. The obnoxious stranger had long blonde locks flowing down to just below his shoulders and was wearing a grey and black suit, rather flashy for this time of day. Annie thought to herself for a minute, wondering how a person could have red eyes, when the tall male smirked down at her. “Shouldn’t you be running away by now, little miss?”

Seriously though, was he wearing contacts or something? Maybe this was a film site.. was he an actor? He certainly had the looks to be one. Annie sighed to herself, deciding that she didn’t have the time for this, especially if she wanted to get back home in time for her weekly episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha. “Aight, bye.” Annie shrugged, gathering her groceries and proceeding to make her way back home. She managed to take around a solid 5 steps before hearing the man she had left behind burst out laughing. Wow, it seemed that he really was some sort of lunatic. Annie decided to ignore this, however, another gunshot soon followed her next footstep, making her pause in her tracks as the bullet planted itself right next to her foot. “Where do you think you’re going?” The man behind her spoke in a low and ominous tone, making a chill run up Annie’s spine.

Annie could immediately tell that she would be in a bad situation if she didn’t manage to escape soon, but still, didn’t he literally just tell her to run away or something? Annie didn’t really want to run around though, it was midday and she was in the middle of carrying heavy groceries back home, she didn’t really have the energy to be fleeing at this moment. Annie dropped her groceries to the floor, deciding that she might as well get this interaction over and done with so that she could get back home sooner rather than later. Annie turned around to face the strange man with a gun, not really being able to tell what sort of gun it was, probably like a hand gun or something??? Annie had no idea. “Is there something you want..?” Annie sighed, folding her arms over her chest. If Annie kept on encountering weirdos like this on her way back home, she would never get back in time to watch the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha.

The idiot with the gun looked Annie up and down, making her a bit uncomfortable, before raising the hand holding the gun to his right and shooting the other man in the alleyway, not even looking away from Annie. Annie would have been impressed by his aim if it weren’t for the super awkward situation she was in, why was he just looking at her??? Annie could never understand some people. The man gave her a mischievous grin, “Interesting..” he said before walking towards her. Oh no, Annie knew what kind of a situation she was in when some handsome guy behaved in weird and somewhat morally-grey ways before saying the i-word. Annie immediately took a step back, but as she did the strange man walked right past her. What??? Annie froze again, becoming more and more confused at this man’s behaviour by the second. Annie turned around to face the direction he was walking to see the man step into a mysterious black vehicle which definitely was not there before, Annie was 100% certain of that.

Just as he was about to step in, the weirdo turned to face Annie once more, “You’re an interesting woman, let’s meet again sometime.” He chuckled before closing the car door and driving away. Annie blinked a few times after the strange man with the fedora had left the scene.

“I… I hallucinated that, right?” Annie mumbled to herself, picking up her groceries once more. It was a rather hot day today, perhaps Annie had somehow gotten heatstroke and imagined the entire encounter??? Annie thought to herself for a moment, surely a man as idiotic as him couldn’t exist, especially one with red eyes such as his. Annie sighed to herself, wondering if she should perhaps stop watching The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha, before slowly continuing her journey through the scorching heat back to her home.

Upon her arrival back to her cheap and shabby apartment, she found a familiar tall and annoying male obnoxiously leaning against her door. Annie was becoming rather impatient at this point, apparently one encounter with a strange and annoying man just wasn’t enough for a singular chapter, noooo. Annie put down her groceries once more, and rolled up her sleeves, “It appears that one beating wasn’t enough to satisfy you, Mr Xian… are you perhaps a masochist?” She asked the intruder standing at her doorstep. Harrison turned to face Annie, his blue eyes staring deep into her brown ones, as if searching for something. Was it perhaps a glimpse of sympathy that he was after? Or maybe a hint of wavering affection that Annie might’ve had for him at some point during these past five years… Unfortunately for Mr Harrison Xian, neither sympathy nor affection were home at this moment.

As Annie reeled her fist back to serve Harrison Xian a knuckle sandwich, finally, a glint of reason appeared in his eyes as he sheilded is face, exclaiming, “I just want to talk about Star!”

The man was finally speaking a language that Annie could understand. Annie sighed and lowered her fists, “You have thirty seconds to tell me something sensible before I drop kick you.”

