My best friend Claire Miller and my boyfriend Andrew Evans never got along, even getting into physical fights several times. I thought this was what people online called “a good friend with boundaries” and “a considerate boyfriend who knows his place,” so I never had my guard up around either of them. Until one day during a trip, I accidentally saw Claire with her arms around Andrew’s neck, kissing him passionately. Claire even said, “That idiot Raelynn really thinks we don’t get along. She has no idea how many times we’ve hooked up.” Raelynn Phillips is my name. Then Claire continued, “Every time you and I pretend to fight, she gives me gifts to apologize. She’s such a fool. But don’t you dare break up with her. Otherwise, I won’t get this thrill anymore.” Listening to them mock me so mercilessly, my heart turned cold as I secretly pointed my phone camera at them. Since they loved making me their plaything and victim of deception, I was going to scheme against them too. ***** The intimate sounds from the room kept coming. My fingertips trembled—I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. My best friend Claire was actually with my boyfriend Andrew? Hadn’t they always had a terrible relationship, fighting every time they saw each other? But their intimate conversation reminded me that this was all real. Andrew said, “Baby, don’t worry. If I break up with her, you’d lose your graduate school recommendation, wouldn’t you? She told me a couple days ago that her academic report is almost finished. When the time comes, I’ll steal it and give it to you to help you win the first-place scholarship.” Hearing this, Claire was thrilled and leaned in to kiss Andrew again. She said, “Andrew, you’re so good to me. Raelynn has such a wonderful boyfriend, yet she neglects you every day at the library. She’s so stupid. But once she’s done with her studies, she’ll have plenty of time to spend with you. You won’t dump me for her, will you?” “Her?” Andrew acted like he’d heard the biggest joke in the world. He snorted and said, “I’ve been fed up with her for ages. We’ve been together for over a year, and she won’t even let me touch her. When I kiss her, it’s like kissing a piece of wood. How could some boring prude compare to you? If it weren’t for you, I would’ve broken up with her already.” He sounded particularly indignant, making Claire laugh non-stop. And I stood outside the door, feeling like all the blood in my body had stopped flowing. How could this be? What I thought was a “good friend” and “sweet romance” was nothing but a stupid joke in their eyes. Had they been lying to me about everything? I suppressed the urge to confront them and stumbled back to my room. That night, I couldn’t sleep at all. When I woke up the next day, my eyes were swollen and I looked haggard. As soon as Claire saw me, she rushed over with concern. She said, “Raelynn, what’s wrong? Didn’t you sleep well last night? I know what it is. Andrew must have been snoring too loudly and kept you awake! I told you we shouldn’t have brought him—just the two of us girls should’ve gone on this trip, but you wouldn’t listen!” Andrew immediately shot back, “Claire, what’s that supposed to mean? Raelynn is my girlfriend. As her boyfriend, of course I need to come along to protect her. Why do you always try to get between us?” Here they went again. I’d forgotten when it started, but these two seemed destined to fight whenever they were in the same room. At first, I thought they both wanted alone time with me, and I was caught up in the happiness of “being cared about by two people.” I even foolishly created opportunities like this trip for all three of us to hang out together, thinking I could help ease their conflicts. But now I knew their arguments were just a disguise to cover up their illicit relationship. I was the one who’d been playing the fool in the middle all along. The more fiercely they argued, the more abnormally I refrained from stepping in to stop them. Finally, Andrew put on his fed-up act and left the villa. After he left, Claire sat beside me and started her usual routine of trying to convince me to break up with him. She said, “Raelynn, look at that attitude of his. Being with someone so emotionally unstable, you’re bound to end up in an abusive relationship sooner or later. We’re best friends. Would I ever hurt you? I can’t bear to see you in such a bad situation.” The worry in Claire’s eyes looked genuine. Before, I’d been repeatedly deceived by this very expression, unable to see the truth and thinking Claire was genuinely concerned about me. Unfortunately, now I knew the whole truth. So every word she said made me feel sick. Probably seeing that I wasn’t reacting, Claire put on her usual disappointed and anxious expression. She said, “You still don’t want to break up with him? What kind of spell has Andrew cast on you? I’m telling you—if you don’t break up with him this time, we’re done being friends!” Claire angrily finished speaking, then deliberately moved to sit farther away from me and started playing on her phone. Soon enough, I saw a $2,000 skincare set appear in her recommended videos. When I looked up, I caught Claire stealing glances at me. I almost laughed out loud from anger. Claire had done this before. Every time she and Andrew finished “fighting,” she would “accidentally” let me discover something she was interested in lately. I was afraid of losing her as a friend. So no matter how expensive the item was, I would buy it and give it to her, hoping she wouldn’t hold grudges against Andrew. Claire’s daily necessities were pretty much all covered by me for this reason—headphones, clothes, cosmetics. But this time, I just glanced at the skincare set and said nothing. I’d already been scammed out of so much money by these two jerks. I hadn’t even figured out how to get that money back yet. And now Claire wanted me to keep spending? No way!
