Category: English

Three years ago, Liam Carter bullied me relentlessly at school. I begged him to let me go, but he just stepped on my hand and called me trash. Three years later, he was on his knees, crying and begging me not to leave him. I gave his words right back to him. 1 Backed into a corner by the school’s notorious bully, I sent one last text to my online boyfriend. At that exact moment, the bully’s phone dinged. Liam pulled out his phone. The icy cruelty in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a soft, tender warmth. [Be good, Summer. I’m busy right now, just give me a minute.] The second he hit send, my phone gave a faint vibration. It was the special notification tone I had set for my online boyfriend. I stared at him in utter disbelief. He was standing under the streetlight, and his perfect profile and elegant features were exactly the same as my sweet “Liam” from our photos. But the dark, ruthless sneer on his face, a cigarette dangling from his lips, was completely at odds with the gentle boy I knew online. For a moment, my mind couldn’t process it. Was this my sweet, loving boyfriend, or was this Liam Carter, the terrifying school bully and Chloe’s boyfriend? “Liam, she’s the bitch who slashed my bag! She’s just jealous because she’s too broke to buy one herself. Poor people are always causing trouble!” Chloe pointed at me viciously, her eyes shining with smug triumph. “I didn’t…” I didn’t ruin Chloe’s bag. Earlier that day, Chloe had tried to slap me for absolutely no reason. When she swung again, I dodged. She lost her balance, fell hard, and completely trashed her brand new twenty-thousand-dollar designer bag. She screamed at me to pay for it. When I said I couldn’t, she threatened me, saying her boyfriend, Liam Carter, would handle me. Everyone knew Liam. He was a rich kid from a powerful family. Rumor had it he had serious connections, fought like a complete psychopath, and wasn’t afraid of anything. People were terrified of him. They called him a monster. But I never, ever imagined that my sweet, gentle “Liam” online and the monstrous school bully were the exact same person. Liam stood up straight and slowly walked toward me. The warm yellow light spilled over him, but his gaze was as freezing as ice. His tall frame loomed over me. I instinctively clenched my fists. Then, I heard his cold, detached voice. “Two choices. You pay for it, or you get on your knees and apologize.” His cold, dismissive attitude was lightyears away from the tender, affectionate boy on my phone. I couldn’t describe the twisted feeling in my chest. In a moment of pure, stubborn defiance, I stared back at him and said, “Would you believe me if I said I didn’t ruin her bag?” Liam stared at me for a few seconds, then let out a sudden, mocking scoff. “You really don’t know what’s good for you.” He turned away, his voice dripping with impatience. “Teach her a lesson.” The blood in my veins turned to ice. My ears started ringing. His cronies forced me to my knees. They slapped me relentlessly and kicked me in the stomach. The pain was so agonizing I couldn’t even scream. Liam leaned casually against the wall, completely indifferent to what was happening, smiling tenderly at his phone screen as if waiting for a message. I curled into a tight ball, taking every punch and kick, the tears streaming down my face unstoppably. The result of being beaten by several grown men was that I couldn’t get up for a very long time. Two of my teeth were knocked loose, and the blood I coughed up stained my collar red. I lay there like a dead fish for three solid hours before I finally scraped together enough strength to crawl home. I didn’t dare tell my parents. They were honest, hardworking people from a rural town. They had moved to the city to give me a better life, but they were already struggling just to make ends meet. Honestly, the only reason I was bullied was because we were poor. Every time they called me “hick,” “cheap trash,” or sneered, “Selling you wouldn’t even cover the cost,” it felt like knives in my heart. That was when I learned that being poor meant you didn’t deserve dignity. You only deserved to be stomped into the mud. “Hiss—” I quietly applied ointment to my bruises. It hurt so much. My phone kept chiming with that special notification tone. It was all messages from my sweet “Liam.” [Summer baby, are you home yet?] [You should be home by now, why aren’t you replying? ~] [Did I do something to make my baby mad? …] Even though his tone was still affectionate and sweet, a deep chill ran down my spine. I typed out several responses, but deleted every single one. Finally, I just sent: [You only went to the library tonight?] There was a slight pause on his end, then a quick reply. 2 [Yeah! I was studying hard today!] As if to prove it, he even sent a photo of himself in the library. In the photo, the boy was wearing a crisp white shirt, a bright, sunny smile lighting up his face as he stood by the bookshelves. He looked refined, gentle, and utterly perfect. But it was all a complete lie. I was so incredibly thankful I had never sent him a picture of myself, and that he hadn’t recognized me. It gave me the chance to see exactly who he really was. Terrified of falling behind in my classes, I didn’t dare skip school. Right after morning study hall, Chloe dragged me into the girls’ bathroom. She and her squad cornered me by the sinks. “Summer, how do you even have the nerve to show your face? Tsk, tsk. Did Liam not hit you hard enough last night?” “Haha, maybe she’s just thick-skinned because she’s so cheap. She’s so ugly and poor, if it wasn’t for that thick skin, she’d have killed herself by now!” “No wonder her name is Summer Pig. She’s got the hide of a pig!” The girls beside her hurled every degrading insult they could think of. Then, a bucket of filthy mop water was dumped directly over my head. It ran down my hair and soaked into my collar. The rank, damp smell made me want to vomit. “Tsk, tsk. Summer, you really are as ugly and filthy as a pig!” She grabbed a handful of my wet hair and slapped me twice across the face. Then, looking completely disgusted, she washed her hands and strutted out of the bathroom. I slid down the tiled wall, collapsing onto the floor. I buried my face in my knees, biting my lip to stop the tears from falling. Chloe locked me in that bathroom for the entire morning. It wasn’t until the lunch bell rang that someone finally let me out. I foolishly thought that would be the end of it. But Chloe wasn’t done. For the rest of the week, my desk was constantly trashed, and my homework mysteriously vanished. After a few times, my teachers stopped believing my excuses. Chloe haunted every single corner of the school I tried to hide in, taking immense pleasure in humiliating me. During evening study hall, I hid in the library, studying for hours before finally packing up to go home. I just wanted to avoid Chloe. But Chloe hadn’t left. She and her squad were waiting for me right by the library exit. She slapped my thermos out of my hand. With a loud crash, the coffee I drank to stay awake splashed all over my legs. My freshly washed white pants were instantly stained dark brown. I glared at her furiously. I opened my mouth to speak, but then I saw Liam’s warning look. He was standing right next to her, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his eyes full of contempt. “Tsk. Summer, do you have a problem?” Chloe shoved me hard. I fell backward, landing directly in the puddle of spilled coffee. The smell of cheap coffee mixed with the dirty floor made my stomach churn. Her followers erupted into cruel laughter, mocking me for looking like a pig rolling in slop. They even tried to force me to drink the coffee off the floor! My face was mere inches from the dirty tiles when the librarian arrived to lock up and saw what was happening. “What is going on here?!” Chloe and her minion quickly let go of me. Chloe put on a bright, innocent smile and said to the librarian, “We’re just playing Truth or Dare with Summer!” “Yeah! Summer lost, so her dare was to drink the coffee off the floor!” “No!” I desperately shook my head, looking at the librarian pleadingly. “Ma’am, they were forcing me.” The librarian frowned. Just as she was about to speak, Chloe immediately jumped in, smiling sweetly. “Ma’am, don’t listen to her. She’s just trying to get out of her punishment!” “Summer, don’t be a sore loser. A loss is a loss. Why are you running to the teacher?” Chloe deliberately twisted the narrative, pinning the blame entirely on me. Her followers quickly chimed in. “Yeah, Summer, you’re taking this way too seriously.” “It’s just a game! If you didn’t want to do the dare, you didn’t have to tattle!” There were so many of them, and their stories matched perfectly. Sure enough, the librarian believed them. Her face darkened as she looked at me, then back at Chloe. “Alright, enough. You’re at school to study. No more of these pointless games!” The librarian walked away. She clearly didn’t want to get involved. Chloe looked down at me from above, smiling smugly. “See that, Summer? They’re all on my side. No one is ever going to believe you.” “Running to the teachers won’t save you. I have a hundred ways to make sure I never get in trouble, but you? You aren’t nearly as lucky!” 3 My heart turned to ash. I didn’t even hear what they said after that. I sat by the library doors for a very long time, until all the lights on campus were turned off. It wasn’t until a patrolling security guard started shouting my name that I realized I had been sitting in a puddle of freezing coffee for hours. I stumbled home in a daze. My mom was angrily scrubbing dishes in the sink. “You’re old enough to know how to keep yourself clean! How did you get your clothes so filthy? I don’t have the money to buy you new ones.” “You won’t focus on your actual studies, insisting on this useless art nonsense! It costs me twice as much to support you! It’s a sin! Why can’t you be more like your cousin back in the village? She’s hardworking and sensible.” I had heard my mom’s complaints so many times I was completely numb to them. But today, I felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to cry. I ignored her and locked myself in my room. My phone started buzzing relentlessly. It was Liam. [Summer, are you out of study hall yet?] [Hurry up and reply!] [Baby, did I do something wrong? You’ve been so cold the last two days.] [Don’t ignore me, it breaks my heart.] It breaks his heart? Yeah. It would. Even though Liam and I were only dating online, I knew exactly how dependent he was on me. He demanded to be texting me twenty-four seven. He was a boy who grew up starved for love and completely lacked a sense of security. His childhood was overshadowed by severe family trauma. Ever since his mother died, he had become incredibly dark and negative. I had appeared right at that critical moment, staying by his side and pulling him out of that agonizing darkness. Since then, he had been like a puppy rolling over to show its belly, giving his entire heart to me. He used to say: [Baby, you are the only light in my life.] [Baby, I’m slowly becoming a better person for you. I’m studying hard, eating right… I’m going to be the perfect boy you want…] [Baby, I love you the most. Stay with me forever, okay?] I thought about the things he had said, and then I thought about him helping Chloe torture me. My fingertips trembled. [Liam, if someone bullied you, what would you do?] I asked him. [Get revenge, obviously. Make their life a living hell.] [Why are you asking, Summer? Is someone bullying you? Tell me who it is, I’ll handle them for you!] [It’s nothing.] I didn’t need him to. Liam, I have my own ways of making the people who bully me suffer. 4 During art class, Chloe walked past my easel, deliberately knocking over my paint bucket and ripping my canvas. “Summer, do cheap, low-class trash like you really think you deserve to study art? Art supplies are expensive. Can your pathetic family even afford this?” She strutted away, practically glowing with smug satisfaction. I silently started cleaning up the spilled paint. Half the bucket was gone, and my canvas and other tools were ruined. I sealed up the remaining paint and took my dirty brushes to the bathroom to wash them out. I felt a heavy gaze fixed on me. I turned around and saw Liam. He was leaning against the wall, a cigarette in his mouth, looking at me with absolute mockery and disgust. Like I was a clown. I gripped my brushes tightly. He made no move to leave. When I tried to walk out the bathroom door, he blocked my path, trapping me against the wall. “Tomorrow, you are going to apologize to Chloe.” His tone left no room for argument, his eyes full of threat. “But I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t ruin her bag.” I gathered my courage and met his stare. The next second, he pressed the burning cherry of his cigarette directly into my arm. “Cut the bullshit!” “It was a twenty-thousand-dollar bag. Just apologize. Don’t push your luck.” “I’m losing my patience. If you don’t apologize, you know exactly what’s going to happen to you!” Liam walked away. I clutched my burned arm, massive tears rolling down my face. When I got home that night, my mom started complaining again. She told me to quit art, saying our family couldn’t afford my dream. Finally, my dad told her to drop it. Before I went to sleep, my dad came to my room. He told me to just focus on studying hard. He promised the family would find a way to support my art. Looking at my dad—his hair turning gray far too early, his stiff glass eye—my heart ached terribly. When my dad was young, a delinquent kid in our village had hit him, blinding him in one eye. He had to get a prosthetic. Ever since then, whenever it rained or he overworked himself, the eye would ache and burn. But even with that, he carried the weight of our entire family on his shoulders. “Dad, I’m going to start a work-study program. Trust me, I’ll start making money soon.” My dad smiled proudly, telling me not to worry about money. Then he asked, “You haven’t seemed like yourself the last few days. Did something happen at school?” I shook my head. He said, “If anyone is bullying you, you have to tell us.” I nodded, reassuring him. They were already working so hard. I couldn’t add to their worries. After surviving on my own for so long, growing wild and stubborn, I always found my own ways to handle things. Chloe thought I was a soft target she could crush whenever she wanted. But did being poor mean I had to swallow my pride and accept the abuse? The day Chloe demanded twenty thousand dollars, I had already secured the security footage showing her tripping and ruining her own bag. After all, poor people like me have to be hyper-vigilant against scammers. I kept the bruises from the alley and the bathroom as evidence. I also managed to get a copy of the security footage from outside the library. I hadn’t replied to Liam much over the past few days, and he was completely blowing up my phone. I had 99+ unread messages. I opened them and read them one by one. [Summer, what are you doing? Are you so busy you can’t even talk to me?] [Summer, did I do something wrong?] [I’m sorry, baby. If I did something wrong, just tell me. I’ll fix it. Please don’t ignore me.] [Summer, are you… are you leaving me?] Reading that last message, I knew Liam was panicking. Liam, so you really do get your heart broken, huh? Don’t worry. The real heartbreak hasn’t even started yet. 5 Before I could finish reading his messages, Liam started calling me incessantly. I didn’t answer. Instead, I texted him back. [I’m not leaving you.] [Really?] Liam clearly didn’t believe me. He was far too insecure. [Then promise you won’t ignore me anymore, Summer. It hurts too much.] My fingers hovered over the keyboard. After a brief silence, I replied: [Okay.] Liam’s tone instantly brightened: [You’re the best, Summer. I want to see you as soon as possible. Can I come find you?] Liam and I had originally agreed to meet in person after we graduated high school. But now, he was clearly too desperate to wait. Maybe he could sense that I was pulling away from him. [Summer?] [You said you’d stay with me forever. You won’t break your promise, right?] I could hear the careful, desperate fear of loss in his words. A pang of sourness rose in my chest. I had been so determined to break his heart, but for a split second, I actually wavered. I asked him: [Liam, you said you were slowly becoming a better person for me. Is that true?] [Of course, Summer. I’m trying so hard.] His answer was immediate and firm. As if the guy who casually terrorized his classmates wasn’t him at all. He truly had two completely different faces. [Then you have to promise to be a good, just person. At the very least, you can’t do bad things.] I texted back. Liam, I’m giving you a chance. You had better stick to your word. … Chloe’s campaign against me was far from over. To force me to apologize, she weaponized public opinion. She posted the story of her ruined bag on the school forum. Instantly, she transformed from the abuser into the victim. She played the pathetic, wronged innocent, claiming she only wanted an apology. She took the moral high ground, preaching that poor people shouldn’t covet luxury items, that my vanity was bankrupting my family, that I was ungrateful and didn’t appreciate my parents’ sacrifices… Her “kindness and justice” won everyone’s sympathy. Overnight, the entire forum was flooded with comments attacking me. “If you’re poor, stop trying to act rich!” “This is classic ‘if I can’t have it, I’ll destroy it’ behavior! That is so malicious. Summer makes me sick!” “Yeah! Get that bitch Summer out of this school!” “I heard Chloe’s boyfriend, Liam Carter, beat her up a few days ago.” “Good! Taking a beating to pay off a twenty-thousand-dollar debt? I’d take that deal too!” “Summer needs to apologize immediately!” In the most vicious, highly-trafficked thread attacking me, I uploaded the video. The video clearly showed Chloe tripping, ruining her own bag, and then immediately blaming me. The people cursing my name went dead silent. I had planned to release the video today anyway. Chloe’s massive exposure was exactly what I needed. It gave me the perfect platform to publicly humiliate her. After hitting post, I calmly went to school.

