Chapter 1Heiress to Millions After Heartbreak

On Valentine's Day, my boyfriend Adam gave me a box of cheap artificial grass and tried to coax me into a hotel room.

I turned around and got into a Mercedes G-Wagon instead. He called me a gold digger.

The rich guy in the G-Wagon said, "Is your family's massive ranch not big enough for you? Why are you settling for this loser?"

1

"Baby, happy Valentine's Day!" Adam said, his voice muffled by the cigarette smoke seeping through the crack in the door of the cheap motel room near campus.

Despite the unpleasant smell, I felt touched when I saw Adam proudly presenting a gift box to me. I knew he had been working part-time jobs for the past two months, and all his efforts were contained in this small box.

I was about to open it eagerly when he gently stopped my hand. "Be patient, sweetheart. Let's wait a bit before opening it."

"Okay," I replied with a sweet smile.

While Adam was in the shower, I nervously scrolled through my phone, secretly searching for tips about a girl's first time. After reading through some heart-racing content, I became even more anxious and wanted to find something to distract myself.

I glanced at the unopened gift box. Surely it wouldn't hurt to take a quick peek while Adam was showering? I could always wrap it back up.

Carefully, I untied the ribbon and opened the layers of wrapping. But when I saw what was inside, I froze.

After two months of hard work, Adam had given me a box of cheap artificial grass?

Disbelieving, I felt around in the grass and finally found a small hard object. I pulled it out to find a tacky plastic keychain.

In that moment, all my joy and anticipation vanished. I felt like a fool staring at the $19.99 price tag on the back of the keychain.

It seemed to mockingly tell me: "See, Lily? This is all you're worth to Adam - twenty bucks."

"Ding!"

The sound of Adam's phone receiving a text message snapped me out of my thoughts. I absent-mindedly picked up his phone from the bed.

Messages from Adam's mother started popping up one after another:

"Son, how are you doing at school? I transferred $500 to you. Let me know if you need more."

"Make sure to eat well and don't spend all your money on dating!"

"The Wang family's son just got married yesterday. They didn't even have a wedding banquet or buy a house before moving in together."

"You need to hurry up too! Get her pregnant!"

"If necessary, poke some holes in the condoms. She'll never notice."

Reading these messages that kept appearing, my heart sank like a stone. Even though it was summer, I couldn't help but shiver.

Disappointment, anger, panic, shame - these emotions churned inside me.

The cigarette smoke from outside continued to drift in. I could no longer control my physical nausea and emotional disgust. I flung open the door and ran out.

2

I practically sprinted back to my dorm room. My roommates Emma and Chloe were startled by my disheveled appearance.

"Lily, did you see a ghost? Weren't you out celebrating Valentine's Day with your boyfriend? Why are you back so soon?"

Just as I was about to answer, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. It was Adam calling. I took a deep breath to calm myself before answering.

His angry voice came through the speaker: "Lily, where are you? You promised to spend the night out with me. I already paid over $100 for the room and the front desk won't give refunds!"

I listened to Adam's furious shouting. He even resorted to threats: "Either you come back right now, or we're breaking up."

Break up?

In the past, whenever Adam said those words, I would immediately become as docile as a rabbit and apologize.

This time, I swallowed my hurt and anger. Without thinking, I transferred $1000 to him.

"Adam, take this $1000 as compensation. Don't contact me again. We're over."

My two roommates were shocked to hear me say those words myself. Emma gave me a thumbs up, as if to say "you finally came to your senses".

"What? Lily, have you gone crazy? What nonsense are you talking about?" Adam panicked. He didn't expect that this time I wouldn't meekly surrender, and that I would turn his ultimatum back on him.

I hung up without another word. Adam called back several times, but I didn't answer.

Finally, he lost patience and accepted the $1000 I sent him.

"Fine, let's break up then. Don't come crying back to me later."

"With your face now, who else would marry you besides me?"

"You'll regret this sooner or later!"

Looking at the three messages Adam sent, I glanced at the mirror by my bed.

My reflection showed my fair and delicate face, but when I turned slightly...the other side revealed a large patch of bluish-black marks, like an ugly birthmark that instantly ruined my looks.

My insecurity was palpable.

However, this time, I steeled my heart. No matter what, I wouldn't beg Adam to take me back.

Even though he once loved me so much.

3

Adam and I met in our freshman year of college, when my face was still smooth and fair.

With his backstory of losing his father at a young age, Adam quickly became known as the poor but noble prince of our department.

He had a steady personality and excellent grades, and was gentle and polite to everyone.

As someone born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I was quickly attracted to his unique charm.

Although he was poor, he had pride. When I pursued him, I bought him many expensive gifts, but he refused to accept them.

Even after we got together, he often warned me not to waste money.

To please him, I stopped buying thousand-dollar clothes and accessories, and even changed my usual restaurants to the fast food places near campus.

