Chapter 1
The day I ran into Victor Singleton after he went bankrupt, he was covered in blood and lying in a pile of trash at the end of an alley.
I picked him up and took him home.
The comments that showed up with him said he was the villain. He had not only lost to the protagonist but also lost his memory.
Then I lied to him, told him he was my boyfriend, and tricked him into my bed.
The comments kept saying that once Victor got his memory back, he'd totally kill me.
But Victor grabbed me, his jaw clenched in frustration. "You're running off again. Don't leave me, you little demon."
*****
I'd seen Victor on the news before.
He had rugged brows and deep eyes, sun-kissed skin, and he was tall and broad-shouldered.
That bold burgundy suit fit him perfectly, stretched tight over his muscles.
One look at him, and you could tell he was strong.
But when he smiled, it was always so nonchalant, like nothing could faze him. That made him seem more like trouble and dangerous as hell.
He was the kind of guy people would fantasize about from seeing him on the news, but I never expected to meet him in person.
When I saw Victor lying in the trash, without hesitation, I slung him over my shoulder and carried him home.
He lay on my bed in my rented apartment, looking like a real-life doll. His face was perfect, as if he'd been sculpted by Hephaestus, his skin glowing with a porcelain-like radiance.
I bandaged up the wound on his head, and while I waited for him to wake up, I pulled out my phone.
The news said Victor'd gone bankrupt.
It was fine.
I could support him.
But the live comments scrolling across my screen were way beyond what I could understand.
They were calling Victor the villain.
I stared at those live comments.
[Girls, who is he? Wasn't the villain supposed to be raped by a bunch of thugs in that alley?]
[No clue. Who is he, anyway?]
[Why did someone pop up out of nowhere and save Victor?]
[Anyone else breathed a sigh of relief?]
[Girl, I feel you. I couldn't stand it either. Victor might be cold-blooded and mean, but it'd be such a waste for a drop-dead gorgeous man to get messed up by a bunch of disgusting thugs.]
[Same here.]
[But doesn't that mean the villain has no retaliation now?]
[The protagonist broke Victor's leg. He never meant for anyone to assault Victor. That would've been way too messed up.]
[Seriously, do you guys really think the guy who picked up the villain is some good person? What if he's the one who messed up the villain?]
[That gloomy dude doesn't look like a good person at all.]
[Isn't he just some average STEM office drone?]
[Is he for real with those thick, straight-across bangs? It's so ugly. He looks like a total shut-in. And look at the way he's staring at the villain. He's obviously got the hots for him.]
[Is he some kind of creep or what?]
[Ew, that's disgusting...]
I lowered my gaze.
Even if all this was a bit much to process, I could more or less figure out what those comments meant.
According to them, it was like Victor and I were characters in some novel.
Victor was the villain, and he'd lost to the protagonist.
And tonight, in that alley where I found him, he was supposed to get raped by a bunch of thugs.
Maybe to those commenters, it was just part of a story.
But for Victor and me, it was real.
I couldn't imagine what Victor would have gone through if I hadn't picked him up. Lucky, I did.
As for the average STEM office drone who looked like a creep, yeah, they were talking about me.
I sat by Victor's bedside, watching him and silently letting the barrage of comments roll by on my screen.
[The villain's head is cracked open, and the guy just throws a bandage on it? Ever heard of a hospital?]
[No, but seriously, this gloomy STEM nerd looks pretty clueless. He keeps staring at the villain.]
Seeing those new comments pop up, I was about to say something, and then realized, maybe I really should've taken Victor to the hospital.
It was not that I didn't want to. But I was so thrilled to have found Victor that all I could think about was bringing him home.
When I finally realized that Victor should go to see a doctor and rushed to pick him up from the bed, I clumsily knocked over the chair by the bedside.
The chair screeched across the floor, and I ended up on my knees right next to Victor's bed.
The live comments started roasting me again. Just then, Victor stirred awake.
[Holy shit!]
[The villain's awake. Look at that guarded stare. Man, it freaked me out.]
[Look! He opened his eyes.]
Like those readers, I was startled when Victor's eyes suddenly snapped open, and I jerked my hand back.
"You... You're awake," I blurted out.