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1 I scrolled past a post: “How to have an affair and get away with it?” There was an anonymous, highly upvoted answer. “Move into an apartment downstairs from her, buy identical furniture, use the same scented candles, even the same brand of shower gel.” “That way, even if you smell of it, your wife will just think it’s the smell of home.” Someone below asked: “That’s brilliant? Have you actually done it?” The user replied: “In progress. Just showered at the downstairs place and came back up. My wife’s hugging me now, telling me how good I smell.” I leaned down and sniffed my sleeping husband. He carried the familiar scent of white tea. And he’d just left, claiming he was taking out the trash, but was gone for an hour and a half. A strange impulse led me to unlock his phone. Everything seemed normal. Except for a purchase record for shower gel. The delivery address was “Building 8, Apartment 801, this community.” My home was in Building 8, Apartment 601. I stared intently at the online order page. “Elizabeth Arden White Tea Shower Gel, 500ml, two-pack.” “Delivery address: Building 8, Apartment 801, Recipient: Mr. Lewis.” And I was sleeping in Building 8, Apartment 601. “Honey, you smell wonderful, like home.” That was the first thing he said to me when he came back from “taking out the trash” downstairs tonight, holding me tight. Even though he was gone for an hour and a half. Even though his hair looked freshly blow-dried and fluffy when he returned. I’d brushed away my suspicions because of that familiar scent. Until I, on a whim, unlocked his phone. I refused to believe it. Liam Lewis, the model husband in everyone’s eyes, would betray me. I didn’t wake him. Years of professional experience allowed me to quickly regain my composure, even though my fingers were still uncontrollably trembling. I opened his browsing history. The first item was a forum Q&A post. “How to have an affair and get away with it?” That anonymous, highly upvoted answer was posted by his account. “Move into an apartment downstairs from her, buy identical furniture, use the same scented candles, even the same brand of shower gel.” “That way, even if you smell of it, your wife will just think it’s the smell of home.” The timestamp on the follow-up question was ten minutes ago. “That’s brilliant? Have you actually done it?” He replied: “In progress. Just showered at the downstairs place and came back up. My wife’s hugging me now, telling me how good I smell. What do you call that? Hiding in plain sight. A woman’s intuition is a joke in the face of absolute detail.” I suppressed the nausea, took screenshots of these pages one by one, and uploaded them to my cloud drive. Then, I quietly left the bedroom. In the living room, moonlight spilled onto the sofa. It was the one we’d chosen when we got married, after I’d scoured every furniture store in town. He’d said, “Whatever you like, darling, it’s fine by me.” According to the post. Now, directly above me, two floors up in Apartment 801. There was an identical sofa. Perhaps just an hour ago, he and another woman were intimately entangled on that very same sofa. I had to go up and see. I had to see it with my own eyes. I stood before the closed security door of 801. The door bore a sticker identical to ours: a red background with gold letters wishing good fortune. I held my breath, pressing my ear against the door. Faintly, piano music drifted out. It was “Wedding Dream.” It was also my favorite piece to play when I had free time at home on weekends. Liam used to say he loved hearing me play that song most of all. Now, the woman inside was not only using my shower gel, sleeping with my husband, but she was even mimicking my life. 2 The next morning. Sunlight streamed into the bedroom. Liam woke up as usual and gave me a good morning kiss. “Morning, sweetheart.” “Morning.” I forced a smile, placing his fried eggs in front of him. “Sleep well last night?” Liam took a sip of milk, his expression perfectly calm. “Very well, I always sleep so soundly next to you. Oh, by the way, some apartment upstairs was playing the piano late last night, it was a bit noisy. You heard it too, right?” “Really?” I feigned nonchalance. “I’m a heavy sleeper, didn’t hear a thing. But the soundproofing here isn’t great. I’ll complain to the building management sometime.” “Don’t!” Liam reacted quickly. “I mean, we’re neighbors, no need to make things awkward. Maybe it’s someone new who doesn’t know the rules yet, it’ll probably be fine in a few days.” “Someone new?” I looked up at him. “How do you know they’re new?” Liam’s eyes flickered. “Oh, I ran into the building manager last night when I was taking out the trash, and he mentioned someone just moved into the 8th floor.” “The 8th floor… That is pretty close.” Liam seemed unwilling to linger on the topic and quickly changed the subject. “By the way, darling, can I pick you up from work today? We haven’t been to that Japanese restaurant in ages.” “No need, I have to work late today.” I declined. “You go ahead and eat.” A flicker of delight crossed his eyes, though he said, “You work too hard, sweetheart. Remember to eat on time.” Of course he was happy. My overtime meant he had more time to go to 801, to be with his “baby.” After seeing Liam off, I didn’t go to work. I went straight to the apartment complex’s management office. “Hello, I’d like to ask who the owner of Building 8, Apartment 801 is? I’m from 601, and my bathroom is leaking. I suspect the waterproofing upstairs isn’t done properly, but no one answers when I knock.” The front desk assistant checked her computer. “801? The owner is registered as a Ms. Chloe Sterling.” Chloe Sterling. At the sound of the name, my mind quickly searched Liam’s circle of acquaintances. No one by that name. “Did she just move in?” I asked again. “No, the apartment was renovated about half a year ago, but it’s been empty until recently. Someone just started moving in and out, it seems.” The front desk assistant looked at me strangely. “And that apartment… when it was renovated, the permit was issued at the same time as yours. It seems to be the same interior design company.” I froze. The same interior design company. Half a year ago. So, as early as six months ago, or even earlier, Liam had been planning all of this. Leaving the management office, I sat on a bench in the community garden and opened that forum post. Sure enough, Liam had updated it. “My wife’s working overtime today, divine intervention! Almost got caught last night because of the piano, luckily I reacted quickly. Today I’m planning to buy the woman upstairs an identical robot vacuum, otherwise I’ll have to clean myself, it’s too much work. Oh, someone asked if I get the two homes mixed up. Actually, as long as you fix the position of everything, muscle memory takes care of it.” Someone commented below: “The poster is truly a time management guru, but don’t you think this is a bit twisted?” He replied: “Twisted? This is about pursuing perfection. I’ve provided my wife with a privileged life and given my mistress perfect companionship. I haven’t wronged anyone.” At that moment, a woman walked past me. The woman was quite delicate-looking, probably in her early twenties. She seemed to be on the phone, her voice sweetly melodious. “Honey, I know, I’ll open the robot vacuum when it arrives… You come up early tonight, okay? Remember not to go to the wrong door, hehe.” As she passed me, a familiar scent of shower gel wafted from her. I stared intently at her retreating back. Chloe Sterling. This was the woman living in 801, wearing my clothes, using my perfume, sleeping with my husband. A strong desire for revenge surged in my mind. Liam, since you enjoy playing this substitution game. Then I will play along. 3 Over the next few days, I behaved exceptionally docilely. I went to work as usual, came home, and cooked dinner. I expressed understanding for Liam’s late returns, and even gently told him to take care of himself when he claimed he had company meetings and couldn’t come home for dinner. Liam clearly relished this situation. He boasted on the forum: “My wife has been especially understanding lately. It seems my strategy is working. As long as I don’t show any flaws, she’ll always be that happy little fool. Tonight, I plan to try out the new projector in 801. It’s the same model as the one downstairs, so I won’t even need to adjust to a different remote.” Friday evening. I purposely bought a bouquet of fresh flowers and came home early. As I entered, Liam was on the balcony talking on the phone. Seeing me, he hung up in a hurry and came to greet me. “Honey, why are you home so early today?” “It’s the fifth anniversary of us meeting, darling, did you forget?” I smiled, handing him the flowers. Liam paused, clearly having forgotten. All his brain cells were tied up juggling two women; he had no time for such dates. But he reacted quickly, immediately slapping his forehead. “Oh, my mind! Of course I remember! I was just about to surprise you!” “Really? What surprise?” “Um… actually, I ordered a cake, it’ll be delivered soon.” He bluffed. I sneered inwardly. That cake, I bet it was for Chloe Sterling upstairs, wasn’t it? “That’s wonderful,” I linked my arm through his. “By the way, darling, I wanted to discuss something with you.” “What is it?” “My mom hasn’t been feeling well lately and wants to come to the city for a check-up. I was thinking our apartment, although it’s two bedrooms, the second bedroom is too small, and Mom wouldn’t be comfortable. I saw Apartment 801 upstairs seems to be empty. How about we ask if we can rent it for a few days?” Liam’s face instantly stiffened. “That… that’s not necessary, is it?” he stammered. “Your mom can just stay with us, we’ll make do. Besides, it’s such a hassle to rent someone’s apartment, and… and 801 is occupied.” “Occupied? Didn’t you say last time they just moved in and you weren’t familiar with them?” “Ah… yes, it’s precisely because we’re not familiar that it’s awkward to ask.” Cold sweat beaded on Liam’s forehead. “Honey, why are you suddenly so interested in the upstairs apartment?” “I’m just thinking about Mom.” I released his arm and turned to the kitchen for plates and utensils. “Fine, then Mom can stay in the second bedroom. But…” “But I think our apartment’s decor is a bit outdated. You know, I wonder if 801 is decorated better. I really want to go up and see.” “Clang!” Liam’s phone slipped from his hand and fell to the floor. “Honey, you… what are you talking about?” He bent to pick up his phone, his hand trembling violently. “Nothing, just an observation.” I smiled. “Let’s eat.” Liam picked at his food, barely tasting it. He frequently checked his phone, his eyes darting around. I knew he was messaging Chloe, telling her to be quiet tonight, to make absolutely no noise. But what he didn’t know was. I had already contacted my family. My dad, a retired military man, with a fiery temper. My brother, a fitness trainer, who could knock out an ox with one punch. And my best friend, a famous relationship blogger in the city, specializing in catching cheaters live, with five million followers. I told Liam I’d be going to a neighboring city for a two-day business trip tomorrow, attending a closed training session. The joy in Liam’s eyes almost overflowed, but he still feigned concern, holding me: “Honey, I’ll miss you. Be careful while you’re away.” Don’t worry, I’ll certainly give you a weekend you won’t forget. 4 Saturday afternoon. I sent Liam a text: “Honey, I’ve arrived at the hotel. The signal here isn’t great, so I might be out of touch. Don’t worry about me.” Liam replied instantly: “Okay, darling. You work hard, get some rest.” Putting down my phone, I wasn’t at a hotel in a neighboring city. I was sitting in a private room at a coffee shop across from our apartment complex. A laptop sat before me, the screen displaying the real-time interface of that forum. Liam’s post had updated: “Finally free! My wife’s away for two days, tonight I’m going to totally relax in 801. That apartment is my utopia, no need to pretend, no need to act. Tonight, I’m taking the red wine from downstairs up to share with my baby.” I looked at the screen, a cold smile curling my lips. No need to pretend? No need to act? Tonight, I’ll let you act to your heart’s content. Eight o’clock in the evening. Dusk had fallen. Lights began to flicker on across the apartment complex. Through binoculars, I clearly saw the curtains in Apartment 801 drawn. The position of that window was exactly the same as our living room. “Is everyone here?” I turned to my best friend beside me. My friend adjusted the camera in her hand and gave an OK gesture. “Don’t worry, the live stream is preheating. The title is ‘Live Reveal: The Perfect Cheater Who Duplicated His Home,’ and online viewers have already surpassed one hundred thousand.” I looked to the other side. My dad and brother stood with grim faces, carrying sledgehammers and wrenches bought from a hardware store. And the building manager I’d specifically invited, along with a few nosy elderly neighbors who loved to gossip. “Let’s go.” I stood up, adjusting my collar. “Time to deliver a surprise to Mr. Lewis.” The group marched into the apartment complex, heading straight for Building 8. The elevator numbers flickered. My heartbeat, however, remained unusually steady. “Ding —” Eighth floor. A crowd poured out of the elevator, blocking the entrance to 801. The building manager, nervously wiping sweat from his brow, knocked hard on the door, following the script I’d given him. “Open up! Open up! Downstairs is reporting a serious leak, we need to inspect immediately!” No movement from inside. “Hurry up! If you don’t open the door, we’ll have to force our way in! It concerns public safety!” The building manager raised his voice. After about thirty seconds, Liam’s impatient voice came from inside. “Who is it! What’s all the noise this late at night! There’s no leak!” “Sir, the downstairs apartment is flooded! If you don’t cooperate, we’ll have to call the police!” At the mention of “police,” the door finally opened. Liam only opened the door a crack, his face full of anger as he poked his head out. “Are you people crazy? I told you there’s no…” Before he could finish. My brother kicked the door hard. “Bang!” The security door slammed against the wall. Liam stumbled backward from the force, almost falling. The door swung wide open. Everyone’s gaze instantly focused on the interior. Despite being mentally prepared, seeing the scene with my own eyes was still absurd. It really was. Exactly the same. This place was a copy-paste of 601 downstairs. He stared in horror at the invading crowd. First, he saw my best friend holding the camera, then my grim-faced parents, and finally, his gaze settled on me, standing right in the center of the crowd. In that instant, his expression was as if he’d seen a ghost. “H-honey? How are you…” His voice was trembling, and his legs were shaking too. “Darling, what’s wrong? What’s all the commotion?” The bedroom door opened. Chloe Sterling walked out, her eyes heavy with sleep. Seeing the room full of people, she let out a shriek, wanting to retreat back into the room, but it was too late. The live stream instantly exploded. Bullet comments scrolled frantically: “Holy cow! Is this guy a psycho?!” “Even horror movies aren’t made like this!” “This is the poster? Incredible!” Liam’s face was ashen, drained of all color. He looked at Chloe, then at the room full of familiar furniture, and finally at me. “Honey, listen to me… this… this is a misunderstanding…”

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Two days before our wedding, I received a text from my fiancé, Liam. “Mia, let’s push the wedding back by a day.” I was literally at the bridal boutique, staring at my reflection in a wedding dress, completely bewildered. When I called him to ask what was going on, the voice that answered belonged to his high school sweetheart, his ‘first love’. “Hi, Mia! A group of us are playing Truth or Dare right now, and Liam lost. He picked ‘Dare,’ and his dare is to pretend to be my boyfriend for three days. I’m sure you understand, right?” I calmly hung up the phone and immediately dialed another number. “Dad. That thing we talked about last time? I agree. Change the marriage alliance candidate.” 1 “Mia, marriage isn’t a game. Are you absolutely certain?” “If you still feel this way tomorrow morning, I’ll make it happen.” After hanging up with my dad, I drove straight to the location they were at. Liam was blackout drunk, draped heavily over Chloe’s shoulder. The crowd around them was cheering and howling, “Congratulations, Liam! You finally got what you wanted!” When they saw me walk in, the noise died instantly. Chloe tried to set him down, but Liam frowned and slurred, “Chloe, why are you putting me down? You’re my girlfriend right now.” I picked up a bottle of cold mineral water from a nearby table, walked right up to him, and poured it directly over his head. “Are you sober now?” He wiped the water from his face. His eyes were ice-cold, devoid of even a shred of guilt. “Mia, are you crazy?!” Sobered up slightly, he saw it was me and didn’t offer a single apology. Instead, he snapped coldly, “Good timing. I lost a game of Truth or Dare, so I’m pretending to be Chloe’s boyfriend for three days. I’ve already had my assistant notify all the friends and family. The wedding is postponed by one day.” If this were the old me, I would have burst into tears and caused a massive scene. But today, I felt nothing but a chilling calm. “Fine. Postponed by one day.” But the groom isn’t going to be you anymore. I pulled out my phone and texted my dad: “I’ve made my decision. I’m not changing my mind.” “See? I told you she couldn’t bear to leave me,” Liam chuckled arrogantly, pulling Chloe closer against him. “Mia, you know Chloe and I are just pretending. Just wait one extra day. We’re still getting married. We’re going to be husband and wife; you can at least give me this much grace, right?” In that moment, the sheer humiliation made me want to sink into the floor, but it also completely extinguished whatever feelings I had left for him. An eight-year relationship, completely obliterated by a stupid joke from his ‘first love’. I didn’t say another word. I turned around and walked away. Perhaps because I didn’t cry or scream, one of the onlookers muttered, “Liam, Mia didn’t even say anything this time. You don’t think she’s actually mad, do you?” “Impossible. You guys know how it is. She’s been obsessed with me since we were kids. We’re practically married; there’s no way she’d actually break up with me.” Liam’s mocking, confident voice drifted after me. “Just watch. Give it a few minutes, and she’ll come running back to apologize.” But this time, he miscalculated completely. Love that requires you to crawl in the dirt isn’t love worth having. I left without looking back. When I got home, I opened my phone and scrolled through my social media feed. Chloe had just posted an update. “Ah! I won against my first love in Truth or Dare, and now we have to rekindle our romance for three days! What do I do? I’m so nervous…” And right beneath it was a comment from Liam, acting like a desperate lapdog: “When two people who love each other can’t be together, they have to cherish the time they have left.” I literally wanted to vomit. I locked my phone, grabbed a pair of scissors, and shredded the wedding dress I had brought home. I tore up every single one of our engagement photos, threw all of his belongings into garbage bags, and then called my assistant. “Sell this apartment within three days.” The news of Liam postponing the wedding inevitably spread. Early the next morning, Liam’s grandfather showed up at my door, dragging Liam by the ear. “Mia, the Sterling family has wronged you. I absolutely do not agree to postponing this wedding.” Before I could even speak, Liam jutted his chin out defensively. “Mia, I knew you’d pull some passive-aggressive stunt like this! Agreeing to my face, but running to complain to my grandfather behind my back. Let me tell you right now, just because you dragged him into this doesn’t mean I’m going to cave. I am not changing my mind!” Grandpa Sterling slapped him hard across the face. “What kind of garbage are you spewing?! Mia hasn’t said a single word to our family about this! You’ve completely lost your mind over that Chloe girl!” Liam clutched his cheek, glaring at me with pure venom. “Mia, I made it perfectly clear. I am going to marry you; the wedding is just pushed back one day. Don’t think that just because you brought my grandfather here, I’m going to drop everything with Chloe. She finally agreed to be my girlfriend for three days, and I am not throwing that away.” Grandpa Sterling raised his hand to hit him again, but this time, I stopped him. “Grandpa Sterling, it’s fine.” Liam scoffed at my intervention. “Mia, stop putting on an act. Do you honestly think I’m going to thank you for stopping him? You’re just trying to play the victim to make yourself look good! Stop dreaming. If it wasn’t for our arranged engagement, Chloe never would have gone abroad in the first place. If it wasn’t for you, we would have been together years ago. All I want is to fulfill my dream of dating her for three days. If you can’t even allow that, you’re just being cruel.” Smack. I backhanded him as hard as I could. “Liam Sterling, I won’t stop you from going to Chloe. The engagement is off.” 2 Liam was stunned again, and Grandpa Sterling was furious. “Liam! Apologize to Mia right now!” “Fine, fine, fine! I really misjudged you, Mia. I had no idea you were this manipulative. You say you want to cancel the engagement, but you know damn well our families will never actually let that happen. You’re just using this as leverage to force me to give up my three days with Chloe! Well, Mia, I won’t let you get what you want.” With that, Liam stormed out, vibrating with rage. Grandpa Sterling looked at me apologetically. “Mia, Liam is just temporarily blinded. When I get him home, I’ll talk some sense into him.” I shook my head. “Grandpa Sterling, I wasn’t joking. I meant it. The engagement is over.” Seeing