Mirror Crown
The next morning, Xavier awoke in a room that felt too grand to be his. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, disoriented. The events of the previous evening—being thrust into Christian's life, meeting all those people—had felt like a whirlwind. He hadn't expected any of it, nor had he expected how quickly his new life had begun to take over. But here he was, in a luxurious room with silk sheets, surrounded by fine furniture and decor that screamed money. It wasn't a world he knew. It was the world Christian lived in, the world he was now expected to be.
His phone buzzed on the bedside table, snapping him out of his thoughts. He reached for it, his fingers trembling slightly as he unlocked the screen.
A text message appeared from an unknown number:
"Mr. Classic, we hope you're ready for your trip back to New York tomorrow. The flight has been arranged. We'll take care of everything here. Please let us know if you need anything before you depart."
Xavier blinked at the message. Tomorrow? He was leaving tomorrow? That was sooner than he thought. He hadn't even had time to process the fact that he was impersonating the heir to a multi-billion-dollar empire, and now he was about to fly across the world, back to New York, as if it was just a normal part of his life.
He set the phone down with a sigh. It was all so surreal. The night before, people had treated him like Christian Classic, the man everyone adored, the man who had the world at his feet. But Xavier knew better. He was just a guy who happened to look like Christian, who had stepped into his life by mistake. There was nothing glamorous about the reality of it. The truth was, it felt more like a trap.
But then another thought struck him. Tomorrow? He had something else scheduled for tomorrow. A real part-time job. One that wasn't part of this lavish, absurd world.
Xavier groaned quietly to himself. He had been working a part-time job before all of this—nothing fancy, just a few shifts at a local grocery store to make ends meet. It wasn't much, but it was his life. It was real.
But now? He was being told he was going back to New York, to a life where his every move would be watched, to a job he didn't even know how to do. He couldn't just disappear and leave behind a normal life—he had responsibilities. He had to keep the act up, to keep up the appearance that he was Christian, the person everyone thought he was. He couldn't just vanish from the world that he had no business being part of.
A part of him wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. A part-time job in New York versus the lavish lifestyle of the Classic family? What a funny world. The more he thought about it, the more the contrast made him feel like an imposter.
What was he even supposed to do now?
He had no idea what he was walking into. The real Christian's life was far from ordinary. And while he had been pretending to be Christian for only a short time, he was already beginning to feel the pressure of expectations and responsibilities that didn't belong to him.
Sighing, Xavier stood up from the bed. He had no choice but to keep moving forward, to act the part and pretend that he had everything under control. He couldn't afford to slip up. But the reality of it hit him hard: tomorrow, he would be flying back to New York, back to a life of luxury, fame, and wealth he never wanted or asked for.
And just when he thought things couldn't get more complicated, the thought of his real life—the one he had been living before all this madness—came rushing back. Could he keep up the facade while juggling a life he'd left behind?
He had no idea. But for now, all he could do was move forward and hope that somehow, he'd figure it out along the way.