I Ditched My Childhood Sweethearts for a Brighter Future Chapter 09

I Ditched My Childhood Sweethearts for a Brighter Future Chapter 09

“This is the tutor you were talking about? The tutor whose eyes are practically glued to you?”

“So you haven’t been hanging around us lately because you’ve been with him?”

Looking at my two friends gritting their teeth in fury, I suddenly felt a sudden urge to laugh. “Does it have anything to do with you?”

Both of their expressions froze instantly. Seemingly shocked to hear those words from me, Charles knit his brows so tightly they formed a deep, bitter scowl.

“Paisley, do you even know what you’re saying? The three of us grew up together. Of course your business has everything to do with us. Besides, didn’t we promise we’d always stick together…”

Hearing that made me sick. They used to brainwash me with that exact line day after day, year after year.

Every single time Logan rejected me, he would say, “Paisley, you still can’t even figure out if you like Charles or me. If we got together, it’d just hurt him. Isn’t it great for the three of us to just stay like this? Haven’t we always been this way since we were kids?”

And Charles would follow up. “It’s fine. Logan just sounds harsh, but he likes you just as much as I do. Paisley, we’re going to college together, and then we’ll buy a house for the three of us to share. Wasn’t that always the plan since we were little?”

“The three of us are never splitting up. We’re staying together forever.”

It sounded like a perfect fairy tale.

But growing up made me realize that three people can never stay together forever.

From beginning to end, I was the only fool who actually believed that flimsy lie.

“Enough, Charles.” I forcefully yanked my wrist out of his grip, watching his face drain of all color. “Weren’t you two the ones who abandoned me first? A world built for three is always too crowded, whether it’s love or friendship.”

Logan’s lips parted, his voice rough and strained. “Did he say something to you? Is he trying to drive a wedge between us?”

I gave him a look of pure confusion. “Does anyone even need to say anything?”

Both of them fell utterly silent.

Alanna’s dance performance was stunning, but Logan didn’t look at her once. He kept his head down, completely lost in his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Charles stared blankly at the empty chair next to him, his eyes entirely hollow.

I reached out and took the camera hanging around Logan’s neck.

I had given him this camera as an eighteenth birthday gift. That day, his eyes had gone completely bloodshot, yet he still turned down my confession of love.

Charles had laughed and used it to snap the very first photo—a portrait of me.

He printed it out and held it up to Logan. “Since Paisley gave it to you, it obviously takes the best pictures of her.”

Logan had offered a faint smile. “Yeah. I’ll only use it to shoot her.”

I snapped several continuous photos of Alanna on stage before the camera was abruptly ripped from my hands.

Logan looked incredibly pale. His fingertips gripped the camera tightly, his eyes fixed on me with a tangled mess of emotions.

“Paisley, you’re only doing this to punish me because you’re furious, right?”

I looked him up and down, finding him completely ridiculous and hypocritical.