Harrison Xian folded his arms over his chest, staring deep into Annie’s cold eyes, no longer filled with any hint of attraction towards the man. It was clear that any affection that she’d once had was long gone. “I’m… really sorry.” Harrison began, “if I’d known that it would’ve impacted you this much, I never would have left…”

“Is that all?” Annie raised an eyebrow, unfazed by the man’s long overdue apology.

“No, things are now… complicated…” Harrison intertwined one of his hands with hers. Annie, upon noticing this, quickly pulled her hand back, still unfazed. At this point, she was getting annoyed that she was missing out on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha… she did say that she should probably stop watching it, but would she really? Harrison sighed, “Look, Annie, don’t ask any questions, you just need to marry me, ok?”

…

……..

……………………..

“Your thirty seconds are over, leave before I make you leave.” Annie was just gonna ignore that. Yup. She was just gonna pretend that he didn’t just say that, he would **** right off, and then Annie would pick up Star from school in a couple of hours after watching the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha and cooking tonight’s dinner. Annie plastered a polite smile on her face before rolling her sleeves up once more, things might get a bit messy after all.

“Nonononononono, Annie, hear me out, there’s a reason we have to do this,” Harrison stuttered, Annie wasn’t really listening right now though. Harrison took a step back, “Star is our kid.” Annie couldn’t help but laugh at this statement.

“Our kid?” She chuckled before slapping him right in the face. God, she’d wanted to do that for a long time. “Mr Xian, I don’t know if you’re on drugs or whatever, but you’d made the decision to get the **** out of Star’s life as soon as you abandoned us, now leave this place before I hospitalise you.”

Harrison put a hand up to his bruised cheek, surprised. “Annie… I didn’t have a choice,” he turned his head downwards, gritting his teeth, “I would’ve stayed but…”

“Shut up,” Annie snapped back, finally losing her temper, “I don’t want to hear it, piss off.” Annie gathered her groceries and unlocked her small apartment, trying her hardest not to get too emotional over the whole situation. Just as Annie was about to slam the door in Harrison’s face, he stopped it, wedging his foot between the door and it’s frame.

“Let me know when you change your mind.” Harrison held out a small black box with a business card attached.

“Fuck off.” Annie snatched the business card and box before shoving his foot out of the small gap, slamming the door in his face and locking it. Annie let out a deep sigh, why was her life like this? She dropped her grocery bags and slid down to the ground, looking at the contents of what Harrison gave her. She was tempted to read the business card, but was too emotionally drained to deal with whatever the **** he wanted for the time being and tossed the items aside. First the weird hat dude, and now Harrison Xian, Annie couldn’t help but wonder what else the shitty writer of this melodramatic novel had in store for her. After hearing Harrison Xian’s footsteps fade into the distance, Annie took a few deep breaths and stood up, picking her groceries up off the floor. Regardless of both Harrison and the other dude, Annie had her own life to attend to. She still had to tidy the house, make dinner and regain her sanity before picking up Star after school today, she couldn’t afford to be this pissed off… not in front of Star, at least. Annie put the groceries away before turning on her cheap TV just in time to catch the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha, settling down on the couch and feeling relaxed for the first time since dropping off Star at school this morning.

(DISCLSIMER: this is a work of fiction, it’s also a parody romance novel and is meant to be taken comically. All the characters etc are fictional and are not related to real people or places in any way, shape or form)

“Mom, what’s this?” Star asked, picking up a small black box on the floor, it fitting perfectly into his tiny hands. Annie sighed, really wishing she’d thrown it away. It was a lazy Monday afternoon, Star had finished school for the day and Annie had finished her shift at the restaurant. Ever since the day that Annie almost got Harrison Xian hospitalised at work, she had felt as if the time she had at her current workplace was limited. Her manager was on leave right now, probably recovering from shock, but Annie had a feeling that as soon as the tyrant came back, Annie’s position in the company was as good as gone. Annie was irritated at the thought, but that meant that she should probably start looking for a new job sooner rather than later. Annie was about to get more annoyed than she currently was, however, she then snapped back to reality and realised that Star was right there in front of her, holding out the small black cube that Harrison had given her a few days before.

