Molly could feel Roy’s straightforward affection for her. That was exactly why she felt she couldn’t get too close to Roy. No matter how cold her heart was, it would soften in front of him, and she couldn’t help but feel her pulse quicken.

If Molly really fell for him, she didn’t know how long she could maintain that feeling. She was afraid it might just be a momentary attraction.

Right now, Molly was in that stage where she was being forced to feel something against her better judgment. But she had her own standards and her own principles to stick to.

After all, she was someone who lived by rules. Breaking those rules usually led to nothing but trouble.

This time, Molly couldn’t push Roy away. He was using too much force as he pressed her down onto the sofa.

Roy looked at her with pitiful eyes. “I like you, Momo. Whatever that other guy can do for you, I can do too. Don’t use him anymore. Use me instead, okay? I’ll be good, and I won’t hold you back.”

Molly lay pinned beneath him on the sofa, and hearing those words made her head start to ache. “Get up first.”

Roy was too heated to think straight. There was no way he’d leave this sweet embrace now. He nuzzled against Molly’s neck, pressing his warm lips there while his hands traced her curves through her clothes, not exactly behaving himself as he murmured “Momo” over and over.

Desire stirred awake in her body. Molly frowned and kicked Roy hard in the stomach. He let out a muffled grunt and rolled right off the sofa onto the carpet with a thud.

Molly’s skirt had ridden up to her thighs. She sat up straight and smoothed down her clothes, her expression turning cold.

Roy hung his head. “Sorry, Momo.”

Molly just stared at him. He apologized so fast she didn’t even have time to scold him properly. “I don’t like people touching me. From now on, you can’t touch me without my permission.”

Roy looked even more dejected and could only nod in agreement.

Molly got up and went to the bathroom.

In the mirror, the usually commanding CEO had something unusually alluring in her eyes. Molly raised her hand and touched the skin where Roy’s lips had been. It still felt warm from his touch. She touched her waist too, where his hands had wandered.

‘That little troublemaker almost reached my chest just now,’ Molly thought. She had to admit it–she’d felt something. What shocked her was that she’d actually felt something at all.

Molly had always thought she was frigid. Over the years, countless men had tried to seduce her, but she’d never felt even a spark of interest. In fact, she’d found them repulsive. Just looking at them made her feel sick.

But her body didn’t reject Roy.

‘Damn it,’ Molly thought.

The doctor arrived quickly. He took Roy’s temperature and prescribed some medication. Then, he turned to Molly and said, “Ms. Hill, this gentleman’s fever isn’t serious. He should be fine by tomorrow after taking the medicine.”

“Okay,” Molly said. “Please make sure he takes his medication. I’m leaving now.”

“Momo, will you think about what I said earlier?” Roy asked.

Molly glanced at him. “We’ll see.”

Roy could only watch helplessly as Molly left. Of course he wanted her to stay, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any official relationship yet, so he had to hold back his feelings.

After the doctor watched him take his medicine, he gave a professional smile. “Mr. Shay, get some rest. Call me if you need anything.” He left his contact information and departed.

Roy couldn’t possibly fall asleep. He picked up his phone and called Shermaine. “Shermaine, are you free?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Shermaine replied.

“Shermaine, I made Molly angry. Could you find some time to contact her and put in a good word for me?” Roy said.

Shermaine chuckled and teased him, “What exactly do you want me to say about you?”

“Praise me. Make her think I’m a good guy, the kind who’s perfect for dating.” Roy was being completely strategic about this.

“Deal.”

“Shermaine, you’re the best!” Roy remembered what a complete jerk he’d been at the beginning and wanted to slap himself. “Shermaine, can you ask Joshua something for me? If someone bullies me here in Ustrana, would he come back me up?”

Shermaine had the phone on speaker, so Joshua could hear everything. He replied coolly, “No.”

“Joshua, I’m being serious!”

“So am I.”

Roy felt like he’d been getting knocked down all day long. “That’s okay, I still have Shermaine.”

Joshua let out a quiet laugh. “If you’re in such bad shape, just go to sleep. Don’t let people actually bully you when you can’t even fight back.”

‘Well, Joshua’s still Joshua,’ Roy thought. He felt satisfied enough and hung up the phone before closing his eyes to sleep.

It was ten at night in Loang time, which meant it was around noon during the day in Basterel. Shermaine and Stephen were at the York residence.

Shermaine was working on fixing King Tiki. She’d actually gotten most of the repairs done already.

Since it had broken down anyway, Shermaine decided to upgrade its system once again while she was at it. This was King Tiki version 3.0.

After spending about an hour on it, Shermaine finished the reinstallation and booted up King Tiki.

When King Tiki restarted, he immediately chirped. “Oh, my beautiful Princess Sheary, I missed you so much!” He started snapping photos of Shermaine with rapid clicks.

Shermaine had added quite a few new features to him, “Go check if Grandpa needs any help.”

“Sure thing!” King Tiki headed outside and opened the door, running into Stephen.

Stephen stared at King Tiki and noticed that Shermaine had upgraded him again.

King Tiki bounced around Stephen and hopped down the stairs. When he reached the staircase, he switched modes and slid down smoothly. This new version made going downstairs much easier than before.

Shermaine glanced over at Stephen. “Dad, what’s up?”

“Time to come down for dinner,” Stephen said.

“Okay.”

During dinner, Owen asked, “When are you planning to go back to the research institute?”

Stephen thought for a moment before saying, “I’m not planning to go back for a while.”

Owen looked surprised. ‘She isn’t planning to go back at all?’ he thought.

Stephen said, “I’ve already requested leave from the research institute. I’ll be staying home for this period.”

“I guess pigs really can fly now,” Owen thought, feeling quite pleased about it. That was perfect. Stephen would have plenty of time to strengthen the bond between him and Joshua. Otherwise, the two of them were like complete strangers, which was totally unacceptable.

After lunch, Owen also reminded Joshua to stay at the York residence more often during this period.

Joshua agreed. He was curious to see what Stephen was really up to.

Meanwhile, at Yaleview Hospital, Janice walked in carrying soup. She’d come to visit Jameson. He was her son, after all, and she figured he’d suffered enough and done enough soul-searching. She thought it was time to see him.

But she hadn’t expected Jameson to have transferred hospitals.

Janice asked the doctor who’d been treating him, “Which hospital did he transfer to?”

“Mr. Jean heard that Dr. Jean refused to perform his surgery, so he transferred to General Hospital in Horington this morning,” the doctor replied.

‘Horington?’ Janice thought. ‘There are quite a few renowned doctors in Horington.’

But just last night, when Jameson called her, she’d told him she would help him talk to Shermaine and get her to do the surgery. ‘Did this mean he didn’t even trust me anymore?’ Janice wondered.

Janice was absolutely furious. She called Jameson and launched into a tirade the moment he picked up.

Jameson replied, “Mom, stop lying to me. I know exactly what kind of person Shermaine is. She definitely won’t help treat my illness. She’d be thrilled if I died. I don’t believe that Horington’s doctors can’t match up to Shermaine.”