my deadly serious expression, Grandpa Sterling was genuinely shocked. “Mia, you…” I couldn’t blame him for being surprised. The Vance and Sterling families had been close for generations. My grandfather had even saved Grandpa Sterling’s life back in the day. So this marriage alliance… as long as I didn’t agree to break it, the Sterling family would never dare initiate the cancellation. Since I was a little girl, I had always followed Liam around. By the time I was fifteen or sixteen, right when girls start experiencing their first crushes, I was completely obsessed with him. At my eighteenth birthday party, our engagement was officially announced. For the past eight years, I had chased him relentlessly, catered to his every whim, and constantly lowered my own standards just to please him. Everyone in the city knew I was madly in love with him. But now, I was the one proactively breaking it off. “Don’t worry, Grandpa Sterling. As long as I’m around, Chloe is never going to marry into your family. This marriage alliance was arranged while my grandfather was still alive, and I won’t disrespect his memory.” “Liam isn’t the only Sterling I can marry.” Grandpa Sterling froze, the image of his other son suddenly flashing in his mind. “Mia, that’s too unfair to you. After all, he’s eight years older than you…” I shook my head. “Grandpa Sterling, I’ve thought about it. Compared to a reckless, immature boy, I think Arthur is a much better fit for me.” Grandpa Sterling didn’t argue further. He quickly made a call to Arthur, who was currently overseas. Upon hearing the news of the marriage alliance, Arthur’s hand reportedly trembled. He booked the very next flight back home. Even though I was the one who initiated the breakup, I couldn’t deny that I was still in a terrible mood. When my best friend heard the news, she dragged me out to dinner to cheer me up. By sheer, terrible coincidence, we ran straight into Liam and Chloe. “Liam, you have no idea. If I hadn’t suddenly found out you were engaged, I never would have left the country,” Chloe’s voice drifted over from the next table. “You’re getting married so soon… Just being able to be your girlfriend for these three days is enough for me.” “Chloe, I’m so sorry…” My heart violently twisted in my chest. My best friend shot out of her chair and pointed directly at Chloe. “I have never met anyone so shameless! You know perfectly well he’s about to get married, and you still throw yourself at him like a desperate leech! You’re clearly trying to break them up! If you were actually ‘satisfied,’ you’d be wishing them well!” “Mia, are you done?! I already explained everything perfectly clearly! I’m only pretending to be with Chloe for three days, and then I’m marrying you! I swore nothing inappropriate would happen! You don’t need to stalk me and monitor my every move!” My best friend was ready to throw hands, but I pulled her back. I glanced coldly at the two of them. “Liam, you’re flattering yourself. I just came here to eat in peace.” “You expect me to believe that?” Liam sneered at me. “Mia, did you forget? Back when I was first pursuing Chloe, you used this exact same excuse—’just happening to be there’—to insert yourself into our dates. Are you really trying that old trick again?” He stepped in front of Chloe, shielding her. “But this time, you’ve miscalculated. I told you I’d marry you, but I am not changing my plans for these three days.” Before I decided to cancel the engagement, I always believed that I just wasn’t good enough, which was why Liam didn’t love me back. But looking at his twisted, arrogant face now, I realized how incredibly wrong I had been. Love is a binary thing. It’s either there, or it isn’t. And a man like Liam was completely unworthy of the genuine love I had given him. 3 “Whether you change your plans has absolutely nothing to do with me, because I already changed mine!” I didn’t back down an inch, my gaze piercing him like ice. “Liam, our engagement is over! From now on, you walk your path, and I’ll walk mine! Forget pretending to be her boyfriend for three days—even if you two drove straight to the courthouse and got married right now, I wouldn’t waste the energy to stop you!” Chloe stared at me in shock, while Liam’s brow furrowed tightly. Just then, his phone buzzed. He glanced at a message from his assistant regarding hotel bookings, and his face instantly darkened. “Mia, there’s a limit to your pathological lying! If the engagement is really cancelled, why are you having your people book bridal suites?!” I raised an eyebrow. “The engagement with you is cancelled. What I do with my bridal suites is none of your business.” Liam looked utterly unconvinced. “Mia, whatever manipulative game you’re playing, it’s not going to change my mind! For these three days… I am exclusively Chloe’s boyfriend!” Chloe immediately seized the opportunity, her voice dripping with fake, sickly-sweet concern: “Liam, I’m so sorry… I never meant to cause you so much trouble. Maybe… maybe we should just call it off? After all, you’re going to marry Mia…” Liam, looking like he was under some kind of hypnotic spell, grasped her hand with profound devotion. “Chloe, don’t say that. I lost the game, and I’m honoring the bet! For these three days, we are a couple, and no one can change that!” Chloe shot me a hesitant, artificial look of guilt. “But…” Liam’s expression hardened. “I fought hard for these three days! You don’t need to care what she thinks!” Chloe pressed her lips together submissively. I, however, had reached my absolute limit. “I just wanted to eat my dinner in peace! Manager! These two are no longer welcome here. Throw them out!” Liam let out a harsh bark of laughter. “Mia, are you brain-damaged? This restaurant is owned by the Sterling family! Who are you, an outsider, to tell me to leave?” “I think you’re forgetting who decides the inheritance of the Sterling family!” To repay my grandfather’s life-saving favor, Grandpa Sterling had established an ironclad rule years ago: whoever married me would inherit the vast majority of the Sterling empire. And this specific restaurant? Grandpa Sterling had transferred the deed to my name as an engagement gift years ago. Right now, I had every legal right to tell them to get out! Liam obviously knew this. He looked at me with absolute disgust. “Mia, you are sickening. You keep insisting you want to cancel the engagement, but at the same time, you’re aggressively clinging to Sterling family assets!” In his mind, he was entirely convinced I was bluffing—using the threat of a broken engagement just to force his hand! I was done arguing with these two drama queens. A moment later, the manager hurried over, looking incredibly uncomfortable. “Mr. Sterling, please… you’ll have to leave.” Liam clearly hadn’t expected me to actually follow through. His eyes turned murderous. “Mia, have you lost your damn mind?!” “This is my property now. If I want someone gone, they’re gone!” Liam pointed a furious finger directly at my face. “Mia, you’re going to regret this!” “Trust me, I won’t be the one regretting anything.” “There are plenty of other restaurants in this city. We’re leaving!” Liam grabbed Chloe’s hand and turned to storm out. I slammed my hand on the table and shouted, “Hold it right there!” Liam stopped and turned around, flashing a smug, intensely punchable smile. “Mia, I knew you’d crack and try to stop me. But I’m sorry… you’re too late! Unless you grovel and apologize to Chloe right now, I will absolutely ignore you for the rest of these three days!” Looking at this man’s staggering, delusional narcissism, I suddenly felt a profound wave of disgust at my past self for ever loving something so pathetic. I let out a cold laugh. “You’re confused. I just wanted to remind you that since you ate the food, you need to pay the bill.” Liam’s face turned rigid. “Mia, I was going to give you one last chance, but since you want to play it like this, don’t come crying to me later!” “I promise you, I will never cry over you again. But surely someone with as much pride as Mr. Sterling wouldn’t resort to dining and dashing?” Suppressing his explosive rage, Liam pulled a platinum credit card from his wallet and slammed it onto the table. “Run it!” A few minutes later, the manager returned, looking even more awkward than before. “I’m… I’m so sorry, Mr. Sterling, but this card… it was declined. Insufficient funds.” Liam’s face instantly turned ash-gray. He realized immediately what had happened: Grandpa Sterling had frozen his accounts because of this stunt. He glared at me with absolute venom. “Mia, do you honestly think this little trick is going to make me beg you? I’m telling you, it’s never going to happen…” I mocked him openly. “Not going to beg? Then pay the bill!” 4 Liam’s jaw tightened. At this exact moment, he was literally broke. With no other options, he stepped aside and dialed his parents. Unsurprisingly, neither of them answered his calls. His expression grew darker by the second. He then tried calling several of his close friends. But the result was the same. The moment he asked to borrow money, they all suddenly had urgent excuses and hung up. I knew exactly what was going on. Grandpa Sterling was furious this time. Not only did he freeze Liam’s cards, but he had also sent a warning to every prominent family in the city associated with the Sterlings. Essentially, right now, no one in the entire city wanted anything to do with him. I didn’t hold back. “What’s wrong? Can the great Mr. Sterling really not afford to pay for a simple meal? Tell you what, for old times’ sake, if you just ask nicely, I’ll let you put it on a tab.” Liam’s hands clenched into tight fists, his face a mask of furious humiliation. Just as he looked ready to explode, Chloe stepped forward. “Liam, don’t be angry. I’ll pay for it.” I was actually a bit surprised she stepped up at that moment. But… did she actually have any idea how much this meal cost? Liam’s face flushed with shame. “Chloe, I’m so sorry…” “It’s okay. We’re a couple right now. And I’m not some gold-digger; splitting the bill is totally normal.” Liam’s eyes immediately reddened with emotion. He looked like he was profoundly regretting ever letting her go. But I had absolutely zero interest in watching this sickening display of fake romance. The manager quickly took her card. However, he returned moments later with the same bad news. “I’m sorry, Ms. Vance, but your credit card limit is insufficient.” Chloe froze, her face turning red. “No, that’s impossible… This card has a fifty-thousand-dollar limit…” What kind of meal were they eating that fifty thousand wasn’t enough? The manager explained, “The food you ordered wasn’t actually that expensive, but you ordered a bottle of vintage imported French wine… that alone is a hundred thousand…” I looked at Chloe with open mockery. A few years ago… when Liam was first pursuing her, she had no idea what his true background or net worth was. But none of that mattered now. I paused dramatically. “Oh, so Ms. Vance doesn’t actually have the money. I assumed…” “Who said I don’t have it?!” Chloe lifted her chin defensively, pulling out several more credit cards. “Run them all! It’ll be enough!” The manager didn’t hesitate and quickly processed the transactions. Liam, obviously feeling humiliated on her behalf, glared at me fiercely. “Mia, do you think everyone in the world is as obsessed with money as you are?! I am not going to forget what you did today. Just you wait.” Shortly after, he and Chloe finally left. My best friend looked at me, bewildered. “Mia, has Liam lost his mind? Someone like Chloe clearly only came back after finding out his real identity. She’s just using this ‘fake couple’ excuse to drain as much money from him as possible.” I watched their retreating figures and smiled. “She’s significantly more calculating than you think.” My best friend didn’t understand, but I couldn’t be bothered to explain. “But this time, she’s going to be severely disappointed.” With the Sterling family changing heirs, who knew how long their “true love” would actually last? Although the interruption was annoying, my overall mood remained relatively positive. After finishing my meal, I headed back to the office. When I walked in, I was surprised to see Arthur, looking like he had just rushed straight from the airport. “Mia. Have you made your final decision?” I knew he was referring to the marriage alliance, and I couldn’t help but smile. “If I said I regretted it right now, would it be too late?”

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My husband couldn’t forget his “one that got away.” In the VIP room of a club, drunk out of his mind, he confessed his truth to his friends: “I’ve loved her for years. It killed me that she got married before I could confess. And now that she’s finally divorced, it kills me that I’m married.” I wasn’t angry. I still stayed by his side. My husband despised me. He saw me as a pathetic, clingy doormat with no personality, an obstacle standing between him and his true love. He desperately wanted to divorce me. But every time he brought it up, I refused. What he didn’t know was that he was just my assigned target. I only needed to reject his demand for a divorce three times, and the system would forcibly terminate my mission. … When I rushed to the club through the pouring rain, I arrived just in time to hear Arthur Sterling’s confession: “I’ve loved her for years, but before I could tell her, she got married.” “And now that she’s finally divorced, I’m the one who’s tied down.” One of his frat brothers teased him, “You could always just get a divorce, man.” Arthur’s drunken voice dripped with disdain and contempt. “That woman is obsessed with me. She’s practically psychotic. Do you really think she’d ever agree to a divorce?” “You guys have no idea. Every time I see her hovering around me, I get sick to my stomach. She has absolutely no personality, no sense of self.” “She couldn’t even compare to one of Chloe’s fingernails.” I stood frozen in the hallway outside the open door. Behind me, the sharp click-clack of high heels echoed. It was Arthur’s beloved “one that got away,” Chloe Vance. “Mia, you’re here. Why aren’t you going inside?” she asked, her voice light and musical. She flashed me a brilliant, arrogant smile, her pretty eyes glinting with malice. “What are you eavesdropping on?” The men inside suddenly noticed me. The color drained from their faces, and they shot guilty, panicked looks at Arthur. For a split second, Arthur looked sober and terrified, but his expression instantly hardened into ice. “You heard all of that?” There were too many people in the room. To save Arthur’s face, I played dumb. “Heard what? I just got here.” Arthur let out a cold, disgusted laugh and turned his head away, refusing to look at me. I walked into the room to help him up. “It’s really late. Let’s go home.” Arthur violently shoved me away without a shred of hesitation. He snapped impatiently, “Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t coming home tonight? Why did you track me down? Do you have any idea how annoying you are?” He was drunk, so he didn’t bother hiding his temper. His expression was a terrifying, vicious scowl I had never seen before. It made him look like a complete stranger. Actually, maybe not a stranger. He had been treating me like this for a while now. Ever since his “true love” announced her divorce. “Arthur, don’t talk to Mia like that. She only came to pick you up because she cares about you,” Chloe chimed in with sickeningly fake sweetness. “How about this: Mia and I will take you home together. Is that okay?” Arthur looked at Chloe’s face, and his features softened visibly. “Okay.” So, I ended up driving, while Arthur and Chloe squeezed into the backseat together. I don’t know if Arthur was actually blackout drunk or just doing it on purpose, but he laid his head directly on Chloe’s lap, resting there intimately like they were deeply in love. It made my eyes burn. Chloe offered a sickly-sweet apology. “Mia, please don’t misunderstand. Arthur is just drunk. I really hope you two don’t fight because of me.” I didn’t say a word. I had absolutely zero desire to waste my energy interacting with a manipulative homewrecker. But Chloe just wouldn’t shut up. “You really do have a boring personality. No wonder you and Arthur haven’t developed any real feelings after being married for five years.” Chapter 2 Those words actually stung. Yeah. Once upon a time, I had genuinely fantasized about the whole “arranged marriage turning into true love” trope with him. But at the end of the day, Arthur always loved his “one that got away” more. When the car pulled up to the estate, Chloe completely ignored me and practically carried Arthur inside by herself. I didn’t stop her. I just sat in the driver’s seat, looking at the photo I had just taken on my phone. The next day, when Arthur sobered up, I shoved the photo in his face. It was a picture of him sleeping peacefully on Chloe’s lap, while she gazed down at him with profound affection. Arthur stared at the screen, stunned. Then, a subtle wave of joy washed over his face. I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was absolutely thrilled that Chloe was looking at him with love in her eyes. So, I intentionally threw a massive tantrum, screaming at him, “What exactly is going on between you and that homewrecking slut, Chloe Vance?!” Arthur’s brow furrowed instantly. “Mia, watch your mouth. Have some class, will you?” I yelled back furiously, “Even if I have no class, I am still your wife! I have every right to control what you do, and I have every right to curse out the homewrecker you’re messing around with!” I used the ugliest words I could think of. Just as I hoped, Arthur’s expression turned pitch black. He glared at me with absolute freezing hatred. “What? Am I not your wife? Do I not have that right?!” “Then let’s get a divorce,” Arthur said, his voice dripping with profound exhaustion and disgust. “Mia, we’re getting a divorce.” I forced myself to look hysterical and screamed, “I will not agree to that! Arthur Sterling, I will never divorce you!” Arthur gave me a look that practically said, I knew it. As if he had predicted exactly how pathetic and desperate I would be. Sick of my presence, he slammed the bedroom door and left. The second he was gone, the furious mask melted off my face. I calmly pulled out a chair and sat down at my desk. Finally. He initiated the divorce. Six years ago, the System pulled me into this dimension and assigned me the mission of capturing Arthur Sterling’s heart. For six years, I played the role of the devoted, deeply-in-love woman flawlessly. I sacrificed everything to marry him. At one point, I even actually fell for him. But Arthur still didn’t love me. I failed the mission. Now, the only way out was the fail-safe: if Arthur explicitly demanded a divorce three separate times, the mission would be forcibly terminated, and I could finally return to my own world. That was strike one. Just two more to go. When Arthur returned home later that day, I was in my study, organizing my illustration drafts. After marrying Arthur, I became a full-time housewife, but I also worked as a freelance illustrator. I had actually built a pretty solid following online. Right now, I was finalizing my very first original comic series. It had taken me over two years to conceptualize and draw. Originally, I planned to publish it in this world, but since I was leaving soon, I decided to take the intellectual property back to my original dimension with me. Hearing the front door open, I closed my sketchbook and walked out to greet him, pretending our massive fight never happened. “You’re back?” I asked softly. Arthur looked incredibly stiff and awkward, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t get the words out. I walked toward him, knowing exactly what was coming, but feigning ignorance. “I made your favorite soup. Let me go heat it up for you.” The second I stepped out of the study, I saw exactly why Arthur looked so guilty. Chloe was standing in the foyer, holding a massive suitcase. “Hi, Mia,” Chloe said, flashing me a gentle, apologetic smile. “I’ve been getting harassed by some crazy stalker fans lately, so I can’t stay at my place. Would it be okay if I crashed here for a few days until things cool down?” I stared at her, my face completely blank. I didn’t say a word. Arthur, clearly feeling guilty, spoke up softly to defend her. “It’s true. Some fan leaked Chloe’s address. They’ve been banging on her door every night and following her.” Seeing my continued silence, Arthur started to lose his patience. His brows drew together in an irritated scowl. “There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Chloe. We’ve just been friends for years. She’s in trouble, and I can’t just leave her out on the street.” “Mia, there has to be a limit to your irrational jealousy. Stop testing my patience. We’ve been married for five years; can you please grow up and stop acting like a dramatic teenager?” “Fine,” I said, breaking my gaze away from Chloe and looking directly at Arthur. “She can stay.” Chapter 3 Why wouldn’t I let her stay? Having her living under the same roof was the fastest way to detonate the remaining tension between Arthur and me. It was the quickest way to get him to demand a divorce for the second time. The sooner I could leave this world, the better. Arthur looked at me in genuine shock. His eyes flickered with something unreadable—almost like he was still unsatisfied. “What? I said yes, and you’re still not happy?” Arthur frowned, pointing a warning finger at me. “Don’t try anything stupid. If I find out you’re secretly bullying Chloe while I’m not around, I won’t let it slide.” I actually wanted to laugh out loud. I was his legal wife, yet he was bending over backwards to protect an outsider from me. I really wanted to ask him: Arthur, after all these years together, have you honestly never felt a single shred of genuine affection for me? But I didn’t. Arthur ignored me and hurried down the stairs to help Chloe with her luggage. While he was setting up the guest room, I heard him cheerfully say to her, “Mia made this incredible herbal soup earlier. Once