Watched Me Suffer and Called It Growth? Goodbye Forever to All Four of You! Chapter 03

Colin’s face changed the second he saw me.

“What are you doing here? Tess needs rest. If you start clinging again I won’t mind sending you back.”

Spencer looked me over. “How did you end up looking like that? Disgusting.”

I glanced down. Mud still clung to my clothes.

Garrett sprayed me with disinfectant.

“Stay back. Don’t bring bacteria in here. What if something happens to Tess’s baby?”

I swallowed. It felt like glass.

Every face showed disgust and caution, like they’d forgotten how I got this way.

I looked at Tessa on the bed and tried to smile. It came out bitter.

“So telling them I wasn’t independent enough was just to push me out so you could take my place?”

Tessa bit her lip. Her eyes flickered.

“Paige, how can you say that? I was doing it for your own good.”

“This world needs women who can stand on their own–”

Colin stepped in front of her before she finished.

“She’s right. You texted every time you ate. Texted good night every time you went to sleep. You needed comfort over a paper cut. No one likes that.”

Spencer lifted his chin. “She was like a dog that never leaves you alone. Couldn’t shake her. Sickening.”

My face went white. I stumbled back.

I shut my eyes.

So those were the words they really meant.

All the old promises were gone.

I turned away. My voice scraped. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again. Ever.”

I left the hospital and used every dollar I had left to rent a tiny, run-down apartment.

I took whatever odd jobs I could find just to eat.

Tessa’s social media feed never stopped.

[Setting up the nursery today. Everyone’s so helpful~]

In the photos Colin assembled the crib. Garrett did laundry. Spencer painted the walls.

If it hadn’t been my old room they were remodeling, I might have thought it looked happy.

I scrolled through Tessa’s happy photos and pieced together the years they’d lived without me.

My music room became Tessa’s walk-in closet by the second month.

My certificates on the wall turned into her photos.

Even the furniture I’d picked as a kid was gone, replaced with a different style.

Tessa had been treated like a princess those years.

Once, that was me. The one they cherished. The center of their world.

Someone nearby suddenly shouted and held up a phone.

“Isn’t that the girl from the island livestream? I was wondering why I couldn’t catch it anymore.”

Others stirred. “It really is. She was half-naked on that island and now she’s playing modest. Take something off.”

Livestream?

My throat tightened. I searched.

Every result showed footage of me on the island, edited into compilation videos that had been circulating for years.

My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.

Not long ago a brown bear had chased me.

Its claws shredded my clothes and left deep scratches across my chest. The memory still made me sick.

They’d seen all of it. They’d posted it.

I stood there as despair crashed over me.

I screamed until my voice broke. “No… No!”

“I’m Spencer’s sister. Garrett’s childhood friend. Colin’s fiancée. Not this.”

“Delete it! Delete everything!”

No one cared.

Laughter rolled through the crowd.

“Still dreaming.”

“They already denied knowing you online.”

“She must’ve pissed someone off and got herself put out there. She deserves it.”

I grabbed the edge of a table to stay upright.

They pushed closer.

“Come on, take something off. Let’s see how clingy you are.”

I backed away, face gray.

I looked up and saw Colin in the crowd.

His lips moved.

“Paige Bennett. Just give up.”