We were playing "Never Have I Ever" at a friend’s bachelor party. When it was my boyfriend’s turn, he drew a card that read: "Never have I ever betrayed my best friend." The moment the words left his mouth, the atmosphere in the room hit pause. Every single person at the table simultaneously turned to look at me. Three seconds later, in complete unspoken unison, they all picked up their shot glasses and downed their drinks. In that round, I was the only winner. And the winner got to ask the losers a truth or a dare. Without a second thought, I asked, "How did you betray your friend?" To my surprise, everyone went dead silent. Just as my best friend, Chloe, was about to nervously take her penalty shot... My boyfriend, who had been silent the whole time, placed his hand over hers and looked at me. "Don't make this hard on them. I'll tell you." "Chloe and I have been together for five years." "She's pregnant. I can't let her child grow up without a father." Chloe’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. She couldn't look at me. My childhood friend, Liam, also confessed. "Actually... we all know. They had a wedding in their hometown last year, and we all went." "Even your adopted parents accepted it. They just begged us not to tell you for now." In that instant, the neon lights of the bar blinded me, blurring every face in the room. Their confessions echoed in my ears, one after the other. So... For seven years of our relationship, I had been the one betrayed. ...... I opened my mouth, but my throat felt completely blocked. It took me a long time to finally force the words out. "A wedding last year?" No one answered. I recognized every single face in this VIP booth. We had dinners together, took trips together, and exchanged gifts during the holidays. But right now, their heads were bowed. Not a single one dared to meet my eyes. Finally, Liam broke the silence. "Yes." I stared at him, entirely numb, my brain failing to process the reality. Liam was practically my cousin. We grew up together. When kids bullied me on the playground, he stood in front of me. When a teacher yelled at me, he bought me candy on the walk home. I always believed that even if the whole world lied to me, Liam wouldn't. But he had taken their side. So, last year, when Julian said he had to go on a "business trip" for a few days, he was actually going back home to marry Chloe. I felt so incredibly stupid. I had worried he was working too hard, so I ordered late-night takeout to his office. I even rubbed his shoulders and told him not to push himself so hard. Thinking about it now felt like someone was physically carving out my heart. I looked at Liam. "What do you mean my parents knew?" He avoided my gaze, giving a low "Mhm." "They were worried you wouldn't be able to handle the mental breakdown, so they didn't tell you." My fingertips went completely numb. I could barely stay upright in my chair. My parents knew too. It wasn't just Julian lying to me. Even the people closest to me helped them keep me in the dark. I finally understood why everyone in the room was so calm today. Because they all knew this day was coming. Julian looked at me, his tone so flat it was almost cold. "Maya, I know this isn't fair to you." I stared at him, my eyes burning. "You knew it wasn't fair, and you did it anyway?" He frowned, as if he disliked the tone I was using. "It is what it is. Throwing a tantrum isn't going to change anything." Chloe sighed softly. "Maya, Julian has compensated you a lot over the years." "Your sister's medical bills, your job transfer, the condo you live in... he gave you all of that. We've all been trying so hard to protect your feelings. Just think about it reasonably." Someone else chimed in from the side. "Yeah, honestly, you're the one who got the best deal out of this." Listening to them, a bone-deep chill washed over me. So, in their eyes, I was the burden. I was the one who had taken advantage of them. So they lied to me, and it was a "white lie." And I was supposed to fall to my knees in gratitude. Julian leaned back in his chair, looking like a man who had finally put down a heavy load. He stated casually, "Chloe and I had our wedding." "We'll throw a wedding for you too. That makes it fair, right?" In that split second, I almost laughed out loud. Fair? I spat the words out like venom. "You really want to have your cake and eat it too, don't you?!" Julian's face darkened. "Maya, I'm trying to let you save face." I sneered. Everyone in this room knew about him and Chloe. And they were all going to come and attend our wedding. He called that saving face? Wasn't I already enough of a joke to them? Tears spilled from Chloe's eyes. Her voice was weak and raspy. "Maya, I know you hate me." "But the baby is innocent." I looked at her, my chest tightening with a suffocating pain. "What about me?" "Are my seven years not innocent?" She went pale. Her lips parted, but no words came out. I picked up the glass of whiskey next to me and threw it directly into Julian's face. The amber liquid dripped down his jawline, soaking his collar. Chloe shrieked in terror and jumped up, calling my name. But I kept my eyes locked on Julian. "I don't want your 'saving face'." "And I won't step aside to give you your happy ending." "I hope you two miserable pieces of trash rot together." With that, I grabbed my purse and walked out. Chaos erupted behind me. I heard Liam calling my