He Stole Our Future to Fund Her Wedding, So I Ruined Him Chapter 08

Three days before the hearing, I saw someone else I hadn’t expected.

Claire.

She looked awful too. She didn’t try to make small talk.

“Nora, can we walk over to campus?”

I nodded.

When we reached the entrance, students were just getting out of class.

Two girls came out hand in hand, debating what to eat tomorrow.

They complained about too much homework and a break that was too short.

Seven years earlier, Claire and I had been just like them on this college campus.

We’d worried about what to have for dinner, and little else.

I’d never imagined one of us would betray the other.

Or that we’d end up here.

There was a mocking edge to Claire’s voice when she spoke.

“At first, I really only went to him because I couldn’t see any other way out.”

“I thought we’d just put on an act once. No one would know, and nothing would happen.”

“When it was over, we’d still be best friends. He’d still be your boyfriend. Neither of us would cross the line.”

“But Nora, I was wrong. I was so wrong…”

Claire cried as hard as Evan had the day he came to see me.

He’d been my boyfriend for five years. She’d been my best friend for seven.

How could they betray me together, then come crying to ask for forgiveness?

“Claire, you were my best friend. Before all this.”

Her hands froze over her face. Her voice grew quieter with each word.

“I know. I’m sorry, Nora. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t remember how many times Claire apologized that day.

Before she left, Claire brought up the video.

It had hit her hard. People had even found her family’s home.

Her parents were getting older. They couldn’t take being frightened day and night.

And everyone around them, even the neighbors, recognized Claire now.

Her family couldn’t stay in Charlotte. Before long, they would move back to their hometown.

I had nothing to say to her, not even a parting wish. I only told her I’d heard her.

Claire left with tears in her eyes.

I felt neither pity nor regret.

The day she chose to betray me, our seven-year friendship had turned to ash.

At home, I pulled an old photo album from a cabinet.

Unlike the action camera, its yellowed photos held all three of us: me, Evan, and Claire.

Evan and I on trips together. Evan and I catching rainwater in buckets in our rental.

Claire and I going to class together. Claire and I posing for graduation photos.

Those two had been at the heart of the most important parts of my life.

Now neither was part of my world.

I stayed in bed for two days. The uproar over the video slowly faded.

Every so often, a mutual friend told me something about Evan.

He, too, had suffered from the fallout, and not just because of Claire.

His company fired him, citing the damage to its reputation.

Neighbors spat when they saw him.

His old friends all cut him off.

Evan shut himself inside, closed the curtains, and drank through the nights.

The one close friend who refused to give up on him knocked on his door for half an hour.

When nobody answered, he feared the worst and called building management to open it.

Inside, they found Evan passed out drunk among empty bottles.

He spent three days in the hospital, staring out the window.

He had only one question.

“If I’d thought more clearly and made up my mind sooner, would things have turned out differently?”

No one answered him.