Chapter 3

No one came after Sophie as she left Southern University. It was already 8 PM, and there were no taxis around.

Sophie suddenly remembered that she had another good friend who lived nearby.

It was not long before Anya Lambert came to pick her up. "Why didn't you tell me that you were coming, Sophie? Are you here to see Ruby?"

"I was here to see Carter." Sophie started crying at the mention of him. "Anya… Carter, h-he's with Ruby now."

Anya suddenly slammed on the brakes and parked by the roadside. She looked at Sophie in shock. "So, you found out about them!"

Sophie's tears stopped falling as she turned slowly to look at Anya. "What do you mean? You knew about them too?"

"I'm so sorry, Sophie. I knew about them for a long time, but don't get it wrong. Nothing really happened between them. They just have a four-year agreement to date during their university years and break up when they graduate.

"Carter still has feelings for you, and you're the one he wants to marry. I feel so sorry for Ruby, especially when she isn't even asking for much. You should pretend you don't know anything, Sophie. We'll be graduating in a few months, and they'll break up then."

Sophie and Anya were high school friends and were supposed to be close, but Anya chose not to tell Sophie about Carter and Ruby's relationship.

"I've already called Carter, and he's on his way here to take you to the hotel. You should talk things over with him and stop making a fuss over this."

Sophie felt her heart fall to her stomach. A chill went down her spine, spreading to her limbs, and she started shivering.

She said nothing. All she did was get out of Anya’s car and take her luggage out of the trunk. After that, she quietly walked away.

Anya got anxious. "Sophie, what are you doing? Where are you going alone so late at night?"

Sophie ignored her and kept walking.

That was when Carter arrived with Ruby behind him. "Sophie!"

Ruby's eyes were swollen from crying, and so were her cheeks. She looked like a complete mess.

Ruby had never been a pretty girl, and she could never compare to Sophie in terms of looks or her body. Some might even say she was ugly, but Carter still chose to betray Sophie for her.

Sophie could not understand why she had lost in this love triangle.

Carter stared at her with pain in his eyes. "Stop this, Sophie. I've reserved a room at the hotel nearby. Let me take you back there, all right?"

Ruby sobbed as she said, "Carter's right, Sophie. I'm sorry! If you really don't like me being with Carter, I'll break up with him right now, okay?"

Sophie sneered. "Break up with him? You're the other woman! Do you even have the right to say that you'll break up with him?"

"That's enough, Sophie! Ruby has already apologized to you. What else do you want? She's your best friend, but you slapped her in front of so many people today, yet she doesn't blame you for it at all. Stop throwing a tantrum."

Carter gave me a special frappuccino mix from South City. "Didn't you say you always wanted to try this frappuccino mix, but Streamston University didn’t sell it? I bought this specially for you. I made sure it's less sweet. Have a drink, and stop being mad, all right?"

He was always this way. Carter would remember everything Sophie said. When she said it was cold, he would send a care package with warm gloves and a scarf. When she complained about the hot weather, he could get iced drinks delivered to her, and even bought her caps and umbrellas.

When Sophie had her period and was feeling terrible, he would transfer money to her roommates and get their help to buy her painkillers, and he would even be considerate enough to buy her roommates drinks to thank them.

Carter was great in every way, except for the fact that he had never come to visit her at Streamston.

Sophie always thought he was busy at university, but he was really busy taking a five-hour train to see another girl.

"You think this frappuccino will stop me from being mad?" Sophie looked at the boy in front of her and sobbed.

"Let me ask you this, Carter. Was it true that you couldn’t celebrate my birthday two years ago because you had a competition at university?"