My Boyfriend Gave My House to His Three Childhood Friends Chapter 02

My Boyfriend Gave My House to His Three Childhood Friends Chapter 02

I looked at her.

“There won’t be a next time.”

The second the words left my mouth, the doorbell rang.

The real estate agent was standing outside with a photographer.

“Ms Carter, we’re here to take the photos for the listing.”

Ethan’s expression changed at once.

“Photos for what?”

“I’m selling the house.”

He grabbed my arm.

“Erin, have you lost it? We’ve only just finished the place. You can’t just sell it.”

I pulled my arm free.

“The house is mine.”

“But I’m the one who renovated it!” His voice rose sharply. “I spent a whole year on this place. The design, the materials, every last detail. I put everything into it.”

I looked around.

Four pairs of matching slippers sat in the entryway cabinet.

A huge photo hung in the middle of the living room, showing Ethan and his three childhood friends posing in front of a snowy mountain.

In my home office, the bookshelves I’d chosen had been ripped out and replaced with a livestream backdrop.

The display area on the terrace that I’d reserved for my late father’s keepsakes had been turned into a barbecue corner piled with their camping gear.

Even half of the walk-in closet in the primary bedroom was filled with matching outdoor jackets belonging to the four of them.

I’d lived there for three months, yet I could barely find anything in the house that was truly mine.

“All that time and effort?” I looked at him. “What exactly were you designing? Our future home, or a private clubhouse for the four of you?”

He froze for a second, then frowned.

“They’re my closest friends. Of course they’re going to be round a lot. If you’re going to marry me, you need to accept that they’re part of my life.”

There it was again.

Whenever I’d raised an issue before, he always told me the same thing.

I’d never truly accepted his friends.

When Sophia borrowed my car, Ethan said letting her use it for a few days was no big deal.

When Claire brought people over to play video games all night, he said one noisy night now and then wasn’t worth making a fuss over.

When Megan opened a bottle of wine from my collection, he told me wine was there to be drunk.

But whenever I wanted to use my own home office, Sophia was livestreaming in it.

Whenever I wanted to sit out on the terrace for a while, they complained that I was spoiling the atmosphere of their get-together.

And the night before, when I’d tried to come back to my own home, they hadn’t even opened the door.

I stepped aside.

“You’ve got forty-eight hours to pack your things. Anything left after that goes to a house-clearance firm.”

When the photographer reached the home office, he suddenly stopped.

“Ms Carter, it looks as though this property has been registered as a business address.”

He pointed to an acrylic plaque on the wall.

[SOPHIA CREATIVE MEDIA STUDIO]

Printed underneath it was the address of my house.

I stood there staring at it for a long moment.

This was the first time I’d found out that my home had become Sophia’s registered business address and workspace.

“It was just easier for livestreaming,” Sophia said, as though the whole thing were too trivial to argue about. “It’s not like I’ve actually turned the place into company headquarters.”

The real estate agent shook their head.

“If the property’s been registered as a business address, that has to be sorted first. We can’t complete the sale with something like this hanging over it.”

I pulled out my phone and took photos of the plaque and the registered address.

The smile finally faded from Sophia’s face.

“Erin, don’t blow this out of proportion. Once you and Ethan are married, we’ll practically be family anyway. What’s the big deal if I use the address for a bit?”

“I never agreed to you treating this place like it’s your home.”

She went rigid.

Ethan immediately stepped in front of her.

“Erin, if you’re going to blame anyone, blame me. I’m the one who said she could use the address.”

I nodded.

“Fine. Then I’ll deal with you both.”