After getting rejected by the campus belle, Seth hired me to be his sycophant. My job description included, but was not limited to, shamelessly fawning over him to restore his shattered male ego. Finally, the day came when the campus belle got jealous. I excitedly pulled up my payment QR code. "Money! Pay up!" Seth's face darkened, and he snapped my phone in half. 1 The night Seth confessed his feelings to the campus belle was quite the spectacle. Rumor has it he worked three part-time jobs around the clock for three months to buy 999 roses. The result? The campus belle elegantly flicked her long hair and gently declined: "Seth, why do this? This kind of grand romantic gesture is clearly beyond your means. It doesn't move me; it just makes me feel pressured." That night, the school forum exploded: 【Who does that broke loser Seth think he is, even dreaming of the campus belle?】 【The campus belle is so beautiful and kind. She must be so annoyed by shameless poor guys like him, but she was still so polite!】 As evening fell, the crowd on the athletic field dispersed, leaving Seth's solitary figure behind. He smoked for half an hour, then suddenly turned and kicked at the magnificent bouquet of rainbow-dyed Ecuadorian roses. "Dude, watch the flowers—" I yelled, waving my arms. Seth's raised leg froze mid-air. He teetered for a moment before regaining his balance. He lifted his heavy eyelids and looked at me, his lips pressed into a thin line, saying nothing. I trotted over. "Hey, if you don't want these flowers, can I have them?" Seth frowned in annoyance, turned, and walked away. A grin split my face. I took off my jacket and gathered the massive bouquet in my arms. Ignoring the thorns pricking my skin, I hauled the flowers to the night market next to the school. "The Rolls-Royce of roses, Ecuadorian rainbow roses! Freshly flown in from South Africa! Not 199, not 99, just 9 bucks a stem today! Come and get 'em!" I work part-time at a flower shop. I was the one who delivered Seth's confession bouquet. 999 roses, at $199 a stem. My boss had offered Seth a discount. Seth refused. "My love doesn't need a discount." My boss was thrilled to have found such a sucker. He told me I could clock out after the delivery. Since the delivery was on campus, I decided to stick around and see who the lucky girl was. Unsurprisingly, it was the campus belle, Amelia Thorne. She's been the campus goddess since freshman year—gentle, elegant, with a legion of male admirers. I had no idea Seth was one of them. I'd heard his name before. He was famous, mainly for his looks. He had the sharp, defined features and broad-shouldered, long-legged build of a comic book hero. Drop-dead gorgeous. But he was supposedly poor. Hence his nickname: the "Handsome Pauper." But that afternoon, I'd seen him drop twenty grand at the flower shop without batting an eye. I had no idea what kind of part-time job paid that well in three months... or what it involved. It was Valentine's Day, and the night market was bustling. Lots of girls were selling roses, but their ordinary red roses were no match for my luxury galaxy-themed bouquet. My phone kept chirping:【Venmo payment received: $9.】 It was the sweetest sound. I was in the middle of a transaction when Seth pulled up on his electric scooter. He put one long leg down, stopping right in front of my stall. His expression was unreadable. My phone chirped again:【Venmo payment received: $9.】 I panicked, wishing I could muffle the sound. Seth's eyebrow twitched. He gave me a thumbs-up. "Impressive." Then he got back on his scooter and rode off. 2 With less than a hundred roses left, Seth returned. This time, he wasn't on his scooter. He was driving a flashy blue Aston Martin. The roar of the engine made my customers turn their heads. Seth beckoned to me. "Hey, you. Get in. I need to talk to you about something." "I can't," I refused. "I haven't sold all my flowers." "I'll buy the rest." He scanned my QR code with his phone. 【Venmo payment received: $1,990.】 