My high-school-aged cousin has been using my selfies to catfish guys online, posting my face all over his Snapchat. I couldn't hold back and messaged him: "Are you ever going to stop?" "Just bear with it a little longer, sis! I'm one rank away from Conqueror. Once we hit it, I'll break up with him." Later, my cousin and his "online boyfriend" broke up. And the physics professor from the department next door specifically requested I visit his office. 01 Lately, my high-school-aged cousin has been acting weird. He frequently posts my selfies on his Snapchat story with the weirdest captions. Like: "The weather is so nice today, perfect for some boba." Then, not long after, he’d post another story: "Thanks! Got the boba." My eye twitched as I read it. I messaged him privately: "?" "...Crap, forgot to block you from viewing my story." I continued my interrogation: "Are you using my photos to catfish someone?" "Sis, he's super good at League of Legends. I just wanted him to carry me." I didn't want to get too involved, so I just warned him: "Play less games, don't scam people out of their money, or I'm telling your dad." He laid low for over a week, but then his story updated again. It was a selfie of me, bizarrely paired with a picture of a Lego set. The caption: "My birthday is coming up. I really want this Lego set." ...Good lord, he's actually starting to scam money now. I couldn't hold back and messaged him: "Are you ever going to stop?" "Just bear with it a little longer, sis! I'm one rank away from Conqueror. Once we hit it, I'll break up with him." I wanted nothing more than to drive to his house and punch him. "I don't care about the gaming, but stop ruining my reputation. If you want the Lego set, I'll buy it for you." Half an hour later, he finally replied: "No need, sis. I already got the Lego set." "?" I sent him some money via Venmo. "Give the money back and break up with him immediately." My cousin accepted the transfer and reluctantly replied: "Ugh, fine." I still felt uneasy, so I called him and gave him a stern lecture. He apologized repeatedly and promised he would change his ways. I'm a third-year grad student, and with the holidays approaching, I was swamped with errands and didn't have time to keep an eye on him. He stayed quiet and didn't post any more updates. 02 The holidays arrived right on schedule. I was curled up on the couch, devouring clementines, when my best friend, Chloe, sent me a screenshot: "Your cousin has some moves." I clicked it open, and there it was—my cousin's Snapchat story, still featuring my selfies. The few photos I had posted on my own social media had been completely exhausted by him. Refusing to give up, he somehow dug up my high school graduation photo and posted it with a fake, sentimental caption: "I've changed so much." He said he would change his ways; did he mean changing his privacy settings? I shot up from the couch, stormed into his bedroom, grabbed him by the ear, and hauled him up: "You dare steal my photos again? Do you have a death wish?" "Ow... ow, ow, ow." He exaggeratedly clutched his ear while begging, "Sis, perfect timing! He wants to do a voice call. Could you take it for me? I'll give you all my Christmas money, please?" "In your dreams. Confess and apologize to him right now." "Sis, it's the holidays. Breaking his heart by telling him he got catfished by a guy... that's so messed up." I punched him hard: "Oh, so now you realize you're messed up." "Just a few more days and I'll get my Conqueror rank. Then I'll tell him I need to focus on my studies and break up with him." He held up three fingers. "I swear, this time for real." Under his relentless pleading, I finally, reluctantly took the phone. "Mia, happy holidays." The deep, magnetic voice on the other end caught me off guard. This incredibly alluring voice actually made my long-dormant heart flutter a little. "Hello..." As soon as I spoke, I realized I was subconsciously making my voice sound sweeter. I quickly coughed a few times, trying to sound as emotionless as possible, "Hello, happy holidays." "Mia, what do you want for a holiday gift?" Hearing this, my cousin immediately sat up, swiped on his iPad, and pulled up a picture of a Nintendo Switch. He pointed at the screen, winking and gesturing frantically at me. I nodded calmly, signaling that I understood. Then I turned to the phone and said: "For the new year, I want a complete set of AP prep books and practice exams." My cousin's eyes widened in horror. In his disbelieving gaze, I saw his shattered heart. Heh, little punk, that's what you get for catfishing. "Hmm? Why do you want that?" the voice asked. "Because my AP exams are coming up soon, and I want to study hard. I won't be able to play games with you anymore either." "Ah, then you really shouldn't be playing games. If you have any questions you can't figure out, you can still ask me." The voice remained gentle. "Okay, thank you." I exchanged pleasantries, hung up, and shoved the phone into my dumbfounded cousin's hands. "I'll be checking your progress on those practice exams every month. Also, refund him the money for the books and pretend you bought them yourself. If you don't, I'm telling your dad. Happy holidays, bro." I walked away with swagger, leaving my cousin standing there, wanting to cry but having no tears left. 03 Back in the living room, I had unread messages from Chloe. "What's going on with your cousin?" I furiously typed on my phone, bragging about my brilliant move. "How about that? I'm awesome, right? Put him right in his place." "I bet my cousin is done with online dating for good." To my surprise, Chloe's focus wasn't on that at all. She replied with a "lol." "Even your cousin can get a boyfriend, but you can't." "..." Okay, I'll shut up now. Chloe and I are polar opposites. If we had an annual review, it would definitely be: "Beginning of the year: Chloe is dating John. I'm single." "Mid-year: Chloe is dating Mike. I'm single." "End of the year: Chloe gets back together with John. I'm still single." Chloe is a magnet for romance. While I might just have an anti-male forcefield. At first, watching Chloe post her sweet relationship updates every day made my heart flutter a little. I tried going on dates with a few guys, but none worked out. So, I remained single all the way into grad school. I've always felt that the "butterflies" in my stomach probably died of old age. It was only earlier today, during that phone call, that they showed signs of resurrection. But someone who could be fooled by my cousin's terrible acting is highly likely a naive, inexperienced kid. A minor with a nice voice and a bit of pocket money. For the next few days, I forced my cousin to break up with him and made him uninstall the game. After he uninstalled it, I secretly downloaded League of Legends. If my cousin can find an online boyfriend using my photos, why can't I, the actual person in the photos? However, for the next few days, it was just Chloe playing games with me. Even though she was only average at the game, she had to drag me through ranked matches every day. Since I didn't know how to play at all, she taught me to pick Garen and gave me two instructions. "One, click whatever lights up." "Two, if you see someone, charge." So, here I was, a young woman in her prime, playing as Garen, wandering all over the map, charging at anyone I saw and mashing buttons wildly. By the end of the holiday break, forget about an online boyfriend, I hadn't even heard a boy's voice. I even managed to drag Chloe down to Gold rank with me. Chloe sent me a screenshot of her rank: "I can't rank up anymore. Can I use your photos to catfish a boyfriend too?" I silently sent her a sticker: "Warning: I will block you." 04 The break ended. First day back at campus. My advisor suddenly called me: "Mia, Professor Hayes from the Physics department needs to see you urgently. Go to his office right now." I hung up, a bit confused. Julian Hayes, the youngest and arguably the most attractive professor in the Physics department. Candid photos of him lecturing—impeccably dressed in a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses—easily garnered hundreds of thousands of likes on TikTok. Logically speaking, even if a professor of his caliber needed an errand run, it wouldn't fall to me. Feeling a bit nervous, I knocked on Professor Hayes' office door. Just a light tap, and the door opened. I was greeted by the sight of him in a perfectly tailored white shirt, faintly revealing the toned physique of someone who clearly works out. My eyes drifted upward: a few buttons at his collar were casually undone, exposing delicate collarbones and a prominent Adam's apple. I looked up and crashed right into his deep, dark eyes. "Professor Hayes, you wanted to see me." I gave a polite nod, keeping my tone steady. No one could know that, internally, a thousand marmots were screaming at the top of their lungs. "Mhm, come in." He stepped aside. I obediently walked into the office. As I passed him, a faint, elusive scent of sandalwood drifted by, almost pulling my soul right out of my body. Before I even came to a complete stop, Professor Hayes spoke. "Why did you break up with me?" I froze, turned around, looked everywhere—no one else was there. I looked at Professor Hayes' ears; he wasn't wearing AirPods. "Huh?" I was completely bewildered. He looked down, his gaze fixed intensely on me: "Didn't you say that if I bought you a console, you wouldn't break up with me?" ...I turned to stone. "A... a console?" "Yes." He nodded slightly. "If you wanted something else, I could have given you that too, as long as we didn't break up." "Professor Hayes, do you think you have the wrong person?" I asked cautiously. Even though the "console" clue was screaming in my face, I refused to believe that the erudite, sophisticated Professor Hayes was actually dating someone online. Julian stared at me for two seconds, then looked down and woke up his phone screen to show me. "No mistake." His lock screen was clearly a photo of me. I was curled up on the couch, happily sipping a strawberry macchiato. ...That was the boba my cousin brought over when he visited. I remember back then, he hadn't started posting my photos on Snapchat yet. So when he offered to take a picture of me, I didn't refuse. Looking back now, that boba was highly likely bought by Professor Hayes. Seeing me standing there dumbfounded, Julian took a step closer: "Are you still going to deny it?" As he got closer, that faint scent returned. I hesitated to speak: "Professor, you might not believe this, but it seems... you were scammed by my 16-year-old cousin." "?" He frowned slightly. "The person... you were chatting and playing games with, was actually my cousin." "You forgot we talked on the phone. I remember your voice." "It really was my cousin." I quickly pulled out my own phone. "Look, this is my actual Snapchat." He glanced at my screen: "Whatever account you use, add me back first." "Professor..." I was about to explain further when my phone rang. "Sis, I brought the papers you asked for. Where are you?" Talk about perfect timing. Excitedly, I gave him my location and told him to hurry over. Julian's expression didn't change. He picked up a book and started reading on his own. I couldn't help but sneak a peek at him. He sat in a leather office chair, his long legs crossed, his clean, slender fingers brushing across the pages. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting a glow on his face, making him look aloof and elegant. I couldn't wrap my head around it. How could someone so detached and ethereal be involved in online dating? To be exact, how did he end up online dating my 16-year-old cousin and getting scammed into buying so many toys and snacks? Is his scam awareness really that low? A ringing phone broke my deep thoughts. "Sis, what building was it again? I can't find it." Sighing, I had to run downstairs to get him. It took quite a while before I finally saw him waving a folder: "Sis, over here!" "Mhm, great." I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him toward the building. "What's up, sis? Are you taking me out to eat?" he asked cluelessly as we walked. I smiled faintly: "No, I'm taking you to meet your online boyfriend." "?" He stopped dead in his tracks and refused to take another step. "Sis, stop messing with me." I opened the door, but my cousin stayed glued to the wall, refusing to move. I kicked his butt: "Professor Hayes, my cousin is here. Do whatever you want to him, no need for mercy." The room fell dead silent, awkwardness permeating the air. The lowly cousin, wearing a school uniform and a backpack, and Julian, wearing a white shirt and black slacks with a face full of indifference, stared at each other in silence. My cousin took one look at Julian, guiltily averted his eyes, and meekly stared at the floor, picking at his fingers. "Didn't you love scamming people?" I whispered harshly. "Hurry up, introduce yourself." Unable to withstand my glare, he spoke with a tremor in his voice: "Hello, sir. I'm your online girlfriend, Sweet Strawberry." Julian sat in his office chair, his fingers gently tapping the desk. His eyes were unreadable, radiating a very "teacher-like" intimidating aura. My cousin didn't dare look up at all. Standing behind him, I could see his body shaking slightly. He was probably crying. Even though I felt a bit bad, he totally deserved it. After a moment of silence, Julian turned his head to look at me: "Mia, your cousin toyed with my feelings. As an adult, shouldn't you take responsibility for your cousin's actions?" "Yes." I kept my head down too, honestly admitting fault. "I'm sorry, Professor Hayes. I will cover all your financial losses." "Financial compensation isn't necessary." He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's just that, now I have no one to play games with." "Huh?" I was confused. "My heart was broken by your cousin. Shouldn't you take responsibility for that?" I glanced at my cousin, who was playing ostrich by the side with his backpack on, and my mouth twitched: "My cousin... broke your heart?" Julian said very seriously: "Yes, I bought him boba, sent him gifts, and played games with him. Even though it was online, I took it very seriously." Me: "..." Really? I don't believe it. But I didn't dare say that out loud. He raised an eyebrow: "Being scammed by your cousin hurt me deeply, and I need company. Since your cousin has his SATs coming up, you'll just have to make the sacrifice." I was stunned. He curled his lips into a slight, meaningful smile: "I'll be in your care from now on, Mia."
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