The two-faced girl buried her face in her boyfriend’s chest at her mother’s funeral. Watching the lovey-dovey couple and Claire’s hyperactive seven-year-old nephew, I chose to stay quiet as a mouse. Until the little nephew threw firecrackers near the urn at the funeral, and with a bang, gray-white dust scattered all over the ground. I leaned close to the dumbfounded Claire and whispered softly. “Your mom just went boom~” “Summer, those things are in the past. Why do you keep dwelling on them?” Lucas, my boyfriend of seven years, looked at me with disappointment. “If you go today, we’re breaking up.” Looking at Lucas’s still handsome face, I felt an unfamiliar sense of estrangement. “No matter how much bad blood there is between you two, Claire’s mother has passed away. Can’t you just let it go? When did you become so terrible?” Me? Terrible? Good grief, I almost laughed out of anger. Lucas was going to attend the funeral of his subordinate Claire’s mother, but his dear subordinate was the very person who had bullied me for three whole years during our school days. I couldn’t forget Claire’s pretentious face, nor could I forget how her mother had slapped me in front of the entire school. Lucas knew all about my past, but now, this man who had sworn to love and protect me was calling me terrible because I wouldn’t let him attend his subordinate’s funeral. “You’d still go even if it means breaking up?” I thought I would be hysterical. After all, before Claire appeared, we rarely had any arguments. Even when we were in a long-distance relationship for three years due to work, the word “breakup” was still taboo between us. Lucas didn’t respond, but his action of changing shoes at the entrance made his choice clear. As the door slammed shut, I felt utterly exhausted. The black screen of the TV reflected my dejected figure, as if I had returned to those days and nights from over a decade ago. I curled up in the corner of the dorm, fists and palms constantly falling on my body and face. Back then, I was also like this, hunched over, hugging my knees, like a drowned dog. The only difference was that back then, I couldn’t fight back and could only endure their bullying. But now, even if that scumbag and bitch want to be together, I’ll make them pay the price.
After contemplating my strategy, I applied decent makeup, changed into a black velvet long dress, and called a ride to Claire’s mother’s funeral. I knew Lucas too well. He cared a lot about his image and had repeatedly asked me to cooperate with him in public to maintain his good guy facade. So even if we broke up, he would push all the blame onto me to justify being with Claire. How could I let them have their way? I should have known when we first argued about Claire that Lucas was no longer the person who had pulled me out of the mire. At the funeral, Lucas was surprised to see me but still happily came to greet me. Before his hand could touch me, a petite figure like a broken-winged butterfly darted from behind me and threw herself into Lucas’s arms. Lucas’s face froze for a moment but quickly returned to normal, comforting the girl in his arms stroke by stroke. Muffled sobs could be heard, and I didn’t miss the flash of tenderness in his eyes. I watched the two calmly. This scene was within my expectations. After all, one of Claire’s favorite hobbies was using her pitiful face to seduce other people’s boyfriends and then cruelly humiliate the abandoned girls. Claire raised her head after crying enough, seemingly just noticing my presence. She shrank back like a frightened rabbit and timidly spoke. “When did you arrive, sis? I’m sorry, I was too emotional just now and couldn’t control myself.” As she finished speaking, her eyes reddened again. To an uninformed observer, it would seem like I had done something to her. “Couldn’t control yourself so you had to cry in my boyfriend’s arms?” Perhaps not expecting me to speak so bluntly, Claire choked for a moment and stepped out of Lucas’s embrace. “I overstepped. I’m sorry.” As she spoke, large teardrops fell one after another. I could almost hear the murmurs of the people around us, as it looked like I was bullying her. “Summer, you’ve gone too far,” Lucas frowned, his large hand reaching out to pull the crying woman back into his arms, softly comforting her. This was exactly the effect I wanted. I stopped paying attention to the two and casually found a seat where I could still see their interactions. They made quite a handsome couple. “Monster, take my punch!” A pain shot through my waist. I turned to see a snotty-nosed kid hitting me with an action figure. “Scared now, big monster? Pew pew pew!” The boy, seeing that I didn’t react, became more enthusiastic and even started kicking my shin. Not far away, a woman who seemed to be the boy’s mother saw that I wasn’t reacting and rolled her eyes before continuing to chat with the person