He Only Wanted His Foster Sister, Yet Burned For Me Instead Chapter 02

He Only Wanted His Foster Sister, Yet Burned For Me Instead Chapter 02

After my family went bankrupt, the rest of my classmates avoided me like the plague.

Yet Hilary Sterling, the notoriously untouchable Queen Bee, actually reached out and invited me into her circle.

I was completely overwhelmed by the gesture, deeply treasuring my only friend. I ran her errands, picked up her bagels and coffee, and did her homework. Whatever Hilary asked of me, I broke my neck to get it done.

Then came a night with a torrential downpour. She had left her lipstick in the classroom and insisted that I fetch it and bring it to her estate in the dead of night.

I arrived at the Sterling mansion dripping wet, only to catch her chatting with a handsome, elegant boy.

“Hilary, you have dozens of lipsticks,” the boy said, his tone a mix of exasperation and indulgence. “It’s pouring out there. You shouldn’t have put your friend through that.”

“She practically begs to tries way too hard to please me, so I’m just letting her,” Hilary replied, tilting her head with a giggle as she leaned in close. “Honestly, she’s a lot like you, brother. Unwanted. Just another stray dog I took in.”

The boy’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Hilary, I’m your brother. You shouldn’t talk to me like that.”

“Don’t you like it?” Hilary tapped his ear. “Then why are you so nervous?”

The boy visibly panicked for a fraction of a second before catching sight of my pathetic, drenched figure standing by the door. He instantly wiped all emotion from his face and gave me a curt nod. “Come in.”

Hilary didn’t show a hint of embarrassment. Instead, she warmly looped her arm through mine, presenting me like a prop:

“Tristan, this is my best friend, Maeve. See? Isn’t she exactly how I described her? Completely, utterly tragic.”

“Well, her family went broke, so she can’t afford designer clothes or luxury makeup. Oh, by the way, feel free to order her around too. Everyone in class calls her my personal maid, hahahaha.”

No girl wants to be humiliated in front of an exceptional guy. It felt like a physical slap across the face, leaving my cheeks burning hot.

I stood there completely paralyzed, unable to squeeze out a single word of defense.

But Tristan didn’t laugh. He slid his jacket off and draped it over my shoulders, wrapping me in the crisp, rich scent of his cologne.

“I’m sorry. Hilary’s young and doesn’t know any better,” he said quietly. “There are umbrellas by the door. You should head back.”

Blushing furiously, I bowed, mumbled a thank-you, and rushed straight back into the rain.

That was the night I fell in love with Tristan.

I wanted to stay close to him. I filled an entire notebook with his name, scrawling it over and over until the pages were full.

Every night, I held his jacket close, imagining he was lying right beside me. I even had darker, twisted fantasies—keeping him by my side forever, imagining countless different versions of him, making him look only at me with his eyes fixed solely on me.

I knew it wasn’t normal, and I knew it was impossible. So, I carefully buried those sick, quiet longings deep down and went right back to playing Hilary’s loyal maid, all for the fleeting chance of catching a glimpse of Tristan.

Until Hilary handed me her secondary online account and told me to take her place for the real-life meetup.

“Since you graduated and still have zero prospects, and since I happen to have two e-boyfriends, I figured I’d throw one your way,” she said. “Here. This one isn’t just drop-dead gorgeous; he’s supposed to be incredibly charming.”

“How… how do you know that?” I asked.

“We’ve video called,” Hilary said with a suggestive wink. “He’s easy to fluster. It’s actually pretty funny.”

I hadn’t realized Hilary’s online relationships went that far, and a sudden wave of revulsion rose in my chest.

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” I mumbled. “You two seemed really close. It feels wrong for me to just take your place.”

“Cut the crap. We video called, it’s not like we actually did anything,” Hilary snapped, shoving me toward the door, her patience wearing thin.

“Look at yourself. You’re plain, you’re boring, you’re a textbook nerd. The guy is a total ten. No matter how you look at it, you’re getting the deal of a lifetime.”

“…”

The only reason Hilary picked me was because I was plain, introverted, and easily intimidated. She was entirely certain Tristan would never look twice at someone like me.

At the same time, she wanted to use me[直译润色] to drop the bomb that she was seeing someone else, purely to drive Tristan insane with jealousy.

But she miscalculated the one thing that mattered: I had been obsessively in love with Tristan for years.

If there was even a microscopic chance to bind myself to him, I would claw my way through hell to seize it.