The Transgender Best Friend

My girlfriend's male best friend had only been abroad for two weeks, but when he came back, he claimed that he was transgender. He stopped wearing underwear and openly slept in my girlfriend's bed. He used my girlfriend's razor without asking and joked that they should both shave themselves completely smoothly. He even insisted on going into the women's restroom with my girlfriend whenever they went out together. When I could not take it anymore, I confronted him and demanded to know what he was playing at. He simply rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, man. I may have been born male, but I identify as a woman. Can a man obsessed with competing against other guys stop making our friendship sound dirty?" When I saw him walk into the women's restroom again, I let out a cold chuckle. I turned around and called my underworld-connected father. "Dad, send a few of your women over." Did he not say he was a woman? Fine! Let's see how far you're willing to take this game. Chapter 1 "What's going on, son?" My dad doted on me, but when he heard me suddenly asking to use our family's influence, he panicked. I calmed him down, but still said quietly, "Dad, I'm going to break up with Jillian." "Is she looking down on us because of our ties to the underworld? I'll send some people over to teach her a lesson right now!" my dad said angrily. Before I could explain, he had already hung up. When a dozen or so women stormed into the women's restroom, Jillian's two close friends were standing guard at the door, gossiping. They gasped, "Hey, wait. You can't go in there. Someone's inside!" Of course, I knew someone was inside. Not only did I know them, I knew them very well. The woman in charge glanced toward the corner where I was hiding, and after I nodded, she motioned for two of her women to follow her into the restroom like they weighed nothing. It was not long before a scream rang out from inside. At the same time, a live video from inside the restroom appeared on my phone. Both Jillian Lane and her male best friend were fully dressed, but they were tangled together. From a distance, they looked like they were pressed tightly against each other. When those unfamiliar women came in and started smashing things, Lander muffled a groan and accidentally hurt Jillian. Now, both of them were screaming. I only looked for a second before I closed the video in disgust. I already knew Jillian had crossed the line but seeing it with my own eyes was still more than I could bear. I had been with Jillian for three years, and we had already discussed getting married next year. But… There was one thing I had never known how to tell her. She was the only daughter of a real estate entrepreneur. She had been spoiled by her family since she was little and I was the only person she ever softened toward. To everyone else, I was just a young man from an ordinary family, but my dad was a crime lord who was in the process of going legitimate. I did not know how Jillian's family would react once I told her who I really was, so I kept delaying it. I never expected that delay to give Lander an opening. At first, he had only called himself Jillian's best friend. But after coming back from a trip abroad, he insisted he was transgender. Not only did he openly fool around with Jillian, he mocked me as someone who was overly competitive with other men every chance he got. With a bitter smile, I watched the dozen or so women who had watched me grow up walk out after scaring them. They flashed me a hand signal as they emerged and left just as quickly. I took a deep breath and pulled myself together and waited outside the restroom, waiting for Jillian and Lander to come out. I was going to break up with Jillian right now. Who would have thought it would be more than half an hour before Jillian and Lander finally came out with their arms around each other. Not only were their faces free of panic, they even looked as if they had not had enough. The two of them really were shameless! The moment Jillian saw me, impatience flickered across her face. "Firo Rossi… Do you really trust me that little? You even have to wait outside the restroom?" Lander Harris smiled and deliberately showed off the red marks on his neck. "Your boyfriend really doesn't trust you. See? He watches you so closely." Chapter 2 "Oh, wait. I should probably call him your fiancé now, shouldn't I? Don't forget about me after you two get married." Lander's slender fingers playfully slid back and forth over Jillian's arm in an unmistakably suggestive manner, but I simply scoffed and looked coldly at Jillian. "You really believe his nonsense about being transgender?" Ever since he started using that claim as a shield, Lander had stayed close to Jillian without a care in the world. Under the cover of being her best friend, he ate at her place and even slept there, ignoring any sort of basic boundaries. No one could imagine how shocked I was when I went to surprise Jillian for her birthday and found Lander lying in her