Chapter 1

When that wealthy girl flung a stack of bills at me, a row of bullet screen text appeared before my eyes.

[The heroine should crush this scheming pretender with her immense wealth! Is poverty a valid excuse for seducing the male lead? It feels so good to see the heroine do this!]

I shook my head and turned my attention back to the wealthy girl whose face was now contorted with guilt and uneasiness after her outburst.

The earlier bullet screen indicated that this gentle young lady was the novel's heroine, while I was the scheming secondary female lead.

Was this wealthy girl humiliating me with money just because I got too close to the male lead?

My eyes lit up, and I rushed up to her gleefully.

"Vilayna, was that satisfying enough? Do you want to throw some more at me?"

This time, the bullet screen froze in disbelief…

Startled, Vilayna hurriedly backed away. Her ferocious expression was now replaced by a look of fear and bewilderment.

My brain began working furiously. Thanks to the bullet screen, I realized I was stuck inside a romance novel about an overbearing CEO.

The male lead, Wolford Sabot, and the female lead, Vilayna Gauthier, were a perfect match. Both of them had mutual affection for each other, but Wolford's pride kept pushing Vilayna further and further away.

And right in the middle of it all was me, a broke and scheming pretentious bitch who kept thwarting everyone's plans.

When Vilayna saw me getting closer to Wolford, she was egged on by other girls to try to humiliate me with money. They hoped I would back off because of my low self-esteem.

I looked at this naive, wealthy girl with resignation.

Those nosy bitches were clearly doing it for the spectacle. They were definitely aware that throwing money at people only served to escalate the conflict.

Luckily, the person this naive girl threw money at was me. What a stroke of good luck!

"I-I'm sorry…" Vilayna's voice roused me from my reverie.

She was obviously taken aback by what I said. Her overbearing air collapsed instantly, and her inherent kind personality resurfaced.

She looked somewhat flustered and was on the verge of tears. "I didn't mean to do this. I lost my head for a moment. I shouldn't have used money to attack your dignity..."

My dignity? I glanced at all the money on the floor. Then I held her hand and reassured her kindly, "How can this be considered an attack? You knew things were tough for me, so you came to help. This money really means a lot to me. Thank you so much!"

Vilayna froze and stared at me for several seconds. Following this, a few tears began spilling out of her beautiful eyes.

Despite her best efforts, she couldn't hold back her emotions much longer. Soon, she burst into tears with a loud wail. "Sob... That wasn't my intention. I was really trying to be mean just now..."

Vilayna kept sobbing as she tried to explain. She was clearly tormented by her conscience. "I only wanted to make you leave... sob..."

I quickly hushed her and peeked warily out of the dorm room. After that, I closed the door firmly and locked it tight before coming back to her.

Vilayna was still sniffling softly.

"Don't cry, Vivi. I like you even when you are being naughty. Because you will always be the best in my eyes!"

I sneaked a quick look at the pile of cash scattered across the floor.

As I mulled over the scholarship that had been robbed from me, my meal card with barely thirteen bucks in stored value, and my part-time wages that were still nowhere to be seen, I tried my best to give an innocent smile that didn't reveal so much greed.

"Well, since you're feeling so guilty... mind if I treat that cash as a loan?" I asked guilelessly.

Without hesitation, Vilayna insisted that I accept the money as compensation for her rudeness just now.

I swiftly gathered all the dollar notes and made a show of sighing with resignation. "Alright, I guess we're even now."

After I stuffed all the money into my pockets, the heaviness of the cash felt very good indeed.

When I saw that Vilayna was still nervously twiddling with her fingers with a guilt-stricken look, I leaned closer to explain with a very solemn expression, "To be honest, you don't need to be so wary of me. Between Wolford and me, we are just boss and subordinate, nothing more."

Vilayna suddenly raised her head and rebutted me in a tone full of suspicion, "But you're always running errands for him, delivering documents, even bringing him breakfast..."

"That's just for show, Vivi!" I punched my palm with an air of exasperation. "Do you realize how brutal the job market is right now? Wolford is the student council president. If I don't find ways to curry favor with him, how am I supposed to get selected as an outstanding committee member at the end of the semester? Without that title, my resume is a blank slate. How am I supposed to land a job at a top company? How am I supposed to earn money?"

To make myself sound more convincing, I even showed Vilayna the career app on my phone.

"Look, all these high-paying jobs I bookmarked need an impressive resume. If I don't work my butt off in the student council and grab every internship I can, how am I ever going to land a high-paying job after graduation?"