They Betrayed Me, So I Walked Away

Chapter 2

Charlie paused for a moment before letting out a quiet laugh.

"If that's what you want to believe, fine. I don't care."

He slipped his hands into his pockets. "Just don't come crawling back later with those long, emotional messages begging me to take you back."

I had been the one who confessed first.

The one who fell harder.

The one who loved him more.

So it wasn't only Charlie who believed I could never leave him.

A small part of me had believed it too.

Just then, my phone began to ring.

Shirley's smiling face lit up the screen.

I frowned and let it ring.

Charlie noticed immediately and reached for my phone.

I pulled it out of his reach.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked. "Why aren't you answering? What if something happened to Shirley?"

I looked at him calmly. "She's a grown woman. If she's in trouble, she can call the police or scream for help."

My words caught him off guard.

"That's not what I meant," he said quickly. "Shirley isn't like you. She's still... young. What if something happens to her?"

Without waiting for my permission, he took the phone from my hand and answered it.

A bright smile spread across his face the moment he heard her voice.

"So, Sleeping Beauty finally woke up?" His tone was warm, affectionate.

The room fell silent.

Even Charlie seemed to realize what he'd just revealed.

Shirley recovered first. She laughed awkwardly through the speaker.

"Did you just mistake me for Mary? Oh my God, that's so embarrassing."

Charlie glanced at me, guilt flashing across his face.

"I've got something to do. You two talk. I should get going."

After he handed me the phone, I ended the call without saying a single word to Shirley.

My silence only made his expression darker.

"If you're upset," he snapped, "take it out on me. Why are you taking it out on Shirley?"

I almost laughed.

Wasn't Charlie the person who had disliked Shirley the most?

Back when I was pursuing him, Shirley openly mocked me for dating someone from such a poor family. She used to joke that I was doing charity.

Whenever we invited her to dinner, she'd wrinkle her nose and refuse.

"I don't want to catch poverty," she'd say with a laugh.

Everything changed six months earlier.

With my father's financial support and professional connections, Charlie won a major research award and secured an opportunity with one of the country's leading technology companies.

After graduation, he was set to begin a prestigious position with a six-figure salary.

Almost overnight, Shirley began showing up everywhere. She suddenly wanted to spend time with us.

The same woman who had once looked down on Charlie now hung on every word he said.

Charlie, who had spent the previous two years enduring her insults, seemed almost flattered by the attention.

At first, I was genuinely happy for him.

I never imagined that somewhere along the way, the two of them had crossed a line.

A quiet, bitter laugh escaped me. At that moment, every lingering doubt disappeared.

I finally knew exactly what I had to do.

I looked straight into Charlie's eyes. "Charlie, this time, I'm not joking. I'm ending this relationship."