The Picture-Perfect Stand-In Chapter 2

Following the client's endless, neurotic instructions...

I dressed up meticulously and arrived at the mall half an hour early to scope out the area.

I never expected that I would actually run into the real Arthur Sterling here.

He looked relaxed and indifferent, one hand casually tucked into his pocket.

A girl was walking next to him, chattering away happily.

Arthur wasn't really listening; a lazy, detached smirk played on his lips. But the fact that he hadn't shown any signs of annoyance the entire time was practically a miracle.

I was stunned.

It wasn't until Arthur noticed me that his smirk vanished.

He muttered under his breath, "What awful luck."

I heard him clearly, but my expression remained completely blank.

The girl immediately linked her arm through Arthur's, glaring at me defensively. "Who are you?"

When I didn't answer, she looked up at Arthur with a pitiful, victimized expression.

Arthur scoffed. "Just some broke loser."

He wasn't wrong. If I wasn't broke, why would I be here meeting up with a fake Arthur Sterling for cash?

I let out a dry, sarcastic laugh, my tone rising slightly. "Having the great Young Master Sterling despise me is truly an honor."

Hearing that, Arthur's face darkened instantly.

He crossed his arms, his words ruthlessly cutting. "Mia, can you even afford a single item in this entire mall?"

"As long as you can afford them, that's all that matters," I smiled, pointing to a luxury boutique nearby. "Didn't you buy me a bag from that exact store once?"

The girl's eyes widened in shock. "What is your relationship with him?"

What relationship? We were each other's first loves.

Though dating this arrogant young master was easily the biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life.

Arthur didn't say a word, and I wasn't in the mood to humiliate myself further, so I adjusted my bag and turned to leave.

"Mia." His tone was light and airy, but carried the exact same condescending, arrogant weight it always had. "Which poor guy are you scamming into paying your bills today?"

I turned back. "Don't worry, Young Master. So far, I haven't managed to scam anyone more generous than you."

Of course, I wasn't counting the money the client just transferred me.

Arthur had been surrounded by sycophants his entire life; he never bothered hiding his emotions.

Right now, for example, it was glaringly obvious he was in a terrible mood.

Terrified he would intentionally ruin my upcoming meetup, I paused for a second and then decided to appease him. "You were right before. Someone like me will never be happy. But as long as you're happy, that's what matters."

Honestly, the whole "mortal enemies" thing was mostly Arthur's one-sided hatred for me.

I never liked making enemies, especially not with an ex who used to be incredibly generous with his money.

But the young master, who was famously impossible to coax even when we were dating, was definitely not buying it now.

He sneered, his words dripping with venom. "Don't leave. I want to see exactly what kind of trash you've managed to hook this time."

I froze.

I still didn't know what kind of persona the client had established with the fake Arthur. What if she was playing the innocent, pure little flower? The whole thing would blow up in my face.

With Arthur's abrasive personality, he could expose me in two sentences.

I swallowed my pride. "He's not as handsome as you, and he's not as rich as you. Young Master Sterling, why do you insist on humiliating me?"

The girl next to him nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Arthur. Let's just go."

Arthur didn't even glance at the girl. His long, elegant fingers pulled a premium black card from his pocket.

The girl took it, her entire demeanor instantly changing, and briskly walked away. "I'm going to go shopping then! Text me if you need anything, Arthur!"

I smiled. "She's cute."

Arthur ignored the comment, and showed absolutely no sign of leaving. He just stood there, staring me down.

But he had always been like this—willful and unrestrained.

In the past, when he had a high fever, I would pace around frantically, worried sick. He would just lazily grab my hand and smirk. "Want to see what 104 degrees feels like?"

My eyes widened, my face flushing bright red instantly.

Not from shyness, but from pure anger. "Are you psychotic?!"

The corners of his lips curved up, and he couldn't stop a muffled laugh.

We eventually tried it, and he ended up in the ER.

...

They were all just immature, childish memories.

I lowered my eyes.

Arthur quickly lost his patience. He raised an eyebrow. "You didn't just invent a guy, did you?"

I stayed silent.

His patience officially exhausted, he answered a call from a friend. "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."

Then he cast a final, sweeping glance over me, mockery swimming in his eyes. "Instead of carrying around that cheap, thirty-dollar canvas tote, maybe you shouldn't have been so damn stubborn about your pride back then."

With that, his long legs carried him away, the distance between us growing rapidly.

I watched his tall, retreating silhouette.

Even his walk radiated a careless, arrogant swagger.

After I broke up with Arthur, I packed up every single luxury item he had ever given me and shipped them all back to him.

He only sent me one text in response: [I don't collect garbage.]

Then he blocked me.

As for the luxury goods, mutual friends told me he threw them all into the massive dumpster outside his villa.

My phone started pinging relentlessly with notifications.

Ning: [Babe, are you there yet?]

[Let's just meet at the coffee shop, okay? I'll text him and tell him I'm waiting for him there.]

[Babe, answer me!]

I reined in my emotions and replied: [Okay, I'm heading to the coffee shop now.]

Once I got inside the coffee shop, I scanned the entire room.

I texted the client: [Hey babe, bad news. Arthur Sterling isn't here. Even worse news, there's only one genuinely handsome guy in the whole place.]

[Impossible! He just texted me that he arrived!] she replied frantically.

I let out a long sigh.

