My brother is gay, and I'm a lesbian. I have my eye on his arranged marriage partner. My future sister-in-law has fair skin, a beautiful face, and long legs. But her hands are what really get me—long, slender fingers with pronounced knuckles. In the middle of the night, I stole my brother's phone and texted her to meet me at a hotel. The next morning, right outside the hotel entrance. My brother was leaning shyly against my fiancé's chest, while my sister-in-law had her arm wrapped securely around my waist. The four of us stared at each other in absolute, stunned silence. 1 My dad's business went under, leaving him buried in debt. He tried to start a new project but couldn't find a single investor. Just when we hit a dead end, the Sterling family—the number one old-money family in New York—extended an olive branch. The eldest daughter of the Sterling family said she wanted my brother to marry into her family, and that I should come along as part of the "package deal." In exchange, she would invest twenty million dollars in my dad's project. The eldest daughter's brother said he wanted to marry me, and that my brother should come along as my "dowry." In exchange, he would also invest twenty million dollars. My dad sat on the sofa and slapped his thigh. "Yes, yes, yes! Both of you will marry into the Sterling family!" My mom wiped her tears, loudly scolding my dad for selling his children. "The Sterling family is famously complicated! Sending them there is like throwing sheep into a wolf's den!" My parents argued fiercely. My brother and I just looked at each other, keeping our heads down, neither of us daring to speak. My brother couldn't marry the Sterling family's eldest daughter, and I couldn't marry her brother. They just didn't know it yet. My brother and I... he's gay, and I'm a lesbian. The Vance family had both a son and a daughter, but unfortunately, no heirs to carry on the traditional bloodline. 2 It wasn't until the Sterling family's eldest daughter, Serena, and her brother, Arthur, showed up at our door with their hands full of expensive gifts that my mom finally shut up. My brother and I exchanged a glance, reading the exact same thought in each other's eyes. Right off the bat, Serena shoved a bank card into my mom's hand. It held a neat two million dollars. She turned to look at my brother, flashing a perfect set of white teeth, and then smiled at me—a smile that could literally steal a soul: "Mrs. Vance, this is a little welcome gift for Liam." Not to be outdone, Arthur shoved a card into my dad's hand: "Mr. Vance, this is a welcome gift for Chloe." Immediately after, Serena dumped a pile of gift boxes into my arms. She looked apologetically at my brother and my parents: "I'm so sorry, I really didn't know what boys like, so I just bought some things that girls like for little Chloe. Liam, you don't mind, do you?" Serena was very tall and wearing stiletto heels. When she leaned in close to me, I had a perfect view of her beautiful, pale collarbones. Her chest rose and fell slightly with her breathing, and the fresh scent of jasmine radiating from her was incredibly intoxicating. I stared so hard my eyes practically crossed. My heart was pounding frantically against my ribs. Unable to hold back, I blurted out: "Sister-in-law, you smell so good." The moment the words left my mouth, my brother jolted in terror. He jumped up and clamped his hand over my mouth. He glared at me viciously, terrified our parents would realize something was wrong. My parents were cringing so hard their toes could have curled through the floorboards. But Serena suddenly burst into laughter. She leaned her face right in front of mine. Her voice was as melodic as a clear spring, yet even though it was a perfectly normal sentence, I heard it through a dizzy haze. It was like I was being tempted by a demon from the depths of hell, and I couldn't stop my legs from tensing up. "If little Chloe likes it, next time you come to my house, I'll give you some." I lowered my head shyly, not daring to look her in the eye. Serena's long hair brushed gently against my cheek, feeling like thousands of tiny ants biting at my heart—an agonizing, unbearable itch. Right before they left, Serena's fingers lightly trailed across the back of my hand. Those beautiful, captivating peach-blossom eyes stared straight at me: "Don't forget to come to my house, little Chloe." 3 After the Sterling siblings left, the four of us sat in a neat row on the sofa. Nobody said a word. My mom twisted her fingers, looking hesitantly at me and my brother. She opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to force out a single syllable. My brother secretly elbowed me, his eyes sending frantic signals. Normally, our family shared one brain cell, but right now, everyone was playing 4D chess in their heads. After a light cough, my dad couldn't hold it in anymore and spoke first. "So, um, the Sterling family officially proposed today. You've met them now. What do you think?" My mom, after hesitating for half the day, finally spoke up: "Chloe, Liam... after meeting them today, Mom thinks the Sterling family is solid. With them around, you two will definitely have a good life after you marry in." My brother couldn't hold back: "Mom, you were just blinded by that massive red envelope." My mom's face instantly