Standing up and giving his body a nice stretch, Ryan glanced at his phone where the girls’ profiles were opened and after a second thought, he threw it on the bed. His brain needed some fresh air first. He walked towards the window and pulled on the curtains to let in more light inside the room.

The sun rays fell on his naked chest, exposing his carved abs and fair skin to the world. Many girls envied his smooth and spotless skin but even if they asked, he also didn’t know how it was possible. With all the junk food he ate on a daily basis, anyone would think he would get sick but he was perfectly fine.

He opened the window and fresh air immediately blew on his face. With a big breath in, he emptied the stale air from his lungs. He felt much better after a couple of wafts but it was still not enough to feel refreshed.

“Maybe I should shower…?” Ryan muttered, brushing through his hair that turned a bit greasy already but decided to go for a quick run instead. His morning jog was the minimum exercise he did in his life and it seemed to be working well for him.

It wasn’t like he planned to talk to any girls on the way so he only put on his yesterday’s outfit and a red hoodie to cover himself. He was used to walking in joggers almost everywhere so it was also his go-to fit for a run.

He left his phone behind and locked the room, leaving the window slightly ajar to ventilate the room. It wasn’t like he had anything expensive inside so even if a robber broke inside, he would leave disappointed. His phone was also old and cheap.

Even though his Grandma seemed to be filthy rich, Ryan was struggling financially since he moved out to study at the University. He didn’t ask for money from his parents and his grandma left the country ten years ago so he also got nothing from her. Even if she was sending some money to his parents, he didn’t see any cent of it.

“Where should I run today…?” Ryan asked himself out loud, leaving his dorm. He could go for a run at the University Track but it was boring. He preferred to explore different parts of the city during his workout.

He looked left and right, licked his fingers to check the direction of the wind only to choose the path at random. Stepping out of the campus area, he began running alongside the main street, somewhere he rarely went.

Despite the day being a sunny Sunday, it was still a bit chilly outside in this early spring weather so there were very few people on the streets. It was a perfect day for his jog though. He ran past two intersections only to discover something interesting.

“Huh? This wasn’t here before…”

He saw a newly build a road, as clean as if it was finished just yesterday. The pavements barely had any dust on them. In the distance, on both sides of the road, a row of fancy villas were built with an automatic lawn mowers cutting the grass in their front yards.

‘Is that the new residential area for rich people they talked in the news recently? Maybe some rich peeps already moved in there,’ Ryan thought, his body instinctively turning to change his course. He was curious by nature.

Passing only five or six properties, he couldn’t help but get envious by the amount of greenery in the area. Every two or three villas, there was a small park for the residents to chill and rest amidst various colorful flowers and bird sounds.

Even though he wasn’t tired yet, he sat down on the bench inside one of the parks. He bent his body backwards and totally gave in to the relaxing songs of the hidden wildlife.

‘It must feel nice to be rich… They can enjoy it everyday…’ Ryan thought as he closed his eyes, giving up on continuing his run. He found the perfect place to relax and think about his future.

He was placed in front of an unusual situation. He had to either find a perfect girlfriend for himself in the next week or choose one from his mom’s candidates. Now that he thought about it deeper, if he actually won and inherited the company, wouldn’t that mean he has to marry that girl?

A person he knew for a week and he would be forced to spend the rest of the life with her. Even though getting so much money sounded nice, Ryan didn’t think he would trade his happiness for any amount of money.

“Sigh…” Ryan took a deep breath and finally decided what he will do.

He didn’t like the whole situation but he will at least try to meet the three girls. There was always a slight possibility that he will like at least one of them. After all, recalling their beauty from the pictures, all of them surpassed his minimum standards.

The breeze was so refreshing that Ryan didn’t was to move. There was literally no one in the area so he took off his hood as well to catch some wind on his face. His cursed luck struck him with perfect timing as at the same time, someone came out from the corner of the side street, running straight in his direction. To make matters worse, the person seemed to be a young woman as well which he guessed based on the skirt she wore.

‘...’ Ryan didn’t know what to comment on that and reached towards his hood, planning on putting it back on but his hand halted mid-way.

He realized something was wrong with the girl.

She was sprinting with full speed as if she was running for her life while keeping her head down. In this position, she wouldn’t be able to see where she was going and looking at her skinny build, he didn’t think she would last long.

‘Something must have happened…’ Ryan went into his alert mode, glancing behind the girl to check if she was chased by someone but there was no one. He stood up, waiting for the girl to pass him so he can maybe ask if she was okay and coincidentally, she stopped right in front of his bench.

Hu… Hu...

The girl supported herself on her knees, breathing hurriedly. Ryan guessed she emptied her energy tank with that sprint. Just what he expected would happen.

“Are you alright?” Ryan asked politely, checking her out. She wore an elegant short-sleeved white blouse and short blue skirt with a logo on it, probably from one of the private Universities he had no knowledge about. Just from her bodily proportions, he guessed she was around his age.

Her long brown hair was all messy, falling down across her forehead which made it impossible to see her face.

Sniff...

The girl sobbed and reached out to wipe her face before standing straight, glancing in his direction. She was crying! Her eyes were all red and cheeks covered in tears. She looked at him with her blue eyes as if she needed help but didn’t know how to ask for it.

Ba-dum!

Ryan’s heart skipped a beat, stunned by her gaze. He was a person who hated to see women cry, especially if they were beautiful. She couldn’t hide her beauty even with the messy state she was in.

She opened her cherry-soft lips to speak but a sudden melody disturbed her. She looked down and it was her phone which vibrated in the pocket of her shirt. It had two small chains attached to it with cute bears at the end that jiggled each time she moved her chest.

Instead of picking up, she grabbed onto the edge of her skirt and squeezed the material, waiting for the call to end. The phone stopped vibrating but in the next second, another call connected.

It was after two more calls like that when Ryan finally spoke up. “They won’t stop calling unless you pick up. They might be worried about you,” Ryan said with a soft smile, sitting on the bench to see her face from below. Based on her state, he figured out she might have ran away from home after a fight with her parents.

Surprisingly, the girl listened and pulled out her phone. She already calmed down a bit and tears stopped falling down her cheeks.

“What do you want…?” She asked as she accepted the call, her voice weak but pleasant.