Because I didn’t respond, Claire and I fell into a strange cold war. Even Andrew noticed. After dinner, he made a point of asking me: “Raelynn, did you and Claire have a fight?” I nodded. “She told me to break up with you. I refused.” Andrew was stunned. After all, I’d never talked to him about these things before, and I was always singing Claire’s praises in front of him. He hadn’t expected me to be so direct, and he even forgot to put on his usual act of being upset. Finally, Andrew said: “No wonder she seemed to be in a bad mood. You should go apologize to her and cheer her up. Claire’s pretty great—you need to be more tolerant of her.” Did I hear that right? Andrew, who fought with Claire every single day, was telling me to be more tolerant of her? I let out a cold laugh and looked at Andrew. “That’s strange. You two fight every day, so I thought if Claire and I had a falling out, you’d be celebrating for three days straight. Why are you noticing her bad mood today and telling me to cheer her up?” Hearing my words, Andrew realized he’d said the wrong thing. He gave a guilty smile and reached out to hug me. He said: “I just don’t want you to be in a bad mood too. Everyone knows you two are closest. If you really had a falling out, you’d definitely cry. Baby, how could I bear to see you upset?” He called me “baby”—the exact same term he’d used for Claire that night. I felt a wave of nausea and instinctively dodged his embrace. I said: “You just finished smoking. The smell is too strong. Stay away from me.” Andrew sniffed at himself. He said: “Is it that bad? Then I’ll go take a shower first. Later I’ll come with you to find Claire so you can apologize. You need to be good.” Without giving me any chance to refuse, Andrew headed into the bathroom after speaking. Looking at his phone in his jacket pocket, I hesitated for a moment, then took it out. His passcode hadn’t changed—it was still my birthday, and his wallpaper was still a photo of us together. But everything had already changed. Andrew’s phone was clean, without even Claire’s social media accounts. I thought about it and kept searching. Sure enough, I found another WhatsApp hidden in a messy folder on his desktop. I clicked on it and discovered it was Andrew’s alternate account. His chat history with Claire was still active from just moments ago. The two of them were even calling each other “honey” now. My hands were shaking as I scrolled through their chat history, and I suddenly remembered I’d seen this account’s profile picture before. Back then, Claire had openly bragged to me about her flirtatious conversations with this account. She told me that’s how men were these days, and advised me not to be so traditional, or Andrew would be stolen away by someone else. But back then, I was completely absorbed in the illusion Andrew had created, and I’d confidently told her: “That won’t happen. Andrew is the most honest person in the world.” Thinking back to that moment, I wanted to slap myself hard for being so stupid. I scrolled through their chat history bit by bit. Even though I’d mentally prepared myself and tried to stay calm, tears still fell one by one. For three hundred and seventy-four days straight, they hadn’t gone a single day without contact. They’d started chatting just three months after Andrew and I got together. On the hundredth day anniversary of my relationship with Andrew, while I was heartbroken and guilt-ridden because family issues prevented me from coming back to celebrate, they had slept together. When Claire and I went shopping together, who could have imagined we were actually texting the same person? Even during those few days when I was away on a research trip, Andrew would chat with me until 2 AM every night, telling me he “loved me” and saying “goodnight,” but in reality he was holding another woman in his arms, having just finished having sex with her. All the timelines connected, like two parallel worlds sharing the same axis of time. Fighting back tears, I took screenshots of their chat history one by one, then restored his phone to exactly how it was, pretending nothing had happened. But no one knew that inside, I was dying from the pain. I ultimately turned down Andrew’s suggestion. Using the excuse that I wasn’t feeling well, I returned to my room early. Though he noticed something was off about me, he didn’t say much—just told me to get some rest. Then he left. I didn’t need to think twice to know he was definitely going to see Claire. Sure enough, before long, Andrew came back putting on a caring act, bringing me a glass of milk. His attitude seemed sincere, but there was a lipstick stain at the corner of his mouth that he hadn’t wiped clean. It was Claire’s favorite shade. Andrew said, “Raelynn, have some milk. You haven’t seemed yourself these past couple days. Is something bothering you?” As I brought the glass to my lips, I paused slightly. I suddenly remembered that every time I drank something Andrew brought me, I’d sleep unusually deeply. And that night when I caught them together—I’d only had a couple sips of what he brought because my stomach was upset, then put it down. Could there be something wrong with what he was giving me? A cold sweat broke out across my body. Looking at Andrew’s smile again, I found it strangely sinister and cold. Not knowing what I was