we’re done unpacking, I’ll bring you a bowl.” “Mia has a lot of flaws, but her cooking is top-tier. Your health hasn’t been great lately, so we’ll have her cook some nutritious meals for you while you’re here.” I rolled my eyes and scoffed. Arthur, do you really think that just because we’re married, I’m your personal maid? Do you honestly believe that no matter how much you degrade me, I’ll never leave you? I can’t wait to see the look on your face when I’m finally gone. I walked downstairs, went straight into the kitchen, drank one bowl of the soup myself, and poured the entire rest of the pot straight down the garbage disposal. I spent all day simmering that soup. I’d rather pour it down the drain than let this trashy duo have a single drop. I went back up to my study and resumed organizing my comic drafts. Not ten minutes later, Arthur violently shoved the study door open, glaring at me. “Where is the soup?” I kept my eyes on my tablet and answered coldly, “I dumped it.” “What?!” Arthur looked like a completely different person. His voice exploded with rage. “Mia, what the hell is your problem?! If you didn’t want Chloe to stay here, you should have just said no! What is the point of agreeing to her face and then playing these passive-aggressive, petty little games behind my back?!” I looked up at him, my voice freezing cold. “If I had said no, would you have gracefully accepted it without throwing a fit?” Arthur glared at me, struck speechless. I stared right back at him, holding my breath, waiting for him to drop the D-word for the second time. But to my immense disappointment, he didn’t. He just slammed the door and stormed out again. Late that night, after washing up, I got into bed. Downstairs in the living room, Arthur and Chloe were drinking wine and laughing. The atmosphere sounded incredibly cozy and romantic; their laughter echoed all the way up to the master bedroom. I don’t know how much time passed. I was deep in sleep when I suddenly felt heavy arms wrap around me from behind. It was Arthur. His breath was scorching hot and reeked of alcohol. He started pressing wet, sloppy kisses against the back of my neck. A wave of absolute revulsion washed over me. I violently shoved him off. “What are you doing?!” The shove sobered him up slightly. He scowled in annoyance. “You’re my wife. What do you think I’m doing?” Seeing me physically recoil from him, his face darkened into a menacing glare. “This is your duty as a wife. Mia, if you’re going to keep acting like a prude and refuse to let me touch you, then get the hell out of my house.” Ever since I discovered he was emotionally cheating with Chloe, I hadn’t let him touch me. It had been almost three months. “Your house?” I asked, my voice flat. Arthur looked at me with smug, absolute superiority, fully convinced I was about to yield. “When you married me, you had absolutely nothing. I paid for this house entirely by myself, so yes, it’s my house. Did you forget, Mia? You literally begged me to marry you.” “If you aren’t going to let me touch you, then get out!” Chapter 4 I was so utterly speechless that I just went quiet, and then a bitter laugh escaped my lips. Back then, he was my assigned target. To complete the mission, I really had begged him to marry me. I couldn’t deny it. I just never expected that the man I had actually developed real feelings for would weaponize my vulnerability to obliterate my dignity. “Fine. I’m leaving.” I opened the closet and haphazardly threw a few essentials into a duffel bag. Before walking out the door, I paused for a second. I was waiting for him to deliver the killing blow—to say something cruel, like, If you walk out that door, we’re getting a divorce. But Arthur completely misread my hesitation. He ruthlessly mocked me. “I thought you were leaving? Go on! Walk out!” His tone made it painfully obvious that he thought I was just throwing a theatrical tantrum for attention, and that I’d never actually leave him. I realized the fire wasn’t quite hot enough yet. I needed to push him over the edge. So, I pivoted, marched straight to the guest room where Chloe was sleeping, and started violently pounding on the door. I wanted to manufacture a catastrophic, explosive argument to force Arthur to say the word ‘divorce’. Arthur sprinted down the hall and grabbed my arm, yanking me back. “What the hell are you doing, Mia?! Have you lost your damn mind?!” I thrashed against his grip. “Let me go! Arthur, don’t think I don’t know exactly what you’re planning! You’re obsessed with Chloe, aren’t you?! I’m going to ask her right now if she actually wants you!” I thought pushing this specific button would guarantee he demanded a divorce. But I never, in a million years, expected his reaction. He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face. The sharp crack echoed in the hallway. I froze, completely stunned into silence. Arthur looked equally shocked. He stood there, staring at his trembling hand, his lips parting slightly. He looked like he wanted to apologize, but his pride wouldn’t let him. Finally, he just gritted out, “Get back in your room.” I felt a profound, bottomless disappointment in him. Staring at his bloodshot eyes, I felt tears threatening to spill. Arthur couldn’t maintain eye contact. He looked away and muttered, “Mia, if you pull a stunt like this again, I really will divorce you.” Finally. I finally heard the words I had been waiting for. Even though every fiber of my being was screaming YES! Let’s go sign the papers right now!, I had to play my part. I forced myself to look devastated, choking back tears of “anger and betrayal.” “I will never agree to that!” I turned and practically sprinted out of the villa. Finally. Just one more strike, and I could permanently evacuate this nightmare. I wandered the empty streets for hours before finally stopping. Staring at the desolate roads and the flickering amber streetlights, a heavy wave of existential dread washed over me. Six years ago, I was dropped into this world. My entire existence had revolved around one single objective: Arthur Sterling. I had spent so much time orbiting him that I had never bothered to build a life or a social circle of my own. Thank God I had never given up my career as an illustrator. Once I returned to my original world, I could use my new comic series to establish myself as a successful artist. The thought of my comic made me instantly regret storming out so fast. I had forgotten my manuscript drafts in the study. I’d have to find an excuse to go back and pack them up. I checked into a nearby hotel. Days passed, and Arthur didn’t reach out once. I didn’t want to waste any more time, so just as I was hyping myself up to go back to the villa and force the final confrontation, disaster struck. Chloe Vance uploaded my entire comic series to her massive art account. She had digitized my hand-drawn drafts, but the character designs, the plot, the storyboards… it was all a 1:1 stolen copy. I was so furious I nearly blacked out. I immediately called Arthur. I called five times. He ignored every single one, and eventually just turned his phone off. I forced myself to calm down. I logged onto my own art account, tagged Chloe, and publicly accused her of plagiarism. Chloe and I were both illustrators, but our careers were vastly different. I focused entirely on the art, while she operated more like an influencer. She had recently monetized her highly publicized divorce to farm massive amounts of sympathy and traffic, so her follower count was currently explosive. Chloe immediately released a statement denying the allegations, calling me a liar and demanding I produce hard evidence or issue a public apology. My original physical drafts were locked in the study at the villa. I obviously couldn’t produce them on the spot. Within minutes, her rabid fanbase swarmed my account, flooding my comments and DMs with so much toxic abuse that my phone literally crashed.

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I was Harper’s oldest habit. When I left for my doctoral program in London, she found a stand-in—a man who looked enough like me to fool a casual observer, but with none of the history. Three years later, I came back. Harper kept her boy-toy on the side, tucked away in a downtown loft, while she walked down the aisle with me. But secrets in New York high society are like oil spills; they eventually blacken everything they touch. I found out. Of course I found out. I cried. I screamed. I begged, using the title of husband like a shield, hoping it would protect me from the truth. Harper just looked at me with that aristocratic disappointment she’d perfected over the years. “Enough, Mason. Can you stop being so dramatic? Caleb isn’t like you. He doesn’t care about these petty jealousies.” She smoothed the lapel of my jacket. “What I promised you hasn’t changed. I am still your wife. Forever.” But my pride—the quiet, stubborn kind that runs in my family’s blood—couldn’t stomach a marriage with a third person in the bed. I found the body double privately. I played the role of the lawful husband. I told him to get out of our lives. That night, Harper had her security team drag me to a private clinic off the books. The anesthesia was a thin veil; it didn’t block the pain, only my ability to scream. I felt the scalpel trace a line of fire across my skin. I felt the hollow ache as my kidney was torn from me, harvested to save the sickly dog Caleb had just adopted. It was absurd. It was grotesque. Harper looked down at me, her eyes arctic. “Mason, I told you. Don’t touch Caleb.” I died on that table, bleeding out into the sterile white sheets. When I opened my eyes, the smell of antiseptic was gone, replaced by the scent of expensive hairspray and lilies. I was back. It was the morning of our wedding. This time, I didn’t rush her to get to the church. I didn’t check my watch with anxious excitement. instead, I picked up my phone and dialed my mentor back in London. “Professor Banks,” I said, my voice steady. “That research position you offered? I’ll take it.” “I’ll be there in seven days.” … 1 “Mason, listen to me—I’ve been in a minor accident. Go to the chapel, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Harper’s voice was frantic on the other end of the line. Before I could speak, the line went dead. In my past life—the one where I died—I had panicked. I had called every hospital, every mutual friend, terrorclawing at my throat. This time, I simply pressed the side button and watched the screen go black. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror. The tuxedo was midnight blue, the fit impeccable. I looked like the perfect groom. I smiled, a dry, humorless quirk of the lips. It was my first time wearing the horns of a betrayed man, knowingly. Seven days. That was enough time to untangle our finances, sign the papers, and vanish from Harper’s life like smoke. On the drive to what was supposed to be the venue, I saw them. Harper’s Porsche had clipped a guardrail. But she wasn’t alone. A man in a tailored suit was leaning on her, his hands gripping her shoulders. His leg was bleeding sluggishly. So, the crash was real. Compelled by some dark curiosity, I pulled over, keeping the engine running. Through the window, I saw him. Caleb. He was handsome in a fragile, boyish way. He was clutching a stack of photos like they were holy scripture. “Harper, I’m not going to the hospital! I just need to raise money for these kids in the mountains. They need schools, they need food. I’m doing this for them.” He looked at her with wide, pleading eyes. “You wouldn’t see me, so I had to intercept you here.” Harper took the photos, her brow furrowed in that way I used to think meant she was thinking deeply, but now realized meant she was annoyed. “Caleb, I understand. But do you realize today is my wedding day?” “Does that man matter more to you than the lives of these children?” Caleb shouted, throwing his arms wide, wincing theatrically. “If you don’t help me, they could die!” Harper hesitated. Silence stretched for three seconds. Then, she reached out and took his hand. “Okay. Shh. I’m listening. Whatever you want.” Her voice dropped to a soothing coo. “Let me get you to a doctor first.” I watched, feeling a phantom ache in the scar that didn’t exist yet. Harper knew how to be gentle. She just never chose to be gentle with me. I pulled out my phone and typed a message. My suit button popped. Bad omen. The wedding is off. Don’t bother coming to the reception hall. I hit send. A hundred feet away, Harper checked her phone. Her shoulders visibly relaxed. The tension left her body as she helped Caleb into the passenger seat. In my last life, when she finally showed up at the wedding—hours late, disheveled—our friends looked at me with a mix of pity and morbid fascination. I still remember the burn of their gazes. Things I couldn’t understand then were crystal clear now. Everyone knew. Everyone except me knew that Harper had been in love with someone else for years. Why would the heiress of the empire wait three years for a poor academic? Since she wanted him so badly, this time, I would let her have him. 2 The City Clerk’s office was quiet. I handed over my ID and the paperwork to the clerk. She typed for a moment, frowned, and looked up. “Sir, your marital status is listed as ‘Single’.” I stood there, frozen. A cold shockwave rattled my bones. “That’s impossible. Check again. My wife is Harper. We’ve been married… well, we signed the papers.” She shook her head, turning the screen slightly. “I’m sorry, Mr. Jiang. There is no record of a marriage license.” I started to laugh. It was a wet, jagged sound. Tears hot and fast, spilling over my lashes. It was all fake. Even the paper binding us had been a lie. I forced myself to walk out, my legs feeling like lead. Fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor, because I ran into them again near the park entrance. Harper was sitting on a stone bench, her expensive coat draped over the dirt, massaging Caleb’s ankle. Her long, elegant fingers—fingers I had kissed a thousand times—traced the line of his jaw. “Don’t be sad, Caleb,” she murmured. “The wedding with Mason was just a show for the board of directors. The certificate is a forgery. It’s not real.” Caleb beamed, a bright, victorious smile. My heart felt like it was being carved out with a dull knife. I had tried to use that piece of paper to bind her to me. She treated it like confetti. I had used my title as “husband” to drive Caleb away. In return, she had carved me open. “He’s just a bookworm,” Caleb sneered, his voice carrying on the wind. “What does he have on you? Even if you married him, that paper doesn’t mean you belong to him.” “Let’s get you home,” Harper said, standing up and kissing his forehead with a tenderness that made me nauseous. “I’ll handle the donation. Just rest.” She looked happy. Truly, radiantly happy. In my previous life, she never kissed me first. Even when I begged for intimacy, she looked at me like I was a chore she hadn’t gotten around to outsourcing. I wiped my face. The pain in my palm where my nails dug in grounded me. They disappeared into a black SUV. I took out my phone and opened the airline app. I changed my flight. I was leaving in two days, not seven. Why wait? The show was over. I looked at my lock screen—a selfie Harper sent me last New Year’s Eve. I felt a hollow, arctic wind blow through my chest. Back then, I was guarding a phone screen, thinking I was the luckiest man alive. Who was she holding while she typed that message? That evening, I went back to the house—technically her house—to get my things. In the living room, Harper was changing the dressing on Caleb’s leg. When she saw me, she froze for a split second, then smoothed her expression into a mask of casual indifference. “I had a car accident,” she said effortlessly. “Caleb saved me. He was injured in the process, so I’m helping him.” I nodded, playing the fool one last time. “Thank you, Caleb.” “It’s late, and he’s hurt,” Harper said, not looking me in the eye. “Clear out your room. He can sleep there tonight. You can sleep in my room.” My smile felt like it was painted on. The first time we would share a bed, and it was only to make space for her lover. “It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll take the sofa.” I walked past them to the guest room—my room. It was already mostly empty. Just the suitcase I’d brought back from London. My imprint on this house was as ghostly as my marriage. I packed the last of my toiletries and wheeled the suitcase out. Caleb was leaning against the doorframe, smirking. “So, you’re Mason?” “I’ve heard about you,” he whispered, low enough that Harper couldn’t hear from the living room. “You smell like poverty. Harper doesn’t love you. You get that, right?” I tried to step around him. He grabbed my arm. “You have no shame, do you? Clinging to her like a parasite. You’ve been together seven years—has she ever asked for you? In bed? I’ve known her three years, and let’s just say… we’ve been busy.” Something snapped. I shoved him off me. It wasn’t a hard shove, but Caleb collapsed like a marionette with cut strings. He hit the floor with a thud that sounded rehearsed. “Mason! I was just trying to help you with your bags!” he wailed, his voice pitching up into a victim’s tremolo. “I know you hate me because I’m close to Harper, but you didn’t have to attack me!” I turned around. Harper was standing there, her face a mask of thunder. 3 “Mason, what the hell are you doing? Are you really this petty?” Harper marched over, helping Caleb up. “All these years you were abroad, did I ever question you? And now you’re assaulting the man who saved my life just because I helped bandage him?” “He saved me, Mason. Do you understand that?” I looked down, saying nothing. Seven years ago, I gave her a kidney. I saved her life. She seemed to have rewritten that history entirely. My silence only fueled her rage. Her eyes were rimmed with red. “I’m telling you one last time: Caleb and I are just friends. He is my savior!” I closed my eyes. I was too tired for this. “Okay. I understand.” “You understand? Then get on your knees and apologize to him.” Caleb let out a pained gasp, clutching his side. The memory of the cold table, the scalpel, the night wind on my open skin… I started to tremble. Not from fear, but from a cold, visceral revulsion. I was leaving in forty-eight hours. What did dignity matter to a dead man walking? I clenched my fists and lowered myself to the floor. “I’m sorry,” I said to Caleb’s shoes. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.” Caleb leaned into Harper, looking like a wounded saint. “It’s okay, Mason. I get it. You’ve been in academia too long; you’re socially stunted. Just… don’t hurt Harper in the future.” Harper shot me a look of pure disgust and helped Caleb into her bedroom. I stood up, my knees cracking, and dragged my suitcase back into the shadows. The next morning, I was about to leave to run an errand when the front door was kicked open. “Mason, you son of a bitch! What did you say to him?” Harper stormed in, wild-eyed. “I went out to get breakfast and he’s gone!” I stood there, blinking. “I didn’t say anything.” She crossed the room and slapped me. The sound cracked through the air like a whip. She shoved her phone in my face. A text message from Caleb: Harper, I’m leaving. I can’t stay and ruin your relationship with Mason. He offered me five million to stay away from you. I can’t take the money, but I can’t stay. I’d rather die. “I warned you, Mason. Don’t touch him.” Her voice dropped to a terrifying whisper. “If anything happens to him, I will make you wish you were dead.” “You think I don’t know?” she hissed. “Seven years ago, it wasn’t you who saved me. It was Caleb. I only kept you around out of pity, you pathetic charity case.” “You are just a dog I keep, Mason. Do you understand?” She grabbed my collar. “You have three hours. Find him. Or I will have your parents’ graves dug up and their ashes scattered in the sewer.” A chill went through me. So that was it. She thought Caleb was the donor. My heart hit the floor, shattered, and then… silence. A strange, weightless peace settled over me. I looked into her eyes. “Okay. I’ll find him.” I intended to agree just to get out the door and head straight to the airport. But Harper wasn’t stupid. She had two bodyguards flank me. Three hours later, I was strapped to a surgical table again. A large screen on the wall showed a live feed of a cemetery. Men with shovels were standing over my parents’ headstones. “Harper, please!” I strained against the straps. “I didn’t do anything to Caleb! Check the house cameras! Check my bank accounts! I never offered him money!” “Please, leave my parents out of this! For the sake of seven years ago—when I saved you!” Harper frowned, her expression bored. “People like you aren’t worth my time.” She smiled then, a cold, jagged thing. “Since you insist you gave me a kidney seven years ago… let’s take the other one. Now we’re even.” She waved her hand and walked out. The door clicked shut. I could hear the sweat dripping from my forehead onto the vinyl. The cold blade touched my abdomen. I screamed until the darkness took me. I woke up with a fire in my gut. A long bandage was taped over my side, covering the old scar and the new incision. I heard a bodyguard on the phone in the hallway. “Miss Harper, yes. We opened him up. There was… only one kidney. We couldn’t harvest anything.” Silence on the other end. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to sit up. The pain was blinding, white-hot. I dragged myself to my suitcase. I pulled out three things. The proof that our marriage license was a forgery. The donor agreement I had signed seven years ago, stained with a drop of old blood. And a conch shell she had given me three years ago at the airport. If you miss me, she had said, put this to your ear. The ocean sounds like my love for you. I left them on the bed. The bodyguards were changing shifts. I knew the rotation. I slipped out the back service entrance, clutching my side. My phone buzzed. Flight Boarding Now. As I limped into the terminal, I blocked Harper on everything. Phone. Email. Socials. Goodbye, Harper.

