جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 8

Adrian's POVBy the time I came out, the four people who had promised to wait for me were gone.I didn't bother looking for them. I simply followed the crowd toward the parade route.Kyle Lane stood on the lead float with three women around him, each dressed like a princess. He looked like he owned the world."I'm so jealous," a girl beside me whispered. "I heard you have to reserve a spot on that float a month in advance."A month in advance.I watched Serena Sullivan reach for Kyle's hand without hesitation.And they'd still forgotten about me.I looked away, expressionless. The laughing tourists around me felt like they belonged to a different world.When the parade ended, the four of them finally found me just as I was about to leave."Adrian, where did you go?""Come on. We booked a restaurant. We're going to sing happy birthday to you!"Serena grabbed my hand. Chloe Quinn and Vivian Yates nodded eagerly beside her."Yeah, Adrian. We've been planning this surprise for

Kyle resigned almost immediately.By that same afternoon, he was officially Serena's personal assistant.To celebrate, the three women rented an entire private estate for him."I'm not going."I stared at the invitation on my phone and declined without hesitation.Apparently, that upset Kyle too.Serena spent half the day soothing him with kisses and sweet words, then came straight to my house.She blocked my bedroom door."Can you stop making a scene?"I sighed."What exactly am I doing? Am I not allowed to say no?"For years, it had always been the same.If I refused Kyle anything, if Kyle felt even slightly hurt, it somehow became my fault.No one ever asked what I wanted.No one ever cared whether I was happy.At graduation, the three of them bought flowers for Kyle.They forgot me.Kyle insisted on giving me his bouquet. I refused.So the three women decided the best solution was to keep me out of the graduation photos entirely, just so Kyle would never have to l

Third-person POVThe group chat went silent.After a long time, Chloe finally typed, "Did Adrian get in the car last night?"Vivian answered, "I don't remember. I didn't notice."Serena was already behind the wheel when she saw the messages.Her hands started shaking.She had forgotten too.She hadn't noticed at all.Ever since she saw the morning news about the mudslide, unease had been crawling under her skin.She had called Adrian three times.He hadn't answered once.That had never happened before.Serena shut her eyes hard, her lips pressed tight.Then she remembered the vehicle camera.She pulled up the footage from the night before.On the screen, rain lashed across the estate while Chloe and Vivian rushed Kyle into the car.Behind them stood one lonely figure: Adrian.Serena watched herself drive away with him still outside.For a second, she forgot how to breathe.She had left Adrian there.The radio kept reporting new casualties from the mudslide, each upd

Adrian's POVAt the same time, an ocean away, I had just landed.My phone was flooded with messages from all three women.Serena alone had sent more than a hundred.I didn't answer any of them.I blocked every number and deleted the threads.I'd left in such a hurry that I'd forgotten to take out the trash.Mom video-called me."Those three girls came looking for you. They went to the estate first. Serena even got into a car accident."I nodded.Before, I would've dropped everything and rushed to her side.Now I only acknowledged the information.Whether Serena lived or died was no longer my concern."Oh, and I formally ended the engagement with the Sullivan family for you.""Thanks, Mom."After we hung up, I went to the apartment I had already bought near our branch and unpacked.Only then did I finally breathe.That rotten relationship couldn't drain me anymore.A few days later, I heard something surprising.Serena had fired Kyle.Hadn't she practically worshippe