Chapter 3

Isabel's POV

Selena Goldstein snickered and rolled her eyes at Nick. "Why bother with her? She can't even sit steady. Such a klutz."

The alcohol was starting to hit me, and my head felt unbearably heavy.

Everyone's voices sounded muffled, as if I were listening through water.

Rhea looked over at me, as though she'd just remembered something. "Oh, right. About the rating game just now, was what Isabel said actually true?" She turned to the others. "Do you really believe she's still a virgin?"

Glenn playfully nudged Johnny and teased, "Yeah. Did she make that up just to please you?"

"She says she's never been with anyone. She'd better be telling the truth. My buddy isn't going to marry some girl who's been around."

They burst out laughing.

Johnny's face fell. "Cut it out." He covered Rhea's ears with his hands and gave the others a warning look. "Don't let Rhea hear this kind of trash."

It did nothing to stop them.

I sat frozen, feeling utterly humiliated and embarrassed.

Once they had laughed enough, Glenn followed up with another question. "Is it because your parents were super strict with you that you're so uptight?"

Rhea looked at me in confusion. "Wait, aren't you an orphan, Isabel? Johnny told me your parents died when you were little, and you were left all alone. That must have been so hard."

The thing I didn't want to talk about had been laid bare in front of everyone.

Johnny had shared something deeply personal about me with Rhea like it was some funny story. He seemed to have forgotten that when I first told him about my family, his eyes had filled with tears before mine did.

My finger traced the silver necklace around my neck. Two rings hung from it. They were the last things my parents had left me.

I'd once imagined standing at my parents' graves with Johnny, slipping their rings onto our fingers. I wanted to tell them I'd found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Yet year after year, I got a zero, so that visit never happened. Now the regret had turned into relief. I was glad I'd never taken him there. They would have been heartbroken to see me with someone like him.

I had never told them about my family, not even to win points in the rating game.

My dad had died in an accident, and my mom passed away a few years later. I grew up on government aid and the kindness of neighbors.

My head was still foggy from the alcohol. I tried to speak, but before I could, the whole group erupted.

"Wow, you should've told us your parents were gone. We would've understood why you're so sensitive and difficult."

"But seriously, are you cursed or something? Don't bring bad luck to Johnny after marrying him."

Rhea frowned. "Losing someone you love is awful. I was heartbroken for months when my dog died. It's not like Isabel chose this."

Everyone immediately softened their tone and turned to comfort her.

"Rhea, we're so sorry. That's why we never bring up dogs around you. We don't want to dredge up painful memories."

Johnny reached over and gently wiped beneath Rhea's eyes, even though I saw no tears on her face. "I'll keep looking. If I find one that looks more like her, I'll get it for you."

In fact, Johnny had already found a dog that looked almost exactly like the one Rhea had lost.

It was a stray I'd brought home myself. One of its legs was broken, and it had a high fever for a week. I stayed by its side until it recovered.

Caring for it brought back one of my few happy childhood memories. My parents and I were hiking in the hills, and a puppy followed us the whole way, looking up at us with hopeful eyes.

I decided to keep the stray and did everything I could to get it the care it needed.

Johnny even got jealous, saying I'd forgotten about him the moment I got the dog.

But despite his complaints, he took on most of the work of caring for it, and he was especially eager to train it. I thought that meant he had accepted the dog.

Then he said casually, "Once it's trained, I'll give it to Rhea, so she'll stop crying over her dog."