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I Won’t Be Part of His Bet with Her
Novelix
new
Completed
"My boyfriend, Julian, was insanely controlling. He wouldn’t let me get my nails done, perm or dye my hair, or wear short skirts. Even makeup had to get his permission first. Sometimes I got upset about it, and Julian would soften his voice to coax me. “I’m just scared someone else will steal you away.” “Isn’t it good to be a little ordinary and stay by my side forever?” Whenever I remembered that his ex-girlfriend had dumped him and left him insecure, I always gave in. Until I saw a post on X. “I made a bet with my ex. If he can date some plain, frumpy girl for three years, I’ll agree to get back together with him.” “He’s super into pretty faces, but for me, he’s almost made it three years.” “The funniest part is, he won’t let her get her nails done, perm her hair, wear short skirts, or put on makeup.” The next second, a photo appeared in the comments. The man in the photo was Julian. The girl whose hand he held tightly was his beautifully dressed ex-girlfriend, Cora. So Julian didn’t want me to be prettier. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at the version of myself he had slowly dulled, inch by inch. From now on, I would no longer be a piece in their little betting game."
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
My boyfriend, Julian, was insanely controlling.
He wouldn’t let me get my nails done, perm or dye my hair, or wear short skirts.
Even makeup had to get his permission first.
Sometimes I got upset about it, and Julian would soften his voice to coax me.
“I’m just scared someone else will steal you away.”
“Isn’t it good to be a little ordinary and stay by my side forever?”
Whenever I remembered that his ex-girlfriend had dumped him and left him insecure, I always gave in.
Until I saw a post on X.
“I made a bet with my ex. If he can date some plain, frumpy girl for three years, I’ll agree to get back together with him.”
“He’s super into pretty faces, but for me, he’s almost made it three years.”
“The funniest part is, he won’t let her get her nails done, perm her hair, wear short skirts, or put on makeup.”
The next second, a photo appeared in the comments.
The man in the photo was Julian.
The girl whose hand he held tightly was his beautifully dressed ex-girlfriend, Cora.
So Julian didn’t want me to be prettier.
I stood in front of the mirror and looked at the version of myself he had slowly dulled, inch by inch.
From now on, I would no longer be a piece in their little betting game.
…
When Julian came home, his gaze swept over my hair, and he frowned on instinct.
“You need a haircut. It’s almost half an inch past your shoulders.”
We had been together almost three years, and Julian had never let me grow my hair long.
He said, “I love shoulder-length hair the most. It’s cute.”
So I cut off my long hair without hesitation.
I thought he really liked it.
Turns out he only thought a shoulder-length bob was frumpy enough to keep Cora at ease.
I looked up at him, my voice calm.
“I’m growing my hair out from now on.”
Julian stared at me, a little stunned.
“What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you always love short hair?”
“No. I never liked it.”
He gave a light laugh and patted the top of my head like he was humoring me.
“Little frump, what are you sulking about now?”
Before I could answer, he took out his phone and snapped a picture of me.
Then he sent it to someone, his fingers typing fast.
“Third day from the end of my countdown of staying with the little frump.”
He scrolled up and down.
Only then did I realize he took a picture of me every single day and sent it to Cora.
To prove that he really was enduring a relationship with someone as ordinary as me.
Julian and Cora chatted back and forth.
Every now and then, he glanced at me like he was inspecting me.
All at once, I felt exhausted.
Julian didn’t know.
Before I got together with him, I studied fashion design.
I knew very well how to dress myself. When he pursued me, I had only dressed casually because I was busy with my graduation defense.
Back in the bedroom, I drafted a reply.
“I’d like to join your studio. I can start in three days.”
Chapter 2
In the middle of the night, I was woken by a faint rustling sound.
I opened my eyes.
Cora, the woman from the photo, stood at the foot of my bed with a pair of scissors in her hand.
I realized something, reached up to touch my hair, and shot upright.
When Julian saw my hair, he couldn’t help laughing out loud.
“Sorry, Wren.”
“Cora lost a party game. Her punishment was to go to her ex-boyfriend’s house and cut his current girlfriend’s hair. Just be cool about it.”
In the mirror, the hair I had planned to grow out had become a hacked-up, ear-length mess.
Julian laughed and teased me.
“Wren, honestly, that style’s pretty good on you. Why didn’t I think of it sooner? I should’ve had you switch to this ages ago.”
Cora laughed too.
“Julian must really love you. He managed to date you for three years looking like this. So touching.”
Julian, who had been laughing, suddenly darkened.
His eyes locked straight on Cora.
“Are you seriously pretending you don’t know whether I love her or not?”
A current passed between their eyes.
I stood in front of the mirror like a prop in the background.
No one cared that I was a girl too.
No one cared that my hair mattered to me.
While I was still frozen, Cora started filming my hair.
“Guys, my punishment’s done. I’ll be back to keep drinking!”
Julian immediately showed concern.
“Why are you going out drinking again?”
“Your stomach’s bad. Don’t go out tonight. Stay here.”
His concern came far too naturally.
I snapped back to myself and looked at Cora.
“You cut my hair and think you can just leave? Since when does it work like that?”
I picked up the scissors beside me and walked toward her step by step.