bed! When I confronted Jillian hysterically, she merely brushed it off with indifference. "Lander had a fight with his family, so he's staying with me for now. Stop overreacting." I stared at all the empty guest rooms in Jillian's house and felt exhausted. What Jillian said next made my heart plummet. She said, "After we're married, I'll have to play along with more men at social functions. Are you going to get jealous over every single one of them? I know you're from a normal family, but I shouldn't have to explain something this basic to you repeatedly." Memories from the past flashed through my mind. I took a deep breath and said to Jillian, "We're done." Surprise flickered across her face, but Lander had already cut her off before she could say anything. "Jillian, your fiance has gotten smarter. He has learned how to give up ground now so he can get what he wants later." With just a few words, he turned the words I had struggled so hard to say into a joke. He even stepped forward and patted my shoulder. "I already told you I'm not interested in her. Why do you have to blow this out of proportion? I already told you I'm mentally a woman. I even have a test report. Why won't you believe me?" I glared at Lander and sneered, "What does your gender have to do with my decision to break up with her? Lander, you know exactly what your real intentions are." I took off the ring Jillian had given me and turned to leave. However, Jillian clicked her tongue at this moment and finally pulled herself out of Lander's arms, reaching for my hand. "Firo, stop making a scene, alright? There's an auction tonight. I'll take you with me, how does that sound? You've probably never been somewhere like that. Don't embarrass me when we get there." What a joke. Seeing Jillian's patronizing expression, I stepped back in disgust. "Jillian, you're so disgusting." After three years together, I thought I had finally found my soulmate. She had fallen in love with me at first sight in college, and she had worked hard to pursue me. I had grown up surrounded by men and had never met such a lively, bright girl before. Just when I had assumed my life would continue unchanged, she burst into my life. Yet as deeply as I'd once loved her, I was equally disgusted by her now. I left, but just as I walked out of the mall, a strange scent drifted over from behind me. My vision went black, and I passed out. - When I woke up again, I was already tied up tightly with rope. My whole body ached. After I forced myself out of bed and staggered to the door, I found it locked. "Open the door! Open it!" I shouted for a long time, but no one answered. I tried to find my phone, but it had been taken too. Who had kidnapped me? Could it be one of my dad's enemies? I crawled and hid in the corner, my mind replaying everything that had happened recently. Or had Jillian kidnapped me because she resented me for ending our relationship? Just as my thoughts were all over the place, the door suddenly opened. Chapter 3 The sound of leather shoes tapping on the ground drew closer. I looked up, and my eyes narrowed. It was Lander! He was now wearing a formal suit. He had shed the carefree persona he always put on around Jillian, his expression full of mockery. He looked down at me and said playfully, "I found you a good buyer tonight, Firo." What was this madman talking about? I wanted to say something, but Lander had already taped my mouth shut. Soon, he put a clown mask on me and dragged me out. "You're more important than I imagined. You got Jillian to bring you to an auction like this. That's basically handing you the company's weakness. Do you know what this place is? It isn't a legitimate auction house. "This is Boss Rossi's turf. As long as you have money, you can buy anything you want here. That includes… people." He drew out the pause before the final word. His fingers brushed across my face before he clamped down on my throat. As I struggled to breathe, something suddenly occurred to me. Boss Rossi? Wasn't that my old man's turf? My breathing grew more frantic, and less and less air reached my lungs. Lander's triumphant voice kept echoing in my ears. "Don't worry. Once you're up on the auction stage, not even Jillian will be able to save you. I want to see whether Jillian will still want you after those rich women ruin you!" He suddenly released me and admired the red mark on my neck. I struggled and made muffled sounds, desperate to say something, but all I could do was watch Lander drag me into the auction house like dead weight. "This is the third lot. Please handle it." Lander reassumed his persona of a proper gentleman and handed me over to the auction staff. My eyes widened when I realized this was Leo Colombo, who was often at my father's side! Leo! Save me! I writhed back and forth, trying to remove the mask from my face. Leo glanced at me, then frowned at Lander. "Is he here voluntarily? You know our rules." Lander laughed awkwardly and stuffed a thick envelope into Leo's hands. "Everyone knows Boss Rossi loves his