Chapter 4

I had three unread messages. What the hell.

I lowered my gaze and started typing, but a red exclamation mark appeared.

Adrian had blocked me. Probably because I had taken too long to reply. He had never been patient with me.

Whenever he got annoyed, he could give me the silent treatment anytime, anywhere. It never mattered whose fault it was.

I was almost always the first to give in. He took my feelings for granted and did whatever he wanted.

…

The next day, Kelsey asked me to meet her at the mall to pick up her dress. She and Jeremy had already set their wedding date. The bridesmaid dress had been sent in a few days earlier to have the waist taken in, and today it was finally ready.

"Forget about that dog of a man." Kelsey looped her arm through mine as we headed upstairs. "Your only job right now is to look gorgeous enough at my wedding to put everyone else to shame."

After picking up the dress, we wandered around the mall for a while. As we passed the entrance to a store, we spotted Rachel.

She stood at the counter picking out cufflinks, several open gift boxes beside her while a sales associate explained the different options.

When she saw me, she did not look surprised in the slightest. If anything, she smiled first. "Hayley, what a coincidence."

Kelsey's expression darkened immediately, and she muttered a curse under her breath.

Rachel acted as though she had not heard.

She picked up a pair of silver cufflinks and held them up to the light. "Do you think these would suit Addy?"

I said nothing.

She let out a quiet laugh. "I thought you would know his taste better than I do. You've been together for three years, after all."

Kelsey gave a cold laugh and stepped in front of me, refusing to show Rachel even the smallest measure of courtesy. "Don't act so familiar with us. You don't even know what he likes, yet you have the nerve to ask his actual girlfriend?"

Rachel lowered her eyes and continued in an innocent tone, "I just didn't want to buy the wrong thing. Addy never says much about what he likes, but there are actually a lot of things he doesn't.

"Even then, he won't tell people what he dislikes. I suppose he's afraid of embarrassing them."

Her words were light and airy, yet they pierced like a fine needle.

I suddenly remembered everything I had given Adrian over the past three years: a keychain, cologne, a scarf, and even a handmade ornament. He had accepted every gift without much reaction, but I had never known whether he actually liked any of them.

The next second, Rachel's phone rang. She glanced at the screen, the corners of her mouth lifting, and answered. "Addy."

I couldn't hear what he said, but her voice softened. "No, I'm at the mall. I wanted to pick out a New Year's gift for you. Don't come over. I can handle this myself. I'm not a child."

As she spoke, she looked over at me. "Oh, by the way, Hayley is here too."

Rachel held the phone out with a gentle smile. "He says he wants to say a few words to you."

Kelsey immediately grabbed my wrist, her eyes filled with warning, but I took the phone anyway.

On the other end, Adrian's voice was icy. "Hayley, don't make a scene in front of Rach."

I had not even said a single word, and he had already decided I was the one at fault. "She's just buying a gift. Do you really have to embarrass everyone?"

I stayed silent for two seconds. "Adrian, should I just walk farther away, then? Would that be dignified enough for you?"

The line fell silent.

This time, I did not bother explaining myself. I simply handed the phone back to Rachel.

She took it, her voice light and gentle. "Addy, I'll let you go for now. It looks like Hayley still wants to browse the menswear section."

She paused as though something had just occurred to her, and her smile thinned. "I saw her standing in the plus-size section for quite a while earlier. I'm not sure who she was shopping for."