On the subway to work, I overheard an old woman bragging to another older lady. "Girls these days are so easy," she scoffed. "I just taught my son to put in a tiny bit of effort—like making them a cup of hot tea when it's their time of the month, or bringing them an umbrella when it rains. And boom, these shameless women throw themselves at him. Thanks to my methods, my son is juggling eight girlfriends right now." Hiding behind the crowd, listening to her, I felt sick to my stomach. I silently took eight seconds to mourn for those eight poor "sisters." I never expected that the very next day, I’d be going to meet the parents of my boyfriend of three years. Unless I was suddenly blind, the old lady standing in front of me was the exact same woman who had been bragging on the subway about her son’s eight girlfriends. And I had become one of those "shameless women with interchangeable parts" she had sneered about. 1 Because my car was unexpectedly in the shop for maintenance, I took the subway that day so I wouldn't be late for work. On the train, an old lady was loudly bragging to another older woman. "Girls these days are so easy. I just taught my son to put in a tiny bit of effort—like making them a cup of hot tea when it's their time of the month, or bringing them an umbrella when it rains. And boom, these shameless women throw themselves at him, one after another. Thanks to my methods, my son is juggling eight girlfriends right now." "Let me tell you, raising a son is all about strategy," she continued. "Whenever my son doesn't listen to me, I warn him, 'I'm the one who got you all these women. If you don't listen, I'll stop helping you.' He gets so scared he does whatever I say. I always tell him, every woman has the same parts anyway, so he'll definitely find one he likes." I was hiding behind the crowd, listening to her, and feeling physically sick. I mentally took eight seconds of silence for those eight poor girls. I never expected that the very next day, I’d be going to meet the parents of Carter, my boyfriend of three years. The moment I stepped through the door, I was startled by the old lady standing in front of me. Unless I was suddenly blind, the old lady standing in front of me was the exact same woman who had been bragging on the subway about her son’s eight girlfriends. And I had become one of those "shameless women with interchangeable parts" she had sneered about. 2 As soon as I stepped into Carter's house, his mother pulled out a pair of fuzzy slippers and insisted on putting them on my feet herself. "You must be Harper. You're so beautiful." I quickly took two steps back, dodging the old woman's hands. Feigning calmness, I greeted her: "Hello, Mrs. Hayes." Carter's mother beamed instantly, looking extremely satisfied with me. The moment I sat down on the sofa, the old woman was bustling about, bringing me fruit and handing me a cup of milk tea. "I heard you young people love drinking this stuff. I thought the store-bought ones were unsanitary, so I looked up a tutorial online and made it myself. Try it quickly and see how it tastes." I looked at the kind, amiable old lady in front of me, completely unable to reconcile her with the bitter, mean woman from the subway. I even started to doubt if I had seen the right person. Or maybe the old woman was just trying to show off in front of her friend and made it all up. After lunch, Carter's mother pulled out a worn, dark-looking savings passbook and placed it in my hand. "Harper, there's ten thousand dollars in here. I know your family has plenty of properties and you probably don't care about one or two more, but the money in this passbook is my entire life savings. Now, I want you to take it and go buy a house with Carter so you two can get married." I looked at the passbook placed in my hand, momentarily at a loss for words. First of all, the amount was too small; it wouldn't even cover a fraction of a down payment. But if this passbook truly held her "coffin money," as the old lady claimed, its weight far exceeded its monetary value. If it hadn't been for that scene on the subway, I probably would have declined the money immediately, perhaps even comforting the old lady that she didn't need to worry about a house because my family had it covered. But with that subway scene stuck in my head, something felt off. I don't know if my silence dragged on too long, or if the old lady sensed my mood, but she suddenly grabbed my hand and tearfully pleaded: "Harper, I know it's not a lot of money and it won't buy a house. But you know Carter's father passed away early. I've worked myself to the bone all these years just to put Carter through grad school. Even though he's working as a software engineer at a Big Tech firm now, he's only been there for two or three years, and his salary is still entry-level. It's incredibly hard to buy a house in San Francisco on his own." "How about this: you ask your parents to chip in a little first, so you guys can buy a house and get married. Don't worry, once Carter starts making more money, I'll have him pay your parents back." Carter's mother's words sounded very considerate, but maybe I was just being sensitive. I felt like something about this whole situation stank. I looked at the old woman with feigned innocence. "Mrs. Hayes, whose names will be on the deed?" The old lady smiled and patted my hand. "Well, that goes without saying. It will obviously have both your names on it." "Don't worry, once you buy the house, I promise I won't