Chapter 5 He Betrayed Me

My mind is a mess; my thoughts are frozen.

I couldn't believe the scene before me. My breathing becomes erratic, getting faster and faster, and my chest hurts.

I try to calm myself with deep breaths, but it doesn't work. I stumbled backward as I tried to escape the room without them hearing me.

Suddenly, Clover, who is lying closer to me, moves. She opens her eyes and looks at me. Clover looks confused as her eyes narrow.

After reacting for two seconds, she screams and immediately picks up Ralph's clothes next to her to cover herself.

"Wren?!" When I hear her voice, I suddenly shudder and uncontrollably step back. The next moment, Ralph wakes up too. He sits up with a puzzled frown.

When he sees me, his whole body stiffens, and there is obvious surprise and panic in his eyes, as if he didn't expect me to appear here at this time. I step back again, watching him fumble to pick up Clover's clothes to cover himself, whispering,

"No. This isn't right." I can no longer take this. If I stay here any longer, I'm going to break down in front of them. The pain in my heart was now unbearable.

"I can't believe that you two would do this," I said, my voice trembling. I clench my fists and quickly turn around to escape from here.

"Wren, wait!" Ralph called after me. I didn't stop or look back; my mind was blank.

Facing the worried and surprised looks of the maids inside the villa, I rushed out quickly. I don't know where to go or what to do. My legs keep moving.

Now I just run erratically; I just want to leave this vile place. I ran fast and fiercely along the way, inhaling a lot of cold air. My chest and throat are burning with pain, but it unexpectedly makes me feel better.

I don't know how long or how far I have been running until I smell blood in my throat and finally stop. In front of me is a familiar crescent-shaped lake. I was stunned for a moment, and my heart hurt again. I came here unconsciously. I came to the place where I met Clover before and where I often went on dates with Ralph. How awfully ironic of me to come here.

The vegetation by the lake is always dense and lush. Nine years ago, I met Clover here. Just like I used to like looking for clovers in the grass here, I saw Clover lying in the grass.

At that time, she was covered in scars and looked like she was dying. I brought her back and placed her nearby for easy care. She was cheerful and never lost her smile, even though she was horribly injured. She was kind to everyone. We had similar personalities and got along very well.

Even though we only spent a short time together, she always knew what I wanted. I could always guess what she was going to say next. Sometimes, even if it was just some trivial things I mentioned casually, she would take them seriously and quietly find those items as a surprise gift for me.

Although what I wanted was never difficult for me to get, I was still moved because I had never met anyone, let alone a friend, willing to give me gifts and want nothing in return.

So, when she was fully healed, I invited her to join my pack. I still remember her surprised and excited expression at that time. But now I feel deceived.

I was wrong about her.

My vision blurred as I began to cry again. I walked to the lakeshore, squatting down and looking at my twisted reflection in the water. I cried even harder. Why did it end up like this?

The tears on my face seemed endless, falling continuously on the ground and into the lake.

Why did the two people I treasured most betray me? Why did I wake up in Hayden's bed? I don't know how long I sat there or when my tears dried up. Until my legs became numb and I gradually lost sensation, I raised my face with cold hands.

Then I saw our initials and our promise in the tree trunk that Ralph and I had placed here.

The words he promised me here echoed in my ears again. The tears that had just stopped flowing began again. We watched the sunrise and sunset here. We told each other mischievous stories from our childhood here.

We watched the stars together on winter days here. We also kissed each other for the first time in front of this crescent lake.

Countless beautiful memories have now become knives stabbing me. It hurts so much that I can hardly breathe. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. How long had he been cheating? How long had they been going behind my back?

I took out a tissue from my bag and wiped my tears. I knocked over my bag and two small boxes fell out.

One was the gift Ralph gave me yesterday, and the other was a birthday gift for Ralph.

Tomorrow is Ralph's birthday.

Suddenly, instead of sadness, I felt a wave of anger because of their betrayal. I held the two boxes tightly in my hand, so hard that the corners of the boxes hurt my hand. There was no point in giving the gift now.

He betrayed me.

I slowly raised my hand. I was going to throw both boxes into the lake.

Right before I did, my phone rang.