Chapter 3

Hazel clung to me tightly, her eyes bloodshot. "You've been with me for eight years! How could you go on a blind date with someone else? I won't allow it, Sebastian!"

I was fuming as I shoved her away. "You're already married to Chris! You have no right to interfere in my life anymore, Hazel!"

Hazel explained, "It was only a marriage of convenience! You've already spent eight years waiting for me, so why can't you wait another six months? You have nothing to worry about, Sebastian. Chris is pretty laid-back about this. He won't bother you as long as you don't make a scene."

I was trembling all over with rage as I pushed her straight out the door. "Get out! I never want to see you again!"

Hazel continued to softly coax me into becoming her kept man through the closed door. "How about I buy you a villa, Sebastian? You can bring your parents over to Halport, and I'll give you 15,000 dollars a month for living expenses.

"You won't have to get up early and cram onto the subway for work anymore. I'll take care of you from now on, Sebastian…"

It turned out that over those eight years, Hazel hadn't been blind to my hard work. She had simply chosen to turn a blind eye to it.

I couldn't stop crying as I slumped onto the floor, completely drained. Hazel, whom I had loved for eight years and who was standing behind the door, had become an absolute stranger to me.

I suddenly felt cold all over, even as my body temperature surged. I was starting to lose consciousness as well. I had contracted pneumonia a few years ago, and running a fever could be life-threatening for me. I pulled the door open, my voice raspy as I asked, "Can you take me to the hospital, Haz—"

Hazel's expression instantly shifted before I could even finish my sentence. She hurried off to the elevator, saying, "Chris isn't feeling well, so just hang in there for a while, Sebastian. I'll have Jeremy come over for you."

I watched as her figure gradually became distorted and blurred. I couldn't hold on any longer and passed out right there.

I found out that I was in a hospital ward by the time I regained consciousness. Jeremy was leaning over to replace my fever patch, testing my forehead with the back of his hand. "It's good that you're not burning up anymore. It's just a breakup, Sebastian. How did you let yourself get this bad?"

He looked at me with eyes brimming with concern. "Hazel is the heiress of a shipping tycoon while Chris is the heir of a casino tycoon. You're only going to get hurt if you stay mixed up with them, Sebastian."

"How long have you known?" I asked as I kept my gaze fixed on him, catching his every reaction.

Jeremy pursed his lips and avoided my gaze. "Hazel revealed her real identity to me the year I arrived in Halport. She gave me 750,000 dollars and helped me land a job on the condition that I cover for her.

"She said earning 12,000 dollars for the wedding was too easy, so I gave her the idea to use phishing links, fake donations, and staged rear-end collisions to buy some time..."

It turned out that 750,000 dollars was all it took to buy off over ten years of friendship.

I didn't really hold it against him, though; after all, money and a promising future were tempting. I still looked at him and said, "You may leave now, Jeremy. I'll just pretend that I never had a best friend like you from now on."

Jeremy stared at me in disbelief. "You're actually ending our friendship over something so trivial? You're going to regret this, Sebastian!"

He stormed out after saying that, slamming the door behind him.

It wasn't long before a nurse walked in to hook me up to an IV. She tried to insert the needle into my arm more than a dozen times but couldn't find the vein, making me gasp from the sharp pain. She then looked at me with a faint smile and tossed a newspaper onto me. "You've made the news, Mr. Lister."

I looked over in confusion and immediately caught sight of the massive headline. "Heiress to Shipping Tycoon Seduced by Poor Man on Wedding Night; Heir to Casino Tycoon Left Heartbroken."

I saw that a photo of my entire family was taking up half the page and every one of our faces had the word "Trash" scrawled across it in red. I narrowed my eyes sharply as anger surged through me.

I was just about to demand an explanation when Hazel called. "Chris got upset after I went to see you last night, so he tipped off the media. You should just let him vent his frustration, and don't hold it against him, Sebastian."

Hazel hung up before I could even get a word in.

I couldn't bring myself to explain under the nurse's searching gaze, so I just closed my eyes wearily.

I never expected Jeremy to publicly accuse me of being a moocher. He looked straight into the reporters' cameras, his expression brimming with disappointment as he said, "Sebastian and I have been friends for over ten years.

"I've warned him not to mess with someone else's relationship, but he just wouldn't heed my advice. He was always obsessed with marrying into a rich family, so he kept relentlessly pursuing Ms. Shepherd, the heiress to the shipping tycoon."

That video went viral online, instantly reaching the top of the trending list.

I instantly felt a throbbing ache in my head. I glared at Jeremy's face on the screen, finding it hard to believe that he would slander me like this. I hadn't even had the time to process his betrayal when Mom suddenly called me, her voice trembling with tears. "Sebastian, something happened to Elira!"