After Ayla prepared the dishes and served them at the table, Anna looked at them with a disgusted expression. Brian and Anna. were sitting face to face. Brian asked her to taste the dishes and give her opinion about them. Anna tasted each of them and was very much unsatisfied with the taste. She either pointed out the dishes were too salty or too spicy. Seeing that, Brian glared at Ayla and asked, "Are you taking your revenge on me because I asked you to cook?”. "No, it's nothing like that. " Ayla shook her head. It was so very obvious that they intentionally picked on her. She had nothing to say because it wouldn't make any difference. "No? Because, none of these dishes is edible! These taste so bad!" he snapped then got up and threw away all the food to the. ground. The floor was a mess now. Ayla although had expected this, it still hurt her feelings. She had cooked with so much dedication, but he didn't even value her hard work. All of her efforts just got wasted by that devil. But she didn't even feel sad. It could be expected from him. However, she had suffered enough today. First, Toby's intimacy with another woman, then Brian's and Anna's humiliations. Seeing Ayla didn't even react, Brian got more furious. His eyes narrowed to slits in exasperation as he raised his hand and slapped Ayla on her cheek. The force was too much that it made her fall to the ground. It stung where his hand made contact with her cheek. She was wrong when she thought she couldn't feel pain anymore. "Clean up this place!”. Brian didn't like it when she showed no expression. It bothered him unreasonably to see her acting emotionless. She should be crying and begging to him. But she did neither of that. He had always wanted to be in charge of every situation, but it frustrat ed him when he couldn't control Ayla. Ayla did n't say anything. She kneeled down on the ground quietly and picked up the piec es of broken plates one by one. Her finger got cut ac cidentally and blood o ozed out of the wound. But she just lost her enthusiasm to react to that even

She quietly continued her work. She brou ght a broom and started sweeping the pl ace clean. She was humiliated beyond her . expectation. She mocked herself for the li fe she had. She wasn't even the real daugh ter of the Woodsen family. She was just an . orphan gi rl adopte d by them. The man she had trusted and love d, had left her. She even lost her virginity. After all of these, she h ad no right to expect any thing good from her life. But she couldn 't do anything but to endure. The man in front of her would torture her every day, humiliate her every way possibl e, make her eternally doomed, and still she . couldn 't sto p him. Seeing that she didn 't even make a sound , Brian got angrier. It bo there d him. Frustrated by Ayla’s behavior , he took Anna's hand in his and left without looking back. Ayla didn't even rai se her head until she heard the footsteps. She watched them leave holding ea ch other's hands. She felt so fr ustrated with her situation. She slumped back on to the cold flo or and broke down. She couldn 't hold ba ck anymore. She sobbed her heart out a s her blood dripped on to t he white, cold tiled floor. At one point, Maria heard t he noise of her crying and came downstairs to inspect. She gave Ayla a pit iful look. She had pre dicted this to happen. Anna had been to the villa sev eral times, and Maria knew how very picky she was with food. Anna was one of Brian's girlfriends, and as a servant of the Clark family, Maria couldn't say anything about her. "Mrs. Clar k, please stand up. Maria helped the numb girl get up and too k her to her room. She took the medicine b ox and dressed Ayla's wound carefully. She . didn't expect that her hand was cut so badly b y that porcelain plate. It was a dee p cut. "Mrs

Clark, please don't cry. Everyth ing will be fine. Maria wiped off Ayla's t ears for her. She was als o a woman a nd a mother. It hurt her when she saw Ayla cr ying so bitterly. Ayla was like her daughter. After a long while, Ayla stopped crying a nd said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, Ma ria. I'm fine now. ! just want to be alone. "Okay, go to sle ep!" Maria nodded understandingly. Then she left whe n Ayla lay down an d closed her eyes. The faint moonlight f ell onto the floor th rough the open window. But Ayla c ouldn't fa ll asleep. She lay the re with eye s wide open. At one point, she got out o f the bed and took out a si lver bracelet from her bag. The design of thi s silver bracelet was very ordinary. It was not very expens ive, but it was her mo st precious belonging. It was a birthday gi ft from Toby, which he gave as a promise. But now, things ha d changed. Toby left her five ye ars ago to go abroad a nd forgot his promise. But she remember ed each of his w ords distinctly. The entire night afterwards, she just sat in a corner of her room, holding the bra celet close to her heart. She had lost her . everything. What should she do now? . In the morning, when Maria pushed open th e door, she saw Ayla's dark circles aroun d her eyes. She realized Ayla didn't sleep . las t ni ght. “Mrs. Clark, I have made breakfast for you . Would you like to come to the dining hal l and eat? You don't have to go to school . today. Take some rest," Maria said sympathetically. Ayla looked at Maria . No one had ever car ed for her this much