Chapter 1
After my best friend, Claire Duke, married into a rich family, she sent me a family photo. [Pick anyone you like to date.]
I circled a guy in the photo and asked, [Who's this?]
Claire: [That's Eddie Ford, my husband's younger brother.
[But he's engaged. Don't you have a boyfriend? Make sure you bring him over so I can check him out.]
I glanced at my boyfriend, a poor student, sitting next to me.
He had the same features, even the same mole, as the youngest heir in the photo.
I sent Claire a voice message, my voice hoarse. [I broke up with him. Can you set me up with a rich, honest guy?]
*****
As soon as I finished speaking, my boyfriend, Eddie Ford, suddenly wrapped his arm around my waist, his hand burning hot and tight.
He murmured my name, his voice low and raspy.
My heart skipped a beat, and I turned to look at him.
Eddie was still fast asleep, muttering in his sleep as he tucked the blanket around me.
He said, "You've got work tomorrow. Don't stay up late. And your period hasn't come this month"
I turned off my phone.
The room was pitch-dark.
Only our heartbeats intertwined in the darkness.
His breath warmed the hickey on my neck. "Good girl. See you in the morning."
After waiting for a bit, I slipped out onto the balcony.
I slipped out onto the balcony.
I finally got Claire on the phone again.
"So, what's the deal with your husband's little brother?" I asked.
I wanted to know why a rich heir would go out of his way to act broke and fool me.
Claire was a total gossip queen.
After a while, she got the scoop from her husband.
She said, "Girl, big news. Turns out Eddie's been two-timing. Besides his first love, Lexie, he's also got himself a broke girl on the side."
I leaned against the cold balcony railing.
"Why would he do that?" I asked.
"For Lexie, of course," Claire replied.
Lexie Miller was the poor student Eddie had been supporting.
But after graduation, she turned Eddie down.
Lexie said he'd never known what it was like to be poor, and that they were from different worlds.
Claire was annoyed. "So Eddie went and found a broke girl to see what living broke is like.
"Good thing I didn't set you up with him. Who knows which unlucky girl ended up getting played by that spoiled heir?"
So that was why Eddie came for me.
We met online.
He came across me through a post where I was asking for help.
The original poster asked whether one student could survive on 150 dollars per month in college.
My comment got the most likes.
I wrote: [I've been there. You can make it work. Stick to one loaf of bread a day, buy fruit for the vitamin C, and every night, grab discounted stuff before it expires.]
People started criticizing and doubting me.
I got sick of explaining myself.
Only Eddie messaged me in private, sent a heartfelt thank you, and said he needed those survival tips.
His IP showed he was in Norapia, like me.
Norapia was a place where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.
I knew how tough it was to survive there, so I gave him my contact info.
When I heard Eddie was at Baskiville University, I sent him some local specialties and clothes.
After a few back-and-forths, he asked me out.
He showed up dressed head to toe in the clothes I'd sent him, his eyes sparkling as he called me "Andrea."
He was radiant, like the sun.
That caught me off guard.
Eddie wanted to hear all about how I managed to get by on so little.
He wanted to hear all about my days scraping by, when I barely had a dime to my name.
Thinking Eddie was another broke student, I couldn't stand seeing him struggle, so I sent him half my paycheck to help him out.
Eddie looked up at me.
He smiled at me and refused the money.
"Andrea, I want to get to know you better," Eddie said softly.
Claire's voice gently pulled me back to reality.
"Andrea, what's up? If your boyfriend finds out you've been asking about other guys, isn't he gonna get jealous?" she teased.
She was already picking out the perfect date for me.
"So, after your promotion, are you thinking about getting married?" she asked.
She said she couldn't wait to meet my mysterious boyfriend in person.
No one around me had met Eddie.
Even Claire had only seen a blurry side shot I secretly snapped of him.
Eddie said his dad was a total gambling junkie.
He always had to stay under the radar, or his dad would never leave him alone.
So we had to keep our relationship under wraps.
Whenever we went out, Eddie wouldn't hold my hand in public.
Only when the crowd got packed would he sneak his hand into mine.
We were always pinching pennies.
Every time we went on a date, we'd ride our bikes out to some far-off suburb.
Eddie would always wear a mask, claiming it was for my own good.
But he was only afraid of leaving any evidence behind, scared I'd become a cheap, clingy woman he couldn't shake off.
When Claire started asking about wedding dates again, my heart twisted with anxiety.
I tried to steady myself, the truth churning in my chest as I struggled to say it out loud.
"I'm the girl Eddie has been playing with," I finally confessed.
After blurting out that humiliating truth, I bit my lip, choking back a sob.
Claire went quiet for a moment.
Suddenly, her voice trembled with anger and tears as she cursed, "That worthless jerk. Let me give him a piece of my mind for you, Andrea..."
I stopped her.
Claire had gone through hell and back to be with the guy she loved.