A slender and tall figure appeared at the back door of the bar as Wendy was drowned in despair. A young man said in a threatening voice, "She's telling the truth. She's Brian and Chris's cousin."

"Master Wesley." Several men who were holding Wendy looked in astonishment at Connell as he walked towards them. They pointed at Wendy and asked, "Master Wesley, do you... know her?"

Connell smiled. "How would I know that she's Brian and Chris's cousin if I don't know her?"

No one could afford to offend either Brian or Chris who had created fabulous business miracles in Arlington.

They had never expected that the girl whom they were trying to bully was Brian and Chris's relative!

Those men released Wendy in a flash as if they had been stung by wasps. They hastened to apologize and said awkwardly, "Young lady, we were just kidding. We didn't mean it!"

"Humph", Wendy snorted coldly, thinking to herself, "I'm not buying it!"

She didn't know what would have happened to her if Connell hadn't showed up on time.

"How could they say that they were just kidding?"

"Haha, I'd like to play a trick on them-"

Wendy suddenly lifted her leg and kicked the man who had caught her first hard in the crotch.

"Ow-!" The man squatted down in anguish because of the unexpected kick, staring at Wendy with disbelief, but he didn't dare to hit her back. He could only collapse on the ground to relieve himself from the agony.

Wendy was filled with a strong sense of achievement. She squatted in front of the man as if nothing had happened and gave a charming smile. "I was just kidding. Take it easy."

With that said, Wendy glanced at the men standing beside her as she got up.

They took a few steps back in fear, still in shock about what had happened to their ringleader.

"Don't worry. There's no point in laying a finger on you," Wendy said with a disdainful look, then she turned and walked over to Connell. "Let's go."

Wendy finally let out a sigh of relief after she walked through the long corridor and reached the brightly lit street in front of the bar. She leaned against the hood of Connell's car, gasping in the dusty air as if she had just survived a disaster.

Connell sized Wendy up leisurely. "Why did you go to the back door? You're not supposed to go there if not necessary."

"I was just curious so I went to have a look there." Wendy pursed her lips in disgust. "I didn't expect it to be such a dirty place!"

Connell knew that Wendy was trying to sidetrack him. He simply gazed at her and asked, "Was that so? There are more interesting things in the bar. Why were you curious about just a back door? You're lying to me, aren't you?"

Wendy felt awkward to be caught lying. She looked away and said, "Because I don't want to tell you the truth. Stop asking since you know that I don't want to talk about it."

Connell smiled as if he had already seen through Wendy. "It's not a shame. It's all right to cry when a young lady feels down. So, you shouldn't have left from the back door even if you were embarrassed."

Hearing Connell talk about her secret indifferently, Wendy felt rather upset. She glared at him and shouted, "I was frightened to cry by those scum!"

Connell knew that was not the case.

He could easily figure out that Wendy had left from the back door because she had cried, following which she had run into those hooligans.

However, Connell thought for a while and realized that he'd better not be too frank because it wouldn't do good to him if he annoyed Wendy.

He knew that she was like a rabbit that would bite when it was cornered even though it looked docile.

Connell pretended that he believed what she had said. He asked, "Oh. Are you frightened now?"

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Wendy forced a calm look. She decided to change the subject so she asked, "By the way, why did you go to the back door?"

"I worried about you because you had left for your call for far too long. I looked for you all over the bar but didn't find you. In the end, a security guard told me that you had gone out through the back door." Connell said with a proud look, "By the way, aren't you going to thank me? They wouldn't have let you go so easily if I hadn't shown up."

Wendy only listened to the second half of Connell's words although he had said so much.

Because he was right.

Wendy looked right into Connell's eyes. "I really want to thank you for what you did just now, and I mean it. I couldn't have known how to deal with them or get rid of them if it were not for your help. How about treating you to dinner to show my gratitude?"

"Alright," Connell replied without hesitation. "I'd like to dine with a beauty like you, why not? I think we should fix a date right now in case you break your word."

"..." It was the first time that Wendy had seen such a frank person. She was too surprised at Connell's words to utter a syllable.

