My ex-boyfriend lives in the same dorm room as my brother. My brother, cursing under his breath, transferred my monthly allowance. "Happy now? You're only with me for the money!" Seeing this, Liam added two zeros to the transfer amount. "Mine's longer than his. I can make you happier." Liam thought my brother was my current boyfriend. He made a bet with others, claiming he could easily win back a "gold-digger" like me just by beckoning his finger. I knew he was up to no good. Liam offered me his Black Card; I rejected it. My brother gave me a "spend ten get five off" coupon; I took it. Liam carefully selected expensive gifts; I rejected them. My brother gave me a half-used pack of tissues; I took it. Liam completely panicked. "Is my money Monopoly money? Would it kill you to spend it?!" 1 My brother transferred my allowance while grumbling. "Happy now? You're only with me for the money!" I didn't dare breathe too loudly, but on the other end of the line, I was grinning like a cunning fox, full of sycophancy. As soon as I received the money, I immediately loaded it all onto my meal card. I've been a foodie since I was little. The buffet place downstairs from our apartment complex opened for less than a month before the owner ran away overnight, hiding from me. When my family stocked up for the holidays, my parents would take turns guarding my door at night. Bought snacks I didn't like? No problem, I'll handle them. Leftover food? Put it down, I'm here. A mature woman's greatest charm is solving problems. My mom says since I was born, our family has never eaten leftovers. The year I graduated high school, my dad asked where I wanted to apply for college. I immediately said I wanted to go to my brother's school. My brother froze, then clutched his meal card like he was facing a formidable enemy. Oh no! Disaster strikes! I scrimped and saved every month just to treat my mouth well. But by the end of the month, I still had no money for food. At times like this, I would do some day labor jobs that provided meals. My brother, worried about me running around from dawn to dusk, had to grit his teeth and transfer five hundred dollars from his own allowance to me. As soon as my brother's relief funds arrived, I couldn't help but transform into his biggest fan. Before I could flatter him more, two notifications popped up on my phone. Another transfer message appeared, adding two zeros after the five hundred. My ex-boyfriend's message followed closely behind. [Mine is longer than his. I can make you happier.] 2 It was noisy on my brother's end; someone seemed to be calling his name outside the door. My brother threw his phone on the desk and went out. He forgot to hang up. On the other end of the line, Liam's voice rang out. People around him were jeering. "He just broke up with Liam, and now he's hooking up with someone else. Hmph." "Liam dropped fifty grand just like that. That's too generous for such a fickle woman." Liam laughed carelessly, eyes slightly narrowed, playing with his phone with slender fingers. "A woman like Hailey? I just need to beckon my finger, and I can pry her back." I stared at the fifty thousand dollars that just hit my account, falling into deep thought. When I first arrived at college, I ate all day long and advertised various restaurants on my social media. Whether it was collecting likes for discounts. Or sharing posts for free drinks. Give me a little benefit, and I'd take the bait. Some people said I looked like a paid shill for restaurants. Later, the rumors got more ridiculous, saying I tricked various men into eating at designated restaurants to get kickbacks. I don't know where Liam heard this. With a halo over his head, he descended from the sky, deciding to punish a wicked woman like me. "Date me, I'll treat you to meals. How about it?" Relief food falling from the sky? That was very kind. I nodded vigorously and agreed on the spot. Liam set up various traps, planning to expose my "true colors" in public. He asked me to take him out to eat. That day, he dressed formally, suit pressed, leather shoes polished. An outfit fit for any high-end venue, but I dragged him to the night market food street. Spicy snail noodles. Spicy duck necks. Spicy skewers. I ate until my face was red, turning to ask him: "Feels good?" Liam looked at me with his butt on fire. However long he tested me, I dragged him around the night market for that long. In the end, between enforcing justice on behalf of heaven and saving his butt, Liam chose the latter. He broke up with me. My dining partner was gone; I was sad for a long time because of this. Later, one of Liam's good friends let it slip, and I learned the truth. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Screw him. There are always people wanting to bully honest, good women like us. I even felt resentment towards the fifty thousand dollars just transferred to me. Is this some new humiliation play? Afraid of a trap, I cautiously returned the money to Liam. On the other end of the line, the notification sound of fifty thousand dollars being returned rang out. The originally chaotic dorm room instantly fell into a deathly silence. My brother came back after finishing his business. He picked up his phone and said: "Hailey, someone just gave me two 'spend ten get five off' coupons. Do you want them?" I take advantage whenever I see it. "Yes!" Liam silently picked up his phone, typing a message to me. [Do you want my Black Card?] Just as he hit send, a red exclamation mark popped up, reminding him he was blocked. My brother chatted with me as if sorting through trash. "I have half a pack of tissues left here." "Yes!" "Last time I bought a drink, I won a 'one dollar for another' prize." "Bring it here." "The cookies I bought got a little damp." "It's fine, I don't mind." "Liam, no swinging in the room!" "Okay... hmm?" My brother packed a box of junk for me. When I went to pick it up, I heard on the way that someone in the boys' dorm had a hearty tug-of-war with a ceiling beam using their neck. I couldn't help but sigh; it's good to be young. The counselor and the school doctor surrounded Liam, asking about his well-being. Liam remained silent, head lowered. When he passed by my brother, my brother was still buried in his phone talking to me. "You can't blab in front of my girlfriend. I don't want her to know about our relationship." I received the benefits and smiled slyly. "Don't worry, I won't let anyone know about us." My brother was pursuing a senior who lived in the dorm opposite mine. Knowing this, I chanted his praises in the senior's ear all day like a scripture, helping him gain presence. If the senior knew we were siblings, my previous praises would seem like self-promotion, with zero credibility. After hearing this, Liam's face changed again and again. He looked at us with an extremely complex gaze. "Gavin, what is the relationship between... the two of you?" My brother answered honestly: "She's my sister." My brother took my dad's last name, and I took my mom's. My brother didn't know Liam and I knew each other, so he didn't explain much. Liam looked at me, then at my brother. He laughed mockingly, his tone becoming sarcastic. "So it's a sister." He took a utility knife from his pocket and aimed it at his wrist. "There seems to be a bug in my wrist, jumping around. I'll pick it out." The counselor turned pale with fright and roared: "That's a freaking artery!" 3 My brother now had an extra expense for dating on top of his own living costs. And because of me, he had to save some relief food for me every month. I felt a little guilty. I happened to see someone recruiting day labor for hotel cleaning and asked who wanted to go. I signed up immediately. I wanted to scrape together some money to buy my brother those shoes he had liked for a long time. My brother was moved to tears when he found out, saying his sister had grown up. I worked all day, and it was dark when I got off work. Standing by the roadside, I called my brother: "It's a bit remote here. Can you drive over to pick me up and take me back to school?" My brother said: "Find a place to wait for a while. I'll drop your sister-in-law off first, then come pick you up. Just ten minutes or so." I said okay, then stood by the roadside waiting. A few minutes later, a black Porsche stopped in front of me. The window rolled down, and I saw Liam's face. He looked me up and down, then glanced at the hotel behind me. His brows furrowed slightly, the usual lazy smile on his face fading. "Why are you here alone? Where's Gavin?" Seeing Liam's face, I felt a nameless fire in my heart. It was all my fault for being blinded by greed back then, getting tricked by this vicious fox. Unconsciously, resentment crept into my voice. "He went to find his girlfriend." Liam seemed to laugh angrily. "So he just abandoned you like this?" I scratched my head, feeling the words were weird but didn't seem to have any major issues. I didn't know how to answer, so I just stood there dumbly without speaking. "Get in. I'll take you back to school." Liam opened the car door for me. After getting in, I didn't forget to tell my brother not to come, that someone was giving me a ride. Sitting in the passenger seat, I turned to look at Liam beside me. Two buttons of Liam's collar were undone, revealing a silver chain around his neck. The pendant, reflecting a cold light, swayed with his movements. My gaze followed the pendant down, fixating on the section of collarbone at his neckline, unable to look away. "Why do this kind of thing?" Liam's voice was cold. Upon closer listening, one could detect the anger within. Maybe he was disgusted by my behavior of working as a hotel cleaner. "What do you rich people know? If not for making money, who wants to do this kind of thing?" Liam's hand