Turns out, my boss had popped open his home security app just to check if his cat was eating on schedule. No cat in sight. Instead, he got front-row seats to his own betrayal. And the worst part? The guy currently wrecking his relationship was my boyfriend.

When the meeting wrapped, Tan Ran and I sat frozen in our seats. Both of us looked like we’d just come back from a funeral. Some people go to work to earn a paycheck; I go to work to watch myself get cheated on in real-time.

To make matters worse, my boss and I were cheated on on the exact same day, in the exact same location. This wasn’t fate—this was pure cursed energy.

Now, Tan Ran wasn’t like those over-the-top dominant CEOs you read about in romance novels. You know the type: gets cheated on, immediately quits working, drowns his sorrows in whiskey, and casually buys out his rival’s company. My boss? He got cuckolded and kept right on working overtime like nothing happened.

Ah, the immaculate work ethic of the capitalist elite. As his executive secretary, I had no choice but to grind right alongside him, channeling my heartbreak into sheer productivity. We threw ourselves into the proposal.

Then again, Tan Ran paid me a fortune. So what if I didn’t get to rip Xu Nam limb from limb? A seven-figure salary cures all wounds. Money might not buy happiness, but it was more than enough to make me forget my cheating ex in about three seconds flat.

Three days later, after we finally wrapped the proposal, my CEO finally found time to grieve. He dragged me out to a divey roadside grill. Watching a guy who owned a multi-million-dollar estate and a eight-figure luxury car roast pork belly on a tiny portable stove made one thing crystal clear: love really can drag a man down from a penthouse straight to the pavement.

Two shots of hard liquor in, Tan Ran’s tear ducts burst like a broken dam. He threw his arms around me, sobbing hysterically and rambling about the great love he’d lost. At first, I gave him side-eyes and sat up straight, lighting a cigarette while listening to his pity party. But halfway through, he somehow tricked me into knocking back a few drinks with him.

The end result? I have zero recollection of how we stumbled arm-in-arm into a hotel, and even less idea how we ended up tangled in the sheets. All I knew was that when I woke up the next morning, the damage was done.

The tension in the hotel room was thick enough to cut with a knife. I’d just thrown my clothes on and was preparing to make a discrete getaway when Tan Ran’s deep, raspy voice rasped from behind me:

“Planning to hit it and quit it?”

I whipped around to find him leaning up on one elbow, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

“I didn’t realize Secretary Luong was the type to put her pants on and act like a stranger. Are you really not going to take responsibility for me?”

I froze. Since when did the brooding CEO script get flipped to the secretary ravaging him and pulling a hit-and-run? Staring at his aggrieved expression, I wasn’t prepared for him to drop the ultimate ultimatum:

“By law, men have rights when they’ve been taken advantage of too. Take responsibility, or spend some quality time behind bars. Your choice.”

I lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and accepted my fate. “I’ll take responsibility.”

Four little words. That was all I said. Yet in the blink of an eye, I was staring at a shiny new marriage certificate. Me—Luong Vi To—had managed to get hustled into marrying my boss all because I had a few too many drinks.

Lying on Tan Ran’s ridiculously expensive eight-figure mattress, my head was still spinning. How had I gone from a single executive secretary to my boss’s legal wife after a single order of street BBQ?

I had to admit, though—an expensive mattress really does hit different. The second you sink in, your ex completely vanishes from your mind.

Just as I was lost in thought, Tan Ran stepped out of the bathroom with a towel low around his waist. Water droplets slid down his toned, chiseled torso. The sight sent a flash of heat straight to my ears.

He tilted his head, licking his lips with a low chuckle. “Wanna go another round?”

I swallowed hard and stiffened my neck. “We’re legal now. Why the hell not?”

That night, I learned the true meaning of “life in the fast lane.”

In the middle of the night, the buzzing of a phone woke us up. Tan Ran answered groggily. On the other end, Xu Nam’s voice came through, thick and slurred with booze:

“To To, why aren’t you home yet?”

I snapped wide awake. Holy crap. I’d been so slammed with overtime that I’d totally forgotten to dump him!

Tan Ran went silent for two seconds before lazying out, “Calling my wife at midnight? Don’t you think that’s a bit rude?”

Dead silence on the line. Then a sudden roar: “Who the fuck are you?! To To is my girlfriend!”

The corners of Tan Ran’s lips curled into a smug smile. “Luong Vi To registered our marriage with me this morning. Call her again, and I’ll break your legs.”

He enunciated “my wife” with petty, deliberate relish before hanging up, leaving Xu Nam screaming into the void.

I gave him a sheepish, apologetic look. “I was just… way too busy with that proposal…”

Tan Ran let out a soft laugh. “Secretary Luong, you really are a master player… too bad this fish voluntarily jumped right into my pond.”