Chapter 1

My husband said I wasn't sexy enough, that in bed I was like a dead fish.

He sent me to "The Allure Academy" to learn how to be a better woman.

The instructor measured my bust, waist, and hips in front of everyone.

"Your husband paid for our Platinum Course, including the Intensive Training Session."

"Men just love a woman with a little edge."

On graduation day, my husband's face turned ashen watching the video of me and Coach Marcus.

I touched my bruised wrist and chuckled softly, "Didn't you insist I learn this?"

"Am I still not 'good enough'?"

Later, he knelt on broken glass, begging me to come home.

I raised my bandaged hand for him to see:

"Now, all I want is for you to taste the same agonizing torment."

A searing pain exploded, and warm, sticky liquid trickled down my forehead.

"...Who are you giving that dead stare to? Elara, I'm spending a fortune on you, not to have you play the saint here! It's practically bad luck to touch you. Is Liam Chen short on women or what?!"

I snapped my head up, my vision a blood-red blur.

"What are you looking at?"

Enraged, he kicked my shinbone again. The pain was so intense I instantly curled into a ball.

"Fake it! Keep faking it!"

He grabbed my hair, forcing me to confront my disheveled self in the full-length mirror.

"Look at you! What man would even get excited seeing that? Serena was right, you're just begging for some training!"

Serena was right...

That phrase felt sickeningly familiar.

"Speak!"

His patience finally snapped. He shoved me to the ground.

The phone rang. A syrupy sweet female voice drifted from the speaker:

"...Liam, Elara might just be a bit distant, she probably didn't mean to reject you... Oh, if only she could be more like me, and know how to make a man happy..."

It was Serena.

Liam's chief secretary, and his childhood friend he always considered like a sister.

A woman always impeccably made up, her laughter charming, yet she constantly cast a subtle, unsettling shadow over my relationship with Liam.

Liam's eyes flared with even more anger as he shot me a furious glare.

"Fine, can't communicate, huh? I've found a great place for you. You'll learn how to be a real woman!"

A flimsy promotional flyer, crumpled into a ball, hit my face with a harsh thud.

On the flyer, next to the artfully stylized words "The Allure Academy: Reclaiming Your Feminine Essence," was a picture of a woman with a perfect smile and captivating eyes.

A veritable sensual goddess.

"Pack your things!"

Liam's command left no room for argument.

"First thing tomorrow, I'm taking you there. Elara, you'd better come back a proper woman!"

I wanted to scream back, to smash everything he'd ever given me, to wound him with the sharpest words, just like we used to argue.

Instead, I reached out, timidly tugging at his pant leg.

My voice was thin, trembling:

"...I'll go, Liam, I'll go learn.... Please don't be angry, don't leave me..."

Liam froze for a moment, seemingly surprised by my quick surrender, especially in such a pathetic state.

His gaze flickered with a complex emotion, a fleeting hint of remorse, but it was swiftly eclipsed by deeper irritation.

He yanked his hand away, though his tone softened imperceptibly:

"...Wouldn't it have been easier to just listen earlier? Pack your things. I'll take you tomorrow."

He turned and walked away, his back a wall of resolve.