Julian stepped in front of her and looked down at me.
“Cora’s hair is professionally cared for. She spends more on her hair than you do on your whole body.”
He paused.
“Cora loves looking good. Her hair matters more to her than her life. Wren, stop making a scene, okay?”
I looked at him and suddenly laughed.
“Her hair is hair, but mine deserved to be butchered?”
Cora rolled her eyes beside him.
“It was a dry, frizzy, ugly little bob. So what if I cut it?”
“You should be thanking me. Now you can grow it out again. Maybe if you actually take care of it, it’ll be one percent as smooth and polished as mine.”
A flicker of guilt passed through Julian’s eyes.
He had seen me with long hair.
Smooth and soft.
After I cut it short, he was the one who wouldn’t let me maintain it.
He wouldn’t even let me use conditioner.
He wanted me to be ordinary, and I thought it was because he was afraid of losing me.
Turns out he was afraid of losing his chance to get back together with his ex.
My tone was flat.
“Julian, choose one. Either you let me cut Cora’s hair, or we break up.”
Julian’s brows pulled together at once.
“You’re threatening to break up with me over this?”
His voice turned unusually gentle.
“Wren, even if you’re angry, you can’t use a breakup to threaten me. If you need to vent, cut my hair, okay?”
I froze for a second.
Maybe he refused to break up because he was afraid the bet wouldn’t be completed.
But Cora’s eyes widened beside him.
“Julian, when you were with me, you never begged me to stay like this!”
She yanked the door open and ran out crying.
Chapter 3
“Wren, are you satisfied now?”
Julian pulled away without hesitation and went after Cora.
Only I was left behind.
Me, and the hair scattered all over the floor.
I opened my phone.
There were many more comments under that post.
Most of them praised Julian and Cora for being gorgeous together and looking like a perfect match.
One comment said:
“Am I the only one who thinks the guy’s current girlfriend is really pitiful? She somehow became part of a betting game…”
Cora replied to that comment on purpose.
“What’s there to pity? Women like that have no self-respect.”
“She wants to date a hot guy but won’t dress up or make herself more attractive. She’s trading her dignity for a relationship that was never hers.”
“If Julian and I hadn’t broken up, she wouldn’t even have the qualifications to be his little doormat.”
Soon, a familiar profile picture liked that comment.
I had clearly already prepared myself to leave.
But the moment I saw Julian’s like, my heart still stung.
Then Cora posted a video.
Inside a dimly lit bar, Julian poured back drink after drink.
His voice was blurred, but I heard every word clearly.
“Cora’s mad at me. These three shots are my apology. I’ll drink the rest for her too.”
“Her stomach’s bad. I’ll drink with you guys until you’re satisfied.”
He downed eight full shots of hard liquor.
He didn’t hesitate.
He only kept saying over and over again:
“Cora, don’t be mad anymore, okay?”
The comments started shipping them.
“Oh my God, so sweet! He’s humbly begging her to forgive him!”
“Just get back together already! He obviously sees himself as her person!”
I suddenly remembered the party on the day I graduated.
I lost a game, and the punishment was drinking.
But I was allergic to alcohol.
Everyone joked and told Julian to drink for me.
He only said calmly, “Wren, I’m sorry. I never drink.”
At the time, I thought he truly couldn’t drink, so I forced myself to finish it.
So Julian just didn’t want to drink for me.
I turned off my phone.
Then I bent down and picked up the hair that had been cut from my head.
It was late at night when drunk Julian was finally helped back home by Cora.
The moment our eyes met, Cora let out a sneer.
“You saw that post, didn’t you?”
“You clearly know the person in Julian’s heart is me, but you still cling to him. You really have no dignity.”
I laughed softly.
“Sorry, but I’m Julian’s official girlfriend right now. Strictly speaking, you’re the mistress who failed to steal him.”
“When you call someone shameless for not letting go, do you ever think about how much more shameless it is to interfere in someone else’s relationship?”
“Cora, can’t you live without a man?”
Cora trembled with anger.
She put Julian onto the bed and glared at me.
“No matter what, the only person Julian loves is me. The one who isn’t loved is the mistress. Don’t you get it?”
“I cut your hair, and Julian couldn’t even bear to say one harsh word to me. For my health, he got blackout drunk with my friends.”
“A frumpy girl like you thinks you’re worthy of competing with me for Julian’s love?”
Before she finished, Julian laughed from the bed.
“Wren… Wren, I can’t sleep unless I’m holding you.”
The room went silent.
I lifted an eyebrow and said nothing.
Cora’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“No way. He must be drunk and saying the wrong name.”
She swept her eyes over me from head to toe, as if reassuring herself.
“Wren, you’re so tacky.”
“Your face is passable, but you’ve wasted it with your terrible fashion sense. Men are visual animals. Julian wouldn’t look at you in his next life.”
She walked toward the guest room in her high heels.
Then she turned back to me and said, “Julian asked me to stay. Sorry.”
“If you’re pissed, suck it up. This is his home, after all.”
“I’ll let you take care of Julian tonight. Maybe it’s the last night he belongs to you.”
She kept reminding me that the three-year deadline was almost here.
I didn’t look at her.
I only thought she was noisy.
