Lina flopped onto her bed facedown. She was exhausted and the morning had only just begun. Too many things have already happened and she was tired of life. Her room was cold and dark; just the way she liked it. The less she could see, the better. So, she closed her eyes and slowly began to fall asleep.

  RING! RING!

  Lina was startled by her phone blaring a familiar ring tone. She groaned and pulled herself out of bed to pick it up.

  "Hello?" Lina grumbled without even looking at the caller. She rolled onto her back and stared up at her ceiling. There was no response.

  "Hello?" Lina tried again.

  "LINA!" Isabelle shouted into her phone. "Hurry up and tell me your address before my brother escapes his ropes!"

  Well. That wasn't something Lina heard every day. She sat up on her bed and loudly yawned.

  "Let him escape, I don't need him anymore," Lina responded, remembering her conversation with Isabelle yesterday. It was a shame that her brother was on another blind date. Maybe then, things would've turned out differently.

  Lina thought back to Kaden's furious expression, where even hellfire was no match for him. Or, maybe, things wouldn't have turned out differently. Kaden was the kind of man to stake a claim on her—regardless if she was married or not.

  "No, no!" Isabelle cried out. "My brother has been successfully kidnapped by me and ready to be shipped to your house at any given moment. Just tell me your address."

  "SAVE ME!" A voice screamed in the background.

  Lina winced. She pulled her phone away from her ear. For a man, he sure had a high-pitched scream.

  "Hey! Put the cloth back into his mouth!" Isabelle ordered, pointing at the fallen ball on the ground.

  Isabelle glared at her older brother to shut the hell up and cooperate. He opened his mouth to scream again, but another ball of clothes was shoved into his mouth.

  "MMFPH!"

  "Yeah, yeah," Isabelle responded with a roll of her eyes. She watched as her brother struggled against the rope. But no can do. She was good with ropes and tying people up.

  "Anyways," Isabelle said, returning to her phone. "I'm late because he dared to not come home last night, declaring he was running away. Can you believe him?"

  Isabelle snorted. "Imagine being in your late twenties and still running away from home. Like grow up and get married already!"

  Lina could picture Isabelle's sadistic smile even through the phone screen. She responded by softly laughing.

  "The poor thing," Lina mused.

  "Hmph, he should be grateful I didn't even tie him that tightly. When my grandparents did it, they made a knot that'd tighten whenever you struggle! Can you imagine the pain?" Isabelle babbled.

  "Well—"

  "Ignore that," Isabelle said. "Where's your address, Lina? I'm ready to ship my brother to you whenever you are."

  "EVIL BRAT—"

  Another sock gag was pressed against the man's mouth. Isabelle turned to see he had somehow maneuvered his way out of the second ball gag. Luckily, her bodyguard worked quickly.

  "It's alright," Lina lightly laughed. "I don't need to see him anymore."

  Lina could feel her troubles washing away. The more she talked to Isabelle, the less her heart hurt. She was comforted by her friend's voice. Isabelle always managed to cheer Lina up.

  "What, why?" Isabelle complained. "I worked so hard to tie him up. Please spare my brother some mercy."

  Lina chuckled. She glanced out the window, realizing the sun was still high in the sky. It was barely the afternoon. Isabelle's brother must've been a good fighter.

  "I'm sorry," Lina said. "You've worked hard to kidnap your own brother, but it'll be going to waste."

  Lina shifted on the bed, deciding to get up. She was originally going to take a nap and sleep her troubles away. She loved to do that. Though, it wasn't the most healthy thing she could do. It was an unhealthy coping mechanism.

  "You see, I was desperate to get married to the first man I saw," Lina explained, standing up and walking to her window, where the sunlight hit her in the face. She no longer felt tired and depressed.

  "Are you still desperate? Please tell me you are because my pitiful brother could really use a pretty and smart woman like you!" Isabelle pleaded, sobbing over her efforts going down the drain.

  Isabelle ignored her brother's protesting noise in the background. He sounded like a wild animal caught in a trap. It wasn't her fault he couldn't run fast enough to escape another kidnapping.

  "Heh, unfortunately not," Lina mused. "Everett tried to force me into marriage after me and my family's reputation took a hit."

  Isabelle was confused. She had recently heard there was a woman named Lina Yang who was two-timing heirs… Wait a damn minute. Things were beginning to make sense. The puzzle pieces were clicking in place.

  "So I proposed to Kaden, got rejected, and then, he proposed to me, and I accepted," Lina concluded, noticing the gardener had begun to work on trimming the bushes. She stared at his long, sharp shears cutting through the greenery.

  "Wait, WHAT?!" Isabelle was baffled. She was beyond the idea of shock. What, when, and where?! Did all of this happen within a twenty-four-hour period?

  Isabelle was astonished. "So you're telling me you're Lina, as in LINA YANG THE GIRL IN THE NEWS?!"

  Lina winced at the loud screaming. She could feel her eardrums popping from the eager voice. Perhaps it was too much astonishing news to hear this early in the morning.

  "Yes, unfortunately so," Lina mumbled, leaning against the wall and frowning.

  Now that the cat was out of the bag, Lina was certain her freedom was gone. By now, her face had been on the news for far too long. Her name was headline material. Her peaceful college life would be turned upside down. She only had one more year left of college and her thesis for her Ph.D. status was almost complete.

  Lina couldn't drop out of college. She needed to graduate and attain her freedom, even if her major was a questionable one. Even if it was something her grandfather always wanted her to study and she didn't have much interest in.

  "Wait, wait, so you're telling me, you still owe me a meal and you can't even afford ramen in college, but you're Lina Yang?! How does this make sense?" Isabelle retorted, feeling like she had been duped for the past two and a half years while they were in college.

  Isabelle always knew Lina was smart, given the fact that she'd overload her schedule in an attempt to graduate early. On top of that, she had college credits being carried over from high school that was irrefutable by the college council who had no choice but to accept it.

  "I tried to not rely on my parents' money so I rarely used my credit card," Lina explained.

  Now that Lina's identity was revealed, she was nervous. Would this change their friendship? Would Isabelle view her in a different light? Would this be the end of their acquaintance?

  "This… won't change anything, right?" Lina hesitatingly asked.

  "For someone that graduated top of their class in high school, you sure don't use your brain a lot," Isabelle snorted, lying flat down on her couch to ignore the sight of her protesting brother

  "Of course that won't change anything about our friendship," Isabelle stated. "Except for the fact that you have double the intent of paying back that meal you owe!"

  Lina laughed at Isabelle's remarks, smiling to herself. "I know a spot. How about we see each other soon?"

  Isabelle perked up. Just when she was bored at home and bored looking at handsome actors.

  "Yes, let's go, let's go! I could die of boredom being stuck at home for so long," Isabelle said.

  Isabelle heard the commotion of something being knocked over, but ignored it. It could have been her brother escaping, but she couldn't care less.

  "You know, now that it's revealed you're Lina Yang, things are beginning to make a lot more sense. For example, that black card that fell out. I thought it was just fake," Isabelle explained.

  Suddenly, a face popped up in her view. She screamed at the sight of her brother leaning over the couch.

  "God, your face belongs in a horror movie!" Isabelle shouted, shoving her brother away and sitting upright.

  "I'll call you back Lina, my brother is being a creep," Isabelle groaned into the phone, hanging up before anything could happen. One of these days, he was going to give her a heart attack.

  Lina glanced at her blank phone and shook her head in amusement. She couldn't imagine Isabelle actually tying up her brother. What were the odds of her not being able to?

  With that thought in mind, Lina began to work on designing a dress. Subconsciously, she began to reach for whites and ivory colors.