8
Jack came to find me.
When he came, he was carrying a bag identical to mine.
It was a bag Celine had given me.
Like a proud peacock, he placed the bag in the most conspicuous spot, as if showing off his status in Celine’s heart.
Jack took a sip of coffee, looking me up and down before sneering, “Alex, besides your family background, what do you have that’s better than me? You should be grateful you got to be with Celine for so long.”
He finally dropped the act.
<
Celine’s cheating hurt me, but having my friendship with Jack turn out like this was even more heartbreaking.
Back in school when I was bullied by some kids, all the other classmates just stood and watched. Only Jack stepped up to defend me. He stood in front of me and fought back against those bullies.
Afterwards, Jack reached out his hand to pull me up from the corner I was cowering in. He patted his chest proudly and declared, “From now on, I’m your friend. If anyone dares bully you, I’ll beat them up.”
Looking up at Jack, who was a bit taller than me, I felt the warmth of friendship for the first time.
We had been close ever since, rarely ever fighting.
I never imagined Jack would betray me like this.
I looked up at Jack, not asking why, just calmly saying, “We have nothing more to talk about.”
Seeing me so calm, Jack felt like he was punching cotton. He angrily shouted, “Alex, if you’re going to leave Celine, just do it cleanly. Do you know she still calls out your name when she’s with me?”
I answered him, “I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.”
Jack was thrown off balance, his face darkening as he looked at me.
I took a sip of coffee and asked Jack, “I just want to know, when you deliberately said you were drunk and asked me to pick you up, did you intend for things to end up like this between us?”
Jack nodded without trying to hide it: “I was tired of pretending around you all the time. I didn’t want to be the secret third wheel anymore. I deserved to be Celine’s proper boyfriend.”
I nodded, raising my coffee cup to clink against his. “Congratulations on getting what you wanted.”
With that, I picked up my bag and left.
Walking out of the coffee shop, I threw the bag in my hand into a trash can.
I had barely taken two steps when I ran into Celine hurrying over.
Seeing me alone, she let out a sigh of relief and anxiously asked, “Did Jack give you any trouble?”
I glanced at her and said irritably, “Keep your boyfriend in check.”
Celine quickly explained, “Jack’s not my boyfriend. We have nothing to do with each other anymore.“”
I didn’t want to know about Celine and Jack’s situation. I didn’t respond to her and just walked past her.
But Celine took a few quick steps to grab my arm. She looked at my face for a few seconds, hesitating for a while before finally asking, “Alex, if I end things with Jack completely, can we go back to how we were before?”
I shook off Celine’s hand: “Celine, how many times do I have to say it? I don’t like you anymore.”
Celine immediately retorted, “You’re lying. We’ve been together for so long, how can you just stop liking me? Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
I rolled my eyes at Celine.
I really wanted to know where Celine’s baseless confidence came from.
What made her think I would always like her?
Seeing I was about to leave, Celine took another step to block my path. “Alex, I really know I was wrong. I’ve thought about it a lot these past few days and realized I can’t be without you. Jack and I are really over. Can we start over…”
O
11:51 PM N
<
She giant finish ner sentence berore suadenly being slapped and railing to the ground.
I looked at the person who had slapped Celine – it was Emma.
I had arranged to have dinner with Emma after talking to Jack, and she had just arrived.
Celine got up awkwardly. When she saw it was Emma, she glared and shouted, “You again! What exactly is your relationship with Alex?”
I took Emma’s hand and said to Celine, “What our relationship is is none of your business.”
Celine’s eyes widened in disbelief when she saw me holding Emma’s hand.
I ignored Celine’s gaze and walked away with Emma.
At the restaurant, Emma said she needed to use the restroom. When she returned, she was carrying a bouquet of flowers.
She placed the flowers in my arms and asked with a smile, “Alex, I’m also curious about what our relationship is.”
I smelled the flowers – they were very fragrant.
Celine used to give me flowers too. Back then it was sincere, but later it became a mechanical task, having the florist deliver them to me at the same time every week.
I looked up at Emma. Her eyes were filled with nothing but me.
I smiled and said, “Emma, let’s be together.”