beside her. “Little one, this isn’t right, you know.” I patiently tried to reason with him, but the boy not only didn’t stop but even tried to spit at me. Seeing his mischievous nature, I suddenly had an idea. “Hey kiddo, can you shoot lasers like the action figure?” The child was drawn in by the topic and sniffled, imitating the action figure’s laser-shooting pose. “No, no, when the action figure shoots lasers, there’s light. Look, just like that,” I pointed to a group of people preparing to light firecrackers not far away. They were a group of Asian Americans who had the custom of lighting firecrackers to ward off evil spirits in their country. As soon as I finished speaking, the firecrackers started crackling, with sparks of light reflecting in the child’s eyes. “See? That’s much more fun.” Seeing his excited look, I pretended nothing had happened and quietly moved away from him. After all, a child’s mind is unpredictable, and no matter what, I didn’t want to be implicated. Sure enough, after the firecrackers finished, it wasn’t long before there was a loud bang. The urn at the center of the memorial hall crashed heavily to the ground, gray-white dust scattering everywhere. The entire place fell silent. Even Claire couldn’t have imagined this scene, standing there dumbfounded. Only the child’s giggles could be heard. Perfect. I slowly walked up to Claire and leaned close to her ear, whispering softly. “Your mom just went boom~”
A good funeral turned into a farce. After I said those words, I tactfully left the scene, naturally missing out on a big drama. This scene was even posted online and quickly became the top trending topic. The comment section was full of discussions about how to discipline unruly children and sympathy for Claire in the video. Through this, Claire unexpectedly gained some fame, which was an unexpected benefit. I directly contacted a gossip account with a burner account and sent over the video I had recorded that day with the sound removed. Claire was quite popular recently, and this video hit the sweet spot for the gossip account. The content of the video showed Claire throwing herself into Lucas’s arms, followed by Lucas softly comforting her. Although there was no sound, just looking at the video, the two seemed like a loving couple. Besides this, there were other scenes of the two interacting, and in each frame, Lucas’s gaze was firmly fixed on Claire. The gossip account was very professional and didn’t ask who I was after receiving the video. After all, my burner account was newly registered, obviously not wanting my identity known. After doing all this, I packed a simple travel bag and left for a trip. The real show was yet to come.
My trip wasn’t long, just two weeks. During this time, I blocked Lucas on all contact methods, and he truly didn’t try to find me again. But it didn’t matter. The beautiful scenery made me forget the various unpleasantnesses of life and also allowed me to see myself clearly. I didn’t need to rely on anyone. Even if it was just me alone, I could feel love. But I hadn’t forgotten to keep an eye on Claire’s news. As soon as the video was released, it received a lot of attention from netizens. Originally, everyone was commenting on the most beautiful love, but some nosy netizens dug up my existence, and the tide of opinion immediately turned. Words like “homewrecker” and “two-faced girl” filled the comment section. This was exactly what I wanted, but it was far from enough. This was just the beginning. Claire seized the opportunity to start a livestream. After all, negative publicity is still publicity, and even if she was being scolded, such a large amount of traffic was enough for her to make a big profit. I was also present during the livestream. The first thing that appeared on the screen was Claire’s pitiful face, tearfully telling her story with Lucas. She talked about uncontrollable emotions, about restraint and self-control, about vulnerability and helplessness, portraying herself as someone who loved but couldn’t be with him, silently guarding him until she finally couldn’t help but throw herself into her beloved’s arms at her mother’s funeral. Throughout the entire time, she didn’t mention me once. I have to say, Claire played this move well. With her beautiful face and pretend strength, she aroused sympathy in the barrage of comments. Some even said it was because I was too ugly, not as pretty as Claire, so it was understandable that Lucas would pity and care for Claire. This really made me laugh. What kind of values are these? Just because someone is beautiful, they can shamelessly interfere in other people’s relationships? Just because they can cry, they can be forgiven for anything? Should ugly people just die? Should children who don’t cry starve to death? Some people even started fan pages for Lucas and Claire, shipping this couple under the name ‘Echoing Clouds’.
