Replaced by the Man She Always Loved

When my fiancee, Camilla Stenson, shared her food poisoning incident and joked about what she had said then with her friends, they all laughed.

However, I couldn't do the same.

I sat off to one corner with my head bowed, silently eating my food while trying hard to digest my negative emotions.

"Hendrick, why aren't you saying anything?" Caleb Zolt asked me with a smile, the malicious intent obvious in his eyes. He was one of Camilla and Nathan Langdon's best friends, as well as Tiffany Sommer's boyfriend. "What, did that get under your skin?"

The private exploded with raucous laughter at his words. With him and Tiffany leading the charge, the rest were quick to join in as well.

"If you ask me, you're actually quite lucky."

"Yeah. Even though Camilla isn't over him, she's still going to marry you, isn't she?"

They spoke up, one after another.

Even though I had never said a word, it seemed like they had already made up their minds that they were right.

I turned to look at Camilla, who remained silent as she took a sip of her coffee. Her eyes were glazed over while she stared off into the distance, as though all this commotion happening right now had nothing to do with her.

Seeing that, I realized that she wouldn't be standing up for me this time either.

"Caleb, as far as I know, you're not Tiffany's first boyfriend either. If Nathan really was that great of a person, why did he run off immediately after knowing that Camilla was in a tough spot?"

My words had clearly struck a nerve, for Caleb jabbed a furious finger at me, snapping, "Don't think that you're better than Nathan just because you're about to marry Camilla! You're not worthy! If it weren't for him leaving the country, would a defect like you have been able to get the chance to be with Camilla?"

The sound of a glass shattering against the ground cracked through the air.

Camilla, who had been calm and indifferent just moments ago, was now exuding a murderous air.

When everyone saw that she was genuinely pissed, they swiftly shut their mouths, not daring to even breathe too loudly.

Camilla's hand snapped out to wrap around my throat.

"Apologize, Hendrick. You're not worthy of mentioning Nathan's name."

I retorted, "No! I wasn't wrong."

"Fine! It seems I was too indulgent with you."

Camilla's grip around my throat tightened, slowly cutting off my air.

Even so, everyone else merely watched on in amusement, like they were watching some sort of show.

At last, just as I was about to suffocate to death, someone spoke up.

"Camilla, let go. Someone like him isn't worth you going to prison for."

Nonetheless, Camilla refused to listen. Nathan was a touchy subject for her, and she absolutely refused to allow anyone to so much as mention him. Hence, she didn't ease up on her hold.

When the others realized that she wouldn't listen to reason, they got ready to pry her fingers loose.

"Your darling is here! Cami, quickly answer your phone!" Nathan's voice abruptly cut through the silence.

It was a special ringtone just for his number. Even though it had been eight years since they broke up, she still couldn't bring herself to change it.

Camilla released me, causing me to collapse to the floor without her to hold me up.

Her movements were practically a blur as she answered the phone. When it came to Nathan, she wouldn't allow him to wait for even a second longer than necessary.

From the other end of the line came Nathan's voice, sounding as bright and warm as a summer sun. "Cami, I've returned to the country. Come pick me up."

Immediately, a wave of excitement cut through the tense atmosphere.

In the next second, everyone swarmed out of the private room, leaving only Caleb, who stared down at me arrogantly.

I was still suffering from my earlier asphyxiation and could only greedily gulp in deep breaths.

"Weren't you acting all high-and-mighty just now? Now that Nathan's back, you can do nothing but watch as the bliss you stole from him is slowly taken away from you."

With that, he threw his head back and laughed wildly, absolutely relishing the thought of watching me crumble.