THE MISSING EX-BOYFRIEND AND THE SWEET REVENGE

Arthur had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth; his family background and standing were on an entirely different level from Julian’s.

In front of outsiders, he always kept himself cold, restrained, distant. I used to think the same of him.

I’d landed a stable job right after university, and, as fate would have it, that company happened to be one of the financial conglomerates under the Arthur family’s umbrella.

Arthur was, quite literally, the young chairman-in-waiting — the gap between us was, by rights, like heaven and earth.

Everything started to change about a month ago.

The day I got the news of Julian’s disappearance, my entire world felt like it had collapsed.

Arthur appeared as the one who’d organized that outing, carrying the weight of guilt, offering to look after me in Julian’s place for a while.

But that “looking after” turned out to be far too meticulous, far too thorough for what any ordinary care should be.

Three meals a day, every day, he cooked with his own hands and delivered them to my door.

It made me deeply uncomfortable, and I once told him, plainly:

“Arthur, none of this is your fault. Julian’s always loved reckless sports — even without your invitation, he’d have gone off and done something like this on his own. Even his own parents haven’t said a word about it, so there’s absolutely no reason for me to blame you. Go take care of your own work, you really don’t need to trouble yourself like this… Hey, let go of that shirt!”

I snapped, yanking my bra straight out of his hands.

“I’ll wash my own things!”

Arthur looked at me with utter seriousness. “I wash things cleaner, though. You really won’t let me help?”

“Absolutely not!”

At the time, I was too flustered and irritated to pay attention to the way his eyes had darted aside, or the restless way his hands had shifted behind his back.

It wasn’t until one night, when I woke to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and discovered Arthur still hadn’t left, that things changed.

I crept out quietly to check, and happened to glance through the half-open bedroom door.

What met my eyes stopped me cold: he’d stripped off his shirt, revealing a lean, powerfully built back, one hand cradling one of my lace camisoles, the other hand —

Under the dim light, the muscles across Arthur’s back were taut, veins standing out along his forearm.

I froze, and some small sound slipped out of me without meaning to.

Arthur spun around. The instant our eyes met, he tipped his head back, and a low, restrained groan escaped from deep in his throat —

I’d caught Arthur’s secret, and from that very moment, I officially climbed aboard his “pirate ship.”

I should have pushed him away. I should never have allowed myself to indulge in those intoxicating embraces or kisses.

But I couldn’t control myself.

Maybe it was because, during the stretch of time I’d cried myself dry over Julian, Arthur had been the only one quietly there beside me.

And more importantly —

I had already, for some time, harbored serious doubts about the whole business of Julian’s “disappearance.”

What kind of world has a son go missing and his own parents not only refuse to report it to the police, but actively stop me from doing so myself?

What kind of world has a close friend vanish without a trace, and his entire circle shows not the slightest concern, still throwing parties and carrying on as if nothing had happened?

Those doubts, today, had been fully confirmed.

Every single one of them had conspired together to stage this whole play in order to manipulate me. And Arthur, of all people, had turned out to be the single most crucial link in that play.

Back to the present, Arthur was still holding me tightly, refusing to let go.

I spoke up, tired. “Is dinner ready? I’m hungry.”

“It’s ready. All your favorites.”

“Go warm it up.”

“Okay.”

Arthur released me at once and went to reheat the food. He didn’t notice anything unusual in the way I’d just given him an order.

After we ate, I deliberately shrugged off my jacket and tossed it straight at him.

“Go wash this.”

Arthur paused a beat. “You’ll let me wash it?”

“Yeah, I’m tired today, too lazy to bother.”

He looked as though he’d just been handed some great reward, cradling the pile of clothes carefully as he stepped into the bathroom. I knew perfectly well it would be at least twenty minutes before he came back out.

Taking advantage of the moment, I picked up the phone Arthur had absentmindedly left on the table.

Sure enough, Julian had set up a secondary account to stay in touch with his circle of friends.

In the early days, he’d still occasionally check on how I was doing, through Arthur:

【How’s Evelyn been lately?】

Arthur: 【She cried for a really long time today.】

Julian: 【Whatever, she’s always crying about something, it’s exhausting. Sorry to make you keep an eye on her for me.】

Arthur: 【When do you plan on ending this farce?】

Julian: 【?】

Arthur: 【If you don’t like her, just break up with her properly. Why toy with her like this?】

Julian: 【It’s not that I don’t like her. It’s just that she keeps too tight a leash on me — won’t even let me out for a drink at midnight. Celeste’s right, she needs to suffer a bit before she’ll learn to behave.】

Arthur never replied to that message.

Right at that moment, the phone screen lit up with a notification from a group chat bearing a name sickening enough to turn my stomach:

— 【Princess Celeste and Her Three Servants】

Princess Celeste: 【Hot news, everyone — Evelyn was seen crying at work in front of her coworkers yesterday!】

Servant #1 Julian: 【Heard about that too.】

Princess Celeste: 【My brilliant plan working like a charm, right~ Julian, you owe me a meal for this.】

This was the group chat of Julian, Celeste, and the rest of their circle. In it were four young men in total, three of them labeled “servants,” and the fourth being none other than Arthur.

Only Arthur used his real name.

Julian had mentioned before that Arthur had been the last to join the group, through some investment networking event.

Within the group, Arthur said very little — most of the time, it was Julian bouncing back and forth trying to entertain Celeste.

Servant #1 Julian: 【Treat you to a meal? Haven’t I already treated you enough? I’ve handed you an entire bank card to spend as you like — Evelyn’s thrown more than a few tantrums over that.】

Princess Celeste: 【It’s honestly funny thinking about it. What are we to each other, exactly? Childhood friends who grew up together! Who does she think she is, getting jealous? Talk about shameless.】

【Look at that — clearly she’s just jealous I have so many guy friends.】

Julian sent back a little heart sticker: 【Alright, don’t be mad anymore. Next time I’ll buy you a gift and let you pick it out yourself first, how’s that, Your Highness?】

【Hmph, that’ll do, I suppose.】

Reading this, my stomach turned. I scrolled further up and found they talked like this, sickeningly sweet, every single day.

It turned out that every time Julian texted saying he’d be late for a date, it always traced back to Celeste somehow. Even when I was lying alone in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV, sick with nausea, he’d been busy escorting Celeste shopping. Even the anniversary gift he’d given me on Valentine’s Day had actually been something Celeste had turned her nose up at and left behind —

Right at that moment, a new message popped up. Julian, texting Arthur privately:

【Just remembered something. Two months ago, on Celeste’s birthday, I got way too drunk that night… so I ended up staying over at her place. You absolutely cannot let that slip to anyone. Remember, we were together that night, understood?】

I calmly typed out a reply on Arthur’s behalf, four words: 【You two crossed a line?】

Julian: 【Tch, didn’t I just say don’t bring it up again? Celeste and I are both pretending nothing happened that night. Only way we can keep being friends.】