I was the first love of a group of villainous teens who idolized me but craved my affection. So they found a substitute for me.

They humiliated her, tormented her, and drove her to tears.

But the moment I returned to the country, they warned me not to bully her.

What a joke.

I was ready to stay away from all of them.

But just then, one of them cornered me, his eyes cold and dark.

"You know why everyone likes her? Because a goddess that can be desecrated is even more lovable."

He leaned close to my ear and whispered, “We can hold her, kiss her, and fvck her...”

***

I woke up from the dream, drenched in cold sweat.

This time, I finally saw the ending.

Tomorrow, I was going home.

After I came back, those boys couldn't decide between me and the Talia, but they kept bullying her.

Then a mysterious man lead took pity on her—used threats and promises to take her away, hiding her like a kept woman.

That's when the boys realized their true feelings and started feeling guilty.

And they all pinned the blame on me.

After that...

My family went bankrupt.

And I got seriously ill.

I thought maybe they'd lend me money out of old times' sake.

I even swore, "I never meant to bother you. I'm just... dying."

But they looked down on me and said, "We wouldn't have lost her if it weren't for you."

Then one of them grabbed my bony wrist, his eyes dark. "You want money? Trade yourself for it.

"After all, people love a goddess they can drag down to earth."

But I couldn't see the face of the boy who held me down.

I didn't know which of the four he was.

The night was silent, except for the pounding of my heart.

Just then, my old, fully charged phone chimed with a new message.

I looked down and opened it.

The group chat was flooded with messages.

"Talia's birthday is tomorrow. What are you guys getting her?"

"Duh, the gift is letting her spend the whole day with me."

"Psycho, get lost. You think we're just gonna let you have her to yourself?"

"She's been avoiding me lately. I'm taking her to Avalon Hollywood tomorrow. Time to teach that naughty little kitten a lesson."

"Tsk, don't go too far. But not gonna lie, she looks kinda hot when she cries."

A moment later, someone popped up in the group chat.

"Alice Jensen's back tomorrow."

The once-lively group went quiet for a while before someone finally replied.

"Then you guys hang out with Talia tomorrow."

"Damn, we've been teasing Talia so much I forgot all about that. I'm going to see Alice too. I'll make it up to Talia later for her birthday, cool?"

***

"But with how emotional she is, won't she actually get upset?"

She's so annoying. No one else makes this much fuss.

"Okay, I'll let Alice know. We'll throw her a welcome-back party in a few days."

Right after that message, my other phone lit up with a message from Lucas Jacobson.

"Alice! You're finally back, we missed you so much. We've got a competition coming up, so we'll throw your welcome party in a few days, cool?"

I replied instantly, "Sure."

Right after that, more messages popped up on the other phone.

"OK, Alice's fine with it. Focus on celebrating Talia's birthday tomorrow."

"Damn, I gave up a chance to see Alice for her—she better give me hugs and cuddles tomorrow."

"Don't scare her. She's such a scaredy-cat."

I turned off my mobile data before the plane took off.

With no new messages coming in, I scrolled up through the chat.

Two months ago, their messages looked like this.

"God, I miss Alice... Just ruined one of her pics. Anyone got more?"

"Idiot. Poor Alice, having you as a fan."

"She'll be back in two months."

"Yeah, I'll hang in there. Once she's back, I'll get my dad to propose a marriage deal. Man, I've been dreaming of her in my arms, calling me her man."

"You? Please. Marriage? You'd be lucky if she visited your grave after you got run over."

After that, it turned into a mess—swearing, name-calling, even daring each other to a fight.

Not long after that, their conversations started centering around someone new.

Talia Robertson.

At first, they mocked her. Called her dumb, a crybaby, always in the way, and annoying to look at.

Said she looked like me—but acted like an idiot.

They talked about teaching her a lesson.

Then...

It changed.

Like a bunch of immature boys bullying a girl just to get her attention.

It made my chest feel heavy.

I was trying to figure out how to make them stop hesitating between the Talia and me, and just choose her.

If they didn't hurt her because of me, wouldn't that prevent all those painful "chase-the-girl" scenarios later on?

Marriage.

If I married someone else, they'd give up.

After I landed, I booked a ride.

My other phone started blowing up.

I got bored waiting and checked it.

Lucas tagged Andy Scott, "Dude, you're really not coming to Talia's birthday? She's into you."

"Yeah."

"Don't tell me you're ditching us to meet up with Alice?"

"Busy."