name, someone trying to grab my arm, and someone else muttering that I was "too extreme." I didn't look back. Not even once. The next morning, I was jolted awake by my phone vibrating relentlessly. Notifications were flooding the screen, one after another. Screenshots of Instagram stories, forwarded group chats—as if they were terrified I might miss it. When I clicked on the first image, my breath caught in my throat. Julian and Chloe were standing outside the courthouse, holding their marriage certificate, smiling radiantly. The comments were filled with blessings and congratulations. I kept scrolling and saw an Instagram post from Liam. It read: "It hasn't been easy watching my brother get to this point. Congratulations on finally getting everything you wanted." The attached photos included Julian and Chloe today, and pictures from their secret hometown wedding last year. I clicked on the group photo from the wedding, and my hand immediately started shaking. There were so many familiar faces. Liam was there. Noah was there. Even my parents were there. My mother was smiling warmly. My father was standing next to the groom, handing him a glass of champagne. Everyone looked so happy and natural. I was the only one who was nothing but a punchline, excluded from my own life from start to finish. I dropped the phone face down on the mattress, a suffocating ache radiating through my chest. But the phone kept buzzing. In the company Slack channel, someone posted a video from the VIP booth last night. They only clipped the most chaotic part. I was standing there, looking furious and unhinged. Chloe was crying pitifully. Julian stood protectively in front of her, like a devoted husband shielding his abused wife. The caption was even more sickening. "Homewrecker gets exposed for trying to steal someone's man, throws a drink and goes psycho." People in the replies quickly identified me. "Is that Maya?" "Wow, you'd never guess she was like that." "No wonder her boyfriend never posted her. She was the side piece all along! Someone tag the real wife!" I sat on my bed, my fingertips growing colder by the second. Julian knew perfectly well that I wasn't the other woman. But he didn't offer a single word of explanation. His silence was an endorsement. It took me a long time to gather the strength to get up and wash my face. I had to go to the hospital today to visit my younger sister, Lily. Her condition had been incredibly unstable lately, and my biggest fear was her seeing any of this online. But before I even made it out the door, a notification from the hospital billing department popped up. I was short on the next phase of her treatment fees. I stared at the negative balance for a long time before finally turning back inside. This was the apartment Julian and I had shared for four years. I had meticulously decorated every inch of this place, even dreaming of the day we made enough money to buy it together. I had genuinely, wholeheartedly planned a future here. But there was no future anymore. As soon as I walked into the living room, I heard the lock click. Julian and Chloe walked in together. They were still wearing the formal clothes from their courthouse photos. I stared at him, my heart turning to ice. I laughed. "Do you realize that because of your little photo op, everyone is calling me a homewrecker?" Julian frowned. "People found out we got legally married, so we posted it. It's just Instagram." Chloe chimed in, a trace of impatience in her voice. "Maya, can you stop blaming us for every little thing?" "People are happy for us. What's the problem?" Hearing her say that made me feel completely absurd. I took a deep breath. I had nothing left to say to them. "Get out." Julian looked at me like I had just told a hilarious joke. "You're telling me to get out? The renovations, the HOA fees, the parking space—I paid for all of that." "Did you really think you could afford to live here on your own?" "Chloe and I are moving in here from now on." "If you don't like it, you get out." I stood frozen, rooted to the spot for a long time. The down payment for this apartment... I had saved up every single penny for it after I started working. The day I signed the lease, my hands were shaking with pure joy. Julian had hugged me, telling me this was going to be our home. I had sent a picture of the keys to Chloe, and she replied, That's so wonderful! So she was just waiting for her turn all along. I didn't argue with them anymore. I efficiently packed all my belongings into a suitcase. As I walked toward the front door, I heard Julian’s voice behind me. "If you take one step out that door, I will never give you another cent." I stood in the elevator, my fingers gripping the handle of my suitcase so hard my knuckles were white. I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper. But I didn't feel the pain. All I felt was a crushing, suffocating sense of humiliation. In the end, I left without looking back. I had to get as far away from their world as possible. I had nowhere to go. I ended up booking a room in a cheap, rundown motel. The room was pitifully small, and even the curtains were stained and frayed. I sat on the edge of the stiff mattress and called Lily. The moment she picked up, the first thing she asked was: "Maya, have you been crying?" My nose stung, but I forced out a "No." She went quiet for a moment before asking softly: "Did you and Julian have a fight?" "People