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The golden boy of our campus dumped me the day we graduated. He didn’t just break my heart; he packed it in a suitcase and flew across the world with his childhood sweetheart, leaving me in the dust of our shared college town. I’ve spent three years convinced he did it just to destroy me. So, imagine my surprise when, after a thousand days of silence, he has the absolute audacity to show up in front of me again. All I can say is—wow. You really have a death wish, don’t you? 1 I was downtown at the weekend night market, trying to move the last of my inventory—high-end, leak-proof period intimates. It wasn’t the “glamorous” career my parents expected after my degree, but it was mine. My best friend, Maddie, nudged me hard, her eyes fixed on a spot across the square. “Check out the guy at ten o’clock,” she whispered. “He’s been staring at you for ten minutes.” I looked up, and the world slowed down. Even under the harsh neon hum of the streetlights, amidst the swarm of people, Chase stood out like a sharp blade. He still had that effortless “bad boy with a trust fund” energy—arrogant, magnetic, and so handsome it felt like he belonged in a different zip code than the guy he was standing next to. Maddie elbowed me again. “He’s definitely looking at you. Do you know him?” I let out a cold, sharp breath. “I thought I did. But usually, when people die, they have the decency to stay buried.” Maddie blinked, confused. “Die? Who died?” I should have checked my horoscope today. Seeing my ex was definitely not in the stars. “He’s coming over!” Maddie hissed. I straightened my shoulders, cracking my knuckles. If he wanted a fight, I was more than ready to give him one. But he didn’t even look at me. He stopped right in front of Maddie and asked, “How much for the stock?” He was treating me like I was invisible. Fine. Two can play at that game. I reached out, clamped my hand over Maddie’s mouth before she could speak, and flashed him a smile that was 100% fake. “Three times the price on the sign,” I said. Chase finally turned to me. His brows arched—those perfectly groomed, infuriating brows. “The sign says twenty.” “The sign is for customers I actually like,” I replied flatly. “Buy it or get lost.” But Maddie, a literal traitor for a handsome face, shook me off and blurted out the actual price. She wasn’t about to let me scare off a guy who looked like he’d walked off a Ralph Lauren billboard. Chase gave me a look—something between a smirk and a challenge—and then looked back at Maddie with a devastatingly soft expression. “I’ll take the whole box.” I froze. Why would a man like him buy a bulk box of period underwear? Was it for her? His little “girl next door”? A bitter, metallic taste filled my mouth. He was really doing this right in front of me. I forced myself to pack the box while listening to them exchange contact info. My blood was boiling. You’re really going to hit on my best friend right here? I slammed the box into his chest, cutting off their conversation. “Cash or Venmo, Romeo?” Chase took the box with practiced ease, passing it to his friend. “Three years, and you’re still as prickly as ever.” “Funny,” I snapped back. “I’m sure your childhood sweetheart is much more ‘docile.’” The light in his eyes vanished. His lips thinned into a hard line, and his voice dropped an octave, heavy with warning. “Take it out on me if you want. Leave her out of it.” Whatever fire I had in me died instantly, replaced by a cold, hollow ache. He was still protecting her. He hadn’t changed, and neither had his priorities. If I hadn’t spent three years toughening my skin, I would have burst into tears right there. “If you don’t want to hear me talk about her,” I said, my voice trembling with a forced calm, “then don’t bring your pathetic face back into my life.” His expression darkened as he walked away. I stared at his retreating back for a long time before finally turning to Maddie. “That was my ex,” I said. “What?! The ‘Golden Boy’ who ditched you for the girl next door and fled to Europe? He has the nerve to show his face here?” “Apparently. And apparently, you really like his face.” Maddie winced. “Hey, don’t be mad. I didn’t know! A hot guy is a hot guy, I was just doing my job.” I pulled at the corner of my mouth. I couldn’t blame her. I was the one who fell for that face first. 2 I was the one who chased him. In college, Chase was the star of the finance department, the guy every girl wanted. I met him when he was emceeing a campus gala. I was a last-minute fill-in, playing drums for an indie rock band. I saw him through the hazy stage lights—tall, lean, and radiating a restless sort of power. He looked like a wild horse that refused to be broken. I knew right then he was exactly my type. I didn’t play games. I went straight for the throat. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I’d intercepted him backstage, still in my punk gear, looking like trouble. He looked surprised, then his lips curled into a playful grin. “What if I said no?” “Then you have one now.” People nearby gasped. I didn’t care. To me, if you liked something, you took it. Life was too short for anything else. But Chase shook his head, his tone teasing. “Piper, right? I’m not interested.” Honestly, being rejected in front of a crowd stung. But I only let it sink in for a second. “The announcer didn’t say my name on stage. How do you know who I am?” He froze. I leaned in, grinning. “Playing hard to get? I can work with that. Just don’t make me wait too long. I’m not known for my patience.” I waved goodbye and walked away, already knowing I had him. We were together soon after. It was effortless. We matched each other’s energy, our tempers, our interests. Every day felt like a new adventure, and I was already mapping out a lifetime with him. Then, graduation approached. And he told me he was going abroad for a Master’s. With her. To this day, I can’t find the right words for that feeling. Betrayal, abandonment, a profound sense of “why wasn’t I enough?” All of it tangled together until I nearly broke. I lost twenty pounds in three months. I couldn’t sleep without medication. So, seeing him three years later, looking polished and successful and fine, all I could think was: Chase, you really have some nerve. 3 My mood was in the gutter by the time I got home. I tried to bolt for my room, but my dad’s voice stopped me mid-stride. The atmosphere in the living room was… off. No TV. No phones. My parents were sitting on the sofa like a pair of judges at a tribunal. I had a bad feeling about this. “Where have you been?” my dad asked, his voice low. “You already know, don’t you?” I sighed, leaning against the wall. He slammed his hand on his knee, his face turning a deep shade of red. “What is wrong with your attitude? If the neighbors hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t have known! Selling… those things at a street stall? You’re a grown woman with a degree, out there shouting in the streets for change? Have you no shame?” “Shame?” I crossed my arms. “Dad, what century is this? Why should I be ashamed? The women who buy them aren’t ashamed, so why should the person selling them be?” “Don’t you talk back to me!” He stood up, pointing a finger. “You quit a respectable corporate job for this? Piper, have you lost your mind?” “If I have, I probably got it from you,” I snapped. “You—!” My mom stepped in, trying to play peacemaker. “Alright, that’s enough. Both of you. My head is killing me. Piper, go to your room. Your father is just frustrated.” I looked at my dad, his chest heaving with anger, and for a second, I felt a pang of guilt. I wanted to apologize, to tell him I was just trying to find myself, but the words felt like they were glued to the back of my throat. I turned and walked away. As I shut my door, I heard his voice, heavy with disappointment. “She wasn’t like this. What happened to her?” My phone buzzed. It was a text from Maddie. Hey… The ex-from-hell just messaged me. He wants to know if we’re going back to the square tomorrow night. What do I say? I stared at the screen for a long time. Tell him we’ll be there, I typed back. And if he shows up, tell him the price just went up ten times. 4 As a member of the “unemployed and lost” club, sleeping until noon was my only hobby. Usually, my parents left me alone, but today, the banging on my door started at dawn. “I get it! I’m sorry! I won’t sell the underwear anymore, okay?” I yelled into my pillow. I was lying, of course, but I needed the noise to stop. The banging continued. I lost it. I hauled myself out of bed and ripped the door open, eyes squeezed shut. “I said I’m sorry! If I go back to the square, I hope I gain fifty pounds and break out in hives! Are you happy now?” Silence. I opened one eye. My dad was standing there, looking livid. Typical. But then I realized there was someone else behind him. A stranger. A tall, handsome man who was currently trying—and failing—to hide a smirk. “Is this how you act in the morning? Ridiculous,” my dad grumbled. He shoved me aside and turned to the stranger with a smile I hadn’t seen in months. “Harrison, this is your room. Stay as long as you need.” Harrison was tall—well over six feet—and his presence seemed to make my room feel suddenly tiny. He was gorgeous in a very different way than Chase. He had sharp, elegant features, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and looked like the kind of man who never had a hair out of place. “Thank you, sir,” Harrison said, his voice a smooth, rich baritone. “Moving back to the States was a bit sudden, and I haven’t had time to find a place. I’ll move out as soon as my apartment is ready.” “Don’t be silly. Consider this home. Your father and I go way back, and since he’s still overseas, I’m happy to look after you.” I was reeling. “Wait. Dad. You’re giving him my room? Where am I supposed to sleep?” My dad gave me a cold look. “You can sleep in the study.” “Are you kidding me?!” “You have a problem? Fine. Move out. You do nothing but stress me out anyway.” The old man knew exactly where to hit. I glared at the intruder—Harrison—who just looked back at me with a mask of polite innocence. It made me want to scream. I grabbed my favorite throw pillow and stormed off to the study. This was going to be a nightmare. 5 I didn’t wake up again until evening. I stumbled out of the study, ready to complain about being hungry, when I heard laughter from the dining room. I froze at the doorway. “Harrison, have some more of this duck. It’s my specialty,” my mom was saying, her voice brimming with affection. “He’s so polite, isn’t he? If only I had a son like you, I’d be the happiest woman alive,” she continued. “We’re not that lucky,” my dad added. “Harrison is a brilliant surgical resident. He’s here to study with the best at the university hospital. Truly a young man with a future.” I felt a lump in my throat. How long had it been since this house felt this warm? Ever since I’d quit my job, the air here had been thick with sighs and unspoken disappointments. Even my mom, who used to spoil me, seemed tired of me lately. “Where’s Piper?” my mom asked. “I should wake her for dinner.” “Leave her,” my dad snapped. “Sleeping her life away while everyone else works. She’ll wake up when she’s hungry. You’ve spoiled her too much.” “Why is this my fault again?” I swallowed the bitterness and stepped into the room. “What’s for dinner?” The room went quiet. I ignored the tension, grabbed a bowl, and started eating. I could feel Harrison’s eyes on me—observing, analyzing. What are you looking at? I thought. Do you think I’m beneath you because your parents are proud of you and mine aren’t? I reached out and snatched a piece of duck right from under his chopsticks. I gave him a defiant look. Don’t think just because my dad likes you, I’m scared of you. He narrowed his eyes slightly but moved on to another dish. I spent the rest of dinner “accidentally” taking every piece of food he aimed for. It was childish, and I knew it, but it was the only power I had. “Piper!” my dad barked. “Eat properly.” The duck lost its flavor instantly. I poked at my rice until my dad spoke again. “After dinner, take Harrison downtown. He just got back to the country and needs to pick up some essentials.” “I have plans,” I said. “What plans? Selling more rags?” I bit my tongue. “Fine. Hey, new guy. You don’t actually want me to go, right? You can find a Target on your own.” I gave Harrison a look that clearly said Say no. He looked at me, then at my dad, and smiled politely. “Actually, I’d appreciate the help. Thank you, Piper.” I stared at him. This guy is doing this on purpose. 6 I dropped Harrison off at the mall entrance. “Go buy whatever you need. I’ll be over there.” I pointed to my usual spot in the square and immediately started setting up my stall. Harrison looked at the boxes of “luxe leak-proof intimates” and his eyebrow twitched. “This is what you do?” “You got a problem with it?” He just looked at me with a deadpan expression and walked into the mall without a word. Half an hour later, Maddie still hadn’t shown up. I was about to call her when I saw her walking toward me—with Chase. They were laughing. I felt like I’d been slapped. “You guys are together?” Maddie didn’t even notice my tone. She was glowing. “Piper! Chase says it’s his birthday today. He wants us to come to his party!” I looked from her to Chase. Since when were they on a first-name basis? “I don’t think we’re the kind of people who go to each other’s birthday parties anymore,” I said to Chase, my voice dripping with ice. I saw a flash of hurt in his eyes, and it gave me a sick sense of satisfaction. Maddie grabbed my arm. “Come on, Piper. It’s his birthday. Don’t be so mean.” Chase this, Chase that. She sounded like his girlfriend. I turned to her, my eyes blazing. “Maddie, are you serious right now?” She knew everything. She knew the nights I spent crying on her floor. She knew the pills I had to take just to stop the shaking. And now she was asking me to go celebrate him? She flinched. “If you really don’t want to go, I won’t go either,” she stammered. The implication was clear: I’m only saying no because you’re making me. I had let so many things slide with Maddie. I let her take credit for my ideas at our old job. I let her be the “pretty one.” I let her borrow money she never paid back. But Chase? Chase was the one thing she couldn’t have. He was my scar. “Maddie, do you think I’m an idiot?” “I didn’t… Piper, don’t misunderstand…” She looked at Chase for help. And of course, he stepped in like a knight in shining armor. “Don’t blame her. It was my idea.” I laughed, a harsh, jagged sound. “Blame her? Who even are you, Chase? You think you matter enough for me to care who you talk to?” His jaw tightened. He looked like he was about to snap, but then his expression softened. “Piper…” “Looks like tonight isn’t a good night for business.” Harrison appeared out of nowhere. I don’t know how long he’d been standing there, but his face was set in a hard mask as he stepped up beside me. Chase stared at Harrison, his eyes widening with a mix of shock and rage. “What the hell are you doing here?” They knew each other? Harrison didn’t answer. He didn’t even look at Chase. He just looked down at me. “Ready to go home?” There was a strange urgency in his voice. I nodded, almost hypnotized. He immediately started packing up my things. Chase grabbed my wrist. “What is your relationship with him?” I yanked my hand back. “None of your business.” “Are you living with him?!” Chase sounded horrified. Living with him? Technically, yes. A petty part of me wanted to twist the knife. “Yes. We are.” Chase looked like he’d been punched in the gut. I turned to Harrison and gave him the first real smile I’d ever offered him. “Let’s go, babe. Let’s go home.”

