My boyfriend, Damian Thorne, was the heir to one of the most powerful families in the country, worth hundreds of billions. To test me, he never bought me a single gift in the seven years we were together. He never spent a dime on me. Even when we bought condoms at the convenience store, we split the cost. Later, when my mother fell gravely ill, I borrowed from every friend and relative I had. I was just two thousand dollars short of her surgery fee. But no matter how much I begged Damian, he refused to lend it to me. I handled my mother’s funeral alone. When I went home to pack my things, I stumbled upon a list of gifts he had bought for his neighbor’s sister. A mansion in a gated community, luxury handbags, jewelry worth millions… And a chat log with his friends. “Damian, is it true that Sophia knelt and begged you for two thousand dollars?” “Chloe was right,” Damian’s voice, cool and dismissive, echoed from the recording. “Kneeling for two grand? What is she if not a gold digger? We’ve only been together seven years, and she’s already this desperate to get money out of me.” So, his seven-year test was nothing more than a game prompted by his neighbor’s sister. It didn’t matter anymore. The moment my mother died, I had already decided to leave him. 1 I had just put the gift list back when the front door opened. Damian stumbled in, reeking of alcohol, and plopped down beside me. “You disappeared for a few days. I thought you had some backbone, that you wouldn’t come back,” he slurred. “But you just can’t stay away from me, can you? You came crawling back.” He was just short of saying I had come back to swindle more money out of him. Maybe, in his mind, that’s all I had ever been—a gold digger, after his fortune. I didn’t even bother to look at him. I just shifted away, avoiding the arm he tried to sling around my shoulders. He froze, looking from his hand to me, assuming I was still sulking over the two thousand dollars. “I’ve had a bit to drink. I’m thirsty. Go make me some soup to sober me up.” He always did that, slipping into his rich-boy persona without thinking. But when he was first pursuing me seven years ago, he’d put on a clumsy act, pretending to be poor, and had me completely fooled. “Sophia,” he’d said, his face earnest, “I don’t have anything. I can’t give you a stable future. But we can work hard together, build a good life for ourselves.” Looking at his sincere face back then, I had nodded. I needed money, yes, but I could support myself. I chose Damian because I was moved by his words—we can work hard together, build a good life for ourselves. But the longer we were together, the more I realized he was different. He would unconsciously show his disdain for anything cheap. He would order me around to do things he could easily do himself. It wasn't until I saw him step out of a luxury car at my part-time job, surrounded by an entourage as he entered a high-end club, that I was certain our relationship was built on a foundation of lies. And that he was terrified I was after his money. Damian’s voice cut through my thoughts. “If you want money in the future, just ask me directly. Using your mother’s health as an excuse… aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?” His words were so absurd I almost laughed. I lifted my eyes and looked at him coldly. “If I ask you directly, will you give it to me?” He faltered, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But then, as if confirming his own suspicions, his expression turned to one of scorn. “Chloe was right. You’re only with me for my money.” He pulled out his phone and sent me a transfer for $1.88. The transaction note had two words: Gold Digger. In seven years together, I had never spent a single cent of his money. On holidays and anniversaries, I would buy him gifts. He accepted them without a second thought, but because he never got me anything, he would sarcastically ask if I thought it was a man’s God-given duty to buy presents for his girlfriend. This was the man who called me a gold digger. This was the billionaire heir. I thought of the gift list for Chloe. I thought of my mother, ravaged by illness, dying in pain because I couldn’t afford her treatment. I couldn’t stand to be in his presence for another second. As I stood up to leave, the door opened again. Chloe waltzed in, shrugging off her coat to reveal a sexy outfit underneath. The moment she saw me, she feigned a startled gasp and quickly put her coat back on. “Sophia? What are you doing here?” I turned to Damian. “If I remember correctly, this is the apartment we rent together. Not only did you give someone else the passcode, but you’re also letting them just walk in whenever they please?” At my words, Chloe put on a look of utter grievance and ran to Damian’s side, clutching his arm. “Damian, how can you call me ‘someone else’? I just forgot my keys and wanted to crash here for the night. Besides, if it weren't for you agreeing to split the rent, Sophia would have to pay for this all by herself. If anything, she’s the one getting the better deal.” I wondered how many times she had said things like that behind my back. Damian, far from seeing anything wrong, seemed to think Chloe had a point. “Chloe’s right. I have my own place. Splitting the rent here is a bad deal for me. What’s the difference between this and paying for sex?” He pulled out his phone and held up his payment QR code to my face. “You don’t want people calling you a gold digger, do you? Then pay me back for my half of the rent for the past seven years.” 2 This small, 400-square-foot apartment was where Damian and I had started. After graduating, I stayed in the city to earn more money. All I could afford back then was a tiny, cramped room far from the city center. It was Damian who said it was too far, too inconvenient for him to visit. It was Damian who said the place wasn't fit for human habitation, that the thought of being intimate with me there killed the mood. He was the one who suggested we rent a bigger place together. So, I took on the burden of the high rent, finding another part-time job to fill the time I saved on commuting. And now, not only did he want me to pay back his half of the rent for the past seven years, but he also felt like he’d been cheated, that he’d essentially paid to sleep with me. “Damian,” I asked, my voice trembling, “what have I been to you all these years?” The tears welling in my eyes were for myself. For the seven years of my youth wasted on a man like this. The hand holding the phone in front of me wavered for a second as a tear fell. He pursed his lips and pulled his hand back. “I was just joking. It’s not a big…” He didn’t finish. Chloe clicked her tongue, her face a mask of disdain. “And she says she’s not after your money. If it weren’t for you, Damian, could she afford a place like this? Damian, you should just end the lease next month. You can’t keep letting outsiders take advantage of you. Or, you could have Sophia sign an IOU. That would be fair.” If it weren’t illegal, I would have slapped both of them. But if I did, they would find a way to sue me for every penny I had. It was the favorite sick game of the rich and bored. Seven years. I had played along long enough. I was done. “I’m not signing an IOU. If you want the money, you can sue me. We’ll see if the court agrees with you. And I’m not staying in this apartment anymore. Since Miss Chloe wants to stay the night, she should remember to pay Damian her share of the rent. Otherwise, she’ll be a gold digger too.” I tried to leave, but Damian grabbed my arm. The playful expression was gone, replaced by an angry scowl. “Sophia, are you serious? Chloe and I were just kidding. I suggest you think carefully. If you leave here, you’ll never live in a place this nice again.” I was so wrong. So unbelievably wrong. I shouldn’t have let him talk me out of breaking up with him when I first found out who he really was. I shouldn’t have believed his talk of an equal relationship, one not ruled by money, every time he accused me of being a gold digger. I had only held onto the memory of him warming my cold feet with his stomach on the coldest winter nights, of his warm hands gently massaging my cramps away. We had been in love. We had been happy. But our love could never be tainted by money, not even a little. “Damian, let’s break up.” Only when those words left my mouth did the smirk finally leave his face, replaced by a flicker of panic. “Break up? Sophia, you’re breaking up with me? I don’t agree. What right do you have to dump me? There’s a limit to your tantrums.” He always put himself on a pedestal, as if being with me was a gift he was bestowing upon me. I just looked at him calmly. “I’m not throwing a tantrum. Since you’re so convinced I’m a gold digger, after your money, you should find someone from your own circle. Have a truly ‘equal’ relationship.” I didn’t want to say another word to him. I turned and went back to the bedroom to continue packing. About thirty seconds later, I heard him roar. “Sophia, don’t you regret this.” I ignored his threats, and I didn’t care that he slammed the door on his way out with Chloe. I had endured a love where I was treated like a thief for seven years. I didn’t blame Damian for not being able to save my mother. He had no obligation to lend me the money. But when I was at my most desperate, when I was on my knees with a signed IOU, begging him to save my mother, he had looked right through me, still thinking I was a gold digger. In that moment, my love for him, our seven years together, died. 3 In the middle of the night, I walked the empty streets with all my belongings. There was no place for me in this vast city, and no reason for me to stay. My mother was gone. My love was gone. Every second I stayed was just another second of pain. With nowhere else to go, I spent the night in a nearby hospital lobby. The first thing I did the next morning was quit my job. My supervisor was shocked when she received my resignation letter. “You’re quitting? Did Mr. Thorne approve this?” She added, “By the way, if you leave now, you won’t get much of a bonus this month. We’ll just deposit the rest of your salary into one card.” I frowned, the information overload making my head spin. What did she mean, one card? And what bonus? Most importantly, who was Mr. Thorne? Seeing my confusion, my supervisor looked just as baffled. “Aren’t you and Mr. Thorne dating? He specifically told finance to split your salary. Your base pay goes to you, and your bonuses and raises go to a separate card. He said you were saving money. I have to say, it’s rare to see someone so frugal, especially when you’re dating someone like Mr. Thorne.” So, all these years, I had only been receiving my starting salary. My repeated requests for a raise… it wasn’t because I wasn’t working hard enough. It was because Damian had been diverting my earnings into another account. When I went to finance for my pay stubs, I saw the bonus column. Two thousand dollars. The exact amount I had been short a few days ago. The day I had lost, trying to scrape together that final two thousand, was the day my mother died, waiting for a surgery she never got. The most laughable part? The total sum of the bonuses Damian had withheld from me over the past seven years was more than enough to cover my mother’s medical bills. I was such a fool. So focused on working hard, terrified of being fired and losing my only source of income. So completely and utterly fooled by Damian Thorne. To prove to him I wasn’t a gold digger, not only had I never spent his money, but I had let him steal my own hard-earned wages. And I had stayed in this relationship, full of lies and insults, for seven years. Just as I was about to confront Damian with the pay stubs, he sauntered in as if he owned the place. “Sophia, we have a little argument and you run away from home and quit your job? Your temper is getting worse and worse.” Chloe trailed behind him, a look of smug satisfaction on her face. She walked over, her voice dripping with false sympathy. “Sophia, you’re so ungrateful. You’re living off Damian’s money, in a house he pays for. Without him, could you even survive in this city?” Shameless people really can tell the most blatant lies without batting an eye. I was so angry I almost laughed. Before I could retort, Damian cut me off. “Chloe’s right. If it weren’t for me these past seven years, you would have starved to death. Let’s just say you were having a moment today. I’ll grant you a day off. I won’t even dock your pay for it.” 4 The more I saw of Damian’s true colors, the more I wondered how I could have been so blind for seven long years. People around us started to whisper and point. When Damian did nothing to stop them, their voices grew louder. “Mr. Thorne hid his identity because he didn’t want Sophia to feel insecure. He asked us all to keep it a secret. That just shows how much he cares about her.” “She’s living off his money, in a house he pays for, and she still throws tantrums at him.” “She wants to marry into wealth, but she doesn’t have what it takes. Without Mr. Thorne, she’s nothing.” The more people gossiped, the more smug Damian looked. Chloe kept fanning the flames, piling on baseless accusations. “Sophia, didn’t you even lie about your mother dying just to get two thousand dollars from Damian? You’re a gold digger who wants to play the victim. You can’t have it both ways.” Her words were like cold water on hot oil. The office erupted. Everyone looked at me with contempt, their insults flying. I looked at Damian. He still had that nonchalant expression, as if Chloe was just voicing his own unspoken grievances. I curled my lips into a hollow smile. Just as I was about to speak, Damian grabbed my arm, playing the magnanimous peacemaker. “Alright, alright, what’s past is past. It’s not like I’m short on cash. If you want money in the future, just ask me directly. No need to make up excuses.” His words only fueled the office’s indignation. Everyone seemed to think I was ungrateful. “Exactly! Mr. Thorne is so rich. If you want money, just ask.” “Cursing your own mother for money… that’s just inhuman.” “I can’t believe Sophia is that kind of person. I used to see how frugal she was and even brought her food sometimes.” “Someone like her… Mr. Thorne should just dump her and make sure she can’t survive in this city.” I saw the colleagues I had once been close to joining in, trampling on me. I thought about everything Damian had done. Suddenly, it all felt so meaningless. Even if I threw the pay stubs in his face right now, he and Chloe would just twist it into something else, and everyone would continue to humiliate me. I quietly put the pay stubs back in my pocket. I looked up at Damian and smiled. “We’ve been together for seven years. Why don’t you calculate exactly how much of your money I’ve spent? And if you can’t name a single cent that was spent on me, then perhaps you should pay back the hundreds of thousands you owe me. Otherwise, you, and this company, can expect to be sued.” A relationship supposedly free of money, yet constantly steeped in it. The billionaire heir, so generous in the eyes of others, had been living off the money I was saving for my mother’s life. Damian’s mind raced, and a flash of panic crossed his eyes. Of course, he couldn't think of anything he had spent on me. This was a man who insisted we go Dutch on condoms. I had always thought it was just rich people being stingy, but now I realized it was because I wasn't worth a single penny to him. He probably wanted to argue, but I didn't want to hear it. As I turned to leave, Chloe suddenly pushed me. I lost my balance and fell to the floor. “Sophia, stop trying to change the subject. How could Damian possibly owe you money? If you dare to spread rumors, we’ll call the police and have you arrested. If you go to jail, who will take care of your mother, lying in a hospital bed waiting for you to earn money for her? You should apologize to Damian right now!” Chloe thought she could threaten me. But I had nothing left to lose. Just then, my supervisor, who had been passing by, saw Damian and squeezed through the crowd. She was holding an application form. “Mr. Thorne, Sophia’s mother passed away a few days ago. You still haven’t approved the employee bereavement fund payment. Also, I’ve withdrawn Sophia’s application for a two-thousand-dollar salary advance, as you instructed. It’s such a shame. I heard her mother was just two thousand dollars short of her surgery fee.”
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