son more than anything and can't stand seeing innocent people getting victimized. Don't worry. This man is desperate. His family needs money for medical treatment and he begged me to get him a good price!" Leo did not take Lander's envelope, nor did he pay any more attention to me. He simply lowered his head and silently counted down. "Fine. Go inside." I watched helplessly as Lander walked into the auction house's main hall and sat down beside Jillian. Their conversation reached my ears, and it sounded painfully ironic. "The call to Firo still hasn't gone through?" Jillian shook her head, enduring Lander's hands wandering over her body. "Why can't he understand how much effort I've put into this for his own good? "Firo's family is too ordinary. My mom already made a huge concession by agreeing to approve of me marrying him. I'm destined to marry the heir of another powerful family for an alliance marriage." Her words struck me. An alliance marriage? From beginning to end, Jillian had only treated me as her plaything! For a moment, I forgot to even struggle as I could only feel the ache in my heart. How could Jillian do this to me? Back then, when she proposed to me, she kept saying I was the only person she would ever love. As if Lander's interference weren't enough, she'd been secretly making plans like this all along. I gritted my teeth and glared at Jillian, wishing I could tear her apart. Nice one, Jillian… It was at this time that all the lights in the hall dimmed, and every staff member began to move. I kept on making muffled sounds, trying to get the attention of anyone passing by. Chapter 4 Everyone in the auction house knew my face. As long as someone took off my mask, I would be saved. But the people passing by were in a hurry. No one cared about an item that was about to be auctioned. After the countdown, I was placed on a huge tray and pushed out. "The third lot is now onstage. The starting bid is one dollar." When the buyers below heard this, they began whispering to each other. "One dollar? Are they insulting us?" "This has to be the cheapest lot in the auction's history, right?" The price stunned even me, and a wave of humiliation surged through my chest. Lander was humiliating me! He wanted me to know that without Jillian, I would be worthless! Under Lander's manipulation, my price quickly rose to three hundred thousand dollars. I thrashed around desperately, and the sight of me writhing made the whole hall burst into laughter. Suddenly, my eyes met Jillian's. She stared at me in shock, rubbed her eyes, and kept staring at me. I knew she had recognized me. 'Jillian! It's me, Firo! Save me!' I kept trying to call for help, but all I could make was more muffled sounds. "Lander, that's Firo!" She froze, then climbed down from Lander's lap in a panic. Then she stared blankly at me. "Why... Why is he being auctioned?" Lander had not expected Jillian to recognize me with my face covered. Viciousness flashed through his eyes before he answered. "You must have made a mistake. How could Firo be onstage?" "Impossible! I wouldn't mistake him! Firo has a red birthmark on his neck! It's definitely him!" Jillian shot to her feet, but after noticing the looks from around the room, she quietly sat back down and asked, "What exactly is going on?!" Lander gently calmed Jillian down, then put on a show by calling a staff member over to ask a few questions. After that, he looked toward me on the stage. "The staff said he got on the auction stage voluntarily... and they also said..." Jillian pressed him, and he answered slowly, "They said he's a regular at the underground casino. He owed too much gambling debt and couldn't pay it back, so he had no choice but to do this..." 'Lies! Jillian, don't believe his nonsense!' If looks could kill, Lander would already have been torn to pieces. Unfortunately, everything went against me, and Jillian readily believed Lander's story. Her eyes no longer held any warmth as only sneers remained as she said, "I thought he was a decent, respectable man. I didn't expect to be fooled for three years…" I wanted to argue back, but all I could do was watch helplessly as I was bought for five hundred thousand dollars. Lander sounded as though he were testing Jillian as he casually slung an arm around her shoulders. "Jillian, the woman who bought Firo, is famous for playing with men. I heard not a single person has ever come out of her house in one piece. Are you sure you want to watch him fall into her hands?" Even I was holding my breath as I waited for Jillian's answer. In the end, I only heard her laughing mockingly before she sent me to my doom. "I thought he was pure. I got my money's worth after three years anyway." Tears rolled from the corners of my eyes, and I finally gave up on that relationship. Just as the staff were about to take me off the stage, the doors of the hall were suddenly pushed open. A man wearing a classic suit walked in as everyone greeted him fawningly. "Boss, you're here!" My eyes widened, as if I had grabbed a lifeline.