Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 06

Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 06

The moment Ethan hung up, he rushed back to the room where I had been staying.

He knocked for a long time before Chloe finally opened the door.

She was wearing a delicate lace nightgown that showed off her figure, her makeup flawless but deliberately natural-looking.

She smiled when she saw him.

“Ethan, were you looking for me?”

She reached for him as if to pull him into the room.

Ethan turned aside and avoided her hand.

“Mia left. I came to pack up her things.”

Chloe’s expression changed.

“I’m sorry, Ethan.”

“I accidentally damaged some of Mia’s stuff last night.”

“She won’t mind, will she?”

The headphones lay on the carpet, their casing cracked open to expose the electronics inside.

The purse had been tossed into a corner, covered in scratches and dust.

Ethan’s face darkened.

“Who told you to touch her things?”

“You did all this and you’re calling it an accident?”

Chloe stepped toward him cautiously.

“Ethan, I can explain.”

“I could tell she saw you as more than a friend.”

“The more I thought about it last night, the more jealous I got, and then I just…”

Ethan looked at her coldly.

“You were right about that part.”

Chloe didn’t realize she’d made a mistake.

Hearing him agree, she hurried on.

“Exactly. She’s one of those girls who pretends to be ‘one of the guys.”

“She acts like she’s just friends with every guy, but really she’s always waiting for a chance to cr

“Enough!” Ethan snapped.

“Mia didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Because she is my girlfriend.”

Chloe stared at him blankly.

“How could she be? What do you even like about her?”

“I’m prettier, and I have a better personality. What does she have that I don’t?”

“Everyone should be paying attention to me.”

Only then did Ethan understand.

Chloe didn’t actually like him.

She just wanted everyone around her to dote on her and make her the center of attention.

He suddenly remembered something from high school.

Back then, I had always been careful with money.

It took him a long time to find out why.

I had been donating half of my small allowance to children in poor rural communities.

“Ethan, I have enough food and clothes. That’s all I need.”

“Those kids need this money more than I do.”

He had asked, “Why don’t you wait until you’re older and can afford to help more?”

I had shaken my head.

“They can’t wait.”

That was the first time he’d realized someone could be so genuinely kind.

And now he’d lost me.

He looked at Chloe and spoke slowly.

“I’ll send you a list of everything you damaged and what each item costs.”

“You need to pay me back by next week.”

“I’ll replace everything for Mia.”

Chloe shrieked.

“Why should I?”

“I only did it because none of you acted like you cared about her!”

Ethan’s hand trembled.

When had the four of them stopped treating Mia like she mattered?

Was it when they first asked her to pretend she was one of the guys?

No.

It had started much earlier than that.

But when they were growing up together, things had been different.

Every day after school, Ethan used to help me with my language homework.

Mason used to bake elaborate cakes for my birthday.

Logan could fix just about anything. Once, when my calculator broke, he had it working again in minutes.

Noah used to meet me on my way home, just to make sure no one gave me trouble.

And now?

The only people truly hurting me were the four of them.

Ethan finished packing the things I’d left behind.

He walked straight past Chloe, who was sitting on the floor crying.

At the door, he stopped.

“Delete the social media posts from last night.”

“We’re deleting ours too.”

The other three guys had already packed their bags and were waiting in the hallway.

After a long silence, Mason spoke first.

“We were wrong.”

Logan lowered his head.

“Mia grew up with us. She’s been our friend all these years, and we kept pushing her aside.”

Noah started booking flights.

“Let’s go home.”

“We’ll go find Mia and make this right.”