The Comments Knew My Fate Before I Did

My boyfriend Leon Finch was broke and cheating on me. I'd had enough.

You can't even afford a house, I snapped. We're done, you loser!

Leon blinked, then looked down. His voice was calm. Okay.

I was still surprised by how easily he agreed when the comments suddenly appeared:

[Niya is so stupid. Eve Anderson barely had to lift a finger and she's already rushing to break up with Leon. Does she have any idea he's actually the heir to a billion-dollar fortune?]

[She dumps Leon, and the next day his biological parents find him and bring him home to inherit the family empire. She's going to regret this so much.]

[When Niya finds out she's pregnant and tries to use the baby to force Leon into marrying her, she doesn't even get to see his face before she gets hit by a car and dies. LOL.]

I am Niya.

And it turns out Leon wasn't cheating. He'd been set up. Someone was deliberately trying to tear us apart.

Leon looked at me, exhausted and at his wit's end. "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want?" I shot back, my voice cracking with rage. "I should be the one asking you that!"

"I've stood by you through everything, and this is what you do behind my back. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you haven't wronged me?!"

Leon stared at me with that infuriating expression, like I was throwing a tantrum over nothing. "I'm sorry, what exactly did I do behind your back?"

"What did you do?" I laughed bitterly, grabbed his jacket off the chair, and dug into the pocket. I pulled out a red lace thong and threw it at his feet.

"You better tell me who this belongs to, or we are not done here!"

Leon looked down at it for a moment, then said with a completely straight face, "It's not mine. I don't have that kind of thing."

"...Are you serious right now?!"

[Leon actually thought Niya was accusing him of wearing women's underwear. It didn't even occur to him that she thought he was cheating. His brain works in a completely different way.]

[Leon is totally devoted to her. He genuinely didn't think about cheating at all.]

[That's not the point though, is it? The point is Niya just blurted everything out. Can they even break up smoothly now?]

Leon thought for a few seconds, and then it finally clicked. His expression shifted to something urgent. "I have no idea where that came from."

"I haven't been near any other woman today. There's no way I could have..."

And then he slowed down. His eyes moved to me, and something changed in them. Suspicion. Cold distance.

"I know things have been hard on you. If you want to break up, I won't beg you to stay. But there's no need to... do something like this."

It took me a second to understand what he was implying. I stared at him. "Do something like what?"

Was he seriously suggesting I planted that underwear in his pocket and then pretended to find it?

Leon closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were completely empty.

"You're young and pretty. You deserve better options. Let's break up."

My eyes went wide. "What did you just say?"

Leon looked away. His voice was steady. "Let's break up."

My hand flew up before I could think. The slap landed hard across his face.

I regretted it the second it happened.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but Leon had already turned and walked away, his face completely unreadable.

I was still burning with anger. "Fine! If you want to break up, then we're done!"

Leon's steps faltered for just a moment. Then he walked faster, reached the front door, and slammed it shut behind him.

I stared at the closed door. My nose stung. The tears came before I could stop them.

[I thought Eve's plan had failed, but somehow it all worked out in the end. What a twist!]

[I mean, I kind of feel like what Eve did was wrong. Niya and Leon were happy together. She didn't have to destroy that just to take his place.]

[Are you forgetting that Eve was Leon's actual fiance? If Leon hadn't been switched at birth, they would have been together all along.]

[And Niya spent her last life making everyone miserable once she got pregnant with Leon's baby. She went out of her way to provoke and humiliate Eve at every turn. Eve came back and got revenge. Seems fair to me.]

Fine. It's done.

So what?

I'm not going to fall apart over this.

That's what I told myself.

But it still hurt like hell.

I went back to the bedroom and buried my face in the pillow and sobbed until I couldn't breathe.

I don't know how long I cried. Then I heard the front door open.

I stopped crying instantly and scrambled off the bed.

I was halfway to the door before I made myself stop.

Him coming back didn't mean he was coming back to make up. He could just as easily be here to grab his things.

The thought made it worse. I took a slow breath and tried to hold myself together.

I turned to go back to the room. The bedroom door swung open from the other side.

Leon stood in the doorway, looking unhappy and a little lost in that way that only made him more attractive. I forgot, for a second, to be heartbroken.

Leon blinked. Then he held out a pizza box and two cups of coffee. "Eat something first. Then we can talk."

[I actually thought Leon was about to walk out for good. Turns out he just went downstairs, smoked a few cigarettes, and talked himself down.]

