TIERRA FUEGO TRILOGY 1: Akin lamang ang Pag-ibig Mo

I opened my mouth, but my throat felt completely blocked. It took me a long while to finally ask, "They got married… last year?"

No one answered.

I knew every face in that private room. We had shared meals, gone out together, and sent each other gifts during holidays. Yet now, every single one of them had their heads lowered. None of them dared to meet my eyes.

Finally, Gavin Oakley spoke. "Yes."

I stared at him blankly, unable to process it.

My cousin Gavin had grown up alongside me. When we were children, whenever someone bullied me, he would always step in front of me. Whenever a teacher scolded me, he would buy me candy on the way home from school to cheer me up.

I had always believed that anyone in this world could lie to me, but Gavin never would.

Yet now, he had chosen to stand on their side.

So when Charles Grayson had said he was going on a business trip last year, during those few days he was supposedly away, he had actually gone to marry Diana Sayer.

I felt like such an idiot.

I had been afraid he was working too hard, so I had ordered him a late-night meal and had it delivered to his office. I had even worried about him and told him that he should not push himself so hard anymore.

Thinking about it now made my chest ache, as though someone had carved a piece of my heart out with their bare hands.

I turned to Gavin. "What did you mean when you said my adoptive parents knew?"

He did not dare look at me.

He merely gave a quiet hum. "They were afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it, so they never told you."

My fingertips went numb. I could barely remain seated.

My adoptive parents had known too. So it had not just been Charles deceiving me. Even the people closest to me had helped them keep me in the dark.

I finally understood why everyone had seemed so calm that night. They had known this day would come.

Charles looked at me, his tone so even that it bordered on cold. "Juliet, I know this wasn't fair to you."

I stared at him, my eyes burning. "Then, why did you still do it?"

His brows furrowed, as though he did not like the way I was speaking to him. "Well, making a scene won't change anything, would it?"

Diana sighed as well. "Juliet, Charles has made it up to you in so many ways over the years. Your sister's medical treatment, your job transfer, even the house you're living in—he gave it all to you. Everyone has been considerate of your feelings, too. Think about it carefully."

Someone beside her immediately chimed in. "Exactly. Weren't you the happiest one of all?"

I listened to them and felt cold all over.

As it turned out, to them, I was the fifth wheel who benefited the most—the one who had gotten everything. Thus, their lies had been "kindness," and I was apparently supposed to be grateful for the generosity.

Charles leaned back against his chair as though a tremendous burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders. His voice was indifferent. "Diana and I had a wedding, too. I'll hold another wedding for you. Sounds fair, right?"

For a moment, I almost laughed.

Fair?

The sarcasm slipped out before I could stop it. "You really want to have it both ways, don't you?"

Charles' expression darkened. "I'm giving you a chance to keep your dignity, Whitfield."

I let out a cold laugh.

Dignity? Would it really be dignified when everyone would attend our wedding knowing about his love story with Diana? Was I not enough of a joke already?

Diana's tears began to fall. Her voice was soft and hoarse. "Juliet, I know you hate me. But the baby is innocent."

I looked at her, my chest aching with a suffocating pain. "What about me? Haven't I been innocent all these seven years too?"

Her face went pale. Her lips moved, but no words came out.

I picked up the glass of alcohol beside me and threw it directly into Charles' face.

The liquor streamed down his jaw.

Diana shot to her feet in fright, screaming my name, but I kept my eyes fixed on Charles. "I don't want the dignity you're offering me. And I won't help make your happily-ever-after complete, either. I hope you two shameless bastards stay together for the rest of your lives."

With that, I grabbed my bag and walked out.

Chaos erupted behind me. I heard Gavin calling my name. Someone tried to stop me. Someone else accused me of being too extreme.

But I did not turn around.

Not once.