I've Been There Before

Chapter 16 The Utmost Humiliation

“I... Grace opened her mouth trying to say something to refuse it. Under the cover of the darkness, Caden secretly curled his lips into a smirk...

Just as he had guessed, the arrogant Grace .James, the daughter of the .James family, would never put aside her dignity to endure such kind of humiliation.

“If I pick up all the notes in one minute, then I can keep the money, right? And you will give me an additional incentive of 50,000 CNY, right?”

It seemed to be so hard for Grace to say “No' to this proposal. She thought of that silly girl, who was the only one to show kindness to her in the prison, and thought of that girl's unfulfilled wish. Then Grace changed her mind... Dignity? Did she have the dignity now?

The current Grace .James possessed nothing! She had no home, no families, no friends and no past. She only had herself.

The young man laughed, “Of course, l'm a man of my words." He peered at the comical woman on the ground patronizingly with a trace of mockery in his eyes.

“Okay." Her voice was so hoarse and low that it was quite unpleasant. As no one would pay special attention to her, naturally no one had discerned the depression and sorrow in her words. Then, in front of these people, Grace squatted down. Someone pointed at her and teased, “Young Master Lance, look, I think she looks like your silly dog.”

The man, who threw money to Grace just now, snorted, “Are you blind? Roke is a male dog.”

“Oh... oh yeah!” The other man smirked, “Roke is a male dog, and this is a female dog. Hahaha...”

Their jeers and taunts lingered in the air. Grace bit hard on her lower lip and swiftly picked up the notes which were scattered on the ground. Therefore, Grace had to crawl on the ground to pick up these sporadic notes.

“Grace, dorrtt listen to it and don take it to your heart

'Grace, these taunts are just nothing! You should thank these dudes for their mercy when comparing this kind of humiliation with those you had suffered in the prison.

'Grace, your life is not valuable, not to mention your dignity!'

'Grace, you must remember that you own a girl her life, and you should realize her dream about the Erhai Lake

'Grace, you possess nothing now, and can only rely on yourself. Then you should use all you possessions, including your dignity, to pay back that innocent girl who had died for protecting you! You should realize her dream about the Erhai Lake'

Grace could clearly hear those taunts and scoffs, but she just gritted her teeth hard against the humiliation regardless the fact that it hurt so much.

There were several notes in front of a pair of shoes. Grace didn't hesitate, and crawled over to pick them up. From behind, one of the dude, who was called “Young Master Lance” by his accompanies, laughed loudly, “Yuck, silly dog, you should wag your tail. lÝ you don't do it, then yoưre not allowed to take the money.

Grace shivered and clenched her hand that was holding the notes even more tightly. She clenched so tightly that it seemed like her fingers were going to pierce through the notes and nail into her palm.

Someone booed, “Wag your tail, quickly!"

“Hey, silly dog, dorrt let us wait for too long. Wag your tail!”

“Yuck, silly dog, don't you want the money?” .Joyce Lance suddenly chimed in.

Money! Grace looked down at the money in her hand and took a deep breath, and then swung her hips slowly and stiffly.

“Hahahaha... They laughed even louder, “Ouch, I can't bear it anymore! I laughed myself into convulsion!"

“Oh...oh no, I can't bear it either. I've visited countless nightclubs in the country and seen various kinds of women, many of which are money- mad. But it was my first time to see someone to be so greedy! Tsk, tsk, tsk, it feeds my sight!” ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“Young Master Shaw, that silly dog is wagging her tail at you.” With evil intentions, .Joyce Lance asked Caden, “Hey, come on, reward her something?”

Young Master Shaw? Caden... Shaw...?!

At the moment, Grace felt that her heart had stopped working! With difficulty, she raised her head slowly and stiffly... But when seeing the man, her face became bloodlessl

Caden sat on the sofa quietly, and under the dim light, he looked more graceful and indifferent.

He fixated his gaze on Grace's face and uttered a word with indifference and composưre, “Bitch.”

Grace gnashed her teeth, feeling breathless. lf there wasn't a thick clown make-up on her face, they would see her pale face that was as bloodless as that of the dead.

Luckily... she was now wearing the comical make-up.

After a long while...

Stared by Caden, Grace slowly forced a bright smile, “Thanks for your kindness, Mr. Shaw.” No one noticed that she had clenched her teeth and used all her strength to utter these words!

He scolded her as a bitch, yet she thanked him for his kindness. The lofty and unyielding Miss James of the Pearl City had changed, right?

Grace took a deep breath and turned around to look at Joyce, “Young Master Lance, I've picked up all the notes on the ground, will you carry out your promise?” .JJoyce waved his hand expansively. However, just as Grace moved as she intended to stand up, Joyce stopped her, “Dorrt stand up now.”

As he was speaking, he walked over the crystal counter and picked up a glass of wine.

“I want to treat you a glass of wine. Gulp it down and take the money.”

He handed a glass of whisky to Grace who was still lying on all fours on the ground.

”“I don't...”

Grace's refusal was interrupted by a low voice, “Good wine is for beauty. lfs a pity to treat her with it.”

lt was Caden who was speaking!

Grace looked down at the ground to conceal the bitterness in her eyes.

'Caden, to what extents will you become happy!

“That's true, but Young Master Shaw. Isn't she beautiful?” Joyce doubted, “I don't believe it. All women in Royal Club are beauties.

After finishing the words, he turned to look up and down at Grace in dead earnest. However, the heavy clown make-up on her face blocked him from seeing her appearance.

“You don't believe?” Caden curled his thin lips into a smile and lazily casted his gaze on Grace s face, “Go remove the make-up.” He said it contemptuously and lazily... and, extremely unconcernedly!

4ust as Grace was about to stand up...

“Crawl to the washroom." Joyce Lance added.

Grace's face became pale again and she clenched her fists tightly... You can hold ¡t back, Grace .Jamesl lt was nothing! It was nothing compared to the three-year imprisonment.

She followed the order and crawled to the washroom in this private room. Since she had no makeup removing lotion, she could just use the hand sanitizer and roughly removed the clown make-up. Of course she could not remove it all since she had no removing lotion, but... it was clean enough for them to see her gaunt and plain face.

Then she opened the door of the washroom...

“I'm accustomed to see you crawling on the ground and I don't want to see you walk with your legs." Joyce smiled and looked at the woman who was standing at the door, “Hey, what should you do then?”

Grace slowly squatted down, sprawled to the ground and started to crawl. As her legs had a bad shape, plus that she had crawled on the ground for a long while just now, she felt the pain on her legs and her face became pale.

lt was so painful, but this indocile woman just bore it silently and tried to conceal it... She said that she had no dignity, neither did she need it, and that she didn't care about it. However, in reality, she would secretly bear the pain that even men couldrït bear without uttering a word of complaints.