Prologue

How could a wine, despite its sweetness and tastelessness, be loved by many?

Every drop of wine in a glass seems perfectly fine for a temporary burning sensation throughout our senses.

I sighed and headed into my office. Slamming the door shut, I almost screamed out my confusion. Working for ten years in our winery, I still can't formulate a perfect wine for a specific occasion. Every time I try, there's always an inadequate component that makes the wine tasteless and undesirable.

How am I going to make a wine that tastes sweet that shows tenderness to someone who'll savor it? Rather than offering them a tasteless wine that shows how emotionally devastated I am.

The moment I opened the laptop, memories came crashing through my mind.

"I just used you, anyway."

Those words have been stuck in my mind for a very long time. I closed my eyes to prevent myself from smashing things. My deepest consciousness loves reminding me of how dumb I am when I fell in love with him.

I guessed that's life, the one that you expect to give you nothing but protection, care, and love will be the one that will hurt you in the end.

I lose because I love too much, while all he wants is to get what I have…wealth. And that's the biggest mistake that I made…to trust someone.

I breathed heavily to prevent myself from crying. I'm emotionally tired, the empathy that reflects me is overflowing. The dilemma of trusting easily leads me to untrust not just anyone but also my decisions.

The pain was unbearable.

If I was given a chance to go back to the past, I'd choose to…

Stay away from him.

Not an easy target to fall into his traps.

And never fall in love with him.

The feeling of being in love was exciting, but obstacles made it challenging. And if I was given a chance to love again, I'll carefully choose someone who will love me with his pure heart, accepting me wholly, and not just because of money.

"Believe what you want to believe! But one thing is for sure—" his cold eyes met mine. "—you're a fool! You walk into my trap, and now, what?! I want to get back the money that your dad stole from us. Fuck everything! Fuck this love! Fuck your feelings! My family should be living a luxurious life now. But because of you, our life is still shit. Do you think I will love you after all the hardships we have been through, Lushiane?"

Everything was a play, and he got me. And now, fate wants to play again.

"Ms. Meradeltas, you need to attend the meeting. Everyone is waiting for you to start the meeting."

All of the feelings that have been buried a long time ago invaded my system in an instant.

"Is he present?"

"Mr. Xalent, our head engineer? Yes, he's already there."