My replacement
Lily walked into the cafe with an expressionless face, unbothered by the many eyes and the gossipy voices that followed her around the campus. The news about her having a fallout with Merissa because Merissa took her spot in the competition had spread like wildfire and in an environment where being from a humble background was a crime of its own, she was pointed at and blamed for being petty.
“Tch, what is so special about her? Just a little more talented than others and she feels like the world revolves around her”
“If not for Merissa’s parents would she even be here in the first place? Wouldn’t the spot belong to Merissa? Such an ingrate!”
“I tell you! Paupers have an entitlement mentality! Let’s see how she survives in the school now that she has fallen out with her main backer”
“Did you forget, her boyfriend Zach?”
“What about Zach? Only a blind person like her would not see that he has been using her all along! She’s pathetic I tell you!”
“What is this about it being because of Merissa’s parents that I’m here in the school?”Lily asked the system, curious as she listened to the not-so-subtle gossip from the girls passing by.
{Because the original owner always follows Merissa around like a puppy. Marissa lied that the original owner was doing it because she was grateful that Merissa’s parents had sponsored the original owner to school. Only a few know that she actually has a half scholarship from the school and the other half is being paid by her and her parents}
“Such a naive girl, no wonder she died to the plots of others, but who am I to throw blame at others?” she snickered and continued walking into the cafe, looking around the cafe in search of her target. Her supposed boyfriend who had invited her out for lunch.
{There he is!} The system’s cheerful voice rang out in her head, and her eyes landed on a man sitting alone in the corner. He was handsome, no doubt, but his expression was one of displeasure, and contempt as he glared at the small gift box in front of him. Lily looked him over critically, her mouth curving into a small smile. “Compared to Alpha, he’s maybe a one out of ten,” she muttered and the system chuckled.
{Why are you suddenly comparing the two? Are you interested in Alpha?}
Like ignoring its words and walking towards the table casually, Zach lifted his head as he saw Lily approaching, without hiding the contempt in his eyes, “You kept me waiting for two hours!” he exclaimed angrily as Lily took her seat casually. “I just got out of class” she replied calmly and he scowled.
“Your classes ended two hours ago, did you intentionally keep me waiting as a payback?” he asked with an accusing tone, Lily tilted her head to the side an innocent look of confusion appearing on her face, “Payback? What payback?” she asked in confusion and Zach sighed, the irritation on his face disappeared under the fake smoke mask.
“It’s my fault I shouldn’t lash out at you like that, I’m sorry I didn’t come to check up on you after your accident, I wanted to but I was busy with the competition preparation and all that, plus I had to go home for some family business,” He explained while reaching out to touch her hands, she moved them away from the table and placed them on her lap, she sneered but it was hidden under the covers of her hair, she forced a smile as she looked up at him.
“I didn’t keep you waiting out of spite, I had some makeup classes to make up for the classes I missed due to my accident,” she replied calmly and expressionless, without giving away what she was thinking.
As if her words were bouncing off a wall, Zach pushed out the gift box towards her with a smile, “Here, I got you this when I went home. I asked my sister to help me pick it out, it’s a limited-edition product from that designer you like so much, Roses, you try it on. Take it as an apology for me not coming to check up on you, I hope you can forgive me” he urged.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
The coldness in Lily’s eyes deepened as she held the ‘limited edition product’ in her hands. It was nothing more than a cheap imitation of the original product. ‘I was wondering where the girl got so many unused imitations of these things in her closet, who would have thought it was given to her as ‘limited edition’ goods by her loving boyfriend’ she muttered with a deep form and pursed lips.
{This scum is too cheap! He couldn’t even get her a more expensive mutation, this thing cost less than 50 dollars in total, you should teach him a lesson! What a scumbag!} the system lamented as it accessed the gift.
Lily placed the necklace back into the box and smiled up at him, “You should know that I am no longer in the competition team. Have you chosen someone else to model for?” she asked and Zach froze.
He had originally invited her to talk about his partnership with Merissa and also used the opportunity to lessen communication with her so he could pursue Merissa like he had always wanted to. He wasn’t expecting her to mention it first, not to talk about the nonchalant attitude she had used.
“She wasn’t even excited about the present!” he thought to himself. As he took in her calm expression, his heart began to race, thinking she already found out about the cause of her accident and also knew he had been behind it. ‘I can’t say anything until I have confirmed she knows something!’
He chuckled awkwardly, his eyes filled with pity and faked concern, “Merissa reached out to me to partner with her team… I haven’t agreed though. I wanted to consult you before I do. After all, you’ve always been my designer and I, your model. It won’t be good if I just up and leave after your accident” he lied.
Lily gave a nod to acknowledge the waiter who had brought their milkshake, she took a sip and gave an approving nod, “It’s sweet I like it” she commented.
“Didn’t you always hate sweet drinks?” Zach asked with a complicated expression. As a model, he always hated taking sweet things and tried as much as possible to abstain from taking them. And knowing that, the original body owner had always gone with his likes and dislikes making her pretend to hate sweet things.
“I guess my taste has changed after my accident, things that excite me no longer do and things that don’t excite me do” She shrugged and took another sip with relish making his face twitch in annoyance. “If you like it so much I can always get more for you in the future, but you have to watch what you eat… ” Lily understood the subtle meaning behind his words but chose to ignore it.
It wasn’t his place to dictate what she ate and she owes nothing to him.
The reason Lily had agreed to meet with Zach in the first place was so she could get a sense of the kind of person he was before taking any action against him. Now that she’d observed him for a while, she felt confident that her plan to deal with him would be easy and foolproof. Such a superfluous person with two faces was the easiest to deal with when their weak point had been grasped.
Know your enemy and know peace.
“I don’t mind your partnership with Merissa after you aren’t my exclusive model, you can choose whoever you want to work with without needing to consider my feelings. And considering that she is the second-best in our year, it’s only normal she would be my replacement and some of the work you will be working with will come from me anyway since the supervisor wants me to contribute to the competition, you have nothing to worry about, you are still my model either way, ” She said with an innocent mocking smile.
Zach clenched his fist tightly under the table, he could read the meaning behind her ridiculing it and that upset him to no end.
Who was she to think she was better than the young lady of the Smith family? Before either of them could say anything more a commotion broke out around them and whispers of gossip filled the room. Curious about the cause of the excitement, Lily looked toward the entrance of the cafe and her eyes widened, “What is he doing here?”