CHAPTER 2: THE BETRAYAL
1684 Words
“What’s this?” I asked Tyler but he didn’t answer.
Instead, he let go of my hand—shoved it away, almost—like my touch was something repulsive.
Disgust flickered across his face, his jaw tightening as he took a step back.
I stood frozen, my heart hammering in my chest.
This wasn’t the Tyler I knew. This wasn’t the man I had spent three years loving.
The warmth in his eyes, the gentle way he always held me—it was all gone.
In its place was something cold.
Unfamiliar, a stranger for me
And it hurts. God, it hurt to see him like this.
I swallowed hard and reached for him again, desperate for answers. “Tyler, what—”
A slow, deliberate clap echoed through the room, interrupting me.
Then came a sharp click of heels against the floor.
My gaze shifted to the sound, and I saw her.
A woman in a stunning red gown walked toward us with effortless confidence. The silk fabric clung to her slender figure, her dark hair cascading over one shoulder.
She was breathtakingly beautiful—like someone who belonged in a magazine.
She stopped beside Tyler and, with a smirk, handed him a small bottle of sanitary alcohol.
Tyler took it without hesitation.
Right in front of me, he poured a generous amount into his palm, rubbing his hands together as if—as if he needed to cleanse himself after touching me.
A wave of nausea hit me seeing him act like this.
I stared at him, my mind refusing to accept what I was seeing.
I couldn't believe that the Tyler who was so kind and gentle with me is the same Tyler who have been so disgusted of my touch
The Tyler who had once kissed my fingertips so softly, as if they were something precious, was now wiping me away like I was dirt on his skin.
The woman let out a soft laugh, tilting her head as she glanced at me. “Oh, sweetheart,” she said, voice dripping with amusement. “You really didn’t know, did you?”
I blink at her, confusion tightening my chest. I had never seen her before. Not in the campus, and not in any of Tyler's circles.
She let out a chuckle, as if entertained by my reaction.
“Oh, right,” she mused, tapping a perfectly manicured finger against her chin. “How rude of me. This is our first time meeting, isn’t it?”
Her smirk deepened as she took a step closer, her eyes glinting with amusement.
“You probably haven’t seen me around because I was away for my studies—out of state, actually.” She sighed dramatically, then tilted her head. “Who would’ve thought Tyler would have such a surprise waiting for me after four years apart?”
She smiled—slow and taunting.
“Right. I’m Britney, by the way.”
Then, with a casual shrug, she added—
“Tyler’s real girlfriend.”
I blinked, my breath catching in my throat.
Real….girlfriend?
Britney’s smirk widened as she crossed her arms.
“And I’d like to thank you,” she said, her tone dripping with mock gratitude. “For entertaining my boyfriend while I was away.”
She let out a small laugh, tilting her head as if she found the whole situation amusing.
“I even told him to treat you well in my absence,” she added with a casual shrug. “Guess he took my words a little too seriously.”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, forcing my voice to come out steady despite the way my entire body trembled.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Britney let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head as if I had just asked the most ridiculous question.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she cooed, her eyes gleaming with amusement. “Did you really think Tyler came up with all those sweet gestures on his own?”
I frowned, my chest hammering painfully, as if someone had reached inside and squeezed my heart with an iron grip.
A dull ache spread through my ribs, making it hard to breathe.
“What?”
“The gifts,” Britney said, waving a perfectly manicured hand. “The fancy dates. The little surprises he gave you. That was all me.”
Hearing that felt like I had been punched in the gut.
“No,” I breathed, couldn't really process the revelation she said in front me as memories of Tyler’s sweet gestures towards me flash like a suffocating film inside my head
Britney smirked. “Yes,” she said, her tone light, almost playful. “I told him to do it”
“Every.Single.Thing.”
Each word was like a nail being hammered to my chest by one by one. Why
I figured if he was going to kill time with some fat and ugly nobody like you, he might as well do it properly.”
The words hit me like a slap.
Fat. Ugly. Nobody.
She had said it so casually, as if my entire existence was nothing more than a joke to her.
I sucked in a shaky breath, trying to hold myself together. “You’re lying,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
Britney laughed, a sharp, cruel sound. “Oh, darling, why would I lie? I knew Tyler would never fall for someone like you. It’s not even possible.”
I turned to Tyler, desperate for any kind of denial, searching his face for a hint that this was just some sick joke, prank or misunderstanding—anything but this
But he didn’t even flinch.
No words or anything.
He just stood there in silence, arms crossed with a cold expression.
He was so distant.
Like he didn’t even care.
Like I was nothing to him.
Not the kind of Tyler I knew for the last three years.
He now feels like we are worlds apart.
Britney let out a soft chuckle, her red lips curling into an amused smile. “Oh, Dear,” she said again, tilting her head as if she pitied me. “That confused look on your face is so priceless!”
I shook my head slightly, trying to make sense of her words. “I don’t understand…” I muttered and looked at the first man that I have loved
“Tyler?”
Tyler finally looked at me. But there was no love in his eyes. No warmth.
Only indifference.
The same eyes that would always look at me with so much admiration now they look like they're disgusted by me
“You were never my girlfriend, Clara,” he said, his tone detached, almost bored. “Not really.”
The room felt like it was closing in on me.
My legs wobbled, but I forced myself to stay upright. “What do you mean?”
“Three years, Tyler,” I choked out. “Three years. Are you seriously telling me that none of it was real?”
Britney let out a dramatic sigh and crossed her arms. “Oh, come on. I was getting tired of this game already.”
My stomach twisted. “Game?”
Tyler exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over his jaw before meeting my gaze again. “Yes, Clara,” he said, his voice dripping with impatience. “It was all a game. A bet.”
My heart stopped.
“A bet?” I echoed, my voice barely holding together.
Tyler’s lips curled into a smirk. “Three years ago, the baseball team made a bet to decide who would be the next captain. It was sort of a tradition,” he said nonchalantly. “The challenge was simple—whoever managed to make someone from the book club fall in love with them first would win.”
A cruel laugh sounded from behind me.
“Damn, I really thought I had that in the bag,” a familiar voice drawled.
I turned to see Patrick, one of Tyler’s old teammates, leaning casually against a nearby table with a smug expression.
I had never liked him. Aside from being the most notorious casanova in school, there was something about his personality that always rubbed me the wrong way. Looking back now, maybe my instincts had been right all along.
“But Clara, you just had to be so quick to accept Tyler’s confession,” Patrick added with a chuckle, shaking his head. “You made it way too easy for him.”
Laughter rippled through the room.
“Right! I really thought Tyler was out of the game when Clara rejected him the first time