Holy crap! He really was the purest-bred sucker I'd ever met. Buying back the flowers he'd thrown away, at the original price. I gathered the remaining flowers and scrambled into his car like the good little lackey I was. Seth took me to a high-end, minimalist bar. "What's your name?" he asked, fiddling with his car keys and glancing at me. "Lily Bell," I answered. "Alright, Lily Bell. You need money? I've got a job for you. Interested?" "I don't sell my body or my 'talents'," I said, crossing my arms. He scoffed. "You? Not my type." Seth laid out his plan. Tonight's public rejection had been a major blow to his pride. So, he wanted to hire me to be his fawning, sycophantic girlfriend. He wanted to get his dignity back. "Why me?" I asked. "You're the most shameless girl I've ever met. You're perfect for the job." "If you're so rich, why were you pretending to be poor?" A faint blush crept up his neck. "In high school, I got tired of all the attention. I just wanted to be a normal person." But with his looks, "normal" was never an option. The "Handsome Pauper" title was born. And tonight's confession had been the ultimate humiliation. "To hell with the 'Handsome Pauper'!" Seth cursed. "Lily Bell, your job is to fawn over me as much as you can. You get paid per fawn. Five grand a month, base salary." "We need a contract," I said. "Done. It's effective tonight." 3 We signed a six-month contract. That night, I posted on my social media: 【Even my dreams smell like you~ Seth, won't you please look at me?】 The picture was of me, holding the hundred-plus roses, looking utterly captivated. The scene of Seth's confession had already been plastered all over the school forum. The sea of galaxy-themed roses was unforgettable. So, it didn't take long for people to recognize the flowers as the ones Amelia had rejected. Someone screenshotted my post and put it on the forum. The comments were brutal: 【Seriously? Picking up someone else's rejected flowers? Where's your self-respect?】 【The sycophant's sycophant. Lily Bell is officially at the bottom of the food chain.】 #Seth'sSycophantLilyBell went viral. None of it bothered me. I sent a screenshot to Seth. RedRose:【How's that? Satisfied with the results?】 Seth immediately sent me a thousand dollars:【Not bad. Keep it up.】 RedRose:【Should I bring you breakfast tomorrow? I'll be at your dorm at 6 a.m. sharp. I'll make sure every guy there is jealous of you.】 Seth sent back a sparkling gold thumbs-up emoji. I smiled. This is what you call professional competence. 4 The next morning, I was waiting outside Seth's dorm with an assortment of breakfast foods. Students passing by pointed and whispered: "Look, that's the shameless Lily Bell." "Wow, she's here this early to bring Seth breakfast. What a suck-up." I calmly took out my vocabulary app and started studying. Seth didn't emerge until 7:50. I immediately plastered a huge smile on my face and rushed over. "Seth! I brought you breakfast! I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a little of everything." Seth's voice was icy. "Don't do this again. I'm not interested in you." My eyes immediately welled up. "Liking you is my decision. I don't need you to respond." The guys behind Seth looked like their eyes were about to pop out of their heads. "Damn! Seth's got some serious game!" "Isn't that Lily Bell the top student in the software engineering department? I heard she's a campus beauty too. And she's willing to throw herself at him like this." Seth snatched the breakfast from my hands and tossed it to his friends. "It's all yours." "Thanks, Seth!" they cheered. Then, Seth and his entourage walked away, leaving me biting my lip, my gaze following him until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, I pulled out my phone. RedRose:【How was that? My acting skills are pretty good, right?】 Seth sent me five hundred dollars:【You deserve an Oscar.】 Seth:【I have an early class in Building One tomorrow. Save me a seat.】 RedRose:【You got it!】 After Seth had parked his luxury car on campus last night, his rich-kid status was undeniable. So, a new prefix was added to my title: Gold-Digging Sycophant. The next day, I went to Building One early and saved him a seat in the front row, center. Prime real estate. As I looked up, I saw Amelia Thorne, floating into the classroom in a white knit dress, looking ethereal. I think she glanced at me, but I'd just spilled soy milk on my pants and was busy wiping it off. Seth strolled in right as class was starting. I waved enthusiastically. He saw me, his expression unreadable, glanced behind him, and then reluctantly sat down. "Boss," I chirped. He sent me the money, then gritted his teeth. "Lily Bell, I told you to save me a seat. You saved me a seat in the front row?" "Huh? Where did you want to sit?" I was confused. "The back row, you idiot." "Does the back row even need saving?" "Of