Until I saw that one incredibly handsome man walking directly toward me. The outer corners of his eyes tilted up slightly, and there was a small, striking red mole just beneath one of his eyes. He smiled warmly.

He inexplicably radiated a dangerous, almost fox-like charm.

I instinctively took a step back, instantly on guard.

He spoke, his voice deep and magnetic: "Mia."

Me: "..."

I quickly texted the client: [Isn't your name Ning? You didn't use my real name, did you?]

She replied instantly: [Uh... yeah. I was too scared to use my real name, and since we were negotiating the photo prices at the time, I just accidentally gave him yours.]

Me: [Brilliant.]

I locked my phone, took a deep breath, looked up, and greeted the man. "Hi there."

Up close, the man was even more devastatingly handsome.

His features were refined and delicate, but not feminine. He had a high, straight nose bridge, thin lips curled into a faint smile, and a subtle, sparkling stud in his left ear. He was significantly better looking than I anticipated; it was almost startling.

Wait, he had absolutely no reason to use Arthur Sterling's photos for online dating.

I offered a polite, awkward smile. "You and the photos you sent me... look quite different."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm fairly certain I never sent you a photo of myself."

Me: ?

For a split second, my facial expression completely short-circuited.

This guy never even sent a photo! How the hell was that client so absolutely certain he was Arthur Sterling?!

"Then I must have remembered wrong," I forced a strained smile, trying to suppress the urge to grind my teeth. "Do you mind if I run to the restroom first?"

"Of course," he smiled gracefully.

Once in the restroom, I immediately dialed "Ning's" number.

The second the call connected, I unleashed a furious barrage: "I fucking told you! Your online boyfriend is NOT Arthur Sterling! He's NOT Arthur Sterling! You wouldn't listen, so I just assumed he was a normal catfish! Turns out the guy never even sent you a picture! What on earth made you think he was Arthur Sterling?!"

The other end of the line was dead silent.

After a long pause, a very distinct, very male voice blurted out, "Holy shit."

It was a guy!

I was completely stunned.

"He's not Arthur Sterling? How is that possible? Then who is he?" he demanded, firing off questions.

I was just as frustrated. "You're asking me? Where did you even find this guy?! How can you be this incompetent?!"

I thought I was dealing with a female scammer trying to milk a rich guy for cash. Who would have guessed it was a dude?! No wonder he needed to buy my custom voice memo packages!

"What does he look like? Describe him right now!" The guy actually sounded more panicked than I did.

Me: "Well, he's actually incredibly handsome, so don't worry about that."

The line went silent again.

After a long, agonizing pause, his voice sounded completely drained of the will to live: "He doesn't happen to have a small red mole under his eye, does he?"

Me: "Yes, he does."

"AAAAAHHHHH! I'M DEAD!"

...Now he realizes he's dead. Where was this panic when he was scamming the guy for thousands of dollars?!

If the guy he was scamming was actually Arthur Sterling, then he'd be dead. Knowing Arthur's ruthless reputation, he'd literally skin the guy alive.

After a while, he asked, his voice trembling in pure agony, "...What do I do now?"

I was curious. "This guy seems a million times nicer than Arthur Sterling. Did you think Arthur was some kind of saint?"

"No, you don't understand. My older brother is infinitely more terrifying than Arthur. If Arthur wanted to destroy me, my grandmother could at least try to stop him. If my brother wants to destroy me, absolutely no one can save me!"

Saying that, he started wailing again.

My eyes widened in shock. "...What did you just say?"

He was clearly in the depths of despair. "No wonder Arthur always calls me an idiot. Am I really that stupid?"

Me: "...So what's the plan now? Should I just make a run for it?"

"No!" he hissed through gritted teeth. "If you run, he will 100% investigate. And he will 100% trace it back to me!"

I was speechless.

He blurted out a desperate solution: "Why don't you just take over my WeChat account? We'll just pretend you were the one talking to him the whole time! I mean, my brother is really good-looking, and he transfers a ton of money..."

My pupils dilated in pure horror.

Before I could answer, he started muttering to himself: "I had no idea he was this generous when he's dating someone. Fuck, why is he so stingy with my allowance?"

"Forget it," I refused.

Ever since I broke up with Arthur, I finally saw things clearly.

What doesn't belong to you will never belong to you, no matter how hard you try.

Especially when it comes to these insanely wealthy, elite heirs.

It's better not to harbor any delusional fantasies about them.

Besides, if I actually got involved with this man and Arthur found out, who knows what kind of psychotic episode the young master would have?

Actually, no. He'd probably just mock the man: "Your taste is absolute garbage, getting involved with a woman like Mia."

I thought about this silently, then let out a heavy sigh.

The voice on the other end of the phone whined, "I thought you guaranteed post-sale support!"

They really are from the exact same family!

This guy's thought process was just as deranged as Arthur's.

I said flatly, "I'm hanging up."

"$75,000! I'll add another $75,000!" he panicked. "I literally drained my entire Chinese New Year red envelope fund for this! You absolutely cannot let my brother find out!"

Me: "...$150,000."

Him: "...You're extorting me! You're definitely going to milk a ton of money out of my brother anyway, do you really have to bleed me dry too?!"

"Then never mind," I said.

"Deal!" he shrieked, completely broken.

"What's your brother's name?" I asked.

"Julian Thorne."

My head snapped up. "The Julian Thorne? Arthur Sterling's older cousin who's always abroad?"

"Yes."