Back in America, Dolly had shed tears for Winfred.

Winfred who had never seen her crying at first thought her brother might be seriously ill. But then, he felt something was off since it would be unlikely that Dolly was to go back to America if Steven was gravely ill.

"Yunjin." Winfred wiped the tears from her canthi and laid his hands on her shoulders as if giving her some strength, "Tell me. What happened?"

Dolly finally controlled her tears and told the facts from beginning to end, how Steven had forced her to marry an old man.

Winfred was not mad, but his tender love showed deep inside his eyes.

He hugged Dolly harder and harder as if he wanted to integrate her into his blood, merging into one being.

After a long time, he just said, "I'll protect you."

He did not pledge in seriousness but in firmness, as though this was a promise without any sense of ritual required, which he would only make once in his life. He was far more sincere than any others.

Dolly nodded, burying her head in his arms and held him tightly, allowing herself to act as an ostrich.

It was the safest moment in her entire life.

Dolly's escape to the United States was soon known by Steven who lost his temper and then gave her a call.

"Dolly!" he yelled, "I've raised you all this time, and you ran off with a stone-broke orphan? I'll give you three days to sort things out there and come back, or you won't get a penny from me!"

Dolly held her tears and closed her eyes to stop looking at her phone.

Winfred next to her took the phone and said drily to the other side, "I will take care of Yunjin from now on, so she won't need your money anymore. And don't try to blackmail her with your so-called past devotion. I will pay back all the money you've spent on her over the years."

Steven completely revealed his true face as he dug back at him, "You? An orphan who has just graduated and is earning less than a thousand dollars a month is telling me that he'll pay me back? You are way out of your league!"

"Mr. Scott," Winfred still said in a soft voice, "You're too assertive. Given your status as a chairman of a company, it is not a good thing to be so arbitrary."

"Oh, I'm not that assertive. I have a deal for you," Steven said with disdain, "Winfred, I will give you two million dollars to leave my sister."

"Yunjin is priceless in my mind and I won't leave her," Winfred directly rejected without a half-second hesitation. "And, Mr. Scott, what you said not only insults me, but also Yunjin."

"..." For a moment, Steven had nothing to say.

Winfred maintained a calm and gentle tone, "Yunjin doesn't need the care from a person such as you. Please do not disturb our lives after this."

Once he said that, Winfred hung up the phone. He had yet to put it down when Yunjin rushed into his arms to hug him with all her strength; it seemed as if she would never let go.

He touched Dolly's hair, "You may not be able to go shopping on 5th Avenue these days. Will you feel bored?"

"No!" She raised her head and smiled, "I want to work to support myself just like how you did before!"

Despite not having financial worries, she didn't find it easy to get good grades in the previous year.

Having her living funds cut off by Steven was just one more challenge for her.

She was not afraid.

Steven did not give up and made an appearance in person to take Dolly back.

Fortunately, Winfred had made preparations; he had called the police to solve the problem.

At that time, Dolly broke off the brother-sister relationship with Steven and vowed to never contact him again.

After Steven left, she found a part-time job at a restaurant. The combination of her earnings and the money provided by Chris's mother at the time when she was back in America was just enough to stay afloat some time.

Two months later, Winfred became a formal employee of his company and earned a much higher salary than before. On his first payday, Dolly dragged him to eat a meal of authentic Chinese cuisine in the name of celebration.

It was not the best Chinese food she had ever tasted, nor the best restaurant she had ever been to.

However, that was the happiest meal she had ever had.

At the end of the semester when she started her vacation, Winfred got his first raise and also helped Dolly to find a nine-to-five part-time job in a company.

Dolly, who had once been able to buy several brand bags on the same day but not necessarily happy, was excited by her work prospects and could not help jumping, holding Winfred and screaming crazily.

The happiness at that time was genuine. So was her satisfaction. That was because everything had been achieved by her and Winfred.

There was a heavy snow in New York at Christmas that year. Winfred was writing his next-year work plan on his computer when Dolly was preparing dinner with her apron in their small kitchen.

They shared a fancy dinner. After eating, Winfred said seriously, "Yunjin, give me another year and a half. You won't have a rough time again."

