THE MISSING EX-BOYFRIEND AND THE SWEET REVENGE

“Evelyn, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Celeste barreled straight into the room, fuming, and lunged to rip down the mourning ribbon and tear the photo off the wall.

“Julian is not dead at all! What kind of insane stunt is this!”

I let a single tear linger deliberately at the corner of my eye, clapping a hand over my mouth in mock alarm. “W-what are you talking about?”

“Julian isn’t dead! You absolute idiot!”

Ah, so it seemed she still had no idea the entire scene had been broadcast live to tens of thousands of viewers. Every word out of her mouth, every move she made, had been captured without missing a single syllable.

The reason she’d come rushing over this fast, of course, was that Arthur had quietly sent her the address.

“Sweet-Bamboo-Horse — no wait, Celeste, I know you and Julian are close friends, but you don’t need to try comforting me quite this desperately…”

“I’m telling the truth! He’s not dead!”

Celeste furiously fished out her phone, shoving a recent selfie right in front of my face.

It was a photo from that very morning — Julian had bought breakfast and brought it straight to her place. Celeste was in her pajamas, the two of them leaning cozily into frame together.

“Evelyn, let me be straight with you — the whole reason he’s been faking his disappearance is because of you!”

Celeste crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at me. “Because you’re just so unbearably clingy, Julian couldn’t bring himself to dump you outright, so he had to resort to this to escape you instead.”

The color drained from my face; I staggered back as if about to collapse, and a classmate nearby caught me just in time.

“You’re saying… he’d rather deceive me with this cold, cruel trick than just say the words to break up with me?!”

“Don’t go blaming him for this — if you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being so beneath him. Your parents are just ordinary salaried workers, what makes you think you deserve to climb up and stand shoulder to shoulder with Julian? Getting tossed aside was only ever a matter of time.”

I mentally counted the seconds. It was time to light the fuse.

I forced myself to sound choked with emotion, looking up. “Celeste, exactly what is your relationship with him?”

“Best friends, childhood sweethearts, what else!”

I put on a look of confusion. “Really? But then why doesn’t his official girlfriend know anything about it, while you… Are the two of you truly nothing more than ordinary friends?”

Celeste’s words had just set the entire livestream chat ablaze:

【So what if her parents are salaried workers, you piece of trash? Who exactly are you looking down on?】

【My parents are ordinary salaried workers too, and my grandparents were straight-up farmers.】

【Can’t believe this kind of stuck-up, condescending princess type still exists in this day and age.】

Hearing my carefully baited question, Celeste tilted her chin up even higher, more arrogant than ever. “Do you even understand what childhood sweethearts means? He’s willing to share absolutely everything with me — I’m the closest person to him besides his own parents!”

A few friends nearby couldn’t take it anymore, chiming in mockingly: “You two have zero boundaries between the sexes!”

“If that’s not a mistress, what is — hiding behind the label of ‘best friend’ to make yourself sound noble.”

“Disgusting, honestly. Evelyn, that man isn’t worth it at all!”

Good, the fire had grown quite large enough now. Celeste’s little performance was, at this point, essentially over.

I used the excuse of not feeling well to gently usher everyone out, then shut off the livestream entirely.

Now it was time for the leading man himself to take the stage. The reason Celeste had arrived first was that Julian had been out on business in the suburbs that morning. Thanks to Arthur’s precise tracking, I had a full grasp of everyone’s schedule down to the minute.

Seeing the livestream cut off abruptly, Julian, unable to reach me by phone, began frantically texting apology after apology.

By nine that evening, Julian finally came rushing back into the city. He ran straight to find me, looking utterly worn and travel-worn. But he hadn’t come alone — he’d dragged Arthur along with him.

The moment he saw my face, Julian dropped straight to his knees, sobbing wretchedly. “Evelyn, I really didn’t mean it! I only agreed to that stupid plan because I was worked up in the moment…”

I looked at him coldly. “Over a month now — did you have fun playing your little game?”

“You think I wasn’t suffering too…”

Julian crawled forward and clung to my legs. “At first I just wanted to teach you a lesson, so you’d be more obedient, but afterward I couldn’t sleep a single night, all I could think about was you…”

“All you could think about, and yet you still remembered to buy breakfast for another woman?”

Julian froze. “I… I only ever thought of Celeste as an ordinary friend! If you’re not okay with it, I’ll never see her again, I swear!”

“Funny, because I thought the two of you looked like a perfect match.”

“No, no, no!” Julian shook his head frantically. “I don’t like her at all, she’s been spoiled rotten since she was little, stubborn and difficult, I’ve always had to just put up with her. Evelyn, you’re the only one in my heart…”

“Shut up! Julian, you honestly make me sick to my stomach, would you just get out of here?”

Neither soft words nor hard ones worked on me, and Julian spiraled further into panic. He spun around and grabbed Arthur’s arm, pleading. “Arthur, help me talk some sense into her.”

“Me?”

“You’re the one who helped me cover this whole thing up, you’re partly responsible too, so say something to her, quick!”

Arthur didn’t answer. He simply walked, unhurried, up to stand in front of me. He bent down and, right in front of Julian, pressed a slow, lingering kiss to my lips.

“Evelyn, you look gorgeous when you’re cussing someone out.”

Julian’s world officially, completely collapsed.

He’d sooner have believed he’d gone blind than accept the scene unfolding in front of him. It wasn’t until I reached out and wrapped my arms around Arthur’s waist that Julian’s bloodshot eyes finally went wide with fury, and he lunged forward with a scream, swinging at Arthur.

Naturally, he couldn’t so much as graze a hair on Arthur’s head. Even as he dodged, Arthur never forgot to pull me safely behind him.

Julian was so furious he nearly coughed blood, spitting out, “I helped you and you dare steal my woman?!”

“First of all, Evelyn isn’t anyone’s woman, she belongs to herself.” Arthur answered evenly. “Second, you said it yourself — helping you cover up this whole scam would settle the debt between us. I’ve done exactly that.”

The only issue was, the way Arthur had chosen to repay the debt had turned out to be quite unusually thorough.

“But you can’t just fish in troubled waters like that! Don’t you realize how low that makes you?”

“Low, is it? You’re right. I’m low.”

Arthur’s lips curved into a smile, his charming eyes bending into an alluring line. “Julian, from the very moment you decided to deceive her, this low man here had already been quietly waiting for his chance to climb into your place.”