A Masterpiece of Spite
By @john1208
I handed over my last stack of cash to a landlord missing half an ear. The deal was struck: the smog-choked warehouse in the heart of Mekara was mine, no questions asked. After my ex sabotaged my career and claimed my magnum opus as his own, I needed a chaotic, anonymous metropolis to spark my stalled comeback project and plot his absolute ruin. I didn’t plan on sharing the rooftop with Soran, a brooding, camera-toting drifter capturing the city's neon grit. Over three months of dodging monsoons and eating street food, my frozen, vindictive heart slowly thaws. It’s the perfect, low-stakes escapism. But when my secret sculpture is finished, I return to high-society Breccon to spring my trap at a mutual friend's wedding - only to spill champagne on Soran, who is suddenly wearing a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo. As my ex’s spies close in, I find a hidden, time-locked digital diary. It proves I didn't choose Mekara spontaneously. My past, heartbroken self wiped her own memory and manipulated me into coming here, knowing Soran was the vital key to ruining my ex. If my own past played me, can I trust the feelings I have for the man standing in front of me?
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