My roommates saw how I changed after dating Adam and were very worried about me.

Especially Emma. She often said Adam was manipulating me, but I always scoffed at her concerns.

I believed Adam truly loved me. He would get jealous if other guys looked at me for too long, bring me hot milk during my period, and remembered all my favorite foods and dietary restrictions. There was no boyfriend more caring than him.

More importantly, even after my face was disfigured, he remained by my side just like before.

I still remember those darkest days.

In the second semester of sophomore year, some grayish-blue spots suddenly appeared on the left side of my face.

At first, I didn't pay much attention and just bought a lot of expensive spot-removing products.

But not only did they have no effect, the blue spots grew more numerous and darker, eventually merging into a large patch.

I started to become unwilling to go out or see people, and even developed some depressive tendencies.

It was Adam who accompanied me to the hospital.

The next day, he came back with the test results and told me that my blue spots were likely caused by a hidden genetic disease in my family, and there was no treatment.

Just when I was about to give up all hope, Adam became the light that illuminated my darkness.

"Lily, don't be afraid. No matter what you look like, I'll always be by your side. No one will love you more than I do."

He comforted me tirelessly until he helped me overcome this psychological shadow.

Adam really did as he said. He didn't abandon me because of my face, but became even more caring towards me.

He even promised that as soon as he graduated and found a job, we would get married.

He took me to various gatherings with his friends. In front of all his buddies' beautiful girlfriends, I felt out of place.

"Adam, why don't I try cosmetic surgery?" I nervously suggested to him.

But Adam immediately refused. He frowned and looked me in the eye.

"Lily, do you think I got together with you just because you were pretty?"

"What kind of person do you take me for? I already said I'll love you no matter what you look like."

"Those fake faces from cosmetic surgery are disgusting. I hate those Instagram model faces the most!"

I gave up on the idea of cosmetic surgery. Later, I comforted myself that I already had Adam. If even he didn't mind, why should I care so much about this flaw on my face?

4

And now, Adam would no longer be part of my life.

I looked in the mirror and re-examined myself, thinking about cosmetic surgery again.

Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of getting rid of this blue patch on my face, I wanted to try.

Adam kept sending me messages, changing from threats to apologies, his tone softening from harsh to gentle.

Before I could reply, a voice message suddenly played from Chloe's phone. The voice was all too familiar - it was Adam.

"Chloe, don't you think Lily is being ungrateful? If only she was as understanding of my difficulties as you are."

I suddenly looked up and met Chloe's panicked, innocent gaze.

"Lily, don't overthink it! Adam was just venting to me because he had a fight with you. I was trying to help persuade him for you."

Looking at the affectionate messages popping up on Adam's phone, I felt an inexplicable wave of nausea.

Ungrateful? Understanding of his difficulties?

What difficulties should I be understanding about? His scheme to get me pregnant before marriage?

Or the fact that he went to my roommate for comfort right after breaking up with me?

"Chloe, you don't need to pretend. I've known about your little games behind my back for a long time. I just couldn't be bothered to confront you. That doesn't mean I'm stupid."

I had known Chloe disliked me since the first day of school.

She was a small-town girl, a nobody when she first arrived. Many classmates even mocked her for being poor.

Because we were roommates, I got along well with her and often lent her clothes and bags.

She was quite pretty, and once she wore decent clothes and shoes and lost her country bumpkin air, she could actually be considered a beauty.

More and more people said she looked a bit like me, but more often, they mocked her for being my personal maid and follower.

Chloe changed. She started secretly diluting my cosmetics, staining my new clothes, and even stealing my money.

I turned a blind eye to those things, not bothering to confront her.

And now she wanted to steal Adam from me. Who knows how long the two of them had been hooking up behind my back.

5

"Lily, how can you say that about me? I only had good intentions!" Chloe panicked, putting on a pitiful act with teary eyes. Even Emma thought I was being too harsh.

Emma tried to mediate: "Lily, just forget about that jerk Adam. Don't let him affect our dorm relationships."

I pulled out several photos from my phone and placed them on the table, swiping through them one by one in front of them.

The first showed Chloe "adding ingredients" to my makeup oil.

The second showed Chloe reaching into my drawer and taking out my wallet.

The third was a love letter Chloe had written to Adam.

With each photo I swiped through, Emma and Chloe's expressions changed.

Chloe turned and glared at me viciously.

"You knew all along! You were just laughing at me, weren't you?!"

I remained silent. Emma was completely stunned by Chloe's sudden change in demeanor.

Chloe spread her phone out in front of me with a twisted expression, speaking through gritted teeth:

"Lily, so what if you're rich? Now you've lost that perfect face and Adam, your loyal dog. You're nothing now. You can't step on me anymore to show off how noble you are!"

I looked at the WeChat messages on Chloe's screen, which apparently started last August.

So she had her sights set on Adam long ago.

"Adam, did you buy that

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