Chapter 3

Zeke was wearing a suit and a dark green tie. He looked incredibly striking.

When I saw the birthday cake he was carrying, I realized what was going on.

It was Scarlett's birthday today. He was about to go celebrate with her.

"Okay, stop guessing. If I tell you what the present is, it won't be a surprise anymore. You'll just have to wait for me to get there. I'll be there soon," he said joyfully.

He was currently on the phone. I didn't know what Scarlett said on the other end, but it made him break out into a hearty laugh. His smile was so wide that I could even spot his canines.

He rarely smiled when he was with me.

Despite how happy he looked, he wiped the smile off of his face as soon as he caught me staring at him. He'd give Scarlett the world, but he wouldn't even spare me a small smile.

His expression instantly darkened. He turned away from me in a disgusted manner and didn't say a single word. Afterward, he swiftly changed into his shoes and left the house.

Zeke was going to give me the cold shoulder again. He'd done the same thing in the past, and it was always because of Scarlett.

Every time that happened, I'd do everything in my power to appease him. Even if he didn't reply to a single one of my texts, I'd still act warm and friendly toward him.

Instead of doing what I used to do, I searched up some recipes of foreign foods and practiced cooking them at home. I needed to start becoming accustomed to life overseas before I actually moved over there.

…

While I was lying on my bed, I came across Scarlett's most recent post on my social media app.

"Thank you for yet another birthday gift this year. Grateful to always have you by my side," she wrote.

"I feel so emotional. I'm so glad that you're happy, Scarlett," one of Zeke's male friends commented under her post.

I checked the likes and realized that all of Zeke's close friends had liked the post.

His friends had never respected me. In their opinion, I was just someone that got in between Zeke and Scarlett's relationship. According to them, Zeke would be much happier if I didn't exist.

I scrolled through Zeke's social media activity and realized that they were right.

"Happy birthday, my princess," Zeke commented.

I read through their online interactions emotionlessly.

One of his friends even replied to him and wrote, "I don't think you should be posting that. If Joanna sees that comment, she'll probably throw a huge fit. You know how petty she is."

Once, I gently reminded Zeke to keep his distance from Scarlett. After all, he was a man while she was a woman. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to interact with her so much when he had a girlfriend.

After his friends heard about the incident, they called me petty and narrow-minded. They even mocked me and said I was being too controlling. They claimed I was robbing him of his friendship with Scarlett.

When Zeke heard what his friends said to me, he implicitly agreed with them. On top of that, he even told me off and said I should be more generous as a woman.

Unlike what his friend claimed, I did not throw a huge fit. Instead, I exited the app and began to watch some videos online instead. Afterward, I ended up falling asleep on the bed.

When Zeke came home, I was sound asleep. He woke me up in an annoyed manner and yelled, "I've been outside the entire night. Do you not care about me, Joanna?

"My friend's girlfriend has been blowing up his phone the entire night. You didn't even call me once! What is the meaning of this?"

I was staring at him with a confused expression. I had no idea why he was so angry.

I used to do exactly what his friend's girlfriend did. When that happened, he said, "You're my girlfriend, not my prison warden. Can you be less controlling? I feel like I have no freedom because of you."

Now that I had given him space, he was accusing me of not caring about him. I actually didn't know what he wanted me to do.

Despite my frustration, I didn't bring up the past.

"Why would I need to blow up your phone if you were hanging out with your friends? Since you and Scarlett are just friends, I have nothing to worry about," I replied nonchalantly.

Zeke looked like he was in disbelief. He was probably shocked that I mentioned Scarlett's name without sounding bitter or angry.