gripping the steering wheel tightened, asking through gritted teeth: "Just for five hundred dollars?" "Yes, just for five hundred dollars!" I answered righteously. Although the work was dirty and tiring, and I encountered all sorts of weirdos, it paid well! And provided food! Liam asked: "Then why didn't you take what I gave you?" "Is my money Monopoly money? Would it kill you to spend it?!" I wanted to take it too! But at that moment, my IQ took the high ground. By the time I came to my senses, the money had already been returned. Since it's come to this, of course, I can't say such spineless words now. I smiled faintly, like a clear breeze under a bright moon. "Because it's inappropriate." Liam closed his eyes as if life had lost all meaning, his voice light as if talking to himself. "Then is he appropriate?" My phone rang in my pocket. The ringtone drowned out his sentence. I pressed answer, and my brother's voice sounded. "Hailey, are you at school? Who drove you back?" I turned to look at Liam. Liam shook his head, signaling me not to say it was him. I had to lie: "It was a colleague who drove me; he happened to be going the same way." My brother told me to let him know when I got back to the dorm safely. I nodded and agreed. Liam's car stopped at the school gate. After thanking him, I got up to leave. Just as I opened the car door, I heard Liam ask in a hoarse voice: "Hailey, do you have to go down this path? What he can give you, I can give you the same." Give me what? Day labor wages? This damned fox always manages to hit my weak spot. Thinking of the things he said about me in the dorm during the day, I got angry. I dropped a decisive sentence: "No need!" Back in the dorm, scrolling through my phone, I saw Liam posted a new update. [My life has been ruined by a scumbag.] Me: "?" What's wrong with him now? 4 I unblocked Liam from the blacklist, struggling half the night on how to advise him to see a neurologist. He was weird tonight. I suspect he damaged his brain from hanging himself. Holding my phone in a daze for a long time, drowsiness surged, and I unknowingly fell asleep. When I opened my eyes the next day, my phone screen was full of distress messages from my brother. [Sis, that roommate in the bunk across from me named Liam is acting weird. Your brother is a little scared.] [I opened my eyes today and saw him sitting by my bed, staring at me like a resentful wife. Scared me to death.] [Not only that, the way he looks at me is weird, his tone is weird, and the questions he asks are weird.] [He asked me what brand of body lotion and shampoo I usually use, and what style of clothes I like to wear.] [Just after I answered, somehow he got a bunch of the same items as mine and walked back and forth in front of me like a clone.] [So scary, sis. What is he doing! What is he doing!] I could feel my brother's breakdown through the screen. Recalling Liam's social media post from last night, a bold guess couldn't help but form in my mind. [Bro, are you usually close with Liam?] My brother froze, then started counting one by one. [He doesn't usually live on campus. I rarely saw him before. He only suddenly came back to live in the dorm recently.] [Oh right, I brought him lunch once. That's when his eyes started looking weird, and then he started living in the dorm the next day.] [I think I also said good morning to him.] [I also helped him bring in his laundry.] [He even saw my broad shoulders, narrow waist, sexy and graceful body.] My brother counted one by one, getting more desperate as he counted. [Is that kid coveting my butt?] My mood became heavy and complex. My ex-boyfriend fell in love with my brother. Oh my god, is this a plot that should appear in a romance novel? Things have come to this; saying more is useless. I sighed. [Bro, go find someone to weld you a pair of iron underpants.] My brother didn't dare stay in the dorm for another second. He grabbed his jacket and was about to run. Just as he stepped out of the dorm door, Liam's chilly voice sounded in his ear. "Gavin, where are you going?" That day was the first time I saw my brother, a big guy over six feet tall, forced into such a state. Hiding in the bathroom, his voice was desperate and helpless when calling me. "These rich people simply don't treat honest folks like me as human! I already have a girlfriend, but he still won't let me go, constantly asking where I'm going, who I'm with, what I'm doing." "I know I'm stunningly beautiful, putting the moon and flowers to shame, but a gentleman pursues properly. Forcing a good man into prostitution is simply despicable! My heart will only ever hold your sister-in-law. A married man can be killed but not humiliated. I will absolutely not yield to evil forces!" I made up my mind, slamming the table and standing up. "Bro! Your happiness and your butt, I will protect them!"
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