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After dinner, my boyfriend and I bought lottery tickets together. He said cash was tight and asked me to cover it. Of the two tickets, one hit the $5 million jackpot. The other was a dud. His face instantly changed. “The $5 million one is mine.” Technically, he wasn’t wrong—the winning numbers were given to him by a psychic. They were his “lucky numbers.” 1 Mark and I had just walked out of the restaurant. I offered to split the bill, but he let out a heavy sigh and said, “No need, Joy. I’m just mostly stressed about the wedding fund…” He started rambling, “You know I have three brothers. My older brother isn’t married yet, and my little brother is still in high school. My parents can’t possibly give all their savings to me. “My mom said your family’s expectations for a wedding contribution are ridiculously inflated! Who asks for that much? She said the neighbor’s daughter only asked her fiancé’s family for ten grand to help with a down payment.” I listened in silence. Because Mark’s family was significantly wealthier than mine. My parents were gifting us a brand-new car for the wedding—a gift that literally took half their life savings to buy. Meanwhile, ten grand was probably just a fraction of his family’s monthly income. 2 Because of our financial disparity, I never dared to buy expensive things while dating Mark, nor did I ever accept any pricey holiday gifts from him. When we were in college, to ease his financial burden, I proactively suggested we go 50/50 on everything. So, without me realizing it, even after he started working and making a great salary, he still fully expected me to split every single penny. The first time we got a room together, we went to a high-end luxury hotel. I slept incredibly well that night, but when I woke up, I found him staring at me, looking like he wanted to say something but holding back. Finally, as we were checking out, he muttered, “This hotel was pretty expensive.” I instantly understood what he meant, but I deliberately stayed quiet. On the Uber ride home, I Venmo’d him my half of the room cost. But from that day on, we never stayed in a hotel that cost more than a hundred bucks a night. 3 Buying lottery tickets after dinner was a little tradition of ours. Mark said he didn’t have any spare cash on him and asked me to front the money. I bought two tickets, holding the receipt as I walked out of the convenience store with him. Sitting in the backseat of our Uber, the two of us remained completely silent. My apartment was on the way to Mark’s place. Because of that, he used to walk me home every single night during our three years of high school. Because of our eight-year history, I tolerated all his flaws. In my eyes, we started dating as students, and it always felt like we just had to listen to whatever our parents said. The driver dropped me off first. Before I even closed the car door, Mark suddenly poked his head out: “You need to think about this carefully and talk some sense into your parents. We’ve been together for eight years… Besides, you’re not getting any younger, and you’re not a virgin anymore. Who else would want you besides me?” Before he could say anything else, the driver pulled away. Normally, Mark never brought up the post-dinner lottery tickets again. If we won, we’d split it; if we lost, I just treated it as me buying two tickets and having bad luck. On the day of the drawing, I checked the numbers over and over again until I was absolutely certain I wasn’t hallucinating. My hands shook violently as I gripped the ticket. The second I confirmed the win, I flipped my phone into airplane mode. Five million dollars. Even after taxes, I’d still clear around three million. To be safe, I planned to go straight to the lottery headquarters to claim it. Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside my door, followed by a violent pounding. I heard Mark screaming at the top of his lungs: “Joy! Open the door! Open it! I know you’re in there! Open this damn door right now!!!” “Why aren’t you answering my calls?! Are you trying to keep it all for yourself?!” “Open the door first, let’s talk face-to-face!” 4 Only an idiot would talk to him face-to-face! If he actually tried to physically snatch it from me, how could I fight him off? I braced myself against the door, dragged over the sofa, chairs, and anything heavy I could find to barricade it, and then shouted back: “I don’t know what you’re talking about! If you don’t stop screaming outside my apartment, I’m calling 911!” He sounded absolutely furious: “You don’t know?! You don’t know why you deadbolted the door?! Why you’re ignoring my calls, refusing to leave the house, and cutting off contact?! That is FIVE MILLION DOLLARS! Are you that desperate for money?! Get your ass out here right now!” I lost it. While dialing 911, I screamed back at him: “Mark! You’re the one desperate for money! You know damn well that’s five million dollars! Look at yourself, do you even act like a man?! You want to go 50/50 on everything, you wouldn’t even pay for condoms or a cheap hotel room without me pitching in! If we win, we split it, if we lose, I pay for it! Your skin is thicker than the calluses on my feet!” “…Yes, officer, you can hear him right? He’s blocking my door right now. Yes, 231 Oakwood Drive, Apartment 4B…” 5 The police arrived promptly. The two of us ended up sitting in an interview room at the precinct, glaring daggers at each other. A younger officer coughed and said, “Look, why don’t you two just talk this out? You’re a couple, I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding…” “What misunderstanding? Officer, I haven’t done anything. He showed up at my apartment and started trying to bash my door in. That’s a threat to my physical safety, isn’t it? I want to press charges for harassment.” Mark looked at me and sneered, “You know you’re in the wrong, that’s why you won’t bring it up, huh?” “Fine, I’ll say it. You put your phone on airplane mode just to hide from me, didn’t you?” “And that pile of furniture barricading your door? You have a guilty conscience, that’s why you didn’t dare open the door and talk to me!” “I only have one demand right now—give me the ticket.” He leaned in close, his tone menacing. I laughed. “I bought the ticket. Why on earth would I give it to you?” I turned to the police officers. “Officers, this counts as attempted robbery, right? You can arrest him right now.” He panicked. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?! Officers, it’s obvious she’s trying to embezzle the money! She stole my lottery ticket! That counts as grand theft, right? Arrest her!” “Alright, alright, knock it off, both of you.” An older, more seasoned cop tapped the table, coughing as he spoke. “I’m warning you, this is a police station. Everything you say goes on the record, so don’t try to play games. And seriously, is it worth ruining your relationship over a lottery ticket? A couple thousand bucks isn’t even enough to cover wedding expenses!” We shouted in unison: “It’s five million dollars!” The two cops fell dead silent, staring at each other in shock. Finally, the older cop put on a serious face. “Well…” He turned to Mark. “Young man, you speak first.” 6 Mark launched into a long, rehearsed speech: “Officer, I’m the one who always plays those specific numbers. If you don’t believe me, look—I have the payment record.” He picked up his phone, showing the officers his transaction history line by line, casting smug, sideways glances at me the whole time. The two cops nodded along, occasionally muttering “Ah” and “Mhm,” validating his story. It was obvious that this older cop’s internal scales were tipping in favor of his fellow man. My stomach dropped a little. It was true. The reason I put my phone on airplane mode the second I realized I won was precisely because the winning numbers were the exact sequence Mark always played. Whenever we bought tickets after dinner, I would choose random numbers, while Mark religiously played his predetermined set. I thought it was weird and asked him about it once. He said his mom had paid an expensive astrologer on the boardwalk to calculate those numbers for him. The guy promised that playing them would guarantee him a lifetime of wealth and luxury. So he stubbornly bought that exact sequence for a decade, rain or shine. Only occasionally, after dinner, would he ask me to buy the ticket for him. Later, I actually went to find that “master astrologer” he talked about. Honestly, I don’t believe in psychics or curses. The old guy with the wispy white beard looked at Mark, then at me. Probably figuring we were naive kids, he demanded $888 right off the bat. I turned around to leave. Mark tried to stop me: “This old guy is super accurate! You’ll see once he reads you!” The old man shouted after me, “You wicked girl! Let me tell you, you’re going to suffer a tragic accident when you turn 25! You have a cursed aura, you’re a jinx! If you want to break this curse, you must… sigh!” Thinking back on it now, was this the “tragic accident” that old fraud was talking about? Just because I supposedly stole his fortune? Hilarious! Even if a piece of garbage like Mark had good fortune, it would be entirely wasted on him! Life was so unfair. My parents had worked themselves to the bone their entire lives just to barely pay off their mortgage, while his parents ran shady businesses and made a fortune, yet they refused to spend a single dime on their future daughter-in-law! While I was silently fuming, the older cop hesitated and said, “Son, you make a fair point. You did play those numbers. But that was in the past. How can you prove she bought this specific ticket on your behalf?” I nodded vigorously. But Mark, completely prepared, shot me a dirty look and pointed at my phone: “Turn off airplane mode and open Venmo.” … Right there on my screen was a transfer from him, sent just past 9 PM. That was before the numbers were drawn. Meaning, this was unquestionably the “lottery money” he had sent me. I instantly tensed up. That cheapskate Mark purposely used Venmo so it would auto-deposit—I didn’t even have the chance to decline it! The older cop looked at me with pity and shook his head. “Well, my hands are tied, miss. He transferred the money to you, so legally, it counts as his ticket. Besides, he’s been playing those numbers for years. If you suddenly snatch his win, you’re stealing his karma. That’s bad for your own luck!” I cursed more in my head today than I had in the past year combined. I rolled my eyes. Just as I was about to speak, Mark chimed in again: “Joy, I know you’re just angry… but whether the five million goes to me or you, isn’t it the same thing? This is the startup fund for our new family. With this, our life together will be so much easier.” Mark’s expression looked incredibly sincere. I’d seen this act before. Every time we were about to have a massive fight, he would lecture me first, then lower his voice and talk about “us.” He always managed to confuse me and smooth things over, but this time, I wasn’t buying a single word of it. No wonder they say men turn bad when they get rich—women turn bad when they get rich, too. Right now, even if I told him to bark like a dog, I bet he wouldn’t dare make a peep in protest. But Mark’s shamelessness still managed to exceed my expectations. He continued, “How about this? You treat this lottery ticket as your dowry, and I won’t ask for the car…” I froze, feeling like a bucket of ice water had just been thrown in my face. My mind instantly cleared. “What do you mean, you ‘won’t ask for the car’? Did you actually think that car was for you?! That was a gift from my parents to me!” “Well, what else would it be?” he replied matter-of-factly. “I’m paying for the wedding, so the car should go to me, right? You really expect to just pocket five million dollars and leave me with nothing? Joy, you weren’t this much of a gold digger in college.” “Right. Fine. I’m a gold digger. You’re so noble. You’re the most noble person on earth.” I nodded, picking up my purse and preparing to walk out. “I don’t want a wedding anymore. Are you happy?” Mark’s face instantly lit up with joy, but he still muttered, “How can we do that? We have to spend at least a few thousand… Don’t worry, I’ll let my mom handle the whole wedding. I promise it’ll be beautiful, you won’t lose face. As for the car…” He seemed to grit his teeth, enduring physical pain to continue: “Buying a twenty or thirty thousand dollar car is enough for us. We’ll live a nice, peaceful life together… I knew you were the right girl for me, Joy.” I laughed. “You’re overthinking it. I don’t want a wedding, and we’re not getting married. Keep your few thousand bucks and go marry your mom.” 7 I ignored the two cops and dropped one final sentence: “The security cameras show me paying at the counter. The cashier took my money. I don’t care what time you sent that Venmo. If you’re cheap, don’t pretend to be a big shot, and then have the nerve to call me a gold digger. Have you no shame?” I pointed right at his nose and cursed him out, using every dirty word I had learned in my entire life. The two cops were dumbfounded. By the time they finally pulled me back, I had completely eviscerated Mark. He was so furious he looked like he wanted to lunge forward and hit me. I waved dismissively at the officers. “Officers, I’m really not being greedy. Just consider this his breakup fee to me. After all, a guy who makes his girlfriend front the money for a lottery ticket couldn’t hold onto a fortune even if it landed in his lap. Wouldn’t you agree?” I slammed the door and left, heading straight to the state lottery headquarters. After going through all the procedures, I sat quietly, waiting for the staff’s phone call. It wasn’t until over three million dollars safely hit my bank account that I finally felt a sense of peace. I counted the zeros over and over again. My heart felt warm, and my entire mood lifted. No wonder rich people are so happy. I was already thinking way less about Mark’s punchable face. Just as I was relaxing, my phone rang. It was my mom. Her voice was frantic and choked with tears: “Joy! Mark is saying you stole his money! He’s saying you’re shameless, that you cheated on him with another man! He’s blocking our front door and screaming right now! What’s going on?!” I hung up the phone and rushed straight to my parents’ house. When I arrived, my mom was covering her face, crying. A massive crowd had gathered outside our door. Leading the pack was Mark, and his parents were right there with him. A bunch of nosy neighbors were gossiping: “Look, there’s the thief.” “Stealing at her age, she’s gonna get beaten to death when she’s older!” “They were about to get married, and now his family is here cursing her out. Let’s see who’d ever marry her now!” However, all those whispers vanished the second they saw the ten burly, broad-shouldered security guards in black suits standing right behind me. I smiled and walked up to Mark and his parents. “If you have something to say, let’s talk.” 8 Mark’s parents were relatively young, dressed in expensive clothes, and looked intimidating. “Joy, if your parents didn’t teach you better, you shouldn’t just play dumb, right? That was obviously my son’s lottery ticket. You cutting off our family’s fortune is literally ruining our livelihood!” I looked at the solid gold bracelets, gold necklace, and gold earrings she was wearing, thinking to myself that their “fortune” must be completely blind. I cleared my throat, and the ten massive guards behind me stepped forward in unison. Mark’s parents flinched, but his dad tried to put up a tough front: “Look, Joy, how about this? We’ll just pretend today never happened. Let’s not ruin the family harmony. As long as we can see you and Mark living a good life, we’ll be at peace…” “Don’t worry, you’re still our top choice for a daughter-in-law. How about we officially get you two engaged next month?” He winked meaningfully at Mark. So this was a forced marriage attempt. I waved my hand, shielding my parents behind me. “Not a chance. Who the hell wants to be your daughter-in-law? I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time. You—” I pointed at Mark. “Every time we eat, you inhale your food like you’re terrified I might eat one more bite than you. You complain and whine about paying for an Uber. You won’t even spend two hundred bucks on a hotel room. It’s always ‘my mom and dad’ this, ‘my mom and dad’ that. What, am I marrying you or your parents?” “Honestly, if you love going 50/50 so much, why even get married? Can you give birth? You only want to get married to trap me with a kid, right? But let me tell you, Mark, from the very beginning, I never planned on having kids with you.” “And you two—” I turned to his parents. “Since we’re not going to be in-laws, I’ll just speak my mind. You guys are loaded, but you absolutely refused to pitch in a dime for the wedding.” “My parents worked hard for half their lives to buy me a car as a wedding gift. What gave you the right to demand it be put in your son’s name? Do you want to know why your oldest son is still a bachelor in his thirties? He has his generous, open-handed parents to thank for that!” I turned and smiled. “But then again, birds of a feather flock together. You guys deserve each other—a whole family of cheapskates. It’s just a shame your oldest son is going to die a bachelor!” “Joy Vance!” Mark’s mom shrieked, swinging her designer handbag, trying to hit me. “Watch your dirty mouth! Whose son is going to die a bachelor?! He… he just has high standards!” The moment she spoke, several bodyguards surrounded them, forming an impenetrable wall. I waved my hand and helped my parents inside the house. Let them throw a fit. Whoever has the money makes the rules. Before I could figure out how to explain everything, my mom threw herself into my arms, trembling. “Joy, why didn’t you ever tell us any of this?!” My dad patted my shoulder, his head bowed, a bitter expression on his face. I was silent for a long time before finally saying, “I thought he was just frugal…” No, the bigger reason was our eight-year relationship. Mark was a constant throughout my high school and college years. During those eight years, I never had the chance to meet anyone else, and I naturally assumed that women shouldn’t take financial advantage of men in a relationship. But how was that a relationship? It was just two roommates splitting the bills!