flushed with extreme embarrassment. I quickly tried to smooth things over: "That's not true, my brother is just talking nonsense." I elbowed him hard, signaling him to behave. But my brother just got up angrily and stomped upstairs, leaving the three of us staring at each other. I tried to salvage the situation: "Maybe Liam just doesn't want to marry into their family." My dad slammed his hand on the coffee table in frustration: "Marrying into the number one old-money family in New York? How is that beneath him?!" Seeing the situation escalating, I quickly stepped in to calm him down. "Dad, don't be mad. Liam just needs a minute to process it. I'll go talk to him." Knowing my brother's lack of filter, if a real fight broke out, I was terrified he'd blurt out that I was a lesbian and he was gay. If that happened, we were truly finished. After calming my dad down, I quickly scrambled upstairs. When I opened his bedroom door, my brother was furiously punching a stuffed animal I had given him. Seeing me, he shot me an annoyed glare, then turned his back to me and ignored me. I poked his back. He spun around in a circle but still refused to look at me. "Are you really mad?" He frustratingly grabbed the little bear's ears and said fiercely to it: "You knew I already had a boyfriend, but you still teamed up with Mom and Dad to break us up! You're evil!" Mom always said my brother was born the wrong gender and should have been a girl. She wasn't entirely wrong. In a certain sense, my brother really was a girl. I let out a fake, helpless sigh, keeping my peripheral vision glued to him. "Sigh, what are we going to do then? You'll just have to go tell Mom and Dad that I'm a lesbian and you're gay..." Before I could finish, my brother bounced off the rug and clamped his hand over my mouth. He looked around nervously like a thief, ran over, and deadbolted the door. Only then did he frown, point at me, and demand: "Are you crazy?! Saying that in this house? Do you have a death wish?!" I shrugged carelessly: "Do you have a better plan?" Remembering the way my brother looked at Arthur earlier, a wicked idea sprouted in my mind. I leaned close to his ear and whispered my demonic plan. He was so shocked by my scandalous idea that his eyes went wide with disbelief. "Y-y-y-y-y-you... how could you suggest that?!" "Besides, I already have a boyfriend!" I rolled my eyes. I hit him with the brutal truth: "Oh, you mean that guy you've been dating online for three months? The one whose name, voice, and face you don't even know? You don't even know if he's a human or a ghost!" My brother's face turned bright red. "Don't talk about him like that! We are truly in love!" I rolled my eyes again, let out a mocking "Tsk," and then added fuel to the fire. "Plus, the way you were looking at Arthur today... I refuse to believe you don't like him." My brother's face turned even redder, this time from embarrassment. He mumbled a weak defense, his voice as quiet as a mosquito, completely lacking any conviction. "Don't talk nonsense." I knew the time was ripe, so I whispered my demonic plan again. This time, he didn't argue. He just bit his lip and looked at me. When my dad found out my brother agreed, he was overjoyed and praised me relentlessly. It made me feel guilty. If my dad knew our actual intentions, I was terrified he'd jump out of bed in the middle of the night to beat us. 4 Once everything was finalized, both the Vance and Sterling families were thrilled. My brother and I smoothly added Serena and Arthur on WeChat. But after more than half a month, my chat history with Arthur hadn't progressed past the initial, formal greeting from the day we added each other. On the other hand, Serena—my future sister-in-law—was incredibly enthusiastic toward me. Every single day, rain or shine, she reliably sent me "Good morning," "Good afternoon," and "Goodnight." One day, Serena sent me a photo. It was a picture of a fair, beautiful hand. The fingers were long and slender, the knuckles distinct, and the nails were filed into neat, rounded shapes. Looking at the photo of Serena's hand, I thought about her face and the faint scent she always carried, and I swallowed hard. If that hand were... Realizing my thoughts were drifting into very inappropriate territory, I quickly shook my head, trying to dump the dirty trash out of my brain. My focus returned, and I finally noticed that Serena had also sent a message. [Little Chloe, what do you think of this wedding ring?] Following Serena's text, I noticed she was actually wearing a ring in the photo. It was a silver band with an intricate, interwoven design, set with a beautiful diamond shaped like a rose. It was understated yet luxurious. Thinking about our conversations over the past few days, I felt a wave of profound defeat. Even though my fiancé, Arthur, hadn't spoken a single word to me, the woman of my dreams spent every day talking to me... about my brother. Damn it, is my sister-in-law actually straight? The thought that she would be marrying my brother in a few months made me so miserable I couldn't even speak. I threw a little inner tantrum and deliberately replied: [It's ugly.] I didn't expect Serena to reply instantly. [What's wrong? Do you not like it?] I froze, suddenly realizing that this was her and my brother's wedding ring. I shouldn't be so petty. Just as I was trying to figure out how to backtrack, Serena sent another message. [Since little Chloe doesn't like it, next time you can come with me to pick one out.] My brain short-circuited. I couldn't figure out what was going on. When I looked up, I saw my brother looking equally depressed. We looked like two neglected concubines in a royal palace, staring at each other with mutual disgust, sighing deeply. I asked him: "How are things going on your end?" My brother shook his head and sighed: "Don't even ask. When I chat with him, eight out of ten sentences are about you." Then he asked me: "What about you?" I let out a long sigh, my face full of bitterness: "Same." We hugged each other, buried our heads in each other's shoulders, and cried. 