Chapter 2

When Lena left, she gave Samuel a slap that rang through the room.

The man sat on the couch, his face dark.

I took ice from the freezer, wrapped it, and pressed it gently against his cheek.

The apartment was dead quiet. He frowned and said, low,

“That's the first time she's ever hit me. All for that guy.”

The truth was, I didn't really know the history between him and Lena.

I only knew he still couldn't let her go, a year after they broke up.

And me, I couldn't let go of his money.

Three months ago, the day I was voted the goddess of Ashford University's physics department, Samuel came to me out of nowhere.

His opening line was fifty thousand. Did I want to be his girlfriend.

I gritted my teeth and, with no backbone at all, turned him down.

“I don't sell myself.”

He laughed then.

A whole row of neat white teeth flashing in the sunlight.

“I'm not asking you to sell yourself. This is a confession.”

Every word came down like a note from an angel.

Enough to make my head spin and my heart race.

Back then I thought Samuel wasn't as bad as the campus forums said.

He had to be a genuinely good person.

A good person who was also very rich.

So when I saw the girl on his phone who was seventy percent like me, it took me zero seconds to accept that I was a stand-in.

In literature, stand-ins usually don't end well.

So I didn't bother copying Lena's clothes or her expressions. I only played the part of his emotional crutch and love bodyguard when it was needed.

And made a little extra cash on the side.

Samuel was the most generous person I'd ever met.

In a good mood, he'd take me out for nice meals, take me sightseeing, and throw money my way now and then.

In a bad mood, he loved to throw money at things.

A course I had to retake, he'd offer ten thousand as a starting price and tell me to handle it.

Group events he didn't want to attend got dumped on me, and the cash he sent never dropped below four figures.

The moment Lena so much as stirred on her end, he got even crazier.

Like he wanted to tell the whole world how loyal the "girlfriend" he'd bought with money was to him.

……

In three months, I'd saved up enough to study abroad.

My academic advisor, who knew my situation, was a little surprised, and hinted, carefully, that maybe we should talk.

I knew. My reputation as a simp and a gold digger had already spread across campus.

People said all kinds of things.

But I really didn't care.

Compared to growing up in an orphanage from the age of four, what was any of this?

Samuel wasn't after my body or my heart. He was only after this face.

For this face, he bought me a new phone, took me to high-end restaurants, and now and then threw in a surprise.

This apartment was his gift to me last month.

I'd just come out of the lab. The moment I stepped outside, he pulled me straight to the county property records office.

Two bedrooms, one living room, a prime location, in a famously luxurious complex.

When he bent his head to sign, the sun from the window caught the side of his face, his long lashes casting shadows beneath his eyes.

For a moment, my heartbeat lost its rhythm.

Without knowing why, I caught his hand while he was still signing and asked, quietly,

“Samuel, what if I didn't want this apartment, and someday we……”

He frowned slightly.

“It's not up to you to refuse. Lena's living right next door with that guy. How am I supposed to relax if you're not there watching?”

Only then did I understand. So he'd bought me the apartment for Lena's sake too.

I nodded, and that little skip in my heartbeat slowly settled back into calm.

Then it suddenly clicked for him.

“Someday what?”

My pen paused, and then I smiled, my eyes curving.

“Nothing.”

After that, I put in even more effort than before.

Or, in other people's words, I got even more shameless.

Mornings in the lab, afternoons buried in the library.

On days I had no class, I did the coursework he couldn't be bothered with and signed him in for the lectures he didn't want to attend.

For breakfast, I'd get up half an hour earlier than everyone else, buy it, and go out of my way to bring it to him, even though he didn't need it at all.

……

I honed my simp skills to perfection.

So now, hearing Samuel's question, I answered without a second thought.

“Miss Fisher just can't let you go, that's all. She got upset the second I finished saying that.”

The lines between his brows did ease a little.

But his gaze suddenly landed on me.

“I didn't think you'd actually care about me a little, seeing how your eyes light up at money.”

Care?

Before I could work it out, a long-fingered hand brushed the side of my face.

“Still hurt?”

I shook my head.

His touch grew more suggestive, his voice soft.

“You did well this time.”

My eyes lit up at once, and I ventured, carefully,

“Then this time, besides the thousand for the post, could you add another thousand? I did get slapped, after all……”

Catching the way his face darkened again, I quickly lowered my price.

“Five hundred works too.”

His face went cold completely. He pulled a bank card from his pocket.

“There's a hundred thousand on this. Consider it me buying this one month of yours. Enough?”

A hundred thousand, to a young master like him, was nothing more than the cost of an afternoon tea.

He'd probably meant to humiliate me.

But I couldn't hold back the curve at the corner of my mouth.

“Enough, more than enough.”

A thousand per post. That's a hundred posts.

Two thousand per errand. That's fifty errands.

Three thousand per time I take the fall. That's……

Before I could finish the math, the man spoke again.

“Starting tomorrow, invite Lena along every time we eat.”

I hesitated a little, remembering the back of Lena as she'd walked out.

“What if Miss Fisher won't come?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

With that, he went back to the bedroom.

I held the bank card and silently told myself,

“Just this one last month left.”

“You can do it, Zoey.”