Chapter 3

The dinner had turned into a complete fiasco.

Thomas flipped the table, while Elizabeth's eyes welled up with tears.

Julian tore the divorce papers into shreds. Grabbing my wrist, he growled, "Did you really have to make a scene tonight, Jennifer?"

Penelope, on the other hand, was sobbing hysterically.

"When we were kids, Julian promised me that he'd give me a wedding someday. If you were upset about it, you could've talked to me about it privately. Why did you have to humiliate me in front of everyone?"

I yanked my wrist free.

"Fine. I'll give you what you want," I said coolly. "I paid the deposit for the wedding ceremony, and I was the one who booked the venue. Consider it my wedding gift to the two of you."

With that, I turned around and left.

"Wait! Jennifer!" Julian's friends called after me.

Julian came running after me. Once he caught up with me, he wrapped an arm around my waist and softened his voice.

"I made a promise to Penelope. If I don't follow through, she'll make a huge fuss," he explained.

He took my hand and pressed it against his cheek. "I just want to give you a perfect wedding, honey."

Everyone else had come out of the house as well. They were all trying to help Julian smooth things over with me.

"Come on, Jennifer. You've only been married for a month. Why are you already talking about a divorce? Besides, if you actually go through with it, you'd be the first one to regret it. After all, you put so much effort into getting your marriage registered."

"She's just putting on an act to scare Julian!"

"Let's hit the bar tonight! We'll drink our worries away and forget about everything that happened today!"

A reminder for tomorrow's flight popped up on my phone.

I scoffed inwardly as I listened to their speculations.

…

In the end, the whole group dragged me to the bar.

Everyone else drank and had a blast while I sat off to the side, refusing to touch a single glass. After a few rounds, somebody suddenly said, "If it weren't for Jennifer, Penelope and Julian might actually have ended up together."

Penelope smacked the person on the shoulder, but her gaze went straight to me.

"That's not true!" she protested. "You're going to make Jennifer upset again."

As the bar lights flashed overhead, someone laughed.

"She just cares about Julian too much! She'd probably chain herself to him if she could."

"Hey, what do you guys think would happen if Jennifer found out about what happened between Penelope and Julian?"

My hand jerked, and I spilled juice all over the table.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Julian immediately reached over and clamped a hand over his friend's mouth. But unfortunately for him, the man was already drunk. Despite his efforts to stop him, his friend still told me everything.

"Last month, Penelope was drugged at a bar, and Julian took it upon himself to deal with it. Nobody else could handle it. He was the only one who could!"

My chest tightened, and I struggled to breathe.

"Is this what you meant by platonic, Julian? Are you going to claim that nothing happened between the two of you?" I snarled.

Julian shrugged. "Penelope is a good friend of mine. I couldn't just stand by and watch her suffer."

He had plenty of other ways to handle that situation, but he still chose that one.

Penelope glanced at me before she dropped herself onto Julian's lap. "What do you think Julian and I were up to whenever I borrowed him from you, Jen?"

I bit down on the inside of my cheek and said nothing.

When I didn't reply, she continued slowly, "He didn't just take care of trivial matters like fixing furniture or accompanying me on hikes. I also borrowed Julian so he could take care of my… needs."

My chest heaved. I grabbed an empty bottle from the table and tried to strike Penelope with it. But before I could, Julian got to his feet and caught my wrist.

His friends crowded around us and tried to provoke me even further.

"Someone's angry. Is she going to throw another set of divorce papers in his face?"

"Julian's not going to fall for the same trick twice."

They shoved their phones in my face and took pictures of my furious expression.

"Yes, that's the look! We can compare it with pictures of her crying face when she's begging him to take her back," someone said with a laugh.

Everyone in the bar was staring at us.

I felt completely humiliated. But through the whole fiasco, Julian never said anything to defend me.