Chapter 3

Will's expression darkened. "What the hell? Jolyn is your best friend! She would never betray you like that!"

Jolyn immediately took off the parka and clung pitifully to my arm. "This is all a misunderstanding!

"My landlord sold his apartment without any warning, so I suddenly had nowhere to stay! That's the only reason I've been staying with Will for the past three months. I promise!"

I laughed bitterly in disbelief.

"Oh, so you two have been living together behind my back for three whole months! And you told me not to overthink things!" I sneered. "Let's cut to the chase, Will. We're done. And Jolyn?"

I shoved her arms away and turned from her. "Don't ever call yourself my best friend again. It disgusts me."

I picked up my suitcase and left without looking back.

Will rushed to the door as if he wanted to chase after me, but Jolyn suddenly burst into loud sobs behind him. He hesitated for a second, then turned back to her.

…

After I arrived at the hotel, several missed calls filled my phone. I also had a stream of message notifications from the two of them, each one another attempt to "explain" themselves, but I blocked them both without reading a single message.

Sleep eluded me that night. I tossed and turned until I finally gave up and opened the cloud album I shared with Will.

Hundreds of new photos had appeared. At first, they showed all three of us on outings and excursions. Will had taken casual pictures of Jolyn and me while we were having fun. But the farther I scrolled, the fewer pictures there were of me. Eventually, every photo was of Jolyn alone.

That was when I discovered that the two of them had traveled without me to a city I'd always wanted to visit. They had even gone to every place I'd marked on my travel bucket list.

Worse, the trip had taken place on my 25th birthday.

Will had promised that he and Jolyn had an unforgettable surprise in store for me. I'd been over the moon. I had reserved a table for the three of us at a restaurant and dolled myself up for the occasion.

When the day finally came, it wasn't just the birthday wishes that were missing. I couldn't even reach either of them. I couldn't reach either of them by text or phone.

I waited alone until the restaurant closed. In the end, I had had my food packed to go and returned home in disappointment.

Then, with only an hour left before my birthday ended, Jolyn suddenly showed up with a cake. "Surprise!"

Will rubbed my head. "Jolyn thought it would be fun to surprise you like this. She wanted to see how you'd react if you thought we'd forgotten the most important day of your life! To be honest, we've been nearby secretly keeping you company nearby. We've been with you from the start."

I couldn't believe I'd ever bought that crap.

They were lies. They had been lying to me the entire time.

But there was no reason to confront them anymore. It was over.

I was about to permanently delete the album when I came across a screenshot of a conversation between Jolyn and Will.

My blood ran cold.

It was from five years ago.

Jolyn: [You've been driving me home lately and leaving Petra to go home on her own, Will. I'm a little worried about her. She can be such an oblivious klutz.]

Jolyn: [What if we pay some actors to pretend to be hooligans to scare Petra? A little scare would learn to be more careful after being frightened once]

Will: [Sounds good.]

He followed the message with a hand-over-mouth laughing emoji.

Jolyn: [I removed her SIM card ahead of time so she won't be able to call the police.]

I curled my fingers into my palms so tightly that my nails nearly broke the skin.

The architect of years of trauma and mental anguish had been my "best friend" all along. Even that nightmare had been nothing more than one of her pranks!

Now I knew why I hadn't been able to make any calls.

The next screenshot showed Jolyn in a panic.

Jolyn: [Shit! Shit! Shit! I didn't know those hooligans would actually do it! If she calls the police... I could go to jail!]

Will: [Don't worry. I'll think of something. It wasn't your fault. Don't take it to heart.]