The Man Behind the Name

Lin Anyi had always been good at reading people. It was a skill she had learned from being the overlooked daughter in a family that only valued perfection.

But Mo Chen he was an enigma.

Seated in his wheelchair, he exuded an air of quiet dominance. His presence was not that of a broken man, nor of someone desperate for marriage. If anything, he seemed completely in control.

Which only made her more suspicious.

"If I'm going to marry you," she said, breaking the silence, "I need to know who you really are."

Mo Chen's lips curved slightly. "And what makes you think I'll give you that privilege?"

Lin Anyi smirked. "Because I'm not my sister."

He chuckled, a deep, quiet sound that sent an unexpected shiver down her spine. "Very well," he said, his gaze sharp. "Since you're so curious, why don't I tell you a story?"

She crossed her arms, waiting.

Mo Chen's fingers tapped idly against the armrest of his wheelchair as he began.

"Once, there was a man who had everything."

His voice was smooth, detached, as if he were narrating a tale about someone else.

"Power, wealth, influence. There wasn't a single person in the city who didn't know his name. He was the heir to the Mo family, the perfect successor. But perfect things are fragile, aren't they?"

His gaze flickered, dark and unreadable.

"And so, perfection was shattered. An accident, they called it. A car crash that left him broken, both in body and in reputation. The Mo family had no use for a crippled heir. They stripped him of his authority, locked him away like an embarrassing secret."

Lin Anyi swallowed. "And you let them?"

His eyes met hers, sharp and assessing. "Do I seem like someone who lets things happen to him?"

She didn't answer.

Mo Chen leaned forward slightly, his presence somehow more suffocating despite the wheelchair. "The world thinks I am ruined. That I am weak. That I have lost everything. And I let them believe it."

Lin Anyi narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Because people are easier to manipulate when they think you're powerless."

A chill ran down her spine.

Mo Chen was not a man who had lost everything.

He was a man who had chosen to disappear.

And for what?

Lin Anyi hesitated before asking, "Then why the sudden interest in marriage? Why me?"

Mo Chen was silent for a moment, studying her. "The Mo family wants to control me," he finally said. "They thought marrying me off to a delicate, obedient girl would keep me in check."

Lin Meixiu.

"But when they saw your sister's hesitation, they reconsidered. I imagine they realized I would break her."

Lin Anyi's breath hitched. "And you think I'm different?"

Mo Chen's gaze didn't waver. "I know you are."

A strange tension settled between them.

Lin Anyi had spent her whole life being treated as second best, the unwanted daughter. But Mo Chen he had seen her for barely an hour, and he had already decided she wasn't weak.

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

She held his gaze. "Should I be?"

Something flickered in his expression. Amusement? Approval? She wasn't sure.

"I suppose we'll find out," he murmured.

---

Later That Night

Lin Anyi returned home, but her mind was still spinning.

Mo Chen was not at all what she had expected.

She had prepared herself to meet a pitiful, broken man. Instead, she had found someone who wanted the world to think he was broken.

Why?

What was his endgame?

And, more importantly, why had he chosen her?

She barely noticed when Lin Meixiu appeared at her door.

"You went to see him," Meixiu said quietly.

Lin Anyi turned, crossing her arms. "So what if I did?"

Meixiu hesitated. "Did he… seem cruel?"

Lin Anyi frowned. "Why? Were you afraid of him?"

Meixiu bit her lip, looking away. "I don't know. There was something about him that felt… unsettling."

Lin Anyi studied her sister.

Meixiu had always been delicate, soft-spoken. The perfect daughter. If Mo Chen had wanted her, their parents would have never hesitated to hand her over.

But he hadn't.

He had rejected Meixiu.

And instead, he had chosen Lin Anyi.

A strange thought crept into her mind.

What if this wasn't about marriage at all?

What if this was about something else entirely?

And what if Mo Chen had chosen her… because he knew she wouldn't break?

As she lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling once more, one thing became clear.

This marriage was going to be a game.

And Mo Chen had just made his first move.

---