Chapter 3

Naomi followed up with a text. "Think about what you did, Ms. Carter."

Furious, Enid hurled abuse at the infuriating couple while I let out a bitter laugh.

Moments ago, I realized that Naomi and Caleb were actually pretty similar. For one, on the many occasions Caleb was in the wrong, he never gave me a chance to explain before bluntly pointing out my faults.

If he couldn't beat me in an argument, he'd walk away, saying, "I'll give you some time to cool off, Sonia. Think about what you did."

Once, I caught him spending the night with Naomi on his birthday. I hadn't expected to be disappointed after pulling out all the stops for his special day.

In the end, I was so tormented by his usual "think about what you did" line that I snapped.

I lost my temper more violently than I ever had before. I smashed the gift I'd painstakingly prepared for him and trashed the elderflower cake I'd spent the entire afternoon making.

Yet all Caleb did was watch coolly from the side, as if he were a spectator of some irrelevant performance.

When I finished lashing out in tears and became so exhausted that I couldn't speak, he looked down at me and said, "Sonia, you're far too emotional for your own good. You're not grounded at all.

"Don't forget, you'll be the matriarch of the Gallagher family one day. If you take this so personally and fail to learn to control your emotions, I think our families should discuss calling off our engagement."

At that point, I loved him so much that I practically abandoned my pride and dignity. But in retrospect, calling off an engagement wouldn't have been the end of the world.

The aggravating phone call with Naomi had robbed Enid and me of our appetites, but the idea of going back to the villa filled with traces of Naomi put me off. So, I shamelessly followed Enid back to her villa instead.

Late that night, our stomachs grumbled in protest. Enid and I exchanged a knowing look, then set up the grill for our impromptu barbecue. I ordered two crates of beer from the food delivery platform, and we drank ourselves into a stupor.

Caleb had always hated young women who drank beer and ate barbecue. He thought it was uncouth and very unladylike.

As such, I suppressed my cravings and stopped myself from drinking and eating barbecue. On the few occasions I caved into temptation, I'd freshen up in a hotel before going home.

Enid had scolded me a few times because of this, calling me a model lap dog.

Looking back, Caleb had returned to the villa a few times smelling like somebody else's perfume. I never once picked a bone with him over it, so why had I gone to such ridiculous lengths for him?

"If you ask me, you never should have gotten engaged to him. Who the hell does he think he is anyway? You're way out of his league! You've stopped smiling and laughing ever since you got together with him. It breaks my heart."

Enid clumsily wrapped her arms around me, already drunk. She'd curse Caleb one moment, then grin and giggle as she hugged me the next, congratulating me on escaping from my suffering.

My mind was a blur from all the drinking as well.

In my daze, I vaguely recalled sending Caleb a few unsavory voicemails, but I didn't remember what I'd said. The only reason I even remembered I'd sent him voicemails was because I woke up the next morning to find that he'd removed me from his contacts and blocked me.

Caleb had a habit of giving me the cold shoulder whenever we fought. In the past, it left me an anxious wreck, and I'd try to appease him so we could move on. Surprisingly, I was calm when I found out he'd blocked me this time. I was even a little thrilled.

I must have called him pretty dirty names if he was angry enough to block me. I returned the favor and blocked him on my social media.

My days living with Enid felt like a vacation. We vegged out and had fun every day. Enid even helped me deal with the problems those fossils on the board of directors kept throwing my way.

Mom and Dad had only one daughter. I stood to inherit the family business, but the older shareholders found it hard to respect someone my age.

I used to seek Caleb's help whenever I ran into trouble. At first, he would patiently guide me toward a solution, but over the past year, I could tell he'd grown annoyed with me.

When Enid found out, she taught herself business management without hesitation just to help me straighten out company affairs, even though she had always loved art.