The Affection Exchange System

After I regressed, I stood up in front of everyone and announced I was cutting my two childhood friends out of my life for good. Nobody knew that the intern who'd been trailing after them had bound me to an affection exchange system. The better I treated the girls, the more they hated me. But no matter how badly that intern mistreated them, they ate it up like it was love. I stayed up all night writing proposals to help them land a huge account, and they threw their arms around him in gratitude. I spent a fortune saving their sick grandmother's life, and they sobbed with thanks into his shoulder and kissed him in front of everyone. When I finally lost my temper and tried to have it out with them, they left me standing on the street while they drank with him until midnight and ended up in the same bed. I caught them in the act myself. They didn't even flinch. Instead, they turned around and accused me of drugging and assaulting them. The story exploded overnight. I went from golden boy to public enemy number one, accused of rape. My family's company collapsed within weeks. In the end, that intern kicked me into a river and watched me drown. When I opened my eyes again, I swore I wasn't playing anyone's doormat this time. Let's see how far that affection exchange system got him once I stopped handing him my life on a silver platter! Chapter 1 "Raine, Skye, if you two don't drink with me tonight, that means you don't think I'm worth the respect!" I opened my eyes in shock and found myself back at the company's annual gala. Derek Voss, the intern, was already three drinks deep and completely wasted. He used his buzz as an excuse to force drink after drink on Raine and Skye Lane, the two girls I'd grown up calling my future brides. I started to rise to stop him, then froze and forced myself back down into my seat. In my last life, I couldn't stand watching them get humiliated like that. I had called Derek out in front of everyone. Raine and Skye never touched a drop of alcohol normally, but they acted like completely different people that night. They grabbed their glasses and downed them, then turned around and accused me of using my position as the Sterling heir to control their lives and strip away their right to make their own choices. I had been furious and heartbroken at the same time, and we'd had an ugly fight. After that, no matter how good I was to them, all they ever saw was Derek. That was the moment when my life began to derail. Derek had been watching my every move. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me sit back down and called out loud enough for the whole room to hear. "Mr. Sterling, want to make a bet? Let's see if your so-called future brides listen to you, or if they'd rather drink with me." Every eye in the room turned toward me. I clenched my fists, then smiled. "Don't be ridiculous. What decade do you think this is? There's no such thing as childhood engagements. That's just something the adults used to joke about when we were kids." My parents had always wanted a daughter, but after I was born, my mom's body never cooperated again. They wanted one so badly that they used to take me to the orphanage just to look around. I had a rotten temper as a kid, and none of the other children ever caught my interest. But then I saw Raine and Skye, identical twins, and thought they looked fun. That was the only reason my parents adopted them. I used to drag them around to play all the time, and the neighbors started joking that they were my future brides. The nickname just stuck. Under all that casual teasing, the three of us had slowly grown genuinely fond of each other. We were right on the edge of becoming something more, and just one step away from admitting it out loud. Then Derek showed up. Derek clearly hadn't expected me, of all people, the guy who'd always been so protective of these two, to react with this much indifference. His jaw actually dropped. "Mr. Sterling, you're really not going to say anything?" I smiled coldly, glancing at the two sisters pressed up against either side of him. My smile turned mocking. "Why would I? Aren't you enjoying having both arms full? What exactly am I supposed to say?" Seeing that I genuinely didn't care, Derek panicked and slammed his glass down on the table. "One of these two is supposed to marry you someday, and you're just going to sit there and watch this? Do you have some kind of weird fetish or something?" He said it loud enough that the whole room heard. A scattering of laughs broke out immediately. Chapter 2 "Mr. Sterling's always been so protective of those two. He drives them everywhere, and brings them lunch himself every day even though he's the heir to the whole company. What's going on with him tonight?" "If you ask me, they're the ones who don't know how good they've got it. Have you noticed? Ever since Mr. Sterling's car accident, those two have been glued to that intern." My chest tightened instantly. How had I forgotten something this important? In my last life, I'd been walking across a crosswalk when a car came out of nowhere and sent me flying. The blood banks nearby had all run dry. Derek had been out delivering food, and he stepped up and donated his own blood to save me. I wanted to pay him back with a small fortune in cash, but all he'd asked for instead was an internship at my family's company. Once I recovered, the annual gala was the first time I'd shown my face in public. And that was exactly when Raine and Skye started changing toward me. Could the problem be in the blood Derek gave me that day? A chill crawled over my whole