Chapter 4 Farewell to Old Life

Soaking in the rain the day before resulted in an unexpectedly high fever.

I lay on the bed and held up the thermometer to check it.

My body temperature had reached 103°F, and my head was spinning.

…

Before I could order a ride to the hospital, I heard a noise in the living room.

I rushed out of the bedroom and was met with Salome's reddened eyes. She was glaring at me while holding Malcolm's hand.

She slammed her phone on the coffee table with a loud thud and faced me with a darkened expression. "Look at what you've done, Elliot."

She stopped closer to me and confronted me.

I stared at her blankly. My mind was still processing her accusation when her malicious words reached my ears.

"Yesterday was an exception. Just because we left you to hail a ride on your own, you let jealousy blind your reason? Can't you just admit that Malcolm is better than you? Do you have to ruin his future?"

The weight of her words crushed me.

I snapped out of my stupor and found a post written from my perspective on her phone.

I accused Malcolm, my best friend for decades, of having betrayed our friendship by seeing Salome, my girlfriend.

It even delved into details about how I caught them red-handed the other day.

Many netizens sympathized with me and condemned him for his immorality.

Indeed, these were exactly what I thought. Still, I never once thought about ruining them.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but my dry throat ached as if I had swallowed glass shards.

I attempted to utter a sound, but a raspy noise came out instead.

"Elliot, did you have to resort to such dirty tricks?" Malcolm stepped forward, his eyes blazing with anger.

"We are best friends for life, and nothing can change that. However, your post has gotten me suspended from work. You know very well I valued the job offer. How could you? You've truly disappointed me."

Salome sneered. "Elliot, you're always impulsive. You'd better not run away and take responsibility for whatever comes next."

She slammed the door on me, and my ears buzzed.

They had taken my last hope and trust for them with their departure.

…

A few moments later, Malcolm returned alone.

I looked up and found the anger and hurt had vanished from his face.

Instead, a calm smile replaced them. Unexpectedly, he confessed that he planned this.

I croaked in disbelief. "Why?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Forgive me, Elliot. I need Salome to give up on you and leave you. You're the canon fodder in my grand plan. You've always been kind to me, so do me one last favor."

Back in high school, when the other students bullied me, he stood up for me and encouraged me.

"Elliot, you did nothing wrong. Those bullies are the real bad guys here."

He even generously faced punishment for my sake.

His face slowly overlapped with the bullies, and he left without another word.

The shut door left a shrill noise in my ears.

I stared blankly into the void, my gaze unfocused.

The silence in the room was suffocating.

…

At 3.00 a.m., I was sitting in a hospital ward with an IV drip attached to my arm.

The fever refused to break as my phone vibrated endlessly.

My boss tagged me in the office group chat. "Elliot, the situation online has gone out of control. You can stop reporting to work starting tomorrow."

I checked my social media feeds with trembling hands, only to discover the latest updates.

Salome had announced that she was dating Malcolm. It was the same as denying her relationship with me.

As soon as it went viral, netizens' fierce anger shifted onto me.

They exposed my personal and work information.

The cyberbullying impacted my company negatively, which led to my colleagues talking about me in the group chat.

"He seemed like an honest man. Who would've thought he was actually a lunatic?"

The next second, they removed me from the group chat.

The landlord also messaged me.

"Forget about it, Mr. O'Connor. I'm not planning to rent out the apartment. You should find another place to live."

I stared at the fluorescent light on the ceiling until my eyes stung.

Five years ago, after graduating from university, I followed Salome and Malcolm to a new city without hesitation.

I wanted to prove that a nobody like me could leave a mark behind.

Five years later, the very same people taught me that one-sided devotion was worthless and ridiculous in the hardest way possible.

All these years, I trailed behind them like a snail on the path they had walked.

Perhaps I was meant to be alone and not bond with anyone all along.

At dawn, I was discharged from the hospital.

I dropped by the office to complete my resignation and booked a flight back to my hometown.

I had packed my belongings before I caught the fever.

I glanced around the apartment one more time. Everything that held our trio's memories had been thrown away.

Before leaving, I tossed the spare keys into the bin.

I hopped on the cab and headed straight for the airport.

Soon, the boarding call sounded.

…

Meanwhile, I had drafted a social media post and scheduled its publication.

A minute before boarding, my phone vibrated violently. Messages from Salome and Malcolm flooded my phone. I ignored them and powered off my phone.

From this moment on, the distance would divide us.

There was no need for us to meet again.