"Okay, fine. Poor Talia. Wasted all that effort on you. Time to show her who actually cares about her, so she stops throwing herself at you."

Andy didn't reply.

There were five of us in the group, including me.

This account used to be Lucas's secret one back in high school—he made it to dodge his parents and play games.

At one point, his phone got taken away, so he begged me to complete his game.

Then he just gave me his Facebook account to make it easier for me to log in.

Other than a few game chats, this account only had one five-person group. The group admin was Lucas's main account, and I knew the other three members too.

I didn't mean to poke around in his private business, but then a message popped up. "Alice's getting prettier. I like her."

My eye twitched and I couldn't resist clicking in.

And what I saw... was a flood of obsessive comments.

Lucas's were the most intense.

I quietly read through the chat.

Weird mix of feelings—I couldn't tell if Lucas forgot that his secret account was also in the group, or if he did it on purpose.

Like he wanted me to see it.

I'd only been using the account for a couple of days, so I picked the sanest one in the group—Andy—and sent him a voice message, doing my best to sound normal.

"Andy, Lucas asked me to help with his game stuff the other day, but I've been super busy. Can you let him know? Or maybe you guys can take over for now."

Andy was quiet for a few seconds, then just said, "Okay."

After that, I started avoiding Lucas a bit, but he clung to me even more.

Not long after, I happened to switch to a new phone and just stopped using that account.

When I went abroad, I brought the old phone with me since it still had some backups.

Two months ago, while going through some stuff, a message popped up and I glanced at it.

Pretty sure Lucas forgot that account. He never logged back in, and it just stayed on my phone.

Seemed like that account was just a tool. Once he was done with it, he tossed it aside.

***

I pulled myself out of the mess in my head.

When I looked up, I saw someone I recognized—familiar, but a little different now.

The young man stood in the shadows across from me, his figure tall and lean. He had grown, both in height and in overall maturity.

His expression was hard to read, but his eyes were fixed on me.

I was caught off guard and instinctively stepped back.

When he saw that I recognized him, he walked over with his long legs and took my suitcase. "I'll take you home."

I glanced down at my phone and saw the driver hadn't moved.

After a moment of hesitation, I canceled the ride and caught up with Andy.

The moonlight lit up his sharp brow bone, straight nose, and the shadows cast by his long lashes.

He used to look more boyish, but now, he looked so captivating that I couldn't help but stare at his profile for a long time.

Not until we got into the car and it started moving did I finally look away.

It was already past midnight—technically the next day.

I casually asked, "Lucas messaged me saying you guys have a competition today. Shouldn't you be resting instead of picking me up this late?"

Andy's lips curled up slightly.

I couldn't tell if it was indifference or ridicule.

"No need," he said casually.

I didn't give up. "Oh, by the way, I heard from a friend you've been hanging out with a girl lately?"

He glanced at me from the side and gave a short, "Yeah."

No explanation. No follow-up.

I pushed down the irritation bubbling up.

Since he didn't want to talk about it, I let it drop.

When we got to my building, Andy didn't give me a chance to speak. He went straight for the trunk and grabbed my suitcase.

The words "It's fine, there's an elevator" got stuck in my throat.

I hadn't even turned on the lights when the door closed behind us.

Then Andy suddenly said, "They've all been really into that girl lately."

I froze for a second, caught off guard, and said, "Oh."

I knew.

"She looks a lot like you."

I knew that, too.

"Aren't you wondering? Why they all liked you at first, but now it's her?"

I thought for a second before answering, "Feelings aren't always easy to explain."

The apartment was still dark, moonlight spilling in through the living room window.

The boy in front of me slowly, steadily stepped closer.

He smiled—all innocent on the surface—but there was something darker behind his eyes.

"You know what they want, right? Hugs, kisses, and..."

He leaned in and murmured the last part softly by my ear.

I went stiff.

The warmth of his breath made me shudder.

The one I always saw as the quiet, well-behaved type now had me pinned against the door, saying things I couldn't make sense of.

And even then, he didn't step back. There was barely any space between us.

I said awkwardly, "If you guys like it, that's great."

Andy's fingers brushed the sweat on my temple. "You're sweating."

I tried to dodge, but my back was already against the door. I had nowhere to go.

The phone suddenly rang, cutting through the silence of the night.

Andy answered without a change in expression.

Lucas's voice came through loud and clear. "Hello? Thought you were already asleep. Didn't expect you to answer."

"Get to the point." A flicker of annoyance flashed in Andy's eyes.