body, and I sent my most trusted people to investigate immediately. After I set that in motion, I noticed everyone was already looking at me differently. "Mr. Sterling's really gone too far this time. Can't he see Raine and Skye are practically drunk? Either one of them could end up marrying him someday, and he doesn't even care?" "Usually, he'd be the first one on his feet the second anything happened to them. You don't think he's had a change of heart, do you? That would be pretty heartless of him." "Doesn't Derek know they're basically promised to Mr. Sterling? Yet he kept pressuring them to drink like that. Isn't that just humiliating Mr. Sterling in front of everyone?" I pursed my lips, unwilling to make a scene. Raine and Skye were swaying on their feet. Just as the whispers died down, they shot up out of their chairs and pointed at me, screaming. "Julian Sterling, we really misjudged you!" "Drinking tonight was supposed to be a test! Do you even care about us at all? How could you just sit there and pretend not to see us?" "At least Derek understands what we're going through, even if it means people get the wrong idea about him. You've disappointed us more than you'll ever know!" They finished with matching scoffs and turned their faces away from me. In my last life, every time they lashed out at me like this, I'd remember our past and grovel, begging them to forgive me. I'd apologize repeatedly, throwing money at expensive gifts, and turning myself into a pathetic doormat just to win back their smiles. This time, I just gave them one flat, indifferent look and snorted. "And who exactly do you two think you are? A pair of orphans who grew up living off my family's charity, testing me? What gives you the right?" The room that was loud with chatter just a second ago went dead silent, fast enough to be unsettling. But the person who reacted the strongest was Derek. He shot up out of his seat and shouted at me. "Julian, have you lost your mind? You're supposed to be coaxing and spoiling them! You three grew up together! Aren't you humiliating them by saying something like that in front of everyone?" His question was exactly what everyone else was wondering. But I didn't owe anyone an explanation. I looked at Derek like he was an insignificant bug, then waved dismissively at the emcee, who was standing frozen on stage. "Go on. What are you standing there for?" Every single person in that room worked for my family's company. None of them were fools. Everyone except Derek, Raine, and Skye turned their faces away and pretended to be absorbed in the show. The gala had reached its final segment, the grand prize drawing. The top prize was a pair of top-grade emerald bracelets. In my last life, our VP, Chloe Bennett, won the grand prize. However, I swooped in and bought it off her for an outrageous sum just to give it to Raine and Skye. They happily put the bracelets on, then turned around and called me a disgusting simp. They said it was only because Derek was their lucky charm that they got so lucky. When I recalled the twisted, spiteful looks on their faces that day, I turned instead toward Chloe, who stood there in shock at winning. I led the round of applause, congratulating her over and over. Chapter 3 Raine and Skye's faces went greener than the emerald itself, and they marched straight up to me. "Julian, what's wrong with you? You know that emerald matches our skin tone perfectly! Are you just going to let some stranger walk off with it?" I spread my arms like I was helpless and said, "Someone else got lucky. What am I supposed to do about it, mug her for it?" Derek cleared his throat and cut in. "Mr. Sterling, you know how much Raine and Skye love emeralds. There's a perfect piece right in front of you, and you're not even going to try to buy it for them? That's a little hard to justify, don't you think?" Raine and Skye nodded along eagerly. "Even Derek can see how obvious this is. You're supposed to be rich. How are you this dense?" "That woman's about to try them on! That's ours! Someone stop her!" Their shrieking nearly split my eardrums, and of course Chloe heard every word of it too. She froze mid-motion, the color draining from her pretty face. She was clearly not sure what to do. "Mr. Sterling, I..." I raised a hand slightly to cut her off, then turned to Derek instead. "Since you care so much about those bracelets, why don't you just buy them for the girls yourself? That set belonged to my mother's old collection. It's worth somewhere around three million these days. Offer three and a half million, and see if Ms. Bennett's willing to part with it." Derek looked like he was about to grind his teeth to dust. "They're your women. Why should I be the one paying for it?" I shrugged, unbothered. "Don't put words in my mouth. We're not engaged or dating, and we've never so much as held hands. What makes them my women?" Raine and Skye lost it completely and started screaming at me. "Julian, we'll never speak to you again after this!" I stayed exactly as relaxed as before, crossing one leg over the other comfortably. "And if you two stop talking to me, what exactly do I lose?" Raine burst into furious tears on the spot and called me a heartless jerk. Skye gritted her teeth, grabbed Derek's hand in front of everyone, and glared at me. "Julian, don't regret this later." The three of them turned and walked off together, leaving the onlookers to whisper theories among themselves. "What's gotten into Mr. Sterling? Is he upset that the twins have been getting close with that intern?" "Talk about jealous. Can't they even talk to another guy without him losing it?" "You