See the Truth

Suddenly, I could see everyone’s true identity.
My best friend’s rich boyfriend had the words “Married Man, Ten Million in Debt” floating over his head.
My own broke boyfriend? “Missing Heir to the Richest Family in the Country.”
Right at that moment, my best friend was in the middle of a lecture, trying to convince me to break up with him.
“It’s better to be a rich man’s mistress than a poor man’s wife,” she insisted.
“Good looks don’t pay the bills.”
“Your boyfriend could work his entire life and still not afford the toilet in my husband’s house.”

1
In the lavishly decorated Western restaurant, my best friend’s boyfriend, Jason, casually flipped through the menu.
“Two orders of the M9 Wagyu Beef Wellington. The meat’s incredibly tender here.”
“And two of the seared foie gras with sea urchin and caviar.”
“The charcoal-grilled blue lobster… that’s a pretty big portion, so one should be enough.”
With every item he named, the color drained a little more from my face and from my boyfriend, Fred’s.
I stared down at the menu, a cold sweat breaking out on my back.
The steak was 0-0,388 an order. The foie gras was $798. The blue lobster was a staggering $2,688.
Add in the appetizers, salads, and desserts… dinner tonight was going to cost well over ten thousand dollars.
And tonight, it was our turn to pay.
Jason was my best friend Maya’s new boyfriend. They hadn’t been dating long before she excitedly insisted on a double date. Last week, Jason and Maya had treated us to a hot pot dinner. When it was time to pay, Jason conveniently got a call from a major client. He rushed out to meet them, and Maya ended up paying the bill.
With my coupon.
My company had a partnership with the hot pot place, and they’d given us a few $200 gift certificates for the holidays. You could use one per meal. I remembered it clearly: after the coupon, the total came to $360.

2
Fred is a firm believer in returning a favor. Since they had treated us, it was only right that we treat them back.
When I suggested it to Maya, Jason had waved his hand with a magnanimous smile. “Hey, we’re all friends here. No need to be so formal.”
Then he immediately called and booked a table at this restaurant.
What were his exact words? “You don’t have to take us anywhere fancy. Just a casual meal is fine.”
His idea of “casual” was a dinner that would cost me two months’ salary.
After setting down the food menu, Jason picked up the wine list.
“This restaurant owns its own vineyard in France. Their reds are exceptional. You have to try one.”
“Let’s go with this Grenache. It’s got a rich, fruity body with a crisp, oaky finish.”
Under the table, Fred’s hand tightened on mine.
My heart gave a violent lurch.
That bottle of wine cost $39,888.
Fred and I had just graduated from college this year. We’d landed decent jobs at good companies, but we were still just interns. I made $5,600 a month; he made $6,800. We both came from rural, working-class families. We had fought our way to this metropolis through sheer academic grit.
But the cost of living in the city was crushing. And the weight on our shoulders was immense. My mother’s health was poor, so I sent half my salary home every month for her medicine. Fred’s income had to cover our food, transportation, and rent. After six months of scrimping and saving, we had managed to put away just over $30,000.
Thirty thousand dollars. In a rich man’s restaurant, that wasn’t even enough to buy a single bottle of wine.

3
The wine and food would be at least fifty thousand. Was I supposed to take out a payday loan to treat them to dinner?
Maya leaned against her boyfriend’s shoulder, her face glowing with happiness. “Jason, how do you know so much about all this?”
“Thank you for showing us this world. I would have never dared to step into a place like this on my own.”
I was torn. My rational mind was screaming at me not to bankrupt myself just to save face. But my heart ached at the thought of embarrassing my best friend.
Just as I was hesitating, the waiter collected the menus and turned to leave.
Fred suddenly looked up. “Excuse me,” he called out. “We’d like to cancel that order.”
“I bought a group deal for this restaurant online. We’ll just have that set menu, please.”
A wave of relief washed over me. I gave Fred a mental thumbs-up. He had said what I was too afraid to say.
But Maya’s expression changed in an instant.
She shot to her feet, her voice high and shrill. “Fred, what is the meaning of this?”
“Jason is only having dinner with you two because of me! You won’t even let him order what he wants? Are you trying to humiliate me?”
She then whirled on me. “Anna! I told you to stop digging through the trash for a boyfriend!”
The other diners were all staring at us. The situation was excruciatingly awkward.
So awkward, in fact, that I started to hallucinate.
What the hell?
Why was there a line of glowing text floating above everyone’s head?

