My Best Friend Posed As His Girlfriend, So I Walked Away Chapter 04

My Best Friend Posed As His Girlfriend, So I Walked Away Chapter 04

Everyone nearby had heard Cecily.

One by one, their eyes turned toward me.

Some looked disapproving; others looked openly disgusted.

Even Calder’s parents regarded me with the cold distance reserved for a stranger.

Mrs. Ashbourne spoke first.

“Miss Sayer, I don’t know what your friendship with Sabine looked like before this, but she’s going to be part of our family.”

Her voice hardened.

“We will not allow anyone to bully her. If you refuse to apologize, then I suggest you leave.”

Since arriving, I had barely said a word.

Yet somehow, every accusation in the room had landed on me.

I looked at Calder.

Suddenly, I remembered telling him how Professor Ashbourne had defended me when I was falsely accused in college.

Calder had held me tightly that day.

“My family is fiercely protective of their own,” he had said.

“Once you’re part of it, nobody will ever get away with hurting you again.”

Now that same family stood beside Sabine, with Calder among them.

They all looked at me as if I were the one who had done something unforgivable.

“Verity.”

Calder’s voice turned cold.

“Enough. Sabine hasn’t done anything to you. Apologize.”

Sabine hadn’t done anything wrong?

Had I?

I opened my mouth to defend myself.

Then I realized there was no point.

“I came here as Professor Ashbourne’s former student.”

I looked away from Calder.

“I’ll pay my respects and leave.”

I walked past him and approached the memorial display.

I had barely set down my flowers when Cecily stormed forward and kicked them aside.

“Nobody wants your flowers!”

Sunflowers scattered across the floor.

“Sabine deserves an apology. Are you deaf?”

Professor Ashbourne had once given me a bouquet of sunflowers.

No matter how hard life gets, he had told me, keep turning toward the light.

There was always a way forward.

As long as I didn’t give up, one day I would find my own light.

Now those same flowers lay scattered across the floor.

One broken stem scraped my ankle, leaving a thin line of blood.

“Cecily!”

Calder frowned at his sister.

Then he looked at me.

“She’s young. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Sabine quickly stopped crying and stepped in front of Cecily.

“She was only defending me, Verity. She didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She looked at me pleadingly.

“This is my fault. If you’re angry, take it out on me. Don’t blame Cecily.”

I looked down at the scratch on my ankle, then lifted my eyes.

“Professor Ashbourne was gracious, courteous, and kind.”

My voice was quiet.

“I always assumed his family would be the same.”

I glanced around the room.

“Apparently, I was wrong.”

The Ashbournes’ expressions shifted.

Calder strode over and grabbed my wrist.

“Verity, are you seriously going to keep this up?”

His voice dropped.

“Do you have any idea what my parents are going to think of you after this?”

His grip tightened.

“Do you even want to be with me anymore?”

“No.”

The answer came easily.

For the first time, I felt almost nothing as I pulled my wrist free.

I looked toward Professor Ashbourne’s framed portrait.

“For the rest of my life, the only connection I’ll have to the Ashbourne family is that I was Professor Ashbourne’s student.”

“Verity!”

Something in Calder’s expression shifted.

For the first time, he seemed uneasy.

“Stop saying things you don’t mean.”

He lowered his voice.

“Just apologize and leave for now. Once everyone calms down, I’ll bring you back and introduce you properly.”

For three years, I had imagined a future with him.

It wasn’t until today that I realized I should have stopped dreaming a long time ago.

Calder didn’t wait for my answer.

He turned toward his furious parents.

“Mom, Dad, Verity is Sabine’s friend. She didn’t mean what she said.”

He spoke soothingly.

“Once she apologizes, can we just let this go?”

I almost laughed.

I turned to leave.

Then a voice cut through the room.

“Calder, are you out of your damn mind?”

Everyone turned.

“Verity has barely said anything since she walked in here. What exactly is she supposed to apologize for?”