During the two months that I was away for a competition, my neighbors insulted me in the neighborhood’s common group chat.

[The girl living on the ninth floor, you look like a decent girl. Why are you bringing so many men back home every day?]

[Can you moan a little softer? I don’t care if you’re a sex worker, but if you keep making loud noises until midnight, don’t blame me for calling the police!]

[Don’t call the police yet. I haven’t had my turn. How much are you charging, Charlene?]

My heart sank.

Before I left for my competition, I had asked my boyfriend, Jacob Smith, to take care of my luxury river-view apartment. That way, he could keep an eye on my expensive paintings.

What was happening?

I rushed home in confusion, but when I opened the door, I was further dumbfounded.

My 3,000-square-foot apartment had been partitioned into 30 rooms. Meanwhile, Jacob’s childhood friend, Prissy Black, was holding a string of keys as she collected rent money.

When they saw me, everyone started laughing.

“What? Are you here to rent from Prissy after learning that she’s providing cheap rooms in such a pristine location?

“Too bad everyone knows that you’re eyeing her boyfriend. You won’t be able to benefit from doing such a thing!”

I was extremely furious as I approached Jacob to talk about it.

However, he told me that it was Prissy’s dream to be a landlady. He asked me not to pay it any mind and to treat it as doing a good deed.

“You’re rich anyway. Don’t be so calculative. Everyone’s happy now, so what’s wrong with that?”

The keys tinkled in Prissy’s hand as if they were taunting me.

“This house doesn’t welcome stray animals like you. You have yourself to blame for not having such a nice boyfriend.”

The two of them acted all lovey-dovey in front of me, and I immediately called the police.

“Someone’s trespassing on my property, and my painting that’s worth 15 million dollars has gone missing. What type of punishment would this entail?”

Was this even still my home?

I had hired famous architects to design it, and it was all ruined. My furniture that cost millions of dollars had gone missing. Prissy was walking through the narrow corridor with a string of keys in her hand and collecting rent money.

When she saw me, she sneered. “Charlene, why are you here at my rental apartment?”

I was shocked.

“You did this?”

Prissy glanced at me and shook the keys before my eyes. It was as if she feared I would not see them.

“What? Aside from me, who else would be so nice?”

When she said that, many people popped out of the rooms and praised her for being beautiful and kind.

“If Prissy hadn’t felt bad for us for staying in our school hostel without air-conditioning and kindly rented us her place, we wouldn’t have been able to stay in such a comfortable and luxurious place!”

“That’s right. She’s only asking for 200 dollars a month. She’s really serving the people!”

“I heard that Jacob gifted Prissy this place. Charlene, both of them find you annoying. Why are you here?”

I was livid.

Why was I there?

I kicked the fragile door of the partitioned room and yelled, “This is my house! All of you, get out!”

Everyone fell silent, but immediately after, they burst into laughter.

“Are you crazy, Charlene? Have you forgotten who you are after being a sugar baby for two months?”

I pointed at myself in bewilderment.

“Me? A sugar baby?”

Prissy sized me up with a judgmental gaze.

“Why are you pretending otherwise? Everyone knows that you couldn’t get Jacob, so you became someone else’s mistress!”

My ears were ringing with anger.

“Stop insulting me! I was away for a competition!”

Prissy sneered and immediately pulled up my social media page.

“How would a poor student like you have money for a competition? Don’t you realize that you forgot to set your lovey-dovey posts private? If you don’t want this to blow up, get out of my house!”

I looked at the photo on her phone screen. It showed me and my father having a meal together while I passed through his city.

Prissy laughed when she saw my dumbfounded expression.

“Charlene, we have dirt on you. I want you to stay out of Jacob’s sight forever. If you understand what I’m saying, you should get lost now!”

I took a deep breath and slapped her.

“This is my house! You’re the ones who should be leaving! Not only are you leaving, but you’re also turning my house back to the way it was. Otherwise, I’ll sue you and make sure none of you can graduate!”

Prissy’s face turned sideways from the slap. She immediately widened her eyes in anger as she launched herself at me to hit me.

“How dare you, Charlene?! Everyone knows that Jacob gifted me this apartment! How dare you say that it’s yours?!”

She looked around after she spoke.

“Why are all of you just watching? Don’t you want to stay in a luxury apartment for only 200 dollars a month? If you don’t, you can move back to your dorms!”