bother you two." Those four words, "both your names," sent a jolt through my body. First of all, the absolute worst fixer-upper in San Francisco starts at around a million dollars. Given how much my dad dotes on me, if I were getting married, he definitely wouldn't buy a small starter home. A multi-million dollar property was the minimum. Coupled with the scene on the subway, I had my suspicions that whether it was Carter's mother's tears or this worn-out passbook, it was all a calculated trap set for me. 3 Although I was suspicious at Carter's house, considering we had a three-year relationship, I still didn't quite believe he was that kind of person. But from that day on, I started closely observing Carter's schedule. For instance, I noticed that every time he came to my place, he smelled faintly of dampness, like he had just taken a shower. For instance, if he worked late and then came to my place, he generally had no interest in intimacy, acting exhausted. For instance, he frequently got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and would spend an hour in there scrolling on his phone. I had never scrutinized Carter's schedule before. I believed in mutual respect and maintaining independent space in a relationship. But what if Carter was using that time to juggle other girlfriends? Finally, one night, while Carter was in the shower, I couldn't resist checking his phone. His text messages were very clean, with my name pinned at the top. The other contacts were either coworkers or friends, some of whom I recognized or had even met. This gave me some comfort. The only anomaly was his chat history with his mother—it was completely empty. But they had seemed so close that day. What exactly were Carter and his mother talking about that required clearing the chat history? I was just about to put the phone down when I suddenly remembered an influencer sharing a story about discovering her husband's infidelity by checking his phone's location history. Relying on memory, I opened the location services settings on Carter's phone, and looking at his daily movements, I grew even more confused. First, his location history only showed him at his place, my place, and his company on the days he came to see me. The rest of the time was completely blank. Did Carter not take his phone with him when he didn't come to see me? Just then, Carter, still drying off with a towel, walked out of the bathroom. He looked at the phone in my hand, his expression completely unchanged. He walked over and hugged me, his face full of teasing. "Find anything interesting?" I tilted my chin up haughtily. "Who knows if you men are messing around out there? I'm just checking to be safe." Carter pursed his lips and chuckled, reaching out to gently tap the bridge of my nose. "Be good, how could I ever betray you? I love you so much." "Besides, my phone has never had a passcode. You can check it whenever you want." That was true. Carter had never been secretive with his phone around me. Sometimes when I used his phone to make a call or track a package, he was always completely open. So much so that I had never had the urge to check his phone before. But how could those anomalies on his phone be explained? 4 Perhaps driven by a woman's sixth sense, the next day after work, I went to Carter's office. Right at 6:00 PM, I saw Carter walking out of his building. The moment I saw his figure, I froze. Because Carter had just texted me saying he had to work late. Given that he was at a major tech firm, I had never doubted his "working late" excuses. I dialed Carter's number with trembling fingers. He declined it instantly. But what surprised me more wasn't that Carter lied about working late, but that the Carter right in front of me didn't even reach for his phone in his pocket. Right then, Carter sent me a text. "Baby, I'm in a meeting. I'll call you back later." I stared at the message, the fingers gripping my phone trembling. Because at this exact moment, the Carter right in front of my eyes was waving his hand to hail a cab. I swallowed hard in fear and pulled up my old chat history with Carter. First, on the days Carter came to see me, he would be very distant via text, often replying with short phrases like "mhm" or "okay." But on the days he didn't see me... He would be much more enthusiastic. He would tell me jokes, send me good songs, and be incredibly attentive. Although sometimes I felt his tone was a bit old-fashioned, I just chalked it up to him being a typical clueless tech bro. But wasn't it a huge red flag that his communication style swung between two such extremes? My nerves were taut, like something was about to burst out. I quickly drove off, tailing Carter's cab. The cab didn't stop until it reached the entrance of a luxury apartment complex. As soon as he got out, a young woman rushed out of the complex gates. She clung to Carter like a koala bear and showered his cheeks with kisses. Carter affectionately ruffled her hair. The two looked exactly like a deeply in love couple. I watched the scene unfold before my eyes, my eyes red and wide. Just as I was sitting there, stunned and unsure of what to do, I received another text from Carter. "Baby, don't forget to eat dinner tonight! You're already beautiful enough, you don't need to diet anymore." 