Annie took the box in her hands and sighed, “How about we find out?” She smiled at Star, sitting down on the small second-hand couch they had parked in the living room. Star promptly followed his mother, curious, before sitting down on her lap, excited to find out what secrets the tiny box could hold. Annie turned it over in her hands, realising that this was a jewellery gift box.. perhaps it was some earrings or something? Annie couldn’t really think of what use she’d have for those, though, seeing as her ears were never pierced to begin with. Not that Harrison Xian, the little bastard, would know. Annie shrugged, figuring that she could probably sell it, before opening the small cube, revealing its contents to Annie and Star. Inside the jewellery box was a diamond engagement ring, embedded with the shiny rocks, a large heart shaped diamond slapped onto the front… Annie snapped the box shut.

“That’s a ring!” Star exclaimed, stating the obvious. Annie had to take a moment to process what she had found in the box. A ring… this couldn’t mean…? No, he wouldn’t… right…? “Are you getting married, mom?”

“No.” Annie immediately replied without even a moment of hesitation. After processing what the **** just happened, Annie decided that the best course of action would to be to immediately sell the ring and use it to pay Star’s tuition fees. She could probably take the ring as child support.. right? Well, it was the most support that Harrison had ever given Annie and Star since he had abandoned them five years prior. “C’mon Star, let’s go have dinner.” Annie smiled at the small child sitting comfortably on her lap. Star’s face immediately lit up as he got up off of Annie’s lap. The day that Star was born, Annie had decided that Star would never meet his father, he didn’t need a deadbeat who had done nothing but abandon them in his life during Star’s childhood. Anyways, Annie had sworn that she would always be there to provide for Star, no matter the cost.

After tucking Star into bed that night, Annie went to her old laptop to look up a place where she could get the diamond ring appraised nearby. Since Annie Had to travel there by foot, she decided that she didn’t want to journey a long distance, especially seeing as the last time she had tried to travel so far from home, she had run into some lunatic with a gun and had almost missed out on her weekly episode of the hit reality television show The Real Housewives of Tropey Manwha. Annie shook her head, still trying to convince herself that the strange memory was indeed just a hallucination caused by heatstroke, and not a real life event. Annie quickly booted up Koogel Krome on her KP laptop, it almost having a seizure in the process, and looked up a place where she could get the ring appraises and possibly even sold. It didn’t take Annie long to find a place close by, however, she could immediately tell that the place she had found online on the second page of Koogel wouldn’t be the safest place to get the useless engagement ring appraised. Any other place was very far away though, and Annie didn’t really want to be caught up in any strange situations again… well, that was her excuse anyways, Annie really just didn’t want to walk that far for some dumb ring that was given to her by hArRiSoN xiAn. Annie jotted the address down on a piece of paper before finally turning off her KP laptop, putting the poor thing out of it’s misery. Who knew, maybe if the ring was worth a lot, she may even be able to afford a half decent laptop. Annie smiled to herself at the thought, she could finally take out her pent up rage on 8 year olds on Koblox rather than almost beating the shit out of her step-sisters every time they tried her. A small yawn slipped out of Annie’s mouth, reminding her that she shouldn’t stay up too late as she had work tomorrow. Annie decided to herself that she would visit the shady jewellery store tomorrow after work before going to bed.

This was definitely easier said than done though. Luckily enough for Annie, work ended around noon today so she definitely had time to go to the jewellery store before picking Star up from school. Unluckily for Annie, however, her manager was back from sick leave and after avoiding the mean supervisor all day, Annie had a sinking feeling that her days on the job were limited. Due to her avoidance of her manager, Annie had to clock off a bit late from work, so now instead of leaving at noon, it was now closer to 1pm. Annie sighed to herself as she made her way towards the jewellery store, nothing could ever go as planned, could it? Following the directions on the digital map on her phone, Annie managed to find her way to the small jewellery store close by to her home. It looked old and inconspicuous from the front, but Annie could tell by the reviews on Koogel that this was not just any ordinary jewellery store. Nonetheless, Annie didn’t really feel like finding another one at this stage so she made her way inside.

“Oh, hello there dear.” The shopkeeper reacted in a kind voice when she entered the tiny store. The shopkeeper seemed to be a small old lady, perched on a chair behind her desk reading a newspaper. The small shop looked more like an antique store than a jewellery store, lined with all sorts of old knickknacks and odd pieces. At the same time though, Annie did notice the display cases holding a unique assortment of jewels and gems, most looking very old-fashioned and some even looking worn. Annie could even see a small bloodstain on one… she decided not to question it.