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I was with Julian Sterling for three years. Then he got engaged to someone else, handed me a fifty-million-dollar check, and told me to get lost. Back then, I was too proud. I valued my dignity above everything else. I didn’t take the money. Two years passed, and my life had hit rock bottom. Coincidentally, a wealthy playboy started pursuing me. I said yes. On our very first date, he took me shopping. I didn’t hold back. I picked out seven figures worth of designer goods. But when it was time to pay, his card declined. The man was mortified. He immediately brought up his cousin, who supposedly held massive influence in the city. “My cousin happens to be in the area. I’ll just have him come over and handle it.” I said okay. But a few minutes later, when I saw the man who walked through the door, I was completely stunned. 1 At the checkout counter, Ethan Vance stared at the mountain of luxury goods and didn’t even blink. In that moment, I knew I had found the perfect boyfriend. Our meet-cute was ridiculously cliché. I was riding my electric scooter home from work and accidentally scraped his luxury car. He was on the phone at the time, his tone lazy and careless. “I’m breaking up with you. Is that so hard to understand, baby?” “It’s no fun if you take things too seriously.” He was the textbook definition of a wealthy playboy. Even after his car was scratched, he didn’t get angry. He just kept coaxing the girl on the phone while shooting me a highly suggestive look. Then he waved me off, telling me to go. I hesitated for a second, then left. Two years ago, I would have insisted on paying for the damage, even if it meant taking on a debt I couldn’t afford. But not anymore. The past two years had brutally taught me that ‘pride’ is the most useless thing in the world. Aside from a pretty face, I had absolutely nothing. So later, when he suddenly appeared outside my office building, I wasn’t surprised. A long time ago, I learned from a specific person that there are people in this world who are simply born different. They are arrogant, they burn money like paper, and getting whatever they want is effortless. They fundamentally believe that money can solve any problem. The sales associate quickly tallied the total and announced the exorbitant number. I did some quick math in my head. Once I break up with Ethan, this haul will be enough to buy a modest two-bedroom apartment and a decent car. How wonderful. Just as I was mentally celebrating, the sales associate spoke up, her voice hesitant. “Sir, this card…” It was declined. Ethan cleared his throat awkwardly, snatched the card back, and raised an eyebrow. “Give me a sec.” He pulled out his phone and dialed a number with practiced ease. After hanging up, he turned to me. “My cousin is just a few blocks away buying gifts for his fiancée. He’ll be here in a minute to cover it.” I offered him a sweet, understanding smile. “Okay.” Since I started dating Ethan, I had heard rumors about this cousin. People always spoke of him with a mix of awe and fear— “That guy is serious news. I’m telling you, dating the young Mr. Vance is fine, but do not mess with his cousin.” “I heard he has a fiancée. They keep it very low-profile, but she’s from a major family. They’re supposedly very much in love.” It was just gossip. I listened to it, but didn’t care. But since I was about to meet him, I spent a few minutes mentally preparing my best smile and practicing my introduction. Yet, when the man finally walked through the door, my brain completely short-circuited. I stood frozen in place, my body rigid. Ethan stood next to me, wrapping his hand around mine. “Mia, say hi to my cousin.” “Cousin.” I heard my own voice. It was trembling. The man looked perfectly calm. He gave a faint nod. As if he had never seen me before in his life. “Mm.” Then, he walked right past me. We were so close I could catch the faint, familiar scent of his woodsy cologne. When we were together, he never wore this cologne. Because I didn’t like it. But looking at it now, nothing in this world stays the same. For example: I used to be his girlfriend. And now, I’m his cousin’s. 2 Julian swiped his black card, glancing casually at the mountain of designer bags and clothes. He frowned slightly but didn’t say a word. Ethan immediately started complaining to him. “Someone definitely snitched to my dad again and got my accounts frozen.” “Bro, I’ll transfer this back to you in a few days, I promise.” While we were waiting earlier, Ethan had mentioned that Julian was incredibly principled. Ever since they were kids, he had been notoriously strict with all his younger cousins. He didn’t believe in free handouts. He would provide resources or project funding, but only if you proved you actually had the skills to handle it. “My cousin is totally fine with spending money on us, but it has to be for something productive.” Funding a shopping spree for a new girlfriend? Yeah, he would absolutely demand to be paid back. But this time, Julian just gave Ethan a deeply unreadable look. “Don’t worry about it.” “Huh?” Ethan asked, looking genuinely shocked and flattered. “Does this mean I don’t have to pay you back next time I ask for money either?” Julian smiled. His expression was ice-cold. “No. Just this once.” Ethan rubbed his nose, completely missing the tension. “I knew it! You’re the best.” “My girlfriend is incredibly grateful, too.” “Girlfriend?” Julian repeated the word, finally deigning to look at me. I pressed my lips together, meeting his gaze. “Thank you.” He ignored me, exchanged a few more words with Ethan, and then turned to leave. Before he walked out, he handed his black card to Ethan. “Take it. Buy whatever you want.” Ethan eagerly took it, looking at Julian with absolute adoration. “Bro, you are literally my savior.” We shopped for a while longer until the sun started to set, then finally left the mall. Ethan had all the purchases delivered directly to my apartment. The street was relatively empty. He looked at my face, a suggestive glint in his eye. He traced my wrist with his thumb, then leaned in to kiss me. I didn’t pull away. He pressed closer, smoothly parting my lips. I clenched my fists tight, freezing in place. However, the very next second, his phone rang. “Tsk.” He reluctantly pulled away and pulled out his phone. The moment he saw the caller ID, his annoyance vanished instantly. “My cousin needs me. He says it’s an emergency. Wait here for a minute, I’ll have my driver take you home.” I told him not to worry about it, I could just call an Uber. He thought for a second. “Alright, text me when you get back.” After he left, I was just about to hail a cab. A sleek luxury car glided smoothly to a stop right next to me. The tinted window rolled down, revealing the sharp, aristocratic profile of the man inside. He turned to look at me. His gaze dropped immediately to my lips, lingering there for a long, heavy moment before he finally spoke. His voice was deep and freezing. Just two words, but they made my heart violently seize. “Get in.” 3 Bathed in the pale moonlight, I stood frozen on the sidewalk. Staring at Julian Sterling. Seeing my hesitation, he didn’t rush me. He simply raised an eyebrow. And drawled lazily. “Mia.” I lowered my head. “Mr. Sterling.” “Can I help you?” Honestly, when I saw him earlier, I was terrified. I never imagined my luck could be this catastrophically bad. The very first guy I date after leaving him turns out to be his cousin. I was pretty satisfied with Ethan. I wasn’t planning on breaking up with him anytime soon. My breakup with Julian was incredibly messy and humiliating. I was terrified he was going to expose our past to Ethan. Knowing Ethan’s personality, he would dump me immediately. Dating your cousin’s ex-girlfriend? That’s a massive taboo. Especially since Ethan practically worshipped Julian like an idol. Julian stared at me intensely. After a long silence, he let out a low, dark chuckle. It was laced with confusion, and absolute, unfiltered mockery. “You don’t actually think I still have feelings for you, do you?” I didn’t expect him to be so brutally blunt. I felt a rush of deep humiliation. Because a minute ago, that was exactly what I thought. From the time he left the mall until now, at least two hours had passed. Which meant he hadn’t gone anywhere. He had been sitting here waiting for us the entire time. Then, he deliberately called Ethan away. And now he was telling me to get in his car. The night was dark, and we were completely alone. We used to share an incredibly intimate history. And when we broke up, I knew for a fact he was still deeply in love with me. I still remember it clearly— We were having dinner at a high-end restaurant. He sat across from me, meticulously peeling shrimp for me. He knew it was my favorite. He didn’t stop until my plate was overflowing. While I ate, I teased him. “My roommate told me some freshman has been asking around about you. She said she wants to ask you out.” Julian was two years older than me; he was an alumni. Shortly after graduating, he founded his own tech company, which became wildly successful. The university had invited him back as a guest speaker. I was in the student council and had been assigned as his liaison. He was incredibly famous on campus. Everyone knew him as a brilliant, self-made tech prodigy. But he was also incredibly low-profile. For the longest time, no one knew that his last name, Sterling, connected him to the elite Sterling family from the ultra-exclusive Funing Road district. Anyone from that neighborhood was basically royalty in the capital. The first time I met him, I was shaking with nerves. He noticed and offered a lazy, relaxed smile. “Do I look scary?” I quickly shook my head. “No.” He was naturally gorgeous, and he carried himself with an effortless, magnetic confidence. Half the girls on campus were completely obsessed with him. We interacted a few more times, and the tension between us grew. His text replies went from one-word answers to long, detailed paragraphs. My roommates watched it all happen and hyped me up constantly. I was young and easily influenced, so I couldn’t hold back. I confessed my feelings to him under a streetlight on campus. And then I boldly leaned up and kissed his cheek. The moon was exceptionally bright that night. He looked down at me, staring in silence for a very long time, before letting out a soft sigh, looking at me like he was completely defenseless against me. “Are you sure?” “Yes!” From that day on, we were together. But very few people knew. On campus, only my closest roommates were aware. And now, sitting in this luxurious restaurant, Julian went completely quiet after I mentioned the freshman who wanted to pursue him. My smile faded. I couldn’t read his expression. “What? Do you actually want to go out with her…” He slowly wiped his hands with a napkin, raised his eyes, cut me off, and said with absolute seriousness: “No.” “I want to marry you.” 4 Clatter. The fork slipped from my hand and hit the porcelain plate. For someone as reserved, aristocratic, and disciplined as Julian, in the three years we had been together, those were the most romantic words he had ever spoken. His eyes were incredibly dark, locked onto me intensely. I smiled. “Okay.” But that was as far as the fairy tale went. Because I was too naive, I completely missed the hidden depth and complication in his eyes. Because just a few days later, I saw him walking out of an exclusive VIP club, his arm wrapped tightly around another girl. The girl was wearing a stunning, diamond-encrusted white dress that looked unimaginably expensive. She had her face buried in his chest, her arms wrapped around his neck, looking incredibly intimate. A classmate standing next to me gasped in envy. “That’s Julian Sterling’s fiancée. I walked past their private room earlier and heard everyone cheering, asking when the wedding is.” “I had no idea he was that Julian Sterling! I just saw the club owner bowing and calling him ‘Young Master Sterling.’” In the capital, there were very few people the owner of that specific club would deferentially call “Young Master.” My mind completely blanked. I couldn’t understand. Wasn’t he my boyfriend? The next second, they reached a luxury car. I was just about to storm over and demand an explanation, when I saw the woman in Julian’s arms lift her face and kiss him directly on the lips. Julian’s body went completely rigid, and then he forcefully shoved her away. But my devastation didn’t lessen. After they drove away, I pulled out my phone and called him. “I saw everything.” He froze, then let out a heavy sigh through the phone. “Give me two years, okay?” “Our families have been close for generations. I can’t get out of this engagement right now.” That was the moment I finally understood. His “self-made startup” was just a billionaire heir playing a game. Even if it failed, he would still live a life of absolute, untouchable luxury. His background was so elite that there was no universe where we could be together. People in his social stratosphere didn’t marry girls like me. But he sounded so incredibly resolute on the phone: “Two years. I promise we will get married. But… during this time, I can’t give you an official title.” Saying he “couldn’t give me a title” was just a polite way of saying I would be his secret mistress. Back then, I was fiercely proud. I absolutely refused to accept that kind of humiliation. “Julian, what kind of woman do you think I am?” I fought back tears, my voice absolute and uncompromising. “We’re done.” He came looking for me many times after that. I refused to see him every single time. Even my roommates tried to convince me. “I can tell he genuinely loves you and wants to marry you. Just endure it for a bit. Waiting two years isn’t that bad. With a family background like his, sometimes he really doesn’t have a choice.” I didn’t say a word. Everyone kept telling me he loved me. But did his love give him the right to act like a god, casually ordering me to remain his nameless, hidden secret, shoving me into such a degrading, pathetic position? He was born with the world at his feet. So he naturally assumed I would obediently and silently stay by his side. He was absolutely certain I could never leave him, that I would wait for him. But he would never understand what that truly meant for me. It meant—that when another woman hugged him, kissed him, or even slept with him, I wouldn’t have the right to say a single word. I wouldn’t even have the right to be jealous. Because I would be the shameful, hidden secret. To him, and the people around him, it was “only two years.” They truly couldn’t fathom why I was being so difficult. The last time we saw each other was at the restaurant where I worked part-time. He sat alone at a table, ordering the most expensive items on the menu. When I brought his food, he just stared at me in total silence. It wasn’t until I turned to leave that he suddenly reached out, gripping my wrist so tightly it hurt. His voice was strained and tense as he said, “If you just say yes, you’ll never have to do this kind of work for the rest of your life.” He had enough money to guarantee I’d never have to worry about a single thing until the day I died. If it were me today, I probably would have said yes. But back then, I just glared at him coldly, and slapped him across the face. “I don’t need your charity.” He stood there, the corners of his eyes slowly turning red, remaining silent for a very long time. A crowd had gathered around us. They were all watching the spectacle, mocking him. But he didn’t care at all. He just said, his voice incredibly soft: “Just wait. I’ll marry you eventually.” It sounded like the arrogant delusion of a young man. But that very night, his best friend tracked me down. His name was Lucas. I had met him a few times and we had shared a few meals when Julian and I were together. After Julian and I broke up, he had actually tried to mediate and convince me to go back a few times. But this time, he wasn’t trying to convince me. Instead, he handed me a check. “Here. For you.” “He’s getting officially engaged. It’s the daughter of the Lu family. She’s not as pretty as you.” He laughed, looking me up and down. “And she’s not as stubborn as you, either.” “Honestly, I’ve never seen Julian care about a girl this much. Do you have any idea what he went through to…” He stopped himself, sighing. “Forget it. If Julian knew I told you, he’d kill me.” I calmly unfolded the check, counting the zeros several times to make sure I was reading it right. Fifty million. I had never seen that much money in my entire life. “Take the money. Do whatever you want with it, live a good life. Julian told me to tell you he’s coming back for you.” I ripped the check to shreds right in front of his face. I took a deep breath, holding onto my anger, and said: “Tell him this.” “I don’t want his money. Tell him to stop humiliating himself.” What I didn’t know was that Lucas was on the phone with Julian at that exact moment. Every single word I said was broadcast directly into Julian’s ear. I completely and utterly trampled his pride and dignity into the dirt. As soon as I got in the cab, I received a text from him. [Mia, you better not regret this.] Seeing that message, I wasn’t angry. I just pictured the expression on his face as he typed it. It was probably incredibly cold, tinged with a heavy dose of helplessness. Because why wouldn’t he feel helpless? Despite being the ultimate golden boy, despite having the entire world revolving around him, he couldn’t control everything. There was finally something he couldn’t keep. I pressed my lips together and typed back. [I won’t.]

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The day I was released from prison, Selena Lark stood by the roadside, sheltering under a black umbrella. Beside her was a little girl, whose eyes were uncannily like Nathan Slate’. Her voice, dampened by the rain, trembled: “Alec.” “I’ve waited eight years for you.” I walked around her, my steps unwavering. The little girl suddenly rushed over and hugged my leg: “Mommy says you’re my daddy.” My body stiffened. I looked down at the pendant clutched in her hand. It was the token of love I’d given Selena. But I’d smashed it the day our divorce was finalized. “Let go.” I pried her hands away, my voice icy. Selena’s face instantly paled. She caught up to me, grabbing my wrist. “Alec, I know you hate me, but after you went in, I had an early birth with Sandy. I only found out she was Nathan’s child after a paternity test!” She pleaded, “I’m sorry for what I did to you, but Sandy is innocent. If you’re willing, she can take care of you in your old age. I’ll talk to Nathan; he wouldn’t dare disagree.” “No need.” I pulled my hand free, my gaze calm. “I don’t need her, and I don’t need you, who sent me to prison.” After all, someone had been waiting for me outside all these years. I’d promised her we’d get married the moment I was free. 1 “Alec, how can you say that? I had my reasons, you—” “Does it still matter?” I interrupted her, my voice cold. Ignoring her complicated expression, I turned and walked away. But I hadn’t expected the scene to be captured by a hidden reporter. The hashtag #AlecBriarDisownsDaughterUponReleaseFromPrison# broke a hundred million views within three hours. In the candid photos: I pushed away the little girl’s hand, Selena frantically chasing me in the rain. She held a ruined high heel in one hand, her daughter’s hand in the other, clutching the umbrella pitifully between her shoulder and head. The caption read: [Abandoning his wife and daughter + corporate fraud. How does a man like this deserve to be released?] The comment section exploded. [Ms. Lark is so tragic! Scammed out of her money and feelings by Alec, raising her child alone, and now being treated like this!] [That little girl is so pathetic, called ‘Daddy’ only to be harshly pushed away. Alec is utterly inhuman!] [Where’s Mr. Slate? Where’s our Ms. Lark’s knight in shining armor? Why isn’t he protecting her!] Nathan Slate, now an industry titan. And my former mentee. He quickly posted an update, a photo of him holding Sandy, with the caption: [Some people harbor dark intentions, some let bygones be bygones. Right and wrong have always been in the heart.] Below it were comments overflowing with sympathy for Selena and curses hurled at me, calling me heartless. I turned off my phone, walking alone into the rain. Just as I reached my rented room in the old part of town, there was a knock at the door. It was Mr. Thompson, my father’s old subordinate. He handed me a rusty USB drive: “Young master, the late chairman hid this in his safe. He said only you could see it.” I let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Mr. Thompson, don’t call me ‘young master’ anymore. The Briar family is ruined.” I paused, my grip tightening on the USB drive, knuckles white. “My father… how did he die?” Eight years ago, after I was imprisoned, my father’s company went bankrupt overnight. Even the news of his death by jumping from a building was told to me by a prison guard. Mr. Thompson’s eyes reddened: “The chairman didn’t commit suicide. He was pushed. The scene was staged to look like an accident.” I plugged the USB drive into my laptop. The moment the video loaded, a chill spread through my veins. In the footage, my father was bound and thrown to the ground. Nathan Slate held a blood-stained knife to his throat. Selena Lark stood nearby, her abdomen slightly swollen, her face filled with terror: “Dad, just hand over the documents. I’m pregnant; Nathan can’t get into trouble!” My father trembled with rage: “Selena, you fool! Alec gave you everything, what is this Nathan Slate? Our Briar family showed him such kindness, and you’re conspiring with him to harm us!” “Dad, I had no choice!” Selena’s voice was tearful. “Sandy can’t be without a father. Alec is already in prison; if Nathan also falls, what will happen to us, mother and child?” She continued, “Just consider it for your granddaughter; hand over the items.” “You… you want my granddaughter to recognize her enemy as her father? You’re truly something!” Nathan Slate sneered, pushing the blade deeper. “Stop wasting time with him! Old man, don’t be ungrateful. If you don’t speak, I’ll make your granddaughter watch you die!” The video abruptly cut off amid my father’s enraged roar. I slammed the laptop shut. The fury in my chest threatened to consume all reason. My phone rang abruptly. An unknown number. But when I answered, it was the voice etched into my bones. “Alec, are you alright? Did you find a place to stay?” Selena Lark’s voice carried a cautious probe. “I know you hate me now, but I truly had difficulties back then.” “Difficulties?” I curled my lip, memories flooding back. In my senior year of high school, Selena was cornered in an alley by thugs who tried to steal her living expenses. I rushed forward, taking three punches for her, and slipped her my last fifty dollars. She was saved by me, crying that she had no money, all her family’s income went to support her younger brother. Even next semester’s tuition was uncertain. Seeing a delicate girl sobbing heartbrokenly before me, my heart softened. I ended up giving her the money I had saved for my own tuition. I said it was fine, my family wasn’t short on money, I’d just ask my father for more. But behind her back, I worked one odd job after another. Classes during the day, part-time jobs at night. It took me three full months to save enough for new tuition. Unfortunately, she eventually found out. That night, she couldn’t bear to take the bus, choosing to walk to save a dollar. I was hit by a bottle from a customer at a night market stall. She rushed up to protect me. Though much smaller than me, she erupted with astonishing strength. She wielded the shattered half of the bottle, roaring: “Who dares bully Alec, I’ll kill him! If you’re not afraid of death, come on!” That night, two vulnerable souls huddled together, and our feelings for each other grew unconsciously. After graduating from college, we squeezed into a rented apartment to start a business. She would hunch over the desk, drawing blueprints, while I stayed up all night writing code. When hungry, we’d cook a bowl of instant noodles and share it. She held my face and said: “Alec, when we succeed, I’ll marry you and be good to you my whole life.” The day our startup succeeded, I knelt on one knee and placed a custom ring on her finger: “Selena Lark, for the rest of our lives, I’ll protect you completely.” She cried and nodded, promising never to betray me. And Nathan Slate, he was my junior from my third year of college. His family was poor, his mother critically ill, his father had been in a truck accident, leaving the family deeply in debt. At that time, my father had already succeeded in his business, owning his first company. Upon learning of Nathan’s situation, my father generously covered all his mother’s medical expenses and sponsored his education. Nathan, with red eyes, knelt in our living room, swearing: “Alec, Uncle, you are like my second parents. I will definitely repay you well in the future.” My father patted his shoulder and said: “Work hard with Alec; our Briar family will not treat you unfairly.” I hired him into the company, personally teaching him core technologies, and gave him important projects to gain experience. Even when his mother passed away, I stayed with him for three days and nights, covering his funeral expenses. My father treated him like his own son, inviting him home for meals on holidays and stuffing red envelopes with cash into his hand. He even used his connections to sort out his sister’s enrollment issues. My father often said: “Nathan, you and Alec are like brothers. You’ll grow the company together in the future, supporting each other.” But our heartfelt generosity was met with a stab in the back. My new technology was at a critical stage. Nathan frequently stayed in the office until late at night, under the guise of asking for guidance. I answered all his questions without reservation, even giving him unencrypted code for reference. Selena also started coming home late more often. She always carried a strange perfume scent. Much later, I found out she wore perfume to cover up something sickening. But when I asked, she only said work was busy and told me not to overthink it. She also said Nathan was family and we should take good care of him. It wasn’t until the night before the tech launch that I caught her and Nathan kissing in the office. My core code was being used as a cushion, pressed under Selena’s bodycon dress. Caught in the act, she showed no remorse. “Alec, I’m sorry.” “Nathan doesn’t have as good a family background as you. The new technology can only achieve its maximum value with him.” I clenched my fist, my knuckles turning white. I slammed it on the desk, blood instantly staining the documents. “I ate instant noodles with you for three years, shielded you from countless difficulties, pulled you out of the mud, and now you’re telling me you’ve changed your mind?” “Alec, don’t get agitated.” Nathan wrapped his arm around Selena’s waist, looking at me provocatively. “Those were all your choices. A respectable Briar family heir wouldn’t want to take back such trivial things, would he?” Seeing Selena’s cautious, on-guard expression, I laughed until I was breathless, but tears welled up. “This company, my technology, everything I have, who was it all for? Selena Lark, you said you’d never betray me. Were your vows just meaningless words?” She turned her face away, her voice cold. “Vows aren’t to be taken seriously, Alec. Let’s part amicably.” I thought that night’s betrayal was hell on earth. Until the car accident, when I was severely injured and fell into a coma. When I woke up, what awaited me wasn’t comfort, but cold handcuffs. Selena Lark stood in the witness box, wearing a proper suit, her eyes cold: “I personally saw Alec tamper with data, steal company technology, and attempt to frame Nathan Slate.” She even produced fabricated chat records. Every word, every sentence, nailed me to the pillar of shame. Watching her righteously denounce me, at that moment, I no longer had the strength to even defend myself. Three months into my imprisonment, Selena came to see me. She wore an expensive dress, her makeup perfect. A stark contrast to my prison uniform. She pushed a divorce agreement across to me: “Alec, sign it. I had no choice.” “I’m pregnant, the child is yours. You can’t let her be born with a father in prison.” She added, “I’m begging you, let me go.” I looked at her, then suddenly laughed, a profound sorrow piercing my heart. “You and he conspired to harm my parents, ruined my life, and now you’re asking me to let you go?” My voice grew increasingly frantic. “If I let you go, who will let me go? Who will let the Briar family go?!” Her voice was pleading, yet her attitude was condescending. “For the sake of all our years together, don’t make things difficult for me.” She pressed, “Sign it. It’s better for both of us.” I stared at the woman I once loved to my bones, my heart feeling as if countless needles were piercing it. My hand trembled as I picked up the pen and signed my name on the divorce agreement. Each stroke was like carving my own tombstone. From that day on, my youth, all my love and faith, came to an abrupt end. When the news came that my father, unable to bear the blow, had jumped to his death, I screamed in rage in prison, only to be met with the cold stares of the guards. Meanwhile, they—one soared in success with the technology I developed, the other, pregnant with her enemy’s child, took over my father’s company. They reveled in everything that should have been mine. “Alec? Are you listening?” Selena Lark’s voice pulled me back to the present. Staring at the paused video on the screen, my voice was hoarse: “So, Nathan Slate couldn’t get into trouble, but I could? My parents could?” “I didn’t mean that!” She quickly defended herself. “I was pregnant with Sandy, desperate, and Nathan threatened me. If I didn’t cooperate, he’d kill my brother! I was forced!” I scoffed. “Didn’t your brother break ties with you long ago, with my help? Didn’t your so-called leech family already get a million dollars to cut that connection?” I continued, “What, the moment Nathan Slate appeared, your relatives resurrected? And you, who always resented your family, suddenly found love for your brother again?” I laughed until tears streamed down my face. “Selena Lark, you’re truly disgusting.” “Alec, I know you’ve suffered.” Her voice was tearful. “I’ve been thinking of you all these years. How have you been since your release? Is your living situation okay? Do you have money? I can help you.” “No need.” I hung up directly and blocked her number. But she seemed unwilling to give up, switching to another number and calling again. Text messages arrived one after another. “Alec, I know you still care about me, otherwise you wouldn’t hate me so much.” “Sandy misses you terribly. She always asks where her daddy is. She’s always thought of you as her real father. I haven’t told Nathan.” “I can make it up to you for what happened back then, if only you’re willing to forgive me.” I looked at those texts, feeling nothing but profound irony. After blocking the seventh number, I thought Selena Lark would give up. Unexpectedly, she quieted down, but Nathan Slate began to flaunt their affection online. He posted a set of family photos. Selena nestled in his arms, Sandy seated between them, all three smiling happily. The caption: “Eight years of companionship, grateful for you. Selena, Sandy, having you is my greatest happiness.” Immediately afterward, he posted a video. He had previously taken Selena and Sandy on a vacation abroad. In the video, he personally placed a necklace around Selena’s neck, making a heartfelt confession: “Thanks to your trust and companionship back then, we’ve made it to today. For the rest of our lives, I’ll protect you both with my life.” The hashtag #NathanSelenaEightYearsOfDeepLove# quickly shot to the top of trending topics. Netizens offered their blessings, and in passing, castigated me again. [In comparison, Alec is even worse!] [Ms. Lark and Mr. Slate are a match made in heaven. Alec is just a clown!] [Poor Mr. Slate, so magnanimous after being framed by Alec. No wonder Ms. Lark chose him!]

