Part 1I Took Down My Boyfriend and the Scheming Intern

The day the new intern started, a cascade of comments began to scroll across my vision.

“She’s here, she’s here! The female lead has arrived!”

“Get ready, the male lead is about to fall hopelessly in love with her. As for that CEO rival, she’ll get insanely jealous and start tormenting the heroine.”

“And in the end, the male lead will step in, crush the rival’s company for the sake of his true love, and leave her bankrupt!”

“He and the heroine are true soulmates. That rival is just pure evil!”

I watched the words shimmer in the air, a frown creasing my brow. The evil rival they were talking about… was me.

And the male lead? My boyfriend, Vincent.

According to the comments, the moment Sophie walked through our doors, Vincent was a goner. He, the Vice President of the company, would start orbiting her like a moon, neglecting his duties and ultimately losing us a major client. I would reprimand them both, and in retaliation for that minor offense, Vincent would orchestrate my downfall. He would cook up fraudulent contracts, trick me into signing them, and systematically sabotage my business deals, drowning me in lawsuits from angry clients. All the while, he and Sophie would be secretly diverting shipments and profits, getting rich while my company bled out.

I stared at the ghostly text, my mind reeling in disbelief. Vincent and I had been together since college. He’d pursued me relentlessly. I’d finally said yes after graduation, and we’d been inseparable ever since. Everyone at the company called us the golden couple. I had truly believed he would love me forever.

But the relentless stream of comments chipped away at my certainty.

Just as I was about to assign Sophie to a simple front-desk position, Vincent suddenly announced he needed a new personal assistant. He wanted Sophie for the job.

I looked at him, genuinely shocked. I’d offered to hire an assistant for him months ago, and he’d insisted he didn’t need one. Now, for this girl, he was changing his tune.

“Haha, the male lead recognizes her! She was his childhood neighbor!”

“The rival was just a stand-in for the female lead all along!”

“Now that the real heroine is back, the stand-in can just go die!”

“Exactly! He and Sophie are meant to be. The other one was just a placeholder!”

A bitter sting pricked my eyes as I read the words. A stand-in. All this time, I was just a substitute for Sophie. Looking at her now, I could see it—a faint, uncanny resemblance in the set of her eyes, the shape of her brow.

In that moment, I believed every word the comments told me.

“Vincent,” I said, my voice carefully neutral, “Sophie has no experience. Let me find you a professional assistant, someone properly trained.”

He just shook his head. “Katherine, I think Sophie will be perfect. Besides, it would take you time to recruit someone new. It’s better if she just starts with me now.”

He was so… eager.

The comments exploded. One side jeered at me, the "evil rival," for trying to break up the main couple on their first day. The other side swooned over Vincent’s devotion, how he’d defy me just to keep Sophie by his side.

“LOL, the rival has no idea. Tomorrow, the heroine is going to ‘accidentally’ mix up some files and leak a huge company secret!”

“And then she’ll be on the hook for a massive compensation payment!”

I read the spoilers and let out a quiet sigh. If Vincent wanted to be with Sophie so badly, who was I to stand in his way?