“Uh… Hi… Um…. I was wondering if I could get this ring appraised?” Annie quickly tore her eyes away from the bloodstained jewels and took out the small jewellery gift box that Harrison Xian had given her the other day. The old lady put down her newspaper with a smile, once seeming sweet but now seeming unsettling to Annie, before Annie slowly made her way to the front desk, opening the jewellery box. The old lady put on a pair of glasses before taking a good look at the ring. She furrowed her eyebrows before taking the ring out of the box and inspecting it more closely. All of a sudden, the old lady bit into the large diamond on the ring, surprising Annie, before taking it out of her mouth and shrugging her shoulders.

“Well dearie, you certainly haven’t got a fake.” She chuckled, wiping the ring over with a small piece of cloth on her desk before putting it back in the case. The old lady then looked up to see Annie’s extremely confused expression, before becoming equally as confused. “Do you know what this is, dear?” She asked. Annie shook her head. That fucker Harrison had better not have given Annie something fishy.

The old lady let out an even louder chuckle, creeping the **** out of Annie, before taking out the newspaper she was reading and showing the front cover to Annie. Upon further inspection, Annie could see the picture of the heart-shaped ring she had on her right now that Harrison Xian had given her. Raising her eyebrows, she began to read the text that followed: ‘… The large diamond ring, ‘Forever Yours’ valued at 1.8billion USD, was reportedly sold on auction two weeks ago, bought by none other than H…’

Annie felt as though she didn’t need to read the rest. Annie… wasn’t going to question it… she definitely wasn’t going to question it… “I’d keep that ring somewhere safe if I were you, dear.” The old lady laughed, continuing to read her newspaper.

“Where…. Can I sell this??” Annie sighed, clearly exasperated at this point.

“Certainly not here, dearie.” The old lady replied, her tone sounding a bit more ominous this time. Annie decided that this would be a good time to leave. After sighing to herself once more, she put the horrifically overpriced ring in her pocket, it now feeling rather heavy, before making her way to the door. Much to her surprise, there was someone outside the store waiting for her. Out front of the store, there were two bald men dressed in black suits standing in front of a foreboding black vehicle. Upon seeing Annie come out of the store, the two men promptly approached her. **** it, Annie was gonna question things now.

Why were there two ominous looking guys in suits approaching her? Why was it pretty much exactly as she came out of the store that they happened to be there? And why was it that as soon as she knew how valuable the ring was, the men just happened to approach her? Annie could’ve sworn they weren’t there when she walked into the store, how did they even get here so quickly??? She was only in the store for like, five minutes, how the hell did they know where to find her?? “Ma’am, the boss wishes to see you.” One of the men spoke in a monotone voice, his grey lifeless eyes seeming as if they were peering straight through Annie, right into her soul. ****, Annie could tell that she was in a bad situation right now.

“And uhhh…. Wh-what’s this about?” Annie folded her arms across her chest, trying to look less uncomfortable than she felt. The two men were like, twice her size, if she tried to run and they tried to catch her, she’d definitely be caught. The street was also pretty much empty, so she couldn’t really run and ask someone for help… then again, who would even help her with two terrifying men chasing after her?

“That is private information ma’am, please follow us.” The second guy replied. Yup, this was definitely about the ring. The two men looked exactly the same, now that Annie thought about it… did the author just get bored with making up these characters? Annie didn’t know.

“Quick! What’s that over there?” Annie impulsively yelled, pointing her finger in the opposite direction. The men didn’t even flinch. Annie then began to run as fast as she could to no avail, the men caught her in less than five seconds, tying her up and putting her in the boot of the black vehicle. The car was one of those weird cars though where the boot was at the front of the car, which really made no sense to Annie to be honest. Wait… if there was a head on collision, wouldn’t Annie be the first one to get crushed? “H-hey… we can talk this out, fellas, haha…” Annie nervously chuckled as the man who caught her slammed the boot shut, leaving Annie in complete darkness.

(DISCLAIMER: this is a work of fiction, it’s also a parody romance novel and is meant to be taken comically. All the characters etc are fictional and are not related to real people or places in any way, shape or form)