5 As the wedding date drew closer, the anxiety on my brother's and my faces grew visibly. My dad even joked: "You're just getting married, look how nervous you two are." My brother and I exchanged a look, reading the shared agony of our mutual suffering in each other's eyes. After tossing and turning until midnight, I suddenly sat bolt upright in bed. No, I had to talk to Serena and clear the air! So, using the cover of darkness, I snuck into my brother's room and stole his phone. I opened WeChat, and staring at the completely empty chat history between him and Serena, I froze in place. What is wrong with the Sterling family?! Why do they have this bizarre habit of not talking to the person they actually like, and instead running to someone else to talk about how much they like them?! After agonizing over it, I opened the chat box anyway. I squeezed my eyes shut and furiously typed a message. I didn't expect Serena to be awake in the middle of the night too. Serena: [?] I looked closely at the message I sent and instantly felt like the sky was falling. [Sister-in-law, this is my brother. Are you free tonight? Room 8088 at the Imperial Grand Hotel. Be there or be square.] I frantically tried to unsend it, only to realize the two-minute window had already passed. I had no choice but to awkwardly try to fix it. [Um, about that... my cat was acting up and typed that.] The chat box showed "typing..." for what felt like forever. I waited for almost ten minutes, and nothing happened. Finally, she replied. [Mm.] Since things had already reached this point, I decided to just fully embrace the chaos. I sent one more message. [So, are we meeting up or what?] I closed my eyes, waiting for destiny to judge me. To my surprise, Serena replied instantly this time. Hearing the WeChat notification ping, I didn't dare open my eyes for a long time. After a lengthy internal battle, I finally peeked. Seeing the word [Okay] on the screen, my heart became a tangled mess of emotions—sour and sweet all at once. I didn't know if she agreed because she thought I was my brother, or because of something else entirely. 6 After debating with myself in bed for a long time, I finally got dressed and snuck out into the night. When I saw Serena at the hotel entrance, I didn't know how to describe my feelings. She had clearly dressed up carefully. Under the lights, every single strand of her hair seemed to glow. From a distance, she looked as pure and beautiful as an angel. The thought that she dressed up this meticulously for my brother filled me with an unbearable ache. I hung my head, dragging my feet like a snail until I was standing in front of her. Keeping my head down, my voice thick with congestion, I said: "I'm sorry, sister-in-law. I lied to you. I'm not my brother." Compared to Serena's flawless styling, I looked like a stray kid who had wandered out in her pajamas. Suddenly, a hand rested on the top of my head. Serena bent down, bringing her face incredibly close to mine. We were so close our lips were almost touching. Her warm breath gently brushed my cheek, landing like a feather on my heart. Meeting my red, teary eyes, Serena's eyes curved into a smile. Those full, glossy red lips parted, and she spoke the most beautiful words in the world. "Little Chloe, I know it's you. It was always you." I froze. The tears welling in my eyes refused to fall. Serena pulled me into a hug. Because my head was lowered, my face was buried perfectly against her soft, sweet-smelling chest. Unable to control myself, I took several deep, greedy breaths. So good. So soft. Serena's voice, carrying a hint of a smile, sounded in my ear. Her arms wrapped around my waist, her soft lips pressed against my ear. Her voice was incredibly seductive, making my heart tremble: "Little Chloe, do you want to get a room with your sister-in-law?" My brain turned into absolute mush. I had no idea how to even form a thought. By the time I regained my senses, I was already tumbling around on the hotel bed with Serena. As Serena bit my collarbone, I stared blankly at the ceiling. Dissatisfied with my spacing out, she reached down and pinched the soft flesh of my waist: "Baby, focus." A strong wave of moral guilt suddenly surged within me. I half-heartedly tried to push her away, my words sounding hypocritically pure: "Sister-in-law, this isn't right. If my brother finds out..." Serena pinned down my wandering hands, her other hand lightly gripping my neck. "My dress is already off, and now you want to talk about this?"
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