Dumped the Jerk, Became a Heiress

Colin, my boyfriend, told me we weren't a good match and that his family would never approve of us, so he wanted to break up. I knew we weren't perfectly suited, but that didn't stop me from liking him. Of course, when he said he wanted to break up, I decided to let him go, planning to win him back in a couple of days. But I never expected that right after breaking up with me, Colin would immediately get together with my roommate and even hint online that I was some kind of shameless third wheel. After the breakup, all my roommates gave me odd looks. Fawna, who was close to Lationa, sneered, "I heard someone tried to latch onto a rich guy and got kicked to the curb. How pitiful." The other two roommates, Tianna and Zakeria, chimed in, "Doesn't she know her place? Trying to snag our department's heartthrob?" "Like a frog dreaming of a princess." It seemed like they were all talking about me. Colin was indeed the heartthrob of our department, with many girls chasing after him. He was sunny, cheerful, and had a warm personality. His good looks made him stand out in a crowd. On the first day of freshman year, I saw him and instantly fell for him. Lationa strutted in, heels clicking on the floor, clutching a bouquet of roses. As soon as she walked in, she tossed the flowers onto the table. "Yukiye, Colin is my boyfriend now. You two aren't from the same world; he and I are. You shouldn't go after things that aren't yours." Colin and I had broken up, and yet, the people around us seemed more anxious about it than we were. I looked at Lationa, puzzled, "We've already broken up." Lationa, satisfied, said, "So stop hanging onto him. Even if you do, he won't give you a second glance. Our families are well-matched, and we'll be engaged soon." Fawna, Tianna, and Zakeria all congratulated Lationa, "Don't forget to invite us to the engagement party!" "Lat's the only one who can match our department's prince." Lationa, basking in her triumph, shot me a sidelong glance, "I'll be generous and invite you too, you poor soul." I was at a loss for words. I couldn't understand Lationa's behavior, given our different backgrounds. "Alright, if you want to invite me, I'll come. After all, it won't be me who's embarrassed!" Lationa led the charge, and the others spared no effort in mocking me. Tianna laughed loudly, "Can you even imagine how much one of Lat's bags costs? Fifteen thousand!" Carrying a fifty-dollar canvas bag I bought off the street, I couldn't compare. "I've never seen a bag from that brand." Lationa sneered, "I really don't know how you managed to fool Colin before. Was it with your pretty face? Using your looks to get what you want is just pathetic." "The more you talk, the more sense you make," I said, returning to my spot and pulling out my phone, which was covered in tape. I needed to check how Colin's family and Lationa's family were supposedly such a good match to give up hope. Colin was quite handsome, and I, a sucker for looks, was still hooked. I thought that even though Colin had broken up with me, there was still a chance we could get back together. But when I looked up the company Colin mentioned online, I realized there was no way we could reconcile. "How can you even show off that busted phone?" Fawna pinched my phone with her fingers, looking disgusted. Lationa, with an air of superiority, said, "You better hand it back to her. If it breaks, you won't be able to afford to replace it." Fawna quickly tossed my phone back to me as if doing me a favor, "Oh no, what if I can't afford to replace it?" The other roommates were laughing so hard they could barely stand up straight. My phone, they really couldn't afford it. My ultra-rare, battered iPhone 6 was wrapped in tape by my brother to prevent anyone from prying off the diamonds. I was grateful, but now even I was embarrassed by how shabby it looked. Well, they weren't wrong; I decided I'd grab a cheap phone tomorrow. Back home, I tossed the phone into my safe and asked my mom for a cheap replacement. She casually handed me an Aster P Gothic phone, saying, "This old thing is just ten thousand, go ahead and use it." I wasn't thrilled about the Vertu brand, but I'd have to make do. My dad shot me a sidelong glance. "You've got a home but insist on staying in the dorms. I think you're just bored. You need your brother to come back and straighten you out. Living at home wouldn't affect your college life, would it?" "It would affect my social life. I want to make different kinds of friends." Unfortunately, that plan hadn't worked out. I sighed, "Why not have my brother transfer to my school? If I can't make friends, at least I'd have him." "Are you out of your mind? Your brother's graduating next year. At most, he'll drop by during the holidays," my dad said, giving me a light smack on the back of my head to make me reflect. Forget it, I wasn't going to tell them I got dumped. Way too humiliating. Back at school, Fawna greeted me with a smirk. "Yukiye, you're quite the celebrity now, did you hear?" "Famous for what?" I asked offhandedly. "Check out the confession wall yourself," Fawna sneered, noticing my new phone. "Finally ditched that old junk? Switched to a knock-off? You're something else!" Few people recognized the Vertu brand, so it wasn't surprising they mistook it for a knock-off. I had no idea Fawna had snapped a photo of me with my new phone and posted it on the confession wall. That's when I saw what she meant by my newfound fame. There was a trending post titled, "Poor Yukiye Overreaches by Chasing the Campus Heartthrob." Everyone knew Colin, the campus heartthrob, was a rich kid through and through. The confession wall had a picture of us walking together. Colin looked every bit the noble gentleman, while I appeared plain and disheveled, like a clingy admirer. The comments were ruthless: "Yukiye is so ugly, doesn't she own a mirror?" "Who is Yukiye, anyway?" Underneath that comment, I saw a clear photo of me holding my new phone, labeled "The Scruffy Girl and Her Knock-Off Phone." I glanced over at Fawna, who was grinning triumphantly, using an account I recognized to comment, "Did you know Yukiye knew about the engagement and still tried to be the third wheel? Colin and Lationa are a perfect match and are getting engaged." The roommates were the first to know about my relationship with Colin. After we broke up and he got with Lationa, they should've been clear on the timeline. How did I end up being labeled as "the third wheel"? I saved the webpage and took screenshots, then asked Fawna, "When are Lationa and Colin getting engaged?" Fawna looked at me with feigned sympathy. "Don't you know there are invitations sent out before the official engagement? Don't worry, Lat said she'd send you one." "Whether I attend their engagement party or not is beside the point. I just want to know, how did I end up being the third wheel?" I said, turning on my phone's recording feature and looking at Fawna. Fawna was startled at first, then regained her composure. "Lationa and Colin have been together since they started college. So, aren't you the third wheel?"I thought for a moment and recalled something. "Back then, Lationa and Nathan were together. They only broke up last week. Don't think I don't know about it." "Who's Nathan? I have no idea," Fawna said, clearly not expecting me to be so well-informed about Lationa's affairs. "Anyway, they're about to get engaged. Aren't you the one clinging to Colin, making you the homewrecker?" "As for the timeline with Lationa, Nathan, and Colin, someone will investigate," I said, waving my phone at Fawna. "And for your brilliant comments on the confession wall, expect a letter from my lawyer." "A lawyer's letter?" Fawna laughed so hard she doubled over. "You've been watching too many TV dramas, haven't you?" I ignored Fawna's laughter and recalled the details of when Colin agreed to be with me. Lationa and Nathan were indeed dating; they even checked into my hotel together. I saw their names in the register, and I planned to take a photo of it later. As for Colin, I remembered that after one visit to my dorm, his attitude towards me began to change. He started criticizing me for my plain looks, saying I wasn't as refined as other girls and that my ordinary clothes didn't fit his high standards. He even suggested I change my style. It seemed that from then on, Colin visited my dorm more frequently. That's when his betrayal started, and it was laughable how I was still infatuated with his sunny disposition and handsome looks, foolishly dreaming we'd get back together even after the breakup. If it weren't for getting a new phone, I might never have realized this. I sent the evidence of Fawna's slander to my family's lawyer, telling him to hold tight for my instructions. I also asked the hotel manager to send me the check-in records and lobby check-in videos of Lationa and Nathan. The manager informed me, "I've found records of Lationa checking in with others. Should I send those too?" I immediately replied, "Yes, send them all to me."