Chapter 3

I gasped, the pain almost making me cry out. Hearing Selena's words, the sales assistants looked at me with a hint of subtle disdain, their attitudes immediately cooling.

Selena, afraid I'd say another word, immediately pushed me into a nearby fitting room. She lowered her voice. "Chloe, I've always told them I'm the Hayes heiress. Otherwise, they'd treat me like dirt. You wouldn't want me to be looked down on, would you?"

I scoffed.

"I'm just borrowing your identity. You never go out anyway, and we look so alike, nobody will ever find out."

Selena intimately linked her arm through mine. "Please? Let's just pretend we're playing dress-up today."

I lowered my eyes, concealing the surging anger within. Selena, enjoy your moment for now.

After all, the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

I smiled. "Okay."

Selena immediately tried on clothes with glee. She finally picked three items, placed them on the counter, and called out without looking back, "Checkout."

Seeing my delay, she turned to look at me, a flash of impatience in her eyes, as if asking, What are you waiting for? Why aren't you paying?

I looked at her and found it almost amusing. A driver's daughter, in front of strangers, looking at the Hayes heiress as if she were an ATM.

I remembered how in my past life, whenever we went out together, I always paid. And she would simply accept it, occasionally saying, "Chloe, you're the best."

My kindness to her had become a weapon pointed at myself.

I hid the mockery in my eyes, raised my hand, and pointed at the high-end, dusty pink gown on the mannequin in the display window. My voice was calm. "Wrap that one up."

Selena's eyes instantly lit up. She quickly stepped forward and intimately linked her arm through mine. "Chloe, you're so good to me! But this one isn't really for me; the color is too deep. Why don't you buy me a bracelet instead..."

I subtly withdrew my arm and slowly said, "This is for me."

Selena's smile froze. She stared at me in disbelief. The next second, a hint of suspicion flashed in her eyes. "Chloe, why are you suddenly changing your style?"

Seeing I didn't speak, she looked me up and down, her gaze critical. "Chloe, have your tastes gone bad? Pink is too sweet. You're usually so cool and understated; you can't pull it off. It'll just look tacky and awkward on you."

"You don't even wear makeup. Wearing that with a bare face would look so strange."

I couldn't be bothered to argue with her. Calmly, I took out my phone and scanned the QR code to pay. Selena's face completely fell. As if something clicked, she said in a sarcastic tone, "I get it! You heard me say Ethan loves pink, so you're deliberately buying these dresses to follow suit? You want to steal my thunder, you want to take my place and charm Ethan, don't you?"

The more she spoke, the more convinced she was she was right, her voice filled with accusation. "Chloe, Ethan and I have been talking for so long. Who do you think you are, suddenly showing up? You're my best friend, how could you do this?"

Not far away, a few sales assistants tidying clothes whispered to each other, their eyes openly disdainful of me.

"They look so alike... Could she really be trying to steal her boyfriend?"

"She's the Hayes heiress, after all. If a driver's daughter had such ideas, she wouldn't know what hit her."

"Exactly. She should look in a mirror. Does she really think looking like Miss Hayes will turn a pauper into a princess?"

"Shameless."