are saying things about you online." My heart dropped like a stone. My worst nightmare had come true. The moment I hung up, I immediately opened Twitter. The hashtag wasn't the number one trending topic, but it was high enough that anyone who needed to see it would see it. The headline was blindingly cruel: "Pregnant Best Friend Gets Married, Homewrecker Crashes the Party." Below it was a collage of photos and videos. The VIP booth video, the courthouse picture, and old photos of Julian and me. The most disgusting part was that they completely flipped the timeline. They claimed Julian and Chloe were always a couple. They claimed I was the one who forced my way in. They even claimed that because my sister's medical bills were so high, I was desperately clinging to Julian just to use him as an ATM. The comments were a cesspool of absolute vitriol. I read through them, one by one. My eyes burned, but I couldn't shed a single tear. Shortly after, I received an email from HR. Due to the negative public relations impact on the corporate image, the company was officially terminating my employment. I stared at the words, completely numb. I had bled for that job. When I was just an intern, I pulled all-nighters modifying proposals for clients, so exhausted I secretly cried in the bathroom stalls. Later, when I was managing multiple accounts, I regularly went days on three hours of sleep. I thought that, at the very least, my career was something I had built with my own two hands. I was wrong. That evening, I still went to the Vance family estate. Not because I held onto any pathetic sliver of hope. I just wanted to see what I had actually meant to them for the last seven years. I had never been to their estate before. In seven years of dating, I had never met Julian's parents. Not once. Whenever I brought it up, he always made the excuse that his family was "traditional" and we would deal with it later. And like an idiot, I believed him. When the front door opened, Julian's mother immediately locked eyes on Chloe. She grabbed Chloe's hand, smiling radiantly. "You must be Chloe! Come in, come in!" I stood right there in the doorway, completely ignored. When she finally noticed me, she frowned and asked Julian: "Who is this?" In that fraction of a second, my heart pounded with a nervous, desperate energy. Julian hesitated for half a beat, his tone completely detached. "She's the new driver the company hired." I stood there, looking down at my plain, worn-out clothes, and I finally understood everything. In his eyes, compared to Chloe, I was something to be hidden away. His mother immediately lost interest, turning back to chat enthusiastically with Chloe as they walked inside. On the coffee table sat a pile of wedding invitation samples and a bridal catalog. I only glanced at it, but it felt like someone violently yanked my heart out of my chest. I was the one who picked out those invitations. Six months ago, Julian and I stayed up late choosing the perfect design. He told me we would use them for our wedding. The custom dress sketch tucked inside the bridal catalog was the exact gown I had fallen in love with. At the time, I thought it was too expensive and couldn't justify the cost. He had hugged me, promising that as soon as his year-end bonus hit, he would buy it for me. He didn't lie about buying it. He just bought it for someone else. His mother flipped through the samples and said softly: "Make sure the names are updated." Julian took the binder and casually called the wedding planner right in front of me. "Change the bride's name to Chloe." "We need to retake the measurements." His expression didn't even flicker when he said those words. Listening to him, my chest just felt entirely hollow. After his mother took Chloe upstairs, Julian finally walked over to me. "I..." I stared at him, saying nothing. He sighed. "I'm sorry. Whatever you need, I can still help you." I suddenly had the urge to burst out laughing. "Did you honestly believe the only reason I stayed with you all these years was for your money?" Julian frowned. "Wasn't it?" "Actually... I never wanted anything from you. I don't owe you a single damn thing." I looked at him, and the very last shred of warmth in my heart froze solid. Right at that moment, my phone rang. It was the hospital. The nurse sounded frantic. "Are you Lily's family member?" "The patient suffered a sudden emotional breakdown, and her condition is crashing rapidly. You need to get here right now." My vision went black. I turned and sprinted out the door. When I reached the hospital, Lily was already in the ICU. The doctor said she had seen the rumors online and suffered a massive panic attack. Her body was already incredibly weak, and the sudden psychological shock nearly killed her. I stood outside the glass wall, staring at her frail body in the hospital bed, and the tears finally broke free. Her face was deathly pale, an oxygen tube taped to her nose, her hands bruised purple from IV lines. In that moment, I was too terrified to even breathe too heavily. When they finally let me in, she was awake. Hearing the door, she slowly opened her eyes. The second she saw me, her eyes filled with tears. She grabbed my hand, her grip so weak it felt like she might shatter. "Maya." I held her hand as tight as I could. "I'm here. Don't be scared." She stared at me for a long time, the tears silently rolling down her cheeks. "Maya... are