call that just talking? Mr. Sterling has treated them like royalty their whole lives, and that intern just forced drinks on them in front of the entire company. If someone did that to a woman you cared about, would you be happy about it?" I looked up slightly, and the murmuring around me dropped instantly. Honestly, I hadn't been paying attention to any of it. I was busy working through my next move. If my instincts were right, Derek had bound himself to me through that blood donation. So what now? His blood had already merged completely with mine. I needed to figure out some way to get it back out of my system. My phone buzzing pulled me out of my thoughts. I checked it and found a message from Derek. [I'm sorry about earlier, Mr. Sterling. That was out of line of me.] [Raine and Skye actually still care about you. They just don't feel secure. That's why they keep using me to get a rise out of you. They keep saying I saved your life, so surely you won't hold this against me.] [They already regret it so much. They keep saying they shouldn't have picked a fight with you. Why don't you give them a way to save face? Maybe buy each of them a house to smooth things over?] Chapter 4 I sneered and tossed my phone onto the table. According to how the system worked, the more of a doormat I acted like, the more they despised me. Derek had already blown it twice tonight. He was getting desperate. However, I had no intention of giving him what he wanted. While I was still working out my next move, my phone kept buzzing. One glance at the message from my people, and my stomach dropped. I told them to keep digging, then booked myself a flight and headed straight to the coast for a vacation that same night. The second I landed, I changed outfits and took dozens of pictures in different scenic spots. Then, I posted them to social media every chance I got. The whole time, I didn't contact anyone. I also cut off the shared account and the black card I'd set up for the twins. Watching me enjoy my carefree little vacation, Derek and the twins flooded my phone with messages. [Julian! We're still furious with you, and you just went off on vacation by yourself? Do you even think about us at all?] [Derek's just an intern, and even he knows to stay behind and take care of us. You're supposed to be the heir to the whole company, and you can't even remember how to protect your own women?] [Mr. Sterling, I've been doing everything I can to keep them happy for you. Be the bigger man here. Why stoop to their level? Raine and Skye said buying them houses this time isn't enough to make up for it. When you get back, you need to buy each of them a yacht. Don't you forget it.] I rolled my eyes and ignored all three of them. Apparently, being generous with them all this time just made these three think I was their personal ATM. I counted the days and flew back to the office. It happened to be a good day for it. Every employee was in, except for Derek and the twins, who had spent the whole time harassing me nonstop. I called an impromptu meeting. I told everyone to drop what they were doing and led the entire staff on a unannounced inspection of one of our family's hotels. The employees assumed it was a spot check and practically glowed with excitement. Working from memory, I led everyone straight to the room where I'd caught them in the act in my last life. Raine and Skye were both familiar faces at that hotel, so the staff there always gave them special treatment. Derek was worried about leaving evidence, so he took advantage of their privileges and didn't register the room at all. Which meant that on paper, this was an empty room that could be inspected anytime. I swiped the master key card and pushed the door open. On the hotel's king bed, the three of them were tangled together. They all screamed when they saw me. "Julian, did you follow us here?" I smiled faintly and stepped aside so everyone behind me could see clearly into the room. "Don't stop on my account. This is just a routine inspection." The three of them had been so lost in each other they hadn't had a clue what was happening around them. But the second they heard my voice, they scrambled to get dressed. However, their little display had already been seen by everyone in perfect detail. Once he'd thrown his clothes back on, Derek recovered fast and immediately started slandering the twins. "This isn't my fault! They cornered me together and said they were lonely and wanted a man!" If this had happened before, the twins would adore Derek the more he insulted and demeaned them. But this time, whether it was because of the crowd of witnesses or because the system had finally failed, Raine and Skye only froze for a second before jumping up and slapping him across the face. "Liar! You're the one who got us drunk and dragged us here!" Derek's face went white in front of everyone. "You two showed up at my place in short skirts asking me to drink with you! Once you were drunk, you're the ones who dragged me to the hotel and told me I should get a taste of both sisters. You're the ones who threw yourselves at me! Just admit it!" Then he turned to me, his face filled with panic. "Mr. Sterling, I think they're just upset with you. You should hurry up and buy them something nice to smooth things over!" I was honestly curious whether the system had actually broken, so I pulled out my phone and transferred a hundred thousand to each of their accounts. "I've been in a bad mood lately, and I ignored your feelings. Take this, buy yourselves something you like." Once I was done, I watched the twins nervously, waiting to see how they'd react.