My Boyfriend of Seven Years Takes Care of My Best Friend Like She’s His Girlfriend Chapter 05

My Boyfriend of Seven Years Takes Care of My Best Friend Like She’s His Girlfriend Chapter 05

After I left, Julian drank heavily at the family dinner.

Even with his mother and Sienna begging him to stop, he insisted on heading back to our old shared

apartment.

The alcohol left him dazed, barely conscious of how he even got inside.

He woke up at 3:00 a.m. on the bare floor.

Moonlight slanted through the window frame.

Julian whispered into the dark.

“Elara.”

As expected-no answer.

If I were still there, I never would’ve let him sleep on the floor.

Back then, every time he stumbled home drunk, whether from client dinners or nights out with

friends. I’d listen to his slurred rambling, wipe him down, change his clothes, even clean up his

vomit.

All our friends envied him.

Top-tier university, good looks, a well-paid career, a mild temperament, and zero wasteful habits.

He’d been proud of that too.

At freshman orientation, every single guy’s gaze locked onto Sienna Vance.

But he had vision. He picked the girl standing next to her.

Sienna was a rose-fiery, dazzling.

In his mind, I was jasmine. Soft, delicate.

He liked jasmine.

Living together off-campus only proved how perfect jasmine was.

I did all the cooking, all the cleaning, and took care of every single chore.

Yet he never lifted a finger to help.

He invited friends over constantly, left messes for me to clean at midnight.

At the very start, he’d bring home small gifts: bouquets, cheap trinkets.

Then he stopped bothering altogether.

He’d decided my only shortcoming was that I was too reserved.

Luckily, Sienna filled that gap.

Loud, playful, everything I was not.

She clung to him constantly, demanding all his free time.

I adjusted. Let her tag along everywhere.

At first, Julian would grow jealous and fire off passive-aggressive jabs.

Sienna shot back with equal sharpness.

Somewhere down the line, their constant bickering morphed into an odd, unspoken bond.

He started teasing her on purpose.

He swore up and down he only viewed her as “one of the lads.”

This was despite her striking looks and the crowd of suitors she always drew.

His heart belonged to me. Loyal. Forever.

Until the night the power went out.

Sienna screamed, “Elara, I’m scared!”

She lunged for me.

Missed.

When the lights came back on, she was in Julian’s arms, face bright red.

The feeling of her body against his-soft, real-burned into his memory.

That was the night he realized Sienna wasn’t “one of the guys.”

After that, teasing her felt different.

Sometimes he caught himself crossing lines.

Sometimes he saw the hurt in my eyes.

He felt guilty.

But he liked it too much.

So he rationalized it to himself: it wasn’t emotional cheating, just harmless banter-nothing more

than natural male behavior.

He kept this up until I ended things.

Only then did the full gravity of what he’d lost crash down on him.

As I wrapped up leftover personal affairs in the area, I kept crossing paths with him everywhere.

Late nights leaving the office, local lunch spots, the entrance to my new apartment building.

Julian trailed after me like a shadow, quiet and unblinking as he watched my every move.

This time, he stepped in front of me.

“Elara. Tell me why.”

“What why?”

“Is this all because I grew too close to Sienna?”

Pathetic. He was only just starting to understand.

I said, “Yes.”

His face crumpled. “That’s it?”

“Elara, you know nothing happened. No feelings. No cheating. No betrayal. We’re just friends.”

Exhaustion washed over me.

Exactly as I predicted.

He’d never get it.

1 stopped walking. “Julian, do you seriously think this is about technicality? That as long as there’s no sex, it’s fine? That befriending another woman-prioritizing her, touching her, putting her first –is just… normal?”

I let out a bitter laugh.

“You’re lucky you’re a man-everyone would label you charming and socially adept. If our roles were reversed? Women who act like you get shamed as promiscuous today. Centuries ago, they

would’ve drowned them for such conduct.”

I turned to walk away.

“Elara–”

He grabbed my arm, voice breaking. “I love you. I’ll change. Anything you want. Just come back.”

Rain began pouring down once more.

Good thing I had an umbrella this time.

I shoved his hand off.

Walked straight into the storm without looking back.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Cole called.

“Elara, Julian got soaked to the bone last night. He’s running a high fever, and he mumbled your

name nonstop all through the night.”

She sighed.

“I talked to Sienna. Honey, Julian just likes having friends. Even after you’re married, he deserves

his own space. You can’t leash him to your hip forever.”

“Marriage is built on trust. Julian treats you well. No affairs. No scandals. As long as he stays within

the lines, everything else is forgivable.”

Tears slid down my face.

I hung up and curled into myself, shaking.

Of course no one could possibly see where I was coming from.

Truth be told, I’d even questioned my own judgment at the very start.

But five years’ worth of tiny, unmeasurable hurts: careless words, lingering touches, one-sided, choices, had hollowed me out completely.

I’d spent so long internalizing their logic: if there was no physical intimacy, all his care counted as platonic, all their closeness just friendship.

I’d been made to feel in the wrong for feeling hurt-too sensitive, too unreasonable.

But deep down, I knew I was the one who’d been hurt all along.