you really the other woman?" My entire body went rigid. I wasn't afraid of the insults. I didn't care what the world thought of me or what they did to me. But not Lily. If she hadn't donated her kidney to save my life, I would be dead. She was permanently bedridden because of the complications from that surgery. I shook my head violently, my throat raw and aching. "No." "I'm not." She sobbed, her whole body trembling. "But everyone online is saying it." "They said you're a psycho stalking someone else's husband." I leaned down, pressing my forehead against her hand, whispering "No, I'm not" over and over again. Suddenly, the door to the ICU was pushed open. I looked back, my muscles instantly tensing up. It was Chloe. And trailing right behind her was Julian's younger brother, Elliot. I immediately stood up and blocked the path to the bed. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Chloe, holding a ridiculously expensive fruit basket, spoke in a hushed, gentle voice. "I came to clear things up." "The things people are saying online are awful. I didn't want Lily to misunderstand." Hearing that, a faint glimmer of hope actually sparked in Lily's eyes. She looked at Chloe like a drowning person looking at a life raft. "Chloe... my sister isn't like that, right?" I looked at Chloe too. For a fraction of a second, I genuinely hoped she would tell the truth. Just one sentence. That's all it would take. Chloe nodded softly. "Right. It's not like that." Lily visibly exhaled, relief washing over her pale face. But the next second, Elliot laughed out loud. "Come on, Chloe, why are you covering for her?" "Her sister is a homewrecker. Everyone knows it." The hospital room went dead silent. My head snapped toward him violently. Lily froze. Elliot stood lazily by the door, his tone casual, like he was discussing the weather. "My brother and Chloe are legally married, and she’s still obsessing over him like a leech. If that's not a homewrecker, what is?" All the color drained from Lily's face. She stared desperately at Chloe, waiting for her to argue back. But Chloe just stood there, her lips pale, and didn't say a single word. In that moment, I watched the light in my sister's eyes shatter into a million pieces. The heart monitor began to scream. Her breathing turned ragged, her chest heaving violently, her skin turning an ashen, terrifying gray. "Lily!" I lunged for the emergency call button, then spun around and shoved Chloe with everything I had. "Get out!" "Who told you to come here?!" The fruit basket hit the floor, apples and oranges scattering across the linoleum. Chloe stumbled backward, her face turning pale with panic. "Maya, please listen, Elliot didn't mean it like that!" I glared at her, my entire body shaking with rage. "Then why didn't you say anything?!" "You watched her go into cardiac arrest, and you didn't say a single damn word!" By the time the doctors and nurses rushed in, the room was absolute chaos. I kept screaming for the doctors while physically shoving Chloe and Elliot toward the door. "Get out!" "Get the hell out of here!" Just then, Julian arrived. The moment the door opened, I thought he would at least glance at Lily on the bed. But the very first thing he did was reach out to catch a stumbling Chloe. "Are you okay?!" Chloe's eyes welled with tears as she gripped his arm tightly. "Julian, I just came to explain things to her, and Maya suddenly attacked me." Julian's head snapped toward me, his face thunderous. "Maya, have you completely lost your mind?!" "Chloe came here out of the goodness of her heart to check on your sister!" "She's pregnant! What if you hurt the baby?!" I stood beside the hospital bed. When those words registered in my brain, a profound, chilling emptiness washed over me. Lily was literally dying. The doctors and nurses were frantically working over her body. The heart monitor was still screaming an unbroken, terrifying alarm. But the only thing Julian saw was Chloe and the child in her stomach. I looked at him, and suddenly, I didn't want to fight anymore. I just pointed a shaking finger at the door. My voice was so raw I barely recognized it. "Get out." "All of you. Get out." The attending physician sharply ordered all non-medical personnel to leave the room. The room finally went quiet. It took a terrifyingly long time to stabilize her. I sat by her bed, holding vigil into the early hours of the morning, until she finally opened her eyes. The moment she saw me, the tears began to fall. I leaned over and hugged her as tight as I could without hurting her. "We're leaving." She trembled weakly in my arms. I stroked her hair, my voice soft but shaking. "I'm taking you away from here." "I'm going to sell the house our parents left us, and we are never, ever coming back." Lily cried and nodded against my shoulder. "Okay. I'll go with you." For the next few days, I barely slept. A week later, all the paperwork was finalized. Right before the plane took off, I checked my phone one last time. No messages. I snapped the SIM card in half and threw it away. I didn't look back. The hospital wired the remaining balance of the medical fees back to the original payer's account. The automated memo was brief: [Patient transferred.] Julian read that notification while standing at the altar of his wedding. He frantically dialed my number over and over, but no one answered.
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