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When the kidnappers forced Liam Sterling to choose one of us to save, he abandoned his childhood sweetheart and chose me. But I didn’t go with him. Because I knew he would regret it. It happened exactly like this in our past life. After I was rescued, Liam’s childhood sweetheart was photographed in compromising positions by the kidnappers. The night she returned, she slit her wrists and died. Liam pretended not to care and went ahead with our wedding as planned, but he subjected me to endless emotional abuse throughout our marriage. Seven years later, when I finally forced him to agree to a divorce, he lost control of his emotions and drove our car off a cliff on the way to the courthouse. Even in his dying moments, he was still blaming me: “We owed Mia. We were supposed to spend our lives atoning for her. What right do you have to seek a peaceful life for yourself…” So, having been given a second chance, I refuse to live that life again. 1 “Chloe, come with me.” The moment I realized I had been reborn, a kidnapper was pressing a knife against both my and Mia’s necks. They demanded that Liam choose one of us to save. Liam’s gaze darted between the two of us. After a fierce internal struggle, he made the exact same choice he did in our past life— He reached his hand out to me. But I firmly shook my head. “Liam, save Mia first.” In this life, I don’t want to owe anyone anything, and I certainly don’t want to carry the weight of another life on my conscience. Hearing this, Liam seemed to let out a sigh of relief. “Chloe, you are my fiancée. I should save you first. But since you said it yourself, don’t blame me.” Then, he grabbed Mia and left the scene as fast as humanly possible, as if terrified I would change my mind in the next second. But I’m not like him. I don’t make a choice and then spend my life regretting it. In our past life, it went exactly like this. He arrived with the ransom, but the kidnappers suddenly increased their demands, saying he could only take one person. Forced into a corner, Liam ultimately chose me. However, during the time we went back to gather more money, the kidnappers lusted after Mia, took compromising photos of her, and were just about to assault her. Fortunately, we arrived with the police just in time. But even though they hadn’t gone all the way, a situation like that is enough to completely destroy a girl’s dignity. Mia returned home a broken shell of a person. That night, after everyone fell asleep, she slit her wrists. By the time she was found, it was too late. When Liam heard the news, he didn’t show the slightest hint of caring. He calmly handled Mia’s funeral and gave her family a large sum of money as compensation. Even when I suggested postponing our wedding, he flatly refused. “Chloe, marrying you has been planned for a long time. We can’t let an outsider affect it.” Yet, it was this “outsider” he obsessed over for seven straight years. He only married me to trap me, to make me atone for Mia. But what did I do wrong? 2 After Liam and Mia left, I started trying to figure out how to save myself. Because this time, I wasn’t sure if Liam would actually come back. In our past life, he used the excuse of giving Mia a comforting hug to slip a tracker into her pocket. So even when the kidnappers moved us, we were able to find Mia immediately using the tracker. But just now, he seemed to have completely forgotten about that. I guess, from the very beginning, the only person he ever wanted to save was Mia. He only reluctantly chose me because of my status as his fiancée, terrified of the public backlash if he didn’t. After all, ours was just an arranged marriage; our relationship was mediocre at best. But Mia had been by his side through his purest, most innocent years. They were childhood sweethearts, best friends, and soulmates. It makes sense that the Liam of our past life regretted his choice. In this life, he finally got what he truly wanted. I was happy for him. At the same time, I didn’t forget to look for a chance to escape. I knew that when the kidnappers moved locations, they would pass by an auto repair shop. The mechanics there were notoriously fierce and brutal fighters. In my past life, when the kidnappers passed by, they tried to temporarily commandeer the shop. They didn’t expect the owner to be a total badass who stubbornly refused. The two groups grabbed whatever weapons they could find and had a massive brawl. The kidnappers probably never imagined they’d run into people even more ruthless than they were. Terrified of escalating the situation further, they eventually scurried away with their tails tucked between their legs. Later, when the kidnappers were arrested, the owner of the repair shop even came forward to testify against them. 3 Just like in my past life, they left one guy in the van to watch me. The rest of them charged toward the repair shop. My hands were tied behind my back. The kidnapper in the driver’s seat completely ignored me, thinking I wasn’t a threat. Taking advantage of his inattention, I leaned over and used my teeth to pull the door handle. I shoved the door open and ran forward like a maniac. My target was the same as the kidnappers’: the auto repair shop. I wanted to make a bet. A bet that they wouldn’t just watch someone die without helping. So, I blatantly charged right in. The repair shop was already in total chaos. I immediately spotted the young owner. His features were sharp and defined, radiating an aura of unwavering righteousness. Combined with his agile, powerful fighting moves, he looked incredibly cool. Terrified of getting caught in the crossfire, I hunched over and sprinted toward him with lightning speed. But I used too much force and ended up tackling him straight to the ground. As I crashed into his chest, my face went pale with terror. “I-I’m so sorry.” I apologized incoherently. “Could you please, please help me?” The man glanced at me, his brow furrowing. The next second, he grabbed me and rolled several times across the floor. Then, with a loud CRASH, a heavy stool slammed into the exact spot we had just been lying in. If he hadn’t noticed it in time, I would have been seriously injured, if not worse. Still shaken, the kidnappers noticed I had escaped from the van. So, their objective shifted from taking over the shop to demanding I be handed over. The two sides faced off. I looked pitifully at the man beside me and whispered, “If you can save me, I’ll do anything you want.” He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared thoughtfully at the group of kidnappers. Someone behind him couldn’t help but warn him, “Noah, less trouble is better than more.” So his name is Noah. Receiving no answer after a long pause, my heart slowly sank. Forget it. Why force him? When the leader of the kidnappers yelled for me to come over for the third time, I took a step forward. But almost instantly, a hand clamped down on my shoulder. I was forced to stop. Noah stepped forward and announced to the kidnappers, “She’s under my protection today.” Perhaps even God was on my side, because the loud roar of motorcycles suddenly echoed from outside. A confident smile spread across Noah’s face. “My backup is here.” Hearing this, the kidnappers shot me a resentful glare, cursed under their breath, and left. My heart, which had been hanging by a thread, finally dropped back into my chest. I let out a long breath and suddenly felt the tension on my wrists loosen. Noah had cut the ropes binding my hands. 4 “My name is Chloe. Thank you so much for what you just did,” I said, reaching my hand out to him. Noah, however, kept his eyes fixed on my wrists. The ropes had left deep, bloody welts that looked terrifying. “Let me clean that up for you.” I shook my head. “It’s just a scratch. It’s fine.” “Who was it just now who said if I saved her, she’d do anything I wanted?” “…” Ignoring my protests, he gently but firmly pushed me onto a stool and brought over a first-aid kit. “This might sting a bit.” I bit my lip, watching him intently as he carefully treated my wounds. A sudden warmth bloomed in my chest. I remembered in my past life, shortly after Liam and I got married, there was a time he came home drunk. As I was helping him back to our room, I casually mentioned he should drink less. He flew into a sudden rage and violently shoved me away. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. The jade bracelet on my wrist hit the hardwood and shattered into pieces, the shards slicing deeply into my wrist. I screamed, clutching my bleeding wrist and crying out in pain. But Liam just stared at me coldly and said: “Does it hurt? It should. Mia suffered a thousand, a million times more pain than you, but she can’t cry out anymore. If she hadn’t tried to save you, she wouldn’t have been assaulted by those kidnappers! She wouldn’t have…” I just sat there on the floor, my face full of disbelief. My heart turned to ice, inch by inch. It took a long time before I found my voice again. “But the kidnappers took both me and Mia to threaten you! And you were the one who chose to save me first! Why are you saying all this to me now?!” The drunkenness on Liam’s face seemed to have faded significantly, but his eyes remained ice-cold. “Chloe, I was always against this arranged marriage. If you hadn’t told my grandmother you liked me, she never would have forced me to marry you.” “So, what you’re saying is, if I weren’t in the picture, you would only have had to save Mia. Is that it?” “Haha…” I suddenly burst out laughing. “Liam, you’re literally insane. You don’t blame the kidnappers, you blame me instead.” I stood up and went back to my room to bandage my own wounds. From that day on, no matter how much it hurt, I never told Liam again. And now, the man in front of me, afraid that I was in pain, was clumsily blowing air onto my wounds. My eyes stung. I closed them, took a deep breath, and asked a question I already knew the answer to: “What are you doing?” Noah looked up, his smile pure and genuine. “When I got hurt as a kid, this is what my mom used to do. Does it feel any better?” I nodded. “Yeah, much better.” Receiving validation, Noah continued what he was doing. But the atmosphere was soon ruined by someone else. 5 “Noah! I heard someone was causing trouble at your shop, so I rushed right over…” “Holy crap! Where did you find such a gorgeous girl?!” A tall man with a full sleeve tattoo walked through the door. The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up. “Wow, this is rare. I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a girl this pretty at your place…” As the tattooed guy spoke, a bizarrely shy flush crept over his face. Seeing this, Noah stepped in front of me, shielding me. “Thanks, but it’s already handled. As for everything else, it’s none of your business. I’ll buy you a drink sometime.” The tattooed guy froze, then caught on. “Bro, now that you’ve got a girl, you don’t even have time for your bros?!” He haughtily turned his head away and let out a loud “Hmph!” He actually looked like he was pouting. Noah rubbed his temples, then pulled him aside and muttered, “Can you read the room? Go find somewhere else to be.” “Noah, is she your girlfriend?” “Does it look like it?” “Yeah! You guys look like a perfect match.” “Good to know you have eyes.” “I don’t care, you have to invite me to the wedding.” “You’ll get your invite.” “…” The two men muttered to each other a short distance away. Even though they intentionally lowered their voices, I could hear every word perfectly clearly. To ease the awkwardness, I pretended to be very busy, looking left, right, up, and down—anywhere but at them. A few minutes later, Noah managed to shoo the tattooed guy away. Once he was gone, Noah asked me, “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.” Perhaps out of pure selfishness, I suddenly didn’t want to go back so soon. Anyway, my parents were always busy with their own things. Even if I didn’t come home for a month, they wouldn’t ask about it. As for Liam, if my guess was right, he had probably been reborn too. Right now, he must be desperate to stay by Mia’s side forever. In our past life, during our seven years of marriage, he never once took me to any public events, and we never shared a bedroom. When people asked about me, he always kept a cold face, eventually turning me into a running joke in our social circle. In this life, I just want to stay as far away from him as possible. So I looked at Noah and pleaded, “Could you take me in for a few days?” I carefully pinched the corner of his shirt with my fingers and tugged it gently. Based on what I knew from both lives, he seemed like a genuinely good guy. Plus, he had the ability to protect me. If I decided to cling to him, would he refuse? Noah suddenly leaned his face close to mine. His gaze was incredibly intense and burning. “Little girl, if you keep acting like this, I might actually take it seriously…” Because he was so close, I could even smell the fresh scent of soap on him. I instinctively swallowed hard. Just as I was about to speak, a familiar voice rang out from behind me. “What are you two doing?!” It was Liam… He had arrived with the police. 6 “Are you okay?” Liam looked at me, and the concern in his eyes didn’t seem fake. I threw my hands up. “Do I look like I’m not okay?” Liam remained silent. Mia walked in right behind him. She glanced around the repair shop, which had already returned to normal operations, and asked bluntly: “Chloe, how exactly did you escape from those kidnappers? “As far as I know, there were six of them. Your hands were tied, and you didn’t know the area. I’m genuinely very curious…” What was she trying to imply? “Everyone knows the Vance family and the Sterling family are planning a marriage alliance, but both families are also eyeing that plot of land in the South District. The auction is in ten days, highest bidder wins. “And then, at the most critical moment, something like this happens, with an astronomically high ransom demand. Chloe, it’s really hard for me not to think the worst.” She suspected I hired the kidnappers?! I admit, in both of my lives, I have never been this speechless. In my past life, I felt truly helpless and sympathetic toward Mia’s tragedy. But in this life, I practically saved her. And the first thing she does after being rescued is turn around and bite me. It was truly chilling. I suddenly raised my hand and shouted loudly, “Officer! This person is slandering me!” And then, we were all taken down to the station. While waiting to be interrogated, Mia was relentless. “Chloe, why are you afraid to speak?” I sneered coldly. “Why should I speak to you? You’re not a cop.” Mia was momentarily at a loss for words. Liam couldn’t stand it and immediately stepped up to defend Mia. “Chloe, Mia just wants to know the truth so she knows what she should and shouldn’t say during the interrogation.” “What? You guys planning to lie to the police?” Furious, Liam stood up, pointing at me. “Chloe, you are completely unreasonable!” Noah, who had just walked out of an interrogation room, saw this and stepped right in front of me without a second thought. “Put your hand down.” His tone was flat, but it carried an undeniable, oppressive authority. Hiding behind Noah, I couldn’t see their expressions, but I could vaguely smell gunpowder in the air. I heard Liam demand, “Who are you to her?” Noah turned his head to look at me, the corner of his mouth slightly raised. He asked back, “Who do you think?” I looked up at his ridiculously perfect side profile, which was so close to me. As if possessed by a ghost, I used my thumb and index finger to make a little heart shape at him. Seeing this, Liam’s face instantly darkened several shades. Right at that moment, an officer called him in to give his statement.

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