[Leon has always been the responsible type. Niya doesn't want to break up, and even if he's upset with her right now, he's not going to force the issue.]

[It doesn't matter. They'll break up eventually.]

I did my best to ignore the flood of spiteful comments and wiped my nose. "Okay."

I followed Leon into the living room.

I sat down at the table and stared at nothing.

He unpacked the food carefully, setting everything out.

I looked up. "You're not eating?"

"Already ate," Leon said flatly.

I didn't call him on the lie. I just put my head down and ate.

Leon always reached for cigarettes when he was stressed.

His hand found the pack, then stopped. He pushed it away.

"You can smoke if you want," I said.

I hated the smell, which was why he never smoked in front of me. I used to take that for granted. I didn't dare take it for granted anymore.

"Don't want to," Leon said coldly.

Fine. I didn't push it.

After a while, Leon spoke again, his voice slower, like he was thinking out loud. "I've been looking at the numbers. What I have right now is barely enough for a down payment on a small place."

"It wouldn't be anything fancy. Old building, small square footage. But if you don't mind, we could start there and trade up later."

I stopped chewing.

Leon gave me a small, crooked smile. "Didn't you always say the biggest dream of your life was to have a real home? Now you're turning your nose up at square footage?"

My throat tightened. Every wall I'd built up while he was gone came crashing down at once, and I burst into tears.

Leon panicked immediately. "Okay, forget the small place, we'll wait until we can afford something bigger"

That only made it worse. I cried harder. He looked more helpless by the second.

I gave up trying to hold it together and threw my arms around him, crying against his chest.

Leon held me tight and kept talking in a low, steady voice, over and over, patient in a way that broke me even more.

"Hey. Don't cry. We're going to have that big house someday. I promise."

[She's not completely unsympathetic, I guess. The reason she's so fixated on having a home probably has everything to do with her childhood.]

[Her sad backstory doesn't justify the way she treated Leon and Eve. Let's not make excuses for her.]

[Exactly. She might seem pitiful right now, but the second a richer guy shows up, she'll drop Leon without a second thought.]

When I was three, my parents separated.

They both moved on quickly and started new families.

For a while, I lived with my grandmother, and life was steady enough.

But after she passed, I spent years being shuffled between relatives, sleeping in spare rooms and corners of houses that weren't mine, constantly aware of how much I owed people just for being tolerated.

That was my life, until I graduated college and met Leon. For the first time, things felt stable.

I'd told him more than once that all I wanted, more than anything in the world, was a place that was truly mine.

Buying a home in this city on two regular salaries wasn't just difficult. It was almost impossible. I knew that. Leon knew that.

I'll admit that lately I'd let the housing thing consume me.

But I never once thought about breaking up with Leon over it.

I genuinely believed he had cheated on me. That's why I said what I said. I was furious, and I reacted.

And for the record I don't hold any bitterness toward the relatives who took me in. They weren't my parents. They didn't have to help me. That they did was already more than I had any right to expect.

I cried for a long time before Leon finally calmed me down.

He kissed my forehead gently and made a quiet promise. "Trust me. We're going to have that house one day."

I pressed my face against his chest. "Yeah."

Leon pulled back just far enough to look at me, and then, without any warning, he kissed me.

Things escalated quickly. We ended up in bed, and just before things went too far, his phone went off.

We both froze.

Leon grabbed it and checked the screen. A small frown crossed his face.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"My boss," Leon said, sounding pained. "Probably another dinner thing."

I wasn't happy about it either, but I gave him a nudge. "He doesn't do this for just anyone. Go."

Leon's situation with his adoptive parents had always been complicated.

He'd been pushed out into the workforce before he even finished high school, expected to bring in money for the family. They'd taken from him for years. It wasn't until he and I got together that he finally managed to put some distance between himself and their constant demands.

Leon was sharp and a fast learner, but without the right credentials or connections, he'd been stuck. His current boss had built something from nothing, and he was willing to invest in Leon. The catch was late-night dinners and networking that bled into personal time.

Leon rarely turned those down. I understood, and I supported it.

He bit my shoulder lightly in frustration. "I'm coming back to deal with you later."

I kicked him in the shin.

Leon laughed under his breath, pulled his clothes on fast, and was already on the phone with his boss as he walked out the door.

After he left, it hit me.

If Leon really is the heir to a billion-dollar empire, there's no reason for him to keep playing nice with a small-time boss.

But then again I should probably act the same way I always have. If I suddenly start behaving differently, it'll raise questions.

