The Stand-In: My Life As An Understudy

I'm the most hot-tempered stand-in by Emily Kelley's side. When she smiled at another guy, I smashed her million-dollar car. When she had dinner with a man, I set her multi-million-dollar mansion on fire. Everyone thought Emily would kick me out in anger, but instead, she fell even more in love with me. It turned out my arrogant, jealous attitude was exactly like the lost love she couldn't forget. I spent eight years with her, turning a spoiled heiress into a devoted girlfriend who texts back instantly and apologizes at the first sign of trouble. We were about to get married. My friends envied how well I had trained her and thought we would live happily ever after. But on the day we were supposed to get our license, I waited for her at the city hall for hours—only to find out she had married her first love instead. When I arrived at the wedding, Emily looked at me with complicated eyes and apologized. "You should know you were just a stand-in. I never loved you. Now that my one true love is back, it's time for you to go." As I walked toward the altar, the guests backed away in fear, worried I might lose control. I looked at my system screen, which showed they had already gotten married, and calmly handed her the bouquet. "Got it. Wish you happiness. Have a good life." No one knew that all my jealous tantrums and drama were just me completing missions assigned by the system. Now that she and her first love are finally married, my mission is complete. I can finally go home. This game is over.

After a falling out with my long-distance boyfriend, I decide to secretly fly home to patch things up with him. Unexpectedly, I catch him fooling around at home with his secretary. "Do you need to be so mad? I only got someone to act as your stand-in. Ultimately, you're still the one I love." I listen to his preposterous lies and hide my stomach cancer diagnosis behind my back. I say, "It's not a bad idea to gather more of these fakes. You won't be too upset when I'm dead." But after I die, he loses his mind when he looks at his secretary's face.

For eight years, I was James Carter's secretary and secret lover. Eight years of giving him my heart completely. I truly believed he loved me back - he was always tender and attentive when we were intimate, seemingly caring about my every need and desire. But then I overheard him telling others, "She's nothing but a stand-in, just someone to satisfy my physical needs when I'm bored. Did you really think I would marry her?" In that moment, I finally found the strength to let go and stop loving him. I handed in my resignation and walked away from it all. Yet after my whirlwind marriage to someone else, why did he suddenly start searching for me desperately across the city? Now he's here with tears in his eyes, claiming I'm the one he truly loves? Wasn't I just his convenient replacement all along?

A wealthy heiress from Belvoria’s elite circle asked me to be her dead boyfriend’s substitute. My compensation included a 50,000-dollar base salary, plus 8,000 dollars per shared meal and 10,000 dollars per accompanying shopping trip. My hypocritical older sister quickly stopped me from agreeing to this deal. “We come from a respectable family. How can you sell your dignity for such little money?” Yet she later became a rich man's mistress and successfully married into wealth. Meanwhile, I struggled to balance work and studies to pay for my tuition. This hurt my academic performance. After graduation, I could only find a job with a monthly salary of 3,000 dollars. I even developed a tumor from overworking. I eventually died in a cold and impersonal hospital, unable to afford treatment. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day the young heiress asked me to be her dead boyfriend’s substitute. This time, I agreed without hesitation. I was determined to take this role.

Three weeks. One lie. No way out. Zara Mitchell needed money. Not eventually. Not soon. Now. So when a private agency offers her a short-term role with a life-changing payout, she signs before asking the right questions. She expects a promotional job. A quiet appearance. Something forgettable. Instead, she’s driven across the city and introduced as Callum Arch’s wife. Cold. Controlled. Untouchable. Callum doesn’t ask. He decides. The contract is simple: Play the role. Convince his dying grandmother. Disappear when it’s over. No attachments. No mistakes. No contradictions. But nothing about this arrangement is simple. Because someone is watching. Someone who knows Zara’s secrets before she speaks them. Someone who was there before she arrived. Someone who doesn’t lose. And when Zara’s name hits the headlines, she realizes too late. She was never hired to play the game. She was placed inside it.

I only meant to spite my ex. I didn’t mean to blow up my entire life. Catching my boyfriend cheating backstage was the script from hell. Kissing the first guy I saw to prove I didn't care? That was just bad acting. But I didn't know the "stranger" was Cole Donovan, the campus’s resident tech genius who’s about as emotional as a calculator. Now, a video of that kiss is sitting in my mother’s inbox. She’s gone from "divorced" to "devout," and if I don't prove this mystery guy is my serious, respectable boyfriend, she’s pulling my tuition. I have forty-eight hours to track down a man I don't know, convince him to lie to my mother, and hope he doesn't realize how desperate I actually am. But Cole Donovan doesn't do favors, and he definitely doesn't do drama. I’m an actress, but this is one role I never rehearsed for. And if I can’t convince the campus’s coldest genius to play along, my mother is pulling me out of theater, and my dream is over before the final curtain.