After I Found Out My Boyfriend Was Pretending to Be Poor - Chapter 4

Huo Yanchuan hadn’t even had time to react to my wandering hands before his best friend caught him in public.

On the verge of tears, he made one last desperate attempt to save himself.

“Lan, let me explain. It’s not what it looks like.”

Zhou Xinglan gave him a smile that never reached his eyes. “Fine. Explain.”

If Huo Yanchuan hadn’t been holding me, he’d already have thrown a punch.

While they stood at an impasse, I tightened my arms around Huo Yanchuan and interrupted.

“He came with me for a prenatal checkup.”

Huo Yanchuan nearly lost his soul on the spot. Before he could argue, I leaned close to his ear and whispered like a devil.

“You wouldn’t want your best friend finding out he lost his first baby because of that one little suggestion you made, would you?”

“I’m only saying this so he won’t be hurt. You’re his best friend. You understand, don’t you?”

Overwhelming guilt swallowed him whole. Huo Yanchuan bitterly choked back everything he’d been about to say.

“Yes,” he said, defeated. “Ranran’s right.”

His body might still have been standing there, but the rest of him had checked out some time ago.

Zhou Xinglan clutched his chest and staggered, his eyes red.

“When did it happen? When did you start seducing her behind my back?”

He frantically began piecing together all the signs of Huo Yanchuan’s supposed pursuit of me.

“No wonder you couldn’t go three sentences without mentioning my girlfriend every time we got together. You were after her all along.”

“You pretended to bad-mouth Ranran, but you were really throwing me off so you could get close to her.”

“You weren’t standing up for me! You hated that she loved me instead of you!”

Even Huo Yanchuan went silent after hearing that.

If I hadn’t been lying to both of them, I’d almost have been convinced myself.

I took the opportunity to defend Huo Yanchuan and put an end to the farce.

“If you and I hadn’t had problems, he wouldn’t have had a chance to step in. Don’t make things difficult for him.”

“Yan, let’s go.”

I buried my face in Huo Yanchuan’s chest and went back to enjoying myself.

Zhou Xinglan shattered completely.

He followed us all the way to the hotel like some gloomy, resentful ghost. Huo Yanchuan kept touching his own neck on the way.

Maybe he could feel someone had set their sights on his head.

Once we were out of the car, he carried me toward the suite as if a ghost were chasing him. He was desperate to leave Zhou Xinglan outside. Apparently, the less time he spent facing his best friend, the less his conscience would torment him.

A hand suddenly shot out and gripped the doorframe.

Zhou Xinglan stared at Huo Yanchuan with the dark face of an abandoned husband.

“I’m Ranran’s ex-boyfriend. That makes me practically part of her family. For her own safety, I have the right to supervise your every move.”

Excuse me?

Was that how this worked?

The once-inseparable friends sat on the sofa, staring each other down, ready to fight. Huo Yanchuan looked guilty and ashamed. Zhou Xinglan looked suspicious of everything.

I couldn’t be bothered with either of them. I went to enjoy a hot shower.

When I finished, I called out of the bathroom out of habit.

“Baby, could you come here a second?”

Zhou Xinglan’s accusing stare had been eating Huo Yanchuan alive. Hearing my voice was like being granted a pardon. He ran to me without thinking.

Zhou Xinglan instinctively rose at the word “baby.” Then he saw Huo Yanchuan racing ahead of him. He clenched his fists, bitterness swelling in his chest.

It was his own fault for listening to that bastard’s lies. He’d let the shameless other man replace him.

But that was fine. Being the other man wasn’t so hard.

He could do it too.

Only when Huo Yanchuan reached the bathroom did the embarrassment catch up with him.

I pointed to the pile of clothes I’d taken off.

“What are you standing there for? Wash them.”

He stared at me in disbelief.

“You want me to hand-wash these for you?”

“Don’t even think about it!”

I patted his shoulder, leaned toward his ear, and spoke with patient concern.

“You wouldn’t want your best friend finding out we’re only pretending to date so we can hide the fact that the baby’s gone, would you?”

I’d barely finished when Zhou Xinglan’s ghostly voice drifted over.

“The baby? What’s wrong with the baby?”

His eyes darted anxiously to my little belly.

Huo Yanchuan shuddered, picked up my panties, and began scrubbing for dear life.

“The baby’s fine!” he announced loudly as he washed. “And our relationship is fine too!”

Zhou Xinglan’s expression turned thunderous.

He’d already lost the right to wash my clothes. All he could do was stand beside him and make snide comments.

“Do you even know how to wash them? You’re going to scrub holes in the fabric. If you’re that unwilling, stop pretending you’re so devoted and give someone else a chance.”

With Zhou Xinglan’s vicious coaching, Huo Yanchuan mastered the task in record time.

Once the laundry was done, I kicked them both out.

My period brought my trip to an early end. As soon as they took me home, Zhou Xinglan shamelessly settled into my rented apartment, determined to win back his place by being the other man.

“Sis-in-law, I’ll pay rent.”

Then he turned to Huo Yanchuan. “Yan, you know my family kicked me out. I have no money, so I’m afraid you’ll have to pay it for me.”

“How about a million yuan a month? Quite a bargain, right?”

I swallowed my refusal.

Huo Yanchuan looked from me to his best friend, wondering if we’d set him up. Then he thought of the baby in my belly and silently took out his phone to transfer me the money.

With the cash in hand, I lay on the bed like royalty and ordered them both around.

Huo Yanchuan was reluctant, but Zhou Xinglan’s determination to outdo him left him no choice.

That evening, after dragging his feet for ages, Huo Yanchuan finally got into my bed.

If Zhou Xinglan hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have needed to. But with his best friend watching him like a security camera, he now had to act out a grand romance in which the other man had won.

He lay down and immediately played dead.

I wasn’t letting him off that easily. I slapped a palm against his chest.

“Take your shirt off. Let me see.”