5 As soon as I got home, I rushed to the bathroom and threw up in disgust. If I didn't realize by now that Carter and his mother were playing me, I'd be the biggest idiot in the world. If my guess was right, the person texting me all these years was Carter's mother. Just thinking about the flirtatious things Carter supposedly said to me, actually being typed by his mother... I couldn't help but throw up into the toilet again. This was even more sickening than Carter simply cheating. That night, Carter came to my place at 10:00 PM. He brought food cooked by his mother. Carter put a piece of shrimp in my bowl. "My mom knows you like shrimp, so she made this especially for you." My fingers tightened around my chopsticks. "How did your mom know I like shrimp?" Carter stiffened for a second, but recovered his composure moments later. "Well, that goes without saying. I told her, of course. You're a great daughter-in-law. Not only do I love you, but my mom absolutely adores you too." I feigned a teasing tone. "Then you'd better hurry up and marry me. By the way, I talked to my dad about the house. He said there's no problem on his end, but you know my background. All my friends get at least a hundred grand as a down payment contribution from the groom's side. My dad said if your family can't afford a hundred grand, you need to provide at least fifty grand, otherwise he won't let me marry you." Carter smiled calmly. "That's no problem. You just take the deed to your current place, take out a home equity loan for fifty grand, and we'll just go through the motions for your parents. Don't worry, I'll cover the interest." My stomach churned, and I almost gagged in disgust. "What, you don't trust me? My mom practically emptied her life savings for us. I know there's a financial gap between our families, but I promise I'll work hard and make money. I'll never let your friends look down on you." I pretended to be moved and buried my face in his chest. But where Carter couldn't see, my fingernails nearly pierced my palms. I never thought Carter actually treated me like a complete idiot. 6 The next day, I went to find the girl Carter had met, Mia. After hearing my story, Mia's face was full of disbelief, her body trembling. "But... I was going to marry him." I closed my eyes tightly. "Me too..." Mia instantly burst into loud, sobbing tears. I don't know how long it took, but Mia finally lifted her tear-streaked face. "Let's... let's compare our chat logs." After we verified all our interactions with Carter, we both stood frozen in horror. We never expected that from the very beginning, Carter and his mother had premeditated everything. First, we both met Carter because we were bumped into by a delivery driver, and he "saved" us, which led to us exchanging numbers and chatting. Furthermore, from our daily interactions, all the chat conversations were identical. Even the day we went to meet his parents, I went in the morning, and Mia went in the afternoon. After comparing all the chat logs, Mia started crying hysterically. "I'm going to kill that piece of trash, Carter." It wasn't just Mia; even my worldview was shattered by what lay before us. I fought to control my trembling body and grabbed Mia. "It's not worth getting our hands dirty for trash like him. Let's gather evidence first. The law will make Carter and his mother pay." 7 At the time, when Carter was hit relatively hard by the delivery driver, I was afraid the driver would deny it, so I kept his phone number. This actually made it convenient for us to find a witness. I called the delivery driver right then and there. "Hello, I have a package to send. Can you come pick it up?" When the delivery driver arrived at my place, I asked directly, "Do you know Carter?" The delivery driver turned around, wanting to leave. I threatened him: "If you dare leave, I'll sue you for fraud. If Carter gets arrested, you're an accomplice. You can leave if you don't want to go to jail." The delivery driver was spooked by me. He looked at me pitifully. "Ladies, you can't blame me for getting scammed! How was I supposed to know you women were so gullible, believing those cliché romantic movie tropes?" My heart skipped a beat. "You women." So Carter really did have eight girlfriends. I looked at the delivery driver coldly. "How many women have you hit for Carter in total?" The delivery driver shrank back. "I've hit about a dozen or so over time. That guy who 'saved' you paid me a hundred bucks an appearance each time." Mia and I exchanged a glance. "Do you have the phone numbers of those girls?" The delivery driver shook his head in panic. "Why would I keep their numbers for something like this?" I lowered my head in thought for a moment. "Then do you know how many Carter actually succeeded with?" The delivery driver shook his head. "How would I know that? But I heard the guy mention a few times that once he got bored, he'd just break up with them. The success rate must be pretty high, otherwise he wouldn't pull this stunt every few months." Seeing that the delivery driver couldn't offer much more, I pulled out a document and placed it in front of him. "Sign your name here. Don't worry, I won't sue you. I've recorded what you just told us. You just need to show up in court when the time comes. But if you dare tell Carter, I will sue you as an accomplice to fraud. We have plenty of money to fight a legal battle. Don't believe me? Try it." The delivery driver was indeed intimidated by me, pulling out a pen and quickly signing his name. He also apologized profusely, saying he shouldn't have done something so immoral.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "422570", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel