In the age of social media, everyone lives under a microscope.
Some craft perfect personas, others wrap themselves in lies. Me? I just wanted to be a low-key streamer, but one livestream showdown exposed my secret marriage to the entire internet. When a manipulative influencer mocked me with her Ivy League diploma and property deed, calling me an uneducated nobody, my fans begged me to fight back. I glanced at my cabinet full of certificates and randomly pulled one out—my marriage certificate with her idol.
Chapter 1
I woke up that morning and made the mistake of checking Twitter. Some actor's secret marriage was trending at number one.
I had a bad feeling about this.
Before I could put my phone down, a warm body pressed against me from behind. Chase's strong arms wrapped around me, his voice still heavy with sleep. "I'm so jealous."
Oh god, here we go again.
I patted his arm. "Babe, don't be jealous."
Suddenly he grabbed my wrist and pinned me beneath him, his face full of mock hurt. "We've been married a year and you still won't go public with me. Are you not satisfied? I can prove myself."
He started to prove it with actions.
Remembering last night's chaos, I quickly stopped him. "Stop it. You have filming today and you're going to be late."
Chase buried his face in my shoulder and mumbled, "Then come with me to set."
"Can't. I have a livestream battle today."
Chase froze. "What?"
After handing over my company to the VP, I'd gotten obsessed with streaming. I'd chat with viewers, sing a little, dance a little—my follower count was pathetically small.
My beef with Sophie Miller, a mega-influencer with 2 million followers, started three days ago.
I was scrolling and saw Sophie's video of her feeding swans by a lake. She was all done up, doing these intimate interactions with the birds.
The comments were insane:
"OMG you're so beautiful!"
"This is gorgeous content."
"She's been feeding them for days! Ran into her at the park today. Beautiful inside and out!"
I couldn't help myself. I typed: "It's migration season in March and April. If you interfere by feeding them, they'll stop migrating and die."
Within minutes, her fans attacked me, saying I was just jealous because she was more popular.
One fan even went to my profile and commented: "What nobody streamer is trying to clout-chase? Pathetic."
My temper flared. I immediately posted scientific articles about bird migration.
They just said I was desperate.
I was pissed.
Sophie herself posted some passive-aggressive BS: "Don't scare her, guys. Maybe she really does know more than us about this stuff."
Her fans immediately jumped in: "Sophie, you're being too modest. You literally graduated from Columbia."
Sophie even @'ed me, suggesting we do a livestream battle so I could "educate everyone" in her chat.
I knew exactly what this was—a setup to humiliate me publicly.
Ha.
I didn't just accept. I was actually excited.
Because... I graduated from Columbia too. And her diploma? Something about it looked fake as hell.