course it does!" He then ignored me. I thought for a moment, then poked his arm. "Boss, your goddess is sitting behind us." Seth's expression flickered. He shot me a look. "Quick, fawn over me!" Sycophant Lily, at your service. I stuck a straw in an unopened carton of soy milk and offered it to him. He reluctantly took a sip, then pushed me away with a cool air of indifference. I gave him a pathetic, wounded look, making sure the students in the back got a good view of my crestfallen profile. Then, I tore open a chocolate bar and tried to feed it to him. He just kept twirling his pen, ignoring me. I gently nudged his arm. Before Seth could say anything, the old professor at the front of the room exploded: "If you want to have a lovey-dovey moment, do it outside! Don't disrupt my class!" The classroom erupted in laughter. I blushed and hung my head. The professor wasn't done. "And you, young lady, I don't believe you're in this major, are you?" The next second, I covered my face and ran out of the classroom. The laughter grew louder. Someone even started banging on their desk. The whole fiasco was quickly posted on the school forum. 【Seriously, does Lily Bell have no shame? I'm embarrassed for her!】 【Seth's Aston Martin is worth over seven hundred grand, and he's so hot. Of course Lily Bell is going to cling to him for dear life.】 【Gold-digger! Sycophant!】 I sent a screenshot to Seth:【Boss, look, the results are amazing. And when I ran out, I saw the look on Amelia's face. She was glaring at me. You know what that means? She totally regrets rejecting you. Boss, you've got a shot!】 A moment later, two thousand dollars appeared in my account:【Stay calm. Don't get cocky. Pride comes before a fall.】 RedRose:【You're so wise, boss!】 5 Saturday afternoon was the big basketball game. Seth was the star player. As a dedicated sycophant, I naturally had to perform my duties in public. I stood on the sidelines, holding a bubble tea, my face a mask of excitement. "Go, Seth, go!" Hearing me, Seth took off his baseball jacket, revealing his muscular biceps. I, along with all the other girls in the stands, let out a collective, star-struck shriek. Seth just smirked and tossed his jacket at me. It landed on my face. Besides the pleasant scent of his laundry detergent, there was something hard and sharp in his pocket that hit me right in the corner of my eye. Tears sprang to my eyes. My grip loosened, and the bubble tea spilled all over my chest. I was wearing a light blue shirt. The brown stain spread quickly, leaving a dark, embarrassing mark on my prominent chest. The referee blew the whistle, and the crowd cheered. The game had started. Hiding my face under Seth's jacket, I carefully put it on, backward, to cover the stain. By the time I'd blinked back my tears and re-emerged, my face was once again a mask of carefree adoration. "Go, Seth! I love you!" Seth raised an eyebrow and gave me a condescending smile. Of course, this micro-expression was immediately captured and posted on the forum. 【Damn, Seth couldn't care less about her, and Lily Bell just keeps on fawning.】 【She's actually wearing his jacket? Is she that desperate?】 【She's so pathetic.】 During halftime, Seth ran over for a drink. I handed him the bubble tea. He took one sip, and his face darkened. "Who told you you could wear my jacket?" His voice was stern, angry. "My shirt got wet, so I—" Before I could finish, the coach called him back to the court. As he left, he shot me a warning look. "Lily Bell, don't cross the line." We'd played this game many times before. I fawned, he acted disgusted. It was all a performance. But this time, I knew he wasn't acting. He was genuinely angry. The condescension, the derision in his eyes—it was real. There was also a hint of the cold, detached superiority of someone who was used to being on top, who saw right through me. A chill ran down my spine. A wave of shame I couldn't name washed over me. I clenched my fists and texted my roommate, Chloe. RedRose:【Code red! Spilled bubble tea on my shirt. Can you bring me a jacket?】 Chloe:【Babe, I'm out right now, but I just ran into Leo. I told him to go save you.】 RedRose:【You're a lifesaver.】 A few minutes later, Leo arrived at the gym. His voice was warm, his demeanor gentle. "Your roommate said you got your shirt wet. I was worried you'd catch a cold, so I rushed over. You can wear mine for now."
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