Chapter 1I Hired a Boyfriend

I needed someone to cover my class, and I accidentally hired a guy.

When my name was called, he answered with a clear, masculine “Here.”

The professor looked up, confused. “Since when is Maya a man?”

The guy froze for a second, then inspiration struck.

“I’m her boyfriend, actually,” he said smoothly. “She’s sick, so she asked me to come record the lecture for her. She wants to catch up as soon as she’s better.”

A murmur rippled through the lecture hall.

Then, from the front row, Liam stood up. He gave the guy a polite, tight-lipped nod. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“Sorry, but I’m Maya’s boyfriend,” he said, his voice dangerously soft. “Who are you?”

Liam was a legend in the Computer Science department. I was a nobody, barely avoiding academic probation.

We hadn’t seen each other in a month, and the first thing he said to me was:

“Maya, if you don’t start taking this seriously, you’re going to end up as nothing.”

He glanced at his watch three times while he said it, as if every second with me was a waste of his life.

I nodded, my voice surprisingly calm. “I am nothing. I don't deserve you. Let's break up.”

To finally get away from him, I asked the guy from class—the substitute—to pretend to be my new boyfriend.

After we successfully broke up for good, his eyes lit up. “Awesome! So, does this mean I get a promotion?”

* * *

I’d been sitting motionless in the art studio for ten hours when my roommate called.

“Maya, you have to check the campus gossip site! You’re going viral, hahaha! You should probably go explain things to Liam.”

My fingers, stiff and sore, fumbled with my phone. At the top of the site was a video, already with thousands of views.

In the clip, the professor is taking attendance. When he gets to my name, a guy’s voice calls out. The professor calls his bluff, and the guy improvises, claiming to be my boyfriend and painting me as some kind of diligent, dedicated student.

The punchline, of course, was my actual boyfriend standing up to call him out.

The comment section was a sea of laughing emojis.

【Did the golden boy of CS just get played?】

【Lmao, this dude is so obviously a class-sitter for hire.】

【He really thought on his feet, too bad he picked a girl who already had a boyfriend in the room. Busted.】

My vision went dark for a second. I pulled up my chat with the substitute.

【You didn't think to mention you were a guy?】

This was a major-specific course. The professor knew our faces, even if he didn’t know us well. The plan had been simple: have a girl wear a mask, sit in the back, and just blend in. When I’d hired him through the app, his profile said female, so I didn’t think twice.

He replied instantly.

【I’m so sorry! It was my first time doing this, I didn’t know the protocol. (´-ω-`)】

【I panicked, I had no idea your boyfriend was there! (ಥ_ಥ)】

【I explained it to him afterward, I don’t think there was any real misunderstanding. (シ. .)シ】

【Seriously, I feel terrible. Can I buy you dinner to make up for it? ( TДT)】

I closed the app and sighed. This was bad. Now Liam was going to be mad about me skipping class again. It was the same fight we’d had a month ago, the one that had led to this cold war between us.