When I returned to the house Lucas and I shared, it was Claire who opened the door. She was wearing the couple’s fluffy slippers we had bought together, and on her body was my favorite silk camisole nightgown. Lucas heard the commotion and came out from the kitchen, still holding a spoon. He was very surprised to see me. “…Summer, why are you back?” I laughed coldly, “If I hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have seen such an exciting scene.” “It rained heavily yesterday, Claire just came to shelter from the rain. It was too late so she stayed over, don’t overthink it,” Lucas frowned, his tone stiff. I knew this was his expression when he felt guilty. “If I had come back a little later, would you two have slept together?” “You really misunderstood, Lucas and I… we really don’t have anything…” Claire jumped in before Lucas could speak, her hand seemingly unconsciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. I naturally noticed the red mark on her neck. It was just a provocation tactic. Did she think I would hysterically argue like her previous opponents, letting her reap the benefits? I directly pushed past the two standing at the door, locked them out, and started packing my belongings, ignoring their constant knocking. This house was bought with a down payment I managed to scrape together when I got lucky with stocks right after graduation. To save on expenses, Lucas and I moved in as soon as it was renovated, thinking it would be our marital home. Now it’s just convenient to kick him out. When I first bought the house, I had thought about adding Lucas’s name, but at that time he had just graduated and wasn’t well off. Later when Lucas asked to add his name, it was always delayed for various reasons. Now it seems even the heavens didn’t think he was worthy. After the knocking continued for a while, my phone rang. It was Lucas’s good friend, Mark. I didn’t have a deep impression of him, we had only eaten together a few times. Unlike Lucas’s subtle thoughts, his intentions were written all over his face. The first time we met, that blatant appraising look made me very uncomfortable. I knew with my foot that this call was to speak for Lucas. I had been traveling for two weeks and Lucas couldn’t contact me, but now he was just locked outside, and this call came so quickly. “Hey? Summer, I can vouch for Lucas, he and Claire really don’t have anything going on. No matter how angry you are, you can’t lock people out in the cold, what will the neighbors think?” Mark’s frivolous voice came from the other end of the phone. “They know what they did. If they dare to do it, are they afraid of others knowing? Tell Lucas we’re done. I’ll put all his things at the door tomorrow, not missing a single item.” With that, I hung up the phone. The journey had left me quite tired, so I went straight to sleep.
The next day, I called a few cleaning ladies to tidy up the house. I had thought our little home we lived in together would be full of items with memories of us, but after a thorough cleaning, Lucas’s things only filled one storage box, most of which were things I had bought. A photo in the corner caught my attention, one I had never seen before. I cleaned off the dust on the surface and looked at it. It showed a man and a woman kissing. The man was, of course, Lucas, but the girl in the photo, with a ponytail, wearing an oversized school uniform that made her look extremely thin, had a face I would never forget. It was Claire, Claire from high school, or even earlier. In her first year of high school, she loved to tie a ribbon to her ponytail’s hair tie, hanging down with her black hair, just like in the photo. My heart felt like it had plunged into an ice cave. Lucas had never mentioned that he originally knew Claire, let alone that they had such an intimate past. Those unbearable scenes flooded back into my mind, and certain details I had deliberately ignored suddenly became clear. I had thought Claire’s bullying was just because I was different from them. When everyone was eager to be a bad kid, the only good kid stood out. I, who buried my head in studies, became the object of their ridicule.
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