The students trembled when she yelled at them, and they instantly started rebuking me.

“Charlene, Prissy is Jacob’s girlfriend now. His family’s rich and powerful. If you offend her, no one can save you!”

“Just apologize to Prissy. She’s rich, while you’re just a lowly mistress. I’m afraid that even your sugar daddy won’t help you out. How dare you hit her?”

They pushed me, and I fell onto the floor. My head landed sideways, and I could see the insides of the tiny rooms from this angle.

Every room had a small bed and table, but that was not what caught my eye.

What drew my attention were the old paintings that I had bought with a lot of money for my collection. They were being used to prop up the shaky tables!

My heart pounded against my chest, and I immediately stood up. Grabbing a broom next to me, I pointed it at the crowd and spoke fiercely. “I’m not letting this go! Those paintings are worth tens of millions of dollars! All of you will have to go to prison for this!”

Prissy rolled her eyes, as she was not afraid at all.

“You’ve really gone insane. I’ve told you many times that Jacob gifted me this apartment. Why don’t you understand?”

I glared at her and gritted my teeth. Then, I took out my cell phone and called Jacob on speaker.

“I’m calling him now. I’d like to see if he dares to admit to giving you this apartment!”

All the students gasped when they saw how serious I was.

“It doesn’t seem like Charlene’s lying. Are we in trouble?”

“That can’t be. If this really is Charlene’s house, Jacob wouldn’t have dared to post that advertisement and get everyone to stay here.”

I was also curious about where Jacob had gotten the nerve to do such a thing.

When he answered the call, I immediately questioned him, “Jacob, what’s going on with my house? Come over right now and give me an explanation!”

“What house? I’m busy. Talk later.”

He hung up right after, and my hand trembled as I held my phone.

He was a poor student, and he was using my money for his expenses. How dare he do such a thing?

Prissy sneered upon seeing this and took out her cell phone too. She put it on speaker and called Jacob.

He answered her call almost instantly.

“What’s going on, my princess?”

Prissy raised an eyebrow in smug satisfaction at me and smiled.

“It’s nothing. Someone just barged into my place and claimed that it’s hers. Isn’t that funny?”

Jacob snorted and laughed.

“There are many jealous people out there. Don’t worry, Prissy. I gave you the apartment, so no one can take it away from you.”

I could not take it anymore and snatched Prissy’s phone from her.

“Jacob, how are you so shameless?”

He cursed over the phone and ended the call again.

Prissy looked annoyed.

“I was talking to Jacob. Who allowed you to speak?

“Charlene, can’t you tell that he dislikes you? Why are you still sticking to us like a piece of gum? We’re officially a couple now. Do you love being a mistress so much?”

Even though I could roughly tell what had happened, I sneered and called the police.

“I don’t care what lies Jacob has told you, but this apartment is mine.

“You’ve ruined my furnishings and treated my expensive paintings as waste. Just wait for prison.”

Seeing that I was about to dial for the police, Prissy snatched my phone and threw it on the floor.

After that, she rushed into one of the rooms to retrieve something and threw it at my head.

“Are you done? Charlene, for the sake of everyone’s comfort, I didn’t want to argue with you. But have a look at the name on the deed!”

The document hit my eyes, which welled up involuntarily with tears.

However, what surprised me more was the name on the deed.

Prissy’s name was clearly written on it.

I was puzzled since I had only entrusted Jacob to take care of my apartment.

How did he manage to change the apartment’s ownership to Prissy?

I was still confused, but the students were fed up.

“Charlene, you’re such a bully! Only Prissy can stand your nonsense. If this were my house, I would’ve already punched you!”

“You kept saying that this apartment was yours. Now that Prissy’s showed us evidence, you should apologize to her!”

Without thinking, I shook my arms free from two students who had stepped forward to grab me.

“This deed is fake!”

Just as I spoke, Prissy slapped me.

“Why are you so stubborn? Apologize to me now!”

Someone kicked me in the shin, and I was caught off guard.

I fell onto the floor, and everyone started cheering.

“You should be begging for Prissy’s forgiveness!”

Everyone seemed thrilled, as though it was their wish to force me into begging.

Just then, Jacob appeared at the door.

“Charlene, when did you get back? Why didn’t you tell me? What’s going on here?”