Chapter 3 Everyone Knew but Me

When I got home, I went straight to the study.

In the bottom compartment of the cabinet, I dug out some materials Camille had kept from college.

On the yellowed project proposal, I found two names side by side—Camille Everhart, and Cedric Ashbourne.

Using Cedric's name, I searched Camille's old computer and found posts from the university forum dating back to those days.

Apparently, they had been a couple everyone on campus knew about. They even entered an entrepreneurship competition together.

The concept behind the core project at Camille's company now had actually come from that competition, but the project had failed.

She ended up with a mountain of debt, while he received an acceptance letter from a prestigious university overseas and flew across the ocean without a second thought.

I had been the one who stayed beside Camille through the hardest years of her life.

Now that she'd finally made it, the man who had been absent through all the struggle had returned to share the glory.

…

At eight that evening, I heard the lock turn. Camille pushed open the door, with Cedric right behind her.

It was the first time I'd ever met him. He was dressed impeccably in that custom-tailored suit, with a suitcase in hand.

"Tristan, Cedric doesn't have anywhere to store his luggage for now, so he's going to leave it here for a few days," Camille explained as she changed out of her shoes. "He's also here to pick up some investment documents he left behind."

Cedric stepped around Camille and came up to me with a faint smile.

"Sorry to impose, Tristan. Camille says you're incredibly understanding, so I'm sure you won't mind."

I frowned, but he acted as though he hadn't noticed. He walked right past me and settled into the living room.

Camille stayed with him the entire time, completely ignoring the look on my face.

Then, Cedric went into the study and casually pulled open the third drawer. "Camille, the college yearbook is still here!"

He even opened the refrigerator. Pointing to a bottle of liquor tucked in the back, he said, "You still have this? It was a graduation gift. I figured you'd have finished it years ago."

He kept calling me Tristan respectfully, but every little thing he did was a declaration that he knew Camille's past better than I did and that he was the real man of the house.

When he reached the dining table, Cedric spotted the Norhaven travel brochure I'd left there.

He turned to Camille with an overly apologetic look.

"Oh, were you two planning to go to Norhaven? If I'd known, I never would've been so selfish as to ask Camille to help me keep that promise we made back in college about going underwater together. Tristan, don't be mad at Camille."

Camille immediately frowned and cut him off. "We're just discussing work. Don't make it sound like something else."

Cedric quickly smiled and corrected himself. "Right, right. Just work."

He lifted a hand to smooth back his hair. His cuff slipped down, revealing the silver aurora bracelet around his wrist.

I stared at it, then walked over and held out my hand. "Give me the bracelet."

Cedric froze. Instinctively, he stepped back behind Camille.

Camille immediately moved in front of him, shielding him from me.

"Tristan, what are you doing? It's just a bracelet, and Cedric really likes it. If it bothers you that much, I'll buy you another one tomorrow. In fact, I'll get you something even more expensive."

"You can't buy another one." I looked straight into Camille's eyes and spoke slowly, each word deliberate. "I spent a month designing that bracelet. I was going to give it to you as our third-anniversary gift."

Camille went rigid, her expression instantly growing complicated.

Seeing this, Cedric immediately took off the bracelet and placed it on the table. His eyes turned red. "I'm sorry, Tristan. I really didn't know. I thought Camille had just bought it on a whim. Please don't fight because of me."

He acted as though he were the one who had been wronged.

The moment Camille saw his reddened eyes, her concern for him overwhelmed her guilt toward me.

She shot me a reproachful look, then took Cedric by the arm. "I'll walk you downstairs."

…

A little while later, Naomi called. "Tristan, did you embarrass Cedric today?"

Her voice was full of accusation.

"Cedric only came back to help Camille bring in several investments. I'll have you know, they almost got married back then. If he hadn't gone abroad, you wouldn't have stood a chance. Can't you at least show him some basic courtesy?"

I gripped my phone, suddenly overcome by how absurd it all was.

So, Naomi had known Cedric was back all along, too.

In this household, I was the only one kept in the dark, the only one made into a fool.