"Why are you so quiet? Do you want me to decide for you?" Connell continued, "How about seven o'clock tomorrow afternoon? I'll tell you the restaurant address later."

"..." Wendy replied with an "oh" in a daze. She had no choice but to agree in front of a voluble man like Connell.

Connell seemed to be riveted by Wendy at that moment. He narrowed his eyes with a smile and reached out to touch her hair. "It's getting late. You..."

Wendy dodged backward as Connell was about to touch her head and stared at him warily with an indifferent look.

Connell was amused.

"She's so straightforward."

He thought that she would say a few words to defuse the awkward situation like others usually did, without expecting that she would look steadily at him with her beautiful big eyes to show that she didn't like his touch.

As a Young Master of the Qin Family, he found that he didn't know what to do with Wendy at that moment although he had always considered himself to be a dashing man who had seen countless young ladies.

Connell withdrew his hand in despondency. "Let me drive you home."

It occurred to Wendy that it used to be Gavin who drove her home. She remembered that he would always drive her to her apartment and then leave after watching her enter the building.

The passenger seat in Gavin's car had been just for her for some time.

"No, thanks. I'll take a taxi,"

Wendy refused Connell without hesitation or even thinking it over for half a second.

It was beyond Connell's expectations. He asked with a sad look, "Do you mean it? Other girls would jump at the chance for it."

"That's it." Wendy looked at Connell. "I don't care about the so-called chance. What do you think I should keep it for?"

"..." Connell felt as if he had been shot in the heart with an arrow.

However, as a gentleman, Connell could still keep smiling no matter how disappointed he felt. "Say what you like. It's late so I must drive you home. Otherwise, I don't know what I'm going to tell my parents."

"Don't worry." Wendy was smart. "I'll tell my mother that you drove me back." Then she held out her hand to stop a taxi.

Soon a taxi stopped in front of Wendy. She got in the car without hesitation and waved to Connell. "See you tomorrow."

Connell didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and felt rather frustrated. He memorized the registration number of the taxi as he waved at Wendy.

In the taxi, Wendy told the driver her apartment address and took out her cellphone. She found Gavin's number but hesitated for a long time before she decided to dial him.

She thought that she wasn't familiar with Connell, so she had pretended that she wasn't panicked or scared in front of him.

She suddenly collapsed as she looked at Gavin's name on the phone screen. She felt as if something had stabbed her heart, which had been filled with sadness and fear that surged up with an irresistible force like the Baotu Spring.

She didn't dare to imagine what she would be experiencing if Connell hadn't found her.

No one would have believed that she was Brian and Chris's cousin if Connell hadn't shown up, and it would have been impossible for her to escape her doom.

Sure enough, it wasn't the first time she had run into trouble like that. She had experienced the same thing at Chris's wedding.

Gavin saved her back then.

She wondered why Gavin didn't show up when she needed him this time.

Wendy closed her eyes and finally touched "call".

Being frantic at that moment, she simply wanted to turn to Gavin for comfort even if she could only hear his voice.

However, life didn't always give what she wanted even though she was determined to succeed-

"Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is power off."

The sweet female voice was indifferently telling Wendy that Gavin had turned off his cellphone. She wasn't able to get what she wanted, not even hearing his voice.

It occurred to Wendy that Gavin had left the bar with a young lady. It was already the next day.

She thought that they were in the hotel at that time so it was normal for Gavin to turn off his cellphone.

However, it stabbed Wendy to the heart. She buried her face in her palms. She felt the wind sneaking in through the taxi windows like a mournful sonata.

Wendy suddenly felt as if a knife with a thin and sharp blade had scratched open her heart. It seemed as if her heart had been streaked with blood and ruptured. She found that she wasn't able to save herself from the pain, although she was a cardiac surgeon.

Wendy's eyes were burning. However, she couldn't shed a tear.

"Maybe I'm more mature so I don't cry over the same thing anymore," she thought to herself.

Sure enough, she was sad. She was nearly overwhelmed by her sadness which was like a fierce storm that had broken out. She could only bury her face in her hands to get herself through it.

It was the first time that Wendy had ever felt lonely since she came to Arlington.