thinking, he just smiled and urged, “What’s wrong? Baby, do you need me to feed it to you?” “Go ahead and drink up. Get some good rest afterward. We’re heading back tomorrow, so you need to be well-rested.” I shook my head. “I don’t want it right now. Just leave it there.” Andrew’s expression immediately became unnatural, but he couldn’t very well force me. After hesitating for a long time, he had to compromise: “Alright. Just remember to drink it later.” Andrew gave me a few more reminders. Seeing that I really wasn’t going to cooperate, he finally left the room. After he left, I immediately poured the milk down the sink, then crawled under the covers and pretended to be asleep. Sure enough, after what felt like forever, Andrew finally came back to check on me. Claire was following behind him. Seeing that I was “asleep,” they both relaxed, and their behavior became bolder. After some rustling sounds of clothes, I heard the sounds of them having sex. They were shameless enough to do this in my room! Claire said, “You bad boy! Right next to her, you dare to sleep with me. Aren’t you afraid she’ll find out?” Andrew replied, “What are you worried about? I put in more of the drug today. Look, she’s sleeping soundly. She dared to upset my baby, so she has to pay the price.” Claire laughed, “You’re so good to me. Raelynn’s been in such a bad mood these past couple days, actually daring to ignore me. She’s not even bringing me gifts anymore. You don’t think she’s figured something out, do you?” “How could she?” Andrew kissed Claire’s lips, reassuring her. “I’ve handled everything perfectly—didn’t leave any evidence.” “Besides, you and I fight every day, so there’s no way she’d suspect us. Once we get back, we can play some more exciting games.” Andrew’s last words were drowned out by the sounds of him and Claire kissing. I felt nauseated, my palms bearing deep marks from my fingernails. I was indeed heartbroken by Andrew’s betrayal, but what I found even harder to accept was how much Claire seemed to be enjoying this. Claire came from a poor family. When we started freshman year, she was mocked and bullied by some troublemakers in our class because of her heavy accent, and they even stole the scholarship she’d applied for. I couldn’t stand watching it, so I took her all the way to the administration office to get the leadership to help resolve the situation. Later, because I was constantly coming and going at odd hours, I was worried about disturbing my roommates’ sleep, so I moved out of the dorm. When Claire heard about this, she said she wanted to move out with me too, but she didn’t have the money. So I just had her cover utilities while I took care of the rent and other expenses. That’s how we ended up living in the same place and gradually became best friends. I’d share half of whatever good things I had with her, and I’d often buy her things she liked. We once got drunk together and promised to be best friends for life. But how did we end up like this?
I don’t know how I made it through that day. From then on, it felt like something inside me had been ripped out by the roots, leaving nothing behind. On the way back, I sat in the passenger seat. Unlike before, I deliberately acted intimate with Andrew. Fighting back the nausea in my stomach, I made sure to say suggestive things. At first, Andrew nervously stole glances at Claire’s expression through the rearview mirror. But after just a few words from me, his attention was completely drawn away, and he even started playing along with me. Men, especially cheating men, are all the same. You think his willingness to betray his morals for you means true love, but he’ll always be attracted to the next person who actively approaches him. Claire sat in the back seat, making a few snide remarks. On the surface, she was criticizing me, but every word was actually a threat to Andrew. She said, “Raelynn, get a grip, will you? You’re actually going to wear that kind of outfit and dance for him? Does he deserve it? Andrew, I’m warning you, don’t you dare go along with this. Raelynn is precious, and if you dare to look, I’ll gouge your eyes out!” Andrew snorted coldly, “She’s my girlfriend. If I want to look, I’ll look. I can even hold her in my arms while I watch. What’s it to you?” For once, Claire didn’t argue back. She probably couldn’t tell whether Andrew’s words were just an act or if he meant them. I leisurely admired the scenery outside the window. Their conflict needed to escalate further. Only when their contradictions intensified would they lose control of their emotions and make mistakes, allowing me to smoothly proceed with the next phase of my plan. I had Andrew drop Claire off at home first, then used the excuse of needing to pick up something from school to have him give me a ride. On the way, I casually mentioned that I’d be going back to my hometown in a couple of days. Andrew’s eyes filled with delight, though he tried to suppress the excitement in his voice. He asked, “Going back home? Why so suddenly? How long will you be gone?” I made up some random excuse: “My mom said there’s an issue with my passport information and wants me to come back to fix it. Probably three to five days. Too bad it coincides with your birthday – I won’t be able to celebrate with you.” Andrew thought for a moment, then waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine, business comes first. I have a birthday every year.” I sneered inwardly. How considerate of him – he’d probably already planned what wine to drink with Claire on his birthday. I calmly exchanged “I’ll miss you” type pleasantries with Andrew. After getting home, Claire was still giving me the cold shoulder over what happened in the car. It wasn’t until she heard me packing that she poked her head out and asked, “You’re leaving?” I repeated the same story I’d told Andrew. After hearing it, she became excited too. She said, “Well, be safe on your trip. If that bastard Andrew makes you angry, just tell me and I’ll rush over to beat him up for you.” I smiled without responding. She wanted to help me beat him up? Knowing them, they’d probably end up in bed together after all that fighting. That day, while Andrew and Claire were both in class, I dragged my suitcase and pretended to leave. But I took a detour at the community gate and went straight to Andrew’s rental apartment. Then I pulled out my phone and opened the live streaming platform. I wrote the stream title: [I want to secretly prepare a birthday surprise for my boyfriend to see his reaction. You guys have to help me keep it a secret, okay.] As soon as I started streaming, dozens of people joined. Most of them were classmates from our school. Comments immediately started flooding the live chat. [Wow! You’re so romantic!] [Did your boyfriend save the galaxy in his past life?] [I really want to see a man moved to tears!] I smiled sweetly at the camera. Then I said, “You guys need to keep it down, don’t give away my plan. I told my boyfriend I was going back home, but I’m actually trying to surprise him.” After that, I pointed the camera toward Andrew’s bedroom and pretended to prepare decorations for the surprise. Actually, I had already hidden my phone in a safe corner, waiting to watch their little show. Sure enough, they didn’t disappoint me. Before long, I heard the sound of the door lock turning. Then came the continuous sounds of a man and woman kissing, mixed with Claire’s voice that carried a hint of tears. She said, “You have to make this clear to me today. Do you love me or do you love Raelynn? Last time in the car, you actually said you wanted to hold her in your arms while watching? Are you going to abandon me?” Andrew said, “How could that be, baby? If I didn’t want you, why would I be so eager to see you? I heard you prepared a birthday surprise for me? Show me what it is.” Their entire conversation was captured on camera, and comments instantly flooded the live chat. [Isn’t that Claire’s voice? How is she at Andrew’s place?] [Wait. I remember Claire is Raelynn’s best friend. They have such a close relationship and go everywhere together. She’s actually doing this behind her best friend’s back?] However, some comments urged everyone to stay calm, saying it might not be what everyone was thinking. But the next second, Claire’s revealing clothes and their gradually embracing figures were captured crystal clear on camera. At that moment, the viewers went completely crazy. [Oh my God! Am I getting to watch this for free?] [Raelynn, is this setting up a surprise?] [This is totally catching them in the act!] The number of viewers multiplied, and some people even started posting screenshots on the campus social media platform. Of course, the “surprise” Claire and Andrew had for me didn’t stop there. They were so brazen that they even started plotting about my academic report again. Claire said, “Andrew, I regret this. I don’t want to share you with her anymore. That day in the car when I saw you two being so intimate, I was furious. Her academic report is almost finished, right? When she comes back, help me steal her academic report. Then we’ll both get recommended to the same school and continue being together. You can dump her ruthlessly!” Andrew was extremely excited, so he agreed to whatever Claire said. He said, “Okay. I’ll do whatever you say, baby. When the time comes, I’ll say she’s too busy and doesn’t have time for me. She’s so stupid, she’ll definitely think it’s her fault. Then I can take the opportunity to squeeze some money out of her.” Even though I had orchestrated all of this, hearing them plot against me so shamelessly still made my heart ache inexplicably. I had treated them sincerely, but I never expected I’d raised two ungrateful people. At this point, the live chat was filled with comments defending me. [These two are disgusting. Raelynn treats them so well, and this is how they repay her?] [Plus, I often see Andrew and Claire fighting. I had no idea they were all acting.] [Not only do they eat and drink at Raelynn’s expense, but they also want to steal her academic report. They’re shameless!] The constantly scrolling comments kept my stream’s popularity high. However, because the content was too explosive, my account was banned shortly after. But it didn’t matter. The most important part of the video had already been screen-recorded and was spreading widely among our classmates. I had achieved my goal. Several friends who usually got along well with me came to comfort me. I deliberately put on the act of a victim, crying as I told my story. For a moment, all public opinion was on my side.
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