Using Me as a Substitute? Did You Know Your Best Friend Calls Me Wife?

Mia Kane hadn’t expected Vivian Lynch to be here as well. For them to have made up in just a month was certainly a surprise to her.

Aunt Lynch insisted she stay for dinner, refusing to let her leave.

Mia Kane couldn’t refuse, and she was also worried about the grandmother.

She got out of the car, and Aunt Lynch linked arms with her, not treating her like a stranger at all.

The two of them didn’t go inside just yet. Aunt Lynch seemed to have a bellyful of things she was bursting to tell someone.

"You have no idea how much I can’t stand Chase’s wife. She drives me crazy! Do you know what she came here for?"

"What for?"

"She came to ask me for a secret remedy to have a son. My health wasn’t great when I was younger, so I saw an old traditional Chinese doctor to get it sorted out. Back then, family planning was strict, and you could only have one child, so of course, I wanted a boy. I never thought I’d be so lucky, but I really did have a son. Didn’t Vivian Lynch have a miscarriage? Now she wants to get pregnant again quickly, and she wants a boy. I don’t know where she heard that I relied on some secret son-bearing remedy that worked like a charm, but now she’s pestering me for it."

"If I had one, I’d honestly give it to her, but I don’t! I couldn’t stand being in the house anymore, so I made up an excuse about going out to buy some groceries."

"I thought after Vivian Lynch ruined the family banquet, Chase would at least ignore her for a few months. He even sent her away to live on her own. But I never expected that in less than half a month, he’d go and bring her back, treating her better than ever, like he’d been kicked in the head by a donkey. You’re supposed to marry a virtuous woman, but he married a disaster that will cause trouble for a thousand years. I really don’t know what he’s thinking, not divorcing her even after all this!"

Mia Kane listened quietly, naturally understanding Chase Lockwood’s psychology.

He had been angry, but then he must have remembered that a husband and wife are a single unit—they prosper together and fall together.

If he and his wife were at odds, outsiders would just be watching them for entertainment.

He had to save face and prove a point—to prove to his grandmother, and to her, that he hadn’t married the wrong person, that he loved Vivian Lynch very much.

A love that was worth scrutinizing, one that could withstand any test.

Even if no one else believed in Vivian Lynch, he had to, because she was the one he had chosen.

There was no one quite like Chase Lockwood when he got stubborn like this. He wasn’t trying to prove how good Vivian was; he was just trying to prove that he hadn’t lost.

"Then just give her some random prescription for a potent tonic. That way you won’t harm the peace between the two families."

"What peace is there left between our families?"

Aunt Lynch sighed. "If it wasn’t for the sake of my poor sister-in-law, I would have cut off all contact with the Lockwood Family long ago. Seeing Chase is one thing, but Vivian... ugh, I really don’t want to have anything to do with her."

"But if she takes the prescription and still can’t have a son, isn’t she just going to come and make trouble for me?"

"Aunt Lynch, just listen to me. She won’t have the chance to make trouble for you."

’Because she can’t have children at all, boy or girl. Vivian Lynch is like a grasshopper in late autumn—she won’t be jumping around for much longer.’

’And yet, she’s completely clueless.’

Although Aunt Lynch didn’t understand the hidden meaning in her words, she was willing to trust her and immediately had someone take care of it.

The two of them took a short stroll before heading back. In the living room, Vivian Lynch was all alone.

The uncle was in the study, having used the excuse of being busy with work to hide away after exchanging a few pleasantries.

Chase Lockwood had gone to the room to visit his grandmother.

Vivian Lynch looked a little awkward. She had wanted to apologize, but the old lady wasn’t buying any of it, and Vivian didn’t want to keep trying to be friendly to a cold shoulder. So, she just sat there, drinking tea and eating snacks one after another.

"Aunt Lynch." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Her eyes lit up when she saw Aunt Lynch return.

"Vivian, you’re still here? I remember the prescription you mentioned, but I’ll have to look for it. I’ll send it over to you as soon as I find it."

Vivian Lynch’s expression stiffened. Why would Aunt Lynch bring up her request for a son in front of an outsider like Mia Kane?

’What would Mia Kane think of her now?’

"AHEM... I haven’t been feeling well recently, so I asked Aunt Lynch for a prescription to help regulate my body."