"Hugo went to see Talia tonight. That bastard! Looks all polite, but he made her cry. Now she's saying she doesn't want a birthday party anymore."

Andy said, "So what?"

Lucas let out a sigh. "Maybe you could go calm her down?"

"Me? Right now?"

"Yeah, at Avalon Hollywood."

Hearing that, I felt a wave of relief and mouthed to Andy, "Go cheer her up."

Andy's dark eyes locked onto mine. He didn't blink.

And somehow, the air around us suddenly felt colder.

After a moment, he turned slightly and said into the phone, "Fine."

When the call ended, I exhaled in relief. "Take care on the road."

Andy smirked. "Even if I died out there, you wouldn't care, huh?"

His voice was calm, but before leaving, he gave me a long, deep look.

I collapsed onto the couch, patting my chest to calm down.

After learning I was just a tragic supporting character, I stopped acting like the caring big sister I used to be before going abroad.

I couldn't help but start pulling away from them.

I glanced out the floor-to-ceiling window at the night sky.

Because of me, they were caught up in some messy love-hate drama with the delicate Talia.

So maybe I should just step out of the picture.

If I just married a high-quality guy, wouldn't that solve everything?

Besides...

I'd already planned to have a marriage of convenience before I went abroad. But back then, they were still reckless high schoolers. I didn't even know how many of my blind dates they had crashed.

That's why the whole thing got delayed.

But now that they had someone new, wouldn't it be easy for me to go through with it?

I sighed and picked up my phone, scrolling through the photos my dad had sent me.

I picked out a few decent-looking guys.

But when I got to the last one, I froze.

"Eric? Why is he on the list? I thought he wasn't into women and didn't want to get married?"

I sent the message before realizing it was past midnight. My dad was probably fast asleep.

I pushed down my curiosity, got ready for bed, and flopped onto the mattress.

I opened up my Instagram for a quick scroll before sleep. The newest post was a group photo from Lucas.

I tapped to zoom in.

In the middle stood a petite, cute girl surrounded by four tall, handsome guys. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes sparkled, and she wore a pale yellow skirt that showed off her long, fair legs.

On the table in front of them was a lineup of expensive drinks.

Other than Andy on the far left, I hadn't seen the other three in a while.

Lucas, Hugo Wagner, and Calvin Moore.

They'd all grown up.

Even with smiles on their faces, there was still this weird pressure in the air.

Pressure?

Ugh, the stupid plot was messing with my head. I shouldn't feel threatened by a bunch of little brats.

I let out a sigh, hit like, and kept scrolling.

I didn't expect the post to disappear just a few minutes later.

Something about it felt strange.

Then my other phone blew up with messages.

Lucas was the first to message, "Holy crap, Alice liked my post."

Hugo replied right away, "Wait, you still into her?"

Lucas fired back, "Of course not! Do you think I'd do that to Talia? She'd probably cry herself unconscious. I'm not that fickle."

Hugo didn't sound convinced. "You never know."

Lucas snapped again, "I'm warning you, Hugo. Don't go playing the nice guy in front of Talia and stirring things up. I don't have any feelings for Alice anymore."

Calvin then jumped in, "So why did you delete it then?"

Lucas hesitated, then said, "I'm worried Alice might do something to Talia if she saw it! Talia's broke and timid. Anyone could push her around."

Was this the power of being the main character?

A few months ago, I was the "prettiest, kindest, most understanding" Alice in their eyes. Now, without doing anything, I was somehow the villain.

I was completely speechless.

Just let the world end already.

After a while, Lucas sent another message, "Seriously though, what if Alice comes back and loses it when she realizes no one likes her anymore? If she dares touch Talia, I'll make sure she pays."

I stared at this message and laughed out loud in anger.

He thought the world revolved around him, huh?

Hugo added, "I'll keep Talia safe."

Lucas shot back, "What are you pretending for? I can protect her myself just fine!"

Calvin chimed in, "So, are we still throwing that welcome-back party for Alice?"

Lucas didn't miss a beat. "Of course. I'm even bringing Talia along to show her off and back her up."

I locked my phone numbly.

Lying in bed, my chest ached with a dull throb and a bit of confusion.

I obviously did nothing.

After a long while, I shot up and messaged my dad.

"Eric. I want to meet him for dinner tonight."

Eric Jacobson was Lucas's older brother.

Before I went abroad, I thought he'd be the perfect marriage partner.

But there were rumors he had zero interest in women, so I dropped it.

But if I could marry Eric...

Wouldn't that finally let everyone else love the Talia in peace?