"Back then, our phones allowed us to see each other’s location, and the phone’s location was at the Tavern. I called you, and the person who answered was Francine Howards. Later, when you came back, I asked you if your phone had ever left you, and you said it hadn’t. Is that... clear enough?"

She spoke each word deliberately, recalling those events was a pain for her. She had thought that this pain would always be buried deep inside her. She didn’t want to remember, didn’t want to dwell on these memories. All she wanted was to forget them.

But now he forced her to recount the events of that time once again.

Did he know that every word she uttered felt like reliving the past, like experiencing the heartbreak all over again? Perhaps she should never have fallen in love with him, for if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have experienced so much pain.

But if she and he had never met, never fallen in love, then their child might never have come into this world.

Mabel Quinn pressed her lips tightly, her gaze complicated as she looked at Kyle Kinston before her.

Her head... seemed to ache even more. Was what she said true? Yet, he was very sure that he had no feelings for Francine Howards, he couldn’t have spent a night at the Tavern with another woman. There must be some reason! There must be!

But what was the reason? What exactly happened?

Why couldn’t he remember? Why?

Seizing the opportunity, Mabel suddenly pushed Kyle aside, trying to leave.

But she hadn’t taken two steps before he caught her again, this time pushing her directly onto the nearby sofa.

"Kyle Kinston, what are you doing?" Mabel struggled to say, "I’ve already told you everything you wanted to know, now let go of me. I want you to leave me immediately!" She no longer wanted to dwell in this tangled relationship; if, from the start, they were a mistake, then ending this mistake might not be a bad decision.

"Letting you go to see Daniel Harris, perhaps?" His eyes had turned crimson red.

"Who I want to see is my own freedom, Kyle Kinston. Let go of me, this is the living room!" She said, her face flushed.

"So what?" he whispered lowly, "Are you planning to let me watch you seek out Daniel Harris? Watch you and Daniel Harris together?"

He didn’t want her to see Daniel Harris, he wanted her to belong only to him, wanted her mind to think only of him and no one else.

Her scent held a subtle fragrance, so much so that he found it captivating. Yet her words of rejection pierced him like the sharpest of daggers, leaving him bruised and battered.

He pressed his lips forcefully against hers.

Mabel wanted to escape but couldn’t evade it at all.

Suddenly, the sound of a slap rang out, and his originally closed eyes flew open, bringing him out of his trance with sudden clarity, glaring at her furiously.

"Kyle Kinston, does forcing someone who doesn’t love you amuse you?" Mabel loudly questioned as she met his gaze.

His expression darkened, as a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth, "Don’t love me? Do you honestly have no feelings for me whatsoever? Did you feel nothing from that kiss just now?"