Love Contract
Chapter 180 Acting Again (P art One)

"Mary? What's going on with you?"

The horrified Amy couldn't do anything but scream as she tried to block Mary with her body parts. She was at a loss as to why Mary had ended up like this.

"I..." Mary stuttered, beginning to tear up. As she pulled her torn dress tight around her body, embarrassment, outrage, and helplessness slowly contorted her face into a pained expression. With a lump in her throat, she cried out, "Aunt Amy..."

"My goodness, Mary! It's all right! It's all right!" Amy quickly wrapped her arms around her in an effort to comfort and calm her down.

William, too, moved a few steps towards her, but stopped himself before he got any closer.

Timothy frowned when he saw his son standing in the distance. While he might not know the full scope of what had happened, William's disheveled clothes were enough for him to understand that he had something to do with it.

All of a sudden, the sound of a palm clashing with a cheek rang out loud and clear.

Everyone turned around and was shocked. Timothy had slapped William across the face so hard that his hand had left a distinct red print on his face.

"Father..." Mary whispered weakly as tears slowly rolled down her face.

"William... Timothy..." Amy's mouth was agape and her eyes were filled with horror.

Timothy was so angry that his face had become bright red. With trembling hands he roared at the man in front of him, "How did I have a son like you? Huh? How could someone related to me be worse than a brainless and immoral animal? Answer me, you bastard!"

William didn't answer his father's questions, but instead, bit down on his lip so hard his teeth were already digging deep into his flesh. As he did this, his eyes were fixed on Mary.

"So you're just going to ignore me, William? You're not going to answer me? Stop staring at her!" Timothy's eyes burned with rage. "Come out with me!"

William immediately did what he was told and walked out with his father.

On his way out, he buttoned up his shirt in an attempt to fix his appearance. His face, however, showed his embarrassment as clear as day.

After the two men left, Amy immediately turned to Mary. "Mary, did William... did he do anything to you?" "No... not yet." Mary shook her head vigorously.

"But your dress... Just stay here first. I'll get you some clothes to change into."

"Thank you, Aunt Amy."

"Don't be silly, Mary." Amy, too, then exited and gently closed the door behind her. Alone, Mary sat on the bed, silent and pondering about what William had just told her. Wasn't he gay? Wasn't he in love with Frank? Was she wrong? Did he truly love her?

All of these questions filled and clogged her mind, making her feel lost and confused. Should she trust him? 'But so what if you believed him? Mary Lu, will the both of you ever be able to go back to what you used to be?'

William walked and walked until he reached the hospital's garden. No one was there at that time, and so privacy was guaranteed for him and his father. William stood sheepishly in one spot while Timothy sat down on a nearby bench.

"Are you drunk? How much did you drink?" William could hear the utmost disdain in his father's voice. "I can smell alcohol on you from a mile away!"

"I... I just drank a little."

"A little? Are you telling me that just after a few drinks, you got so drunk that you tried to rape Mary? Is that what you're saying?" The fires of rage in Timothy's eyes shone brighter than ever before. He lifted his crutch-which was as thick as his arm-and struck William's back with it. "You shameless pig! Immoral bastard!"

William let out a pained yelp but didn't say anything else. Instead, he continued to lower his head in an attempt to avoid Timothy's gaze.

"Are you stupid?" Timothy snorted, "I heard you arguing with Mary just now! What did you do to Mary? Did you..."

"No, I didn't." William aggressively shook his head.

"You wretched man! Have you forgotten? You and Mary are divorced! You can't treat her like this! She will sue you and you will be jailed!

I know what kind of person you are and so I never expected anything from you. You have constantly angered and disappointed me in the past four years-with the exception of the twins. They are already more precious to me than you'd ever be.

And so I'm warning you, William: fix your life! My two grandchildren currently do not have Lan as their surname. I want that changed as soon as possible! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father." William still couldn't look straight into his father's eyes. Truth be told, he, too, had been thinking about that constantly. "I'm glad we're on the same page," Timothy replied crossly. "Your sins against Mary are piling up high once again. I'm pretty sure that she's nearing her breaking point, so stop acting like an irresponsible brat! I do not want her to take my grandchildren away from me! I've also had Barry Gu investigated. As much as it irritates me to say it, he's a good fellow. Way better than you."

William's eyes immediately narrowed, and with his voice full of disdain he said, "What's so good about him?"

"He's good looking and he has a successful career. Most importantly, he treats Mary and the two children well." Timothy let out a snicker. "You won't be able to hold a candle against him! Look at yourself! Look at what a loser you've become!"

William stayed still and silent while his father laughed boisterously.

