Ficorpio
Chapter 1
My roommate had one of those naturally luminous faces that made people call it a “born moonlight” look.
An outrageously rich guy had just slammed down eighteen black cards and told her to be his dead lover’s stand-in.
She couldn’t take the humiliation.
“Who wants your filthy money?” she snapped.
At the exact same time, I heard her breaking apart in her own head.
So much money! Are you seriously not supposed to take it?
How did the original heroine, Chloe Bennett, hold out against this?
I stared at her. Huh? Who? Me?
Lily Quinn was a chatterbox. Her inner voice was no exception.
In the minute Ethan Sterling was publicly rejected and walked back to his car in embarrassment, I had already pieced the whole story together.
Apparently, we were living inside a stand-in romance novel.
I was the original heroine, Chloe Bennett, and the way I met the male lead, Ethan Sterling, was far from respectable.
He threw money at me and told me to be the replacement for his white moonlight.
I refused with my life on the line. The black cards, cash, limited-edition designer handbag, diamond bracelet, and all the rest that Ethan sent me were packed up and sent right back.
Who knew that would only pull him in harder?
The two of us would go through misunderstandings, tests, breakups, reunions, more breakups, more reunions… and in the end, end up together.
Lily Quinn, meanwhile, was a tool used to push the plot forward. She existed to create misunderstandings at every critical turn. But by the time the story reached its happy ending, Lily would get my forgiveness.
Only now, Lily had awakened.
She had gone straight to the white moonlight’s face and had it changed to a one-to-one copy, then deliberately crossed paths with Ethan ahead of time and successfully earned his so-called stand-in invitation.
And now she was about to walk my path.
Honestly, I didn’t hate the spirit of stealing someone else’s road and leaving them nowhere to go. In fact, I almost admired it.
But she didn’t get to wreck my character setting.
On one hand, Lily wanted to use the original heroine’s non-materialistic image to attract the male lead. On the other hand, she couldn’t bring herself to let go of the money sitting right in front of her.
Since meeting Ethan, she had already accepted a million-dollar watch, a pair of three-carat diamond studs, and a diamond bracelet.
And she had her own logic for it.
If I don’t take anything at all, Ethan will think he doesn’t have a chance. If I take just a little, that gives him hope.
Great reasoning. Too bad I wasn’t going to allow it.
The next second, I stepped straight in front of Ethan.
“She doesn’t want it,” I said. “Try me instead.”
Chapter 2
Ethan actually laughed. “You don’t look that much like her,” he said. “Especially when you smile. Then you look even less like her.”
Lily let out a mocking laugh from the side. It made me instantly annoyed.
So I reached out, caught Ethan by the chin, and leaned in until my face was right in front of his.
A faint red crept up the tips of his ears. He held his breath without thinking, his eyes locked on mine.
I lifted the corner of my mouth and asked him with a smile,
“What, do I look like your dad when I smile?”
Ethan Sterling looked stunned.
Lily Quinn let out a quiet breath of relief.
Then her thoughts started chattering again, loud enough in my head to be annoying.
Thank God. I thought the story was about to snap back into place.
Ethan doesn’t like this type at all.
He likes gentle girls.
But what’s going on with Chloe Bennett? She’s completely different from the script…
Obviously different.
You stole my role. Did you expect me to play the same part as you too?
Impatient, I hooked a finger under Ethan’s chin.
“Speak.”
The tips of his ears went even redder. He stumbled over his words.
“W-what do you want me to say?”
“That I’m going to be your stand-in.”
“Oh. Then… should I add you on the app?”
Satisfied, I let go of his chin and pulled out my phone, the screen cracked into a spiderweb.
“Scan me.”
Ethan went quiet and tried three times before he finally looked up, a little weakly.
“Or you could scan mine?”
“With that screen? I can’t scan anything.”
I clicked my tongue.
“Your phone’s basically done for, isn’t it?”
Ethan took a deep breath.
Ding.
The friend request finally came through after I managed to scan him successfully.
“See? My phone can still handle it.”
Ethan inhaled again, clearly trying to keep his patience intact.
After we added each other, I held out my hand without ceremony.
“Settle the stand-in fee.”
He transferred the money in silence, then hesitantly said, “Doesn’t that count as forced buying and selling?”
I shot that down immediately.
“What are you talking about, my generous benefactor?”
“This is me pitching myself.”
Lily Quinn went a little blank watching the whole thing unfold. In her head, she scrambled to comfort herself.
[It’s fine. Ethan Sterling doesn’t like gold diggers.]
[In the original story, when I played the villainess and tried to seduce him, I ended up in a miserable state!]
[But this is so annoying. Why is it Chloe Bennett again? No, I need to think of something…]
I didn’t hear the rest. By then, I was already walking away.
As I went, I kept turning it over in my head. So there was a distance limit to this ability. If I got too far away, I couldn’t hear Lily’s thoughts anymore.
I didn’t know what she planned to do next, and I didn’t really care.
My goal was simple: make some money.
As for Ethan Sterling, I had absolutely no interest in him.
A man looking for a stand-in? That didn’t exactly scream “good guy.”
Chapter 3
Feeling pretty good about life, I made my way to the academic office.
“Teacher, I’d like to pay off my tuition and student loan.”
Ms. Carter, who was sitting at her desk, looked up and smiled. “Oh, it’s Chloe.”
“There’s no rush on the tuition. The student loan doesn’t even have interest. If you’ve got a little extra money, you should take care of yourself first.”
But I still insisted on paying everything off.
The moment I did, a strange sense of relief settled over me.
Being in debt and being broke were two completely different feelings.
I’d rather be broke than owe anyone money.
Just as Ethan’s stand-in salary was about to run dry, I couldn’t help clicking my tongue.
I had actually thought I’d have some money left over. Enough to treat myself to spicy noodles and make life a little less miserable.
Instead, I accepted reality and headed for the cafeteria to work part-time.
I changed into the work uniform with practiced ease and took my place at the serving window, dishing out food for everyone.
One spoon, then two, then three, then four as the line kept moving.
That was when Lily Quinn showed up.
She stopped at the window and looked me up and down before bursting out laughing.
“So you landed Mr. Sterling and you’re still working here?”
“Did he dump you already?”
I tapped the metal ladle against the edge of the serving tray.
“Are you getting food or not, classmate?”
“If not, don’t block the people behind you.”
Lily’s expression twisted immediately.
“What’s with the attitude?”
“You’re the one throwing yourself at rich men, and now you want to act high and mighty?”
“You’re so shameless. Who’d even want to eat food you serve?”
With just a few sharp words, she laid out the whole thing about me supposedly seducing Ethan Sterling.
The people waiting in line scattered almost at once.
“I really didn’t think Chloe was that kind of person. I thought she was nice.”
“Yeah… she always gave everyone such huge scoops.”
“Tsk. You really can’t judge someone by their face.”
“It’s not like serving food costs her anything. Of course she didn’t care.”
“I heard she suddenly paid off her tuition and student loan today.”
“If she wasn’t hooked up with a rich guy, where would she get that kind of money all of a sudden?”
While they were talking, one of the school administrators walked over.
“Chloe, character is also one of the evaluation criteria for part-time positions.”
“Before, I saw that your family was really struggling, and you were dependable and hardworking, so I gave you the cafeteria job.”
“You can stop after today. We’ll see what happens once the matter is investigated.”
The school offered a lot of part-time positions to students from difficult backgrounds, and the cafeteria was one of the most sought-after.