Then another thought hit me.

The comments mentioned I'd try to use a pregnancy to force Leon's hand.

Which meant I was probably already pregnant.

I got dressed, walked to the pharmacy near our building, and bought three different brands of pregnancy tests.

I used two of them. Both came back with two clear lines.

So it was real.

But would Leon's parents accept me?

If they didn't, would he choose me anyway?

And if he did, would he actually be in a position to fight them on it?

I had no way of knowing.

One step at a time.

I was about to go to bed when the comments exploded.

[Wait Leon's father is there too?! Is tonight actually the night Leon gets brought back into the family?]

[It seems like it! Niya literally just broke up with him earlier and now wait, didn't they make up already? Was she supposed to stay broken up with him?]

[Doesn't matter. Leon's already seen her true colors. In his heart, he's probably already done with her.]

Something cold settled in my chest.

I tried to reach Leon every way I could.

Nothing went through.

The comments went dark too.

I paced the apartment in circles, wound tight with anxiety, and finally gave up and sat on the floor with my arms wrapped around myself, crying quietly.

What was the worst case here?

The worst case was exactly what the comments said. He'd decide I was shallow and materialistic, and cut me off completely.

It wasn't like he was going to have me killed. So why did it feel so terrifying?

But then what about the baby?

Have it in secret and let the child spend their whole life as someone Leon never acknowledges?

Or use the pregnancy to pressure him into paying me off? Some kind of deal where I disappear in exchange for enough money to last a lifetime?

I didn't think I could do either of those things.

Which only left one option.

Take care of it myself.

Even though I'd already prepared myself for the worst, I couldn't bring myself to act immediately. There was still some small part of me holding on to hope. So I waited. I told myself I was giving Leon time to finish whatever was happening with his family before reaching out.

He never reached out.

What I got instead was the news that Leon had hurt someone during a blackout and was facing serious time.

His boss called me. He said Leon was looking at around ten years. He told me he felt terrible, and that he was giving me fifty thousand dollars as compensation.

He said he hoped I'd wait for Leon. But the way he said it, the pauses, the careful phrasing he was clearly telling me to take the money and go.

I wasn't planning to play along. Then the comments appeared:

[If Niya's smart, she takes the money and disappears. Otherwise Eve is not going to let this go.]

[What can Eve actually do though? She can't exactly have Niya killed.]

[You seriously think the car accident in the original story was an accident? Ha.]

Eve had money and power. What was I supposed to do?

I took the fifty thousand and I left.

I was on my way back to my hometown when something nagged at me. Something felt off.

Eve had been through this all before. She knew about the baby.

There was no reason she'd chase me out and leave the pregnancy untouched.

It didn't take long to figure out.

Under normal circumstances, a woman like me selfish, materialistic, no real attachment would never keep the baby after Leon was arrested. Nobody would have to pressure me. I'd go straight to the clinic on my own.

So if I didn't do it voluntarily, what came next was probably a very carefully arranged accident.

One that looked like bad luck.

Fatal for two.

I didn't have a choice.

If I wanted to survive, I had to do exactly what Eve expected. I had to be the woman they thought I was, and I had to end the pregnancy myself.

I made the appointment.

The morning of the procedure, I was sitting outside the operating room waiting to be called in when I felt it. A pressure. Like something dangerous pointed directly at me.

I looked up.

Leon was walking toward me. His face was dark. His eyes were red.

How was he here?

I scrambled to my feet, backing away without thinking.

He kept coming, closing the distance, his voice shaking with controlled fury. "Niya. You couldn't wait to take the money and run. And now you're here to get rid of my child. Do you have even a shred of conscience left?"

My back hit the wall.

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

I wanted to explain. I didn't know where to start.

[Eve is a genius. She engineered the whole thing got Niya to take the money, run, and then show up here so even if Leon still had feelings for her, there's no coming back from this. Truly brutal.]

[Exactly. Making Leon see her "true self" is so much better than anything physical. No laws broken, and Niya doesn't become some tragic memory he can never get over.]

---

I thought Leon would be too angry to stop the procedure.

He didn't stop it.

He reversed it.

He said he wanted the baby born. Just not me.

"Have the baby. I'll give you ten million dollars. After that, we're strangers."

I forced my face into something that looked like a smile and blinked the tears back. "Sure."

Ten million dollars.

At my salary, I'd be working sixty years straight without spending a cent to save that much.

Only a fool would say no.

Leon looked angrier, his chest rising and falling hard. But he didn't blow up.