It took a moment for Timothy to compose himself, but when he did, his demeanor became more serious than before. "Have you ever been in a relationship?" he asked his son.

"I..." Before William could answer, he was interrupted by his father, who added, "I mean in a relationship with a girl."

William's eyebrows furrowed and he thought about it for a while. Shortly after, he mumbled, "No, I haven't." "Pathetic!" Timothy's rage was once again ignited. "Do you know that that Barry Gu is seriously dating Mary? When you were with her, you should have taken your relationship seriously instead of doing shitty things! You deserve everything you're going through right now!

I swear to god, William, if you fail to get Mary back, I'll strip the Lan surname off of you!" It seemed like Timothy was only getting angrier and angrier with William. It didn't help that what happened four years ago was still fresh in his mind! "You risked your life to save Frank. It made me so mad!"

At this point, he had to pause for a while to catch his breath and calm himself. "I'm getting older, William," he then said quietly. Restraint could be heard in his voice. "If my two grandchildren live their lives with Gu as their surname, I won't be able to take it. I will die of anger, William. I will die! It's all up to you if you want to prevent that from happening!"

William only frowned at his father's dramatic speech. "Come on, Father. How will my children have Gu as their surname? That will never happen. I promise you-in two months, Mary will come back to me and we'd live happily ever after."

"Don't promise-do it! If you hadn't fucked up in the first place, this wouldn't be happening." Timothy then stood up. "Let's go."

But just after taking two steps back to where they came from, he stopped and turned to William. "You should learn how to treat ladies. You have to be gentle, caring, and unassuming. Forcing yourself to Mary is not going to win her back. That's a behavior of a gangster. I don't know how you've survived this long without knowing that, but you should start taking that to heart. If you still can't wrap your head around such a concept, go home, watch some romantic movies and dramas."

William was rendered speechless.

With one hand behind his back and the other hand firmly clutching his cane, Timothy moved forward and continued, "Stop being stupid, William. I'm so disappointed that you are not as smart as your old man. When I was courting your mother, I didn't even put a fourth of the effort you're about to give..."

William furrowed his eyebrows. 'I should really replace a professional counselor to advise me on what to do next,' he thought.

Mary wanted to visit the filming set of the movie "Be Together" primarily because she was concerned about Victor and how he was doing.

Fortunately for her, because Hester and Lucas were both in the hospital, she had time to go.

"Mary! You're here!" As soon as Ena saw Mary walking around the set, she rushed towards her to hug her. "How are you? How's everything going? Is Alick okay?"

"Hello, Ena. Alick is doing fine, thank you for asking," Mary replied with a smile. "How about you? How have you been? Everything okay? Seems like you're all so busy here."

"Well..." Ena bit her lips before she answered. "The director... well, let's just say that he hasn't been thoroughly impressed with my performance in the scenes I was in... Mary, be honest with me-do you think I can be a good actress?"

"Oh, Ena. Definitely!" Mary responded, trying her hardest to sound comforting. "As long as you enjoy doing what you do and put effort on it, I'm sure you'd improve and replace success."

"But..." Ena sighed deeply. "I always feel overwhelmed as I am working with so many big celebrities! I easily lose focus and the director would always scold me for it. I think taking on a leading role as my first acting job wasn't a very smart choice. Don't you think..."

"What's wrong? Is anyone giving you a hard time? Is anyone gossiping behind your back?" More than curious, Mary was shocked and concerned. "Ena, listen to me. If you hear anyone say something bad about you, let me know. I chose you for this role because I believe in your skills. No one should make you feel bad."

"Mary, you are so kind." Ena was moved by Mary's words. "But don't worry, no one has said anything bad about me. I just feel inadequate at times."

"Ena, trust yourself more." With that, she patted Ena on the shoulder. "Mary? Why are you here? Where are Alick and Elissa?" Victor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now walking towards Mary and Ena.

"Hey, Victor. I have free time and so I decided to come here and check on things. How are you doing? Is everything going well?" Mary inquired as she flashed Victor a lovely smile.

"Well..." Victor touched his nose and looked at Ena. "Why don't you ask her?"

"Hmm?" Turning to look at Ena, Mary was puzzled.

"Mary, I... About that one erotic scene..." Ena looked away shyly as she twiddled with her thumbs.

"I don't know a couple more perfectly matched than them!" Archer, who just finished filming his scene, suddenly exclaimed. He looked especially dashing with the suite he had on. "When Victor was filming the erotic scene with me, he couldn't do it. When the two of them were doing it, Ena couldn't! It's just acting, you two! Lighten up and don't be so awkward with each other!"

Candy GSmgB