She was trying to smooth things over.

But Aunt Lynch had no intention of letting her off the hook. ’So, after ruining my family banquet and making me a laughingstock to relatives and neighbors, now she feels awkward asking for a secret remedy to have a son?’

"Wasn’t it a prescription for having a son? How did it become one for regulating your body?"

Aunt Lynch was playing dumb.

Vivian Lynch’s face instantly went pale, then flushed with color.

"I’m going to go check on my mother-in-law. You young people chat. You’re all family, so don’t be formal."

Aunt Lynch made her excuse and left, leaving the two of them alone in the living room.

Mia Kane was perfectly composed, but Vivian Lynch, with her guilty conscience, was extremely uncomfortable.

"Mia Kane, don’t you know how to avoid arousing suspicion? This is Chase Lockwood’s grandmother’s house, after all. Why are you visiting so frequently? You claim over and over that you have no designs on Chase, but then look at what you do! You’ll stop at nothing to attract his attention!"

"You’re just pretending to be magnanimous, but you’re actually pettier than anyone. You know you can’t steal Chase away, so you’re deliberately using this method to make things disgusting for us as a couple, aren’t you?"

Hearing this, Mia Kane almost laughed in anger.

’This couple’s self-confidence was truly baffling.’

"Am I at Lockwood Manor? No, I’m visiting the Lynch Family. Do you have to stick your nose in everything?"

"Mia Kane, just admit it. You can’t accept it, can you? You can’t accept that I was the final winner! If you don’t love Chase Lockwood, then there’s only one other explanation."

"What explanation?"

"You want to outdo me. You’ve always been competing with me. Whether it was marrying Adrian Preston or deliberately provoking Chase Lockwood, it was all to show me up."

"But you’ll never be better than me. I’m sitting in the position you always wanted—Mrs. Xavier—and I’m married to the man you can never have. For the three years you dated Chase Lockwood, his heart was always with me! I am the final winner, and you will always be a loser to me."

"Even if you’re fooling around with Adrian Preston now, you can’t beat me. You lost from the very beginning, and you’re destined to lose for the rest of your life."

Mia Kane was dumbfounded. ’This whole speech is just out of this world.’

She couldn’t agree with it, but she couldn’t refute it either.

’So if it’s not about Chase Lockwood, then it’s all about her? How could she be so shameless?’

"Fine, fine, fine. Whatever you say!"

Mia Kane couldn’t be bothered to argue.

She looked anxiously toward the second floor. ’Why hasn’t Chase Lockwood come down yet?’ She wanted to see the grandmother and then leave.

’Being alone with Vivian Lynch is a form of torture.’

"Mia Kane, you finally admit it!" Vivian Lynch said, looking smug. "You’re just a coward, afraid to admit defeat. It must be so humiliating to admit you lost to me, right?"

Mia Kane couldn’t take it anymore. She looked down, picked up her phone, and sent a text to Chase Lockwood.

"If you don’t come down and get your wife under control, I’m going to lose my filter and say everything."

’She really couldn’t stand it anymore. She was afraid she might lose control and give Vivian Lynch a couple of slaps across the face.’

When Vivian Lynch saw her being ignored in favor of a phone, she flared up in anger.

She shot a quick glance at the screen, and for a moment, her blood ran cold.

’What did she just see?’

’That bitch Mia Kane was actually texting Chase Lockwood?’

’Seducing him so brazenly, right in front of her face?’

Furious, she strode forward and snatched Mia Kane’s phone away.

Mia Kane, focused on typing, had just sent the message and hadn’t even noticed Vivian Lynch’s movements.

When her phone was snatched, her face filled with anger.

"Vivian Lynch, give me back my phone!"

Vivian Lynch looked at the phone, even wanting to scroll through the past chat history.

’She was even checking up on him through my phone!’

Mia Kane had lost all patience. She forcefully shoved Vivian Lynch aside and took her phone back.

At that moment, Chase Lockwood was upstairs, watching everything clearly.

Vivian Lynch noticed Chase Lockwood as well, and her eyes instantly welled up with aggrieved tears.

"Chase, you saw that, right? She pushed me this time! Her vicious nature is incurable! You have to stick up for me! She’s bullying me!"