"It doesn't matter." She shrugged her shoulders with an easy grin. "Don't press yourself too much. Rough-times for me are fine. Anyway, this is my first time to experience hardships. I even want more challenges!"

He gradually looked at her with tenderness.

He knew she intentionally understated her hardships, and as such, he was more eager to succeed.

Dolly who did not want him to bear too much of a burden smiled at his handsome face. "Acting so serious with me. Haven't you found that you pretty much like me?"

Winfred smiled and kissed her lips.

One romantic night.

Next morning, Dolly who woke up earlier than Winfred got up and prepared breakfast. Even after she mopped the floors, Winfred had yet to wake up.

As the breakfast seemed to cool, she walked into the room to give him a wakeup call. After several calls, he successfully woke up from his dream.

As he opened his eyes, his mind was a blank, seemingly having forgotten what had happened before sleep.

Later, Dolly knew that Winfred had a strange feeling when he woke up, a feeling that he was completely unconscious after falling asleep the night before.

In other words, it seemed that he had experienced a temporary death, without any sensations. Once he opened his eyes, he felt as if he had toured around the gates of the hell rather than sleep.

While at that time, Dolly who had not noticed his anomaly stretched out her hand in front of him. "What's wrong? Don't tell me... You haven't recovered yet?"

Once he came to, he leered at her, suddenly holding her waist and pulling her to bed. "Do you want to have a personal test?"

As morning went by, Winfred set aside that abnormality.

With the advent of the New Year after Christmas, Winfred, in addition to accompanying Dolly, devoted all his remaining energy to his work, whose performance soon drew the attention of the boss; thanks to his work and capabilities, his salary doubled in less than half a year. Furthermore, he was promoted to group leader.

He presented Dolly a bottle of perfume she had consistently adored and moved to an apartment with better location and facilities.

Dolly was full of happiness.

It was a kind of down-to-earth happiness, wholly different from the pleasure earned by material gains previously.

Winfred kept his arms around her waist and whispered, "Yunjin, I will make possible that you move back to the villa, just like how you moved out of it."

After that, Winfred was more like an eager beaver, so Dolly had to give up her part-time job while juggling her studies and attending to Winfred.

Even though Dolly had paid more attention to his diet and supervised his exercise, something happened.

One day Winfred fainted in the meeting room after helping his company get a very important client.

His colleagues called an ambulance which sent Winfred to the hospital. When Dolly received the news, she directly gathered up her textbooks and rushed out of the classroom. As soon as she arrived, she headed straight toward Winfred's physician.

She could still remember what the physician said with clarity, after all those years.

"Mr. Shawn went through a general checkup and we didn't find anything unusual. The reason why he fainted could be attributed to his intense work which left him exhausted. He just needs to rest well for two days. If you're still concerned, you can stay in the hospital until tomorrow morning. If no problems arise, he could be discharged from the hospital."

Dolly firmly believed what the physician had told her, so she cheerfully went to the ward. "Winfred, you're fine. The doctor just said you were too exhausted. You're fine... "

She kept repeating the last word.

Winfred held her hand in a resigned tone, "Yunjin, I'm fine. I'm just too tired. A little bit of rest will make things all right. Don't worry too much, eh?"

He already knew her well, since he had fallen in love with her long ago. His reaction was just to comfort her.

Feeling the temperature of his palm, Dolly pursed her lips and nodded, but she burst into tears all of a sudden.

Although she still maintained contact with Chris's mother, she had broken off relations with Steven. Therefore, she could not go back to their home in A city, which meant that Winfred was the person she could rely on in this world.

If something happened to him, she had no idea about how to live.

Winfred was certainly aware of her fears, so he gently took her into his arms and stroked her hair to comfort her. "My dumdum, I still want to take care of you. How could anything happen? Don't cry. Help me with the discharge so we can go and get something tasty."

Dolly held him down and refused in a severe tone, "No. The doctor suggested for you to stay in observation till tomorrow. We can eat something good by then!"

Winfred repeatedly assured that he felt better after some sleep, but he was still unable to change her mind. Hence, he was forced to stay another night for observation.

At the time they both considered the observation as a mere psychological comfort; Winfred would surely be okay in the next day.

What Dolly had never expected was that destiny had just started to tease her. What waited for her the next day was a bolt from the blue which she could hardly bear.