I Stressed for Months to Be With Them — They Were Never Planning to Be With Me Chapter 04

I Stressed for Months to Be With Them — They Were Never Planning to Be With Me Chapter 04

The private room was loud with conversation, so I got up and headed toward the restroom. Vanessa smiled, looped her arm through mine, and followed me.

At the sink, she washed her hands and dried them slowly, speaking as though none of this mattered.

“Claire, that game was just for fun. Don’t take it so seriously.”

“Once Asher starts college, there’ll be parties, networking events, and all kinds of social situations. Things like that are only going to happen more often.”

“He’s been really busy helping me get everything ready for school. You need to stop picking fights with him over such small things.”

She sounded exactly like a girlfriend defending her boyfriend.

I had barely exchanged five full sentences with Asher over the past several days because he had been spending all his time with her.

He had even told Vanessa every detail of the arguments that should have remained between the two of us.

When she finished, she caught my wrist.

“The three of us grew up together. We’re best friends, so you need to stop getting jealous for no reason.”

When we were children, Vanessa had been bullied by several classmates, and I had been the one who stepped in to protect her.

I had even gone to Asher and asked him to walk to and from school with us.

“Asher, Vanessa is my best friend. When I’m not around, you have to protect her the same way you’d protect me.”

That was how the bond among the three of us had begun.

Somehow, I had become the outsider in a friendship that was supposed to include all three of us.

I swallowed hard and asked her directly.

“Vanessa, are you in love with Asher?”

She stiffened, and her smile vanished.

“Of course not.”

“Asher and I just get along well. He ranked first in our class, and I ranked second. We’re study partners, that’s all.”

“Study partners?”

I gave a short, humorless laugh.

“If you don’t like him, why is your chat with him pinned?”

“If you don’t like him, why do you find an excuse to come along every time Asher and I go on a date?”

“And why do you secretly prepare a special gift for him every holiday?”

The more I questioned her, the calmer she became.

At last, she stopped pretending.

“That’s right. I do love him.”

“Claire, you and Asher aren’t right for each other.”

“We have the same interests, the same ambitions, and the same plans for the future. Please, Claire. Let me be with him.”

“He’s my boyfriend!”

My eyes stung, and my voice rose before I could stop it.

“Vanessa, aren’t we supposed to be best friends? How could you betray me like this?”

She looked at me coldly.

“Because you don’t deserve him. Even if you force this relationship to continue, neither of you will ever be happy.”

Whatever hope I had left for our friendship disappeared, and I raised my hand and slapped her across the face.

Vanessa lost her balance and stumbled into the sink, striking her forehead hard enough to leave an angry red mark.

At that moment, the restroom door flew open.

Asher rushed inside and shoved me aside the moment he saw Vanessa clutching her forehead.

My back hit the wall hard, and the impact knocked the breath out of me.

“Claire, you’ve gone too far!”

He hurried to Vanessa, lifted her into his arms, and turned toward the door.

I clenched my fists and called after him.

“Asher, we’re…”

The words “we’re done” had been on the tip of my tongue for what felt like forever.

“Asher, my head is spinning,” Vanessa murmured.

He stopped immediately and looked down at her in concern.

“Whatever you need to say can wait until I get back.”

At that moment, whatever love I had left for him disappeared.

Two days later, I packed my bags, boarded a flight to London, and began a new life of my own.

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

With the semester about to begin, Asher arrived at my house with his luggage, intending to pick me up before they left for Westmere University.

He knocked for a long time, but no one answered.

Just then, the next-door neighbor came home and spotted him standing outside.

“Asher, are you here for Claire? The Bennetts moved out two weeks ago…”