4
I rubbed my eyes hard.
The text was still there, bigger and clearer than before.
Jason pulled Maya back down, patting her shoulder with an air of good-natured patience. “Don’t be angry, honey. It’s my fault. This is just what I normally eat. I didn’t realize the prices would be a bit steep for them.”
“How about this,” he continued. “We’ll skip the wine, but let’s keep the rest of the food.”
Maya was a mess of distress and indignation. “How can we do that? You always like a little drink after dinner. I can’t let you change your habits for me.”
The waiter stood there, holding the menu, looking utterly confused.
Fred held out his phone. “I’m paying, so you’ll listen to me. We’ll have the group deal set menu. Here’s the voucher.”
Maya jumped up again, furious. “Forget it! Who wants your stupid group deal? I can’t stand you broke losers. Jason, let’s go!”
The group deal wasn’t exactly cheap. It was 0-0,288—a month’s worth of groceries for Fred and me.

5
They stormed out, leaving Fred and me staring at each other, with the bewildered waiter still standing beside our table.
“Sir, should I still bring out the food?”
I tilted my head up, squinting to read the text above his head: “Working Four Jobs to Survive.”
Fred shook his head. “No, that’s alright. Thank you.”
He then took my hand, his expression uncertain. “Anna, let’s go home?” he asked tentatively.
I looked at him, really looked at him.
Fred and I had been classmates in high school and college. In high school, he was the unattainable, handsome loner that every girl had a crush on. But right now, the text above his head was far more captivating than his handsome face.
“Missing Heir to the Richest Family in the Country.”
Did that mean what I thought it meant?
As a devoted reader of web novels, I was very familiar with tropes like special abilities, system interfaces, and reincarnation. Could these words be… my superpower? The ability to see everyone’s true identity?
I craned my neck, my eyes wide with excitement, and scanned the room.
“Soon-to-be Bankrupt Heir.”
“Housewife Addicted to Cheating.”
“Pervert Who Likes Taking Upskirt Photos.”
“Fugitive with a $500,000 Bounty.”
Wait a minute.
$500,000?

6
A whirlwind of nerves, excitement, doubt, and shock played across my face, scaring the hell out of Fred.
He stood up, flustered, and started stammering an explanation. “Anna, I know what I did was embarrassing. But fifty thousand dollars… that’s enough to pay for your mom’s medicine for two years. I just couldn’t bring myself to spend it on one meal.”
“Saving face is temporary. Living our lives responsibly is what matters. Please don’t be mad at me, okay?”
I barely heard a word he said. My attention was entirely fixed on the fugitive.
He was sitting in a corner, cutting into a steak. He wore large, black-framed glasses that obscured half his face, and his hat was pulled down low. When he heard the commotion from our table, he glanced over briefly before quickly looking away.
“I’m just going to the restroom.”
I tossed the words over my shoulder at Fred and walked towards the restrooms with a straight back, feigning nonchalance.
Once inside a stall, I immediately dialed 911.
There was a police station just a few blocks from the restaurant.
I composed my face and walked out of the restaurant, then quickly ducked around a corner, my eyes glued to the entrance.
Fred followed me, his face a mixture of worry and confusion. “Anna, what are you doing? Let’s just go home. I can make you some noodles.”
“Shh, be quiet!” I clamped a hand over his mouth, my gaze never leaving the glass doors.
Fred looked puzzled, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He just stood there quietly, waiting with me.
The police arrived faster than I expected. Within five minutes, the restaurant was surrounded by squad cars.
When the fugitive was led out in handcuffs, I saw the text above his head change: “Fugitive Apprehended.”

7
The whole night felt like a dream.
Fred went with me to the police station to give a statement, and I signed the “Bounty Claim Confirmation” form.
The female officer who took my statement was incredibly friendly. “Thanks to your timely call, we caught him just in time. He had a knife on him. His plan was to have one last nice meal, kill a few rich people, and then kill himself.”
“You didn’t just help us catch a criminal; you saved several lives. The reward money should be in your bank account in about a week.”
$500,000. Just like that.
Fred was so excited his face was flushed, and he walked out of the station with a clumsy, uncoordinated gait.
“Anna, you’re a genius! How did you know that guy was a fugitive?”
I grinned and took his hand. “I’m just broke. When I have nothing to do, I scroll through wanted lists, hoping to get lucky and spot one. And what do you know, I actually did!”
After the initial euphoria wore off, Fred finally calmed down. He cupped my face in his hands, his eyes full of concern. “Anna, you don’t have to push yourself so hard. I’ll work hard to give you a good life. What you did was so dangerous. What if he had noticed you?”
I looked at the brightly glowing words above his head and thought, damn, this man is handsome.
On the way home, Fred lectured me about the risks, imagining a hundred different ways it could have gone wrong. His worrying nearly put me to sleep.
So much had happened that I had completely forgotten about Maya. Fred, exhausted, fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I, on the other hand, stayed up half the night on my phone, researching the richest man in the country. The more I looked, the more confused I became.
The billionaire’s last name was Sterling. He was a self-made man who started as a construction foreman and made his first fortune in real estate. But according to all reports, he only had one very private daughter. There was no mention of a son.
And Fred… he didn’t look anything like Mr. Sterling.

8
The next morning, I was woken by a furious pounding on the door.
I glanced at my phone. It was almost noon. Fred had already left for work. To make extra money, he had taken a weekend job, spinning like a top with no days off. On the table was the breakfast he had made for me.
Bang! Bang, bang!
The knocking continued, as if someone was trying to break the door down.
I hurried to open it and was met with Maya’s fiery, enraged eyes.
“Anna! It’s the middle of the day!”
Above her head floated a few shimmering golden words.
“Hopeless Romantic.”
It was fitting. Maya was indeed a hopeless romantic, with a vast and varied dating history. In high school, she fell for her tutor. During college orientation, she fell for her drill instructor. After graduation, it was a senior colleague at her internship. She even managed to fall in love with her personal trainer at the gym.
She met Jason because he was a major client for her company. She worked at an ad agency, and her boss had put her in charge of a new project. Before the project made any headway, she and Jason were already a couple.

9
“Anna, you need to break up with Fred. Right now!”
Maya stormed into the apartment without even taking off her shoes, planted herself on the sofa with her hands on her hips, and glared at me.
“I told you not to date a poor man, but you wouldn’t listen! What are you keeping him around for? A man who needs a group deal coupon to eat out? For God’s sake, have some standards!”
Her baseless tirade completely soured my good mood.
My face hardened. “Maya, what happened yesterday was Jason’s fault, wasn’t it? He knew we’re just regular office workers. Why did he order such an expensive bottle of wine? Anyone with manners knows you don’t order the most expensive thing on the menu when someone else is treating. It’s basic etiquette.”
Normally, when someone is treating you, you politely pick something moderately priced and let the host take the lead. But Jason? He ordered the most expensive items without a second thought for whether we could afford it.
Maya rolled her eyes and sneered. “What are you trying to say, Anna? Jason was just being nice! He was afraid you country bumpkins wouldn’t know how to order in a fancy restaurant, so he did it for you! Instead of thanking him, you’re turning it around on him. You’re not just poor, you’re petty too!”
I couldn’t stand her constant use of the word “poor.” What was wrong with being poor? We didn’t steal or cheat. We worked hard for our money. We had never taken a single penny from anyone.

10
She wasn’t always like this.
Maya and I had been best friends since kindergarten. We were in the same class through elementary, middle, and high school. We only separated when we went to different colleges.
When we were kids, my parents worked long hours and often weren’t home until late. Maya would always invite me over for dinner and share her secret stash of snacks with me. The Maya I remembered was warm, kind, and loyal.
When had she become this person?
“Alright, alright, stop with the long face,” she snapped. “You’re breaking up with Fred, and I’ve already found your next boyfriend for you. He’s a friend of Jason’s, a multimillionaire. Go change. You’re having lunch with him.”
I almost laughed out loud.
I was about to retort when the door opened and Jason walked in, a look of disdain on his face.
“Maya, what’s taking so long? Mr. Liu will be here at eleven. We can’t keep him waiting.”
Maya’s face instantly broke into a flirtatious smile. “Jason, what are you doing here? We’ll be ready in a minute.”
She turned and glared at me. “What are you waiting for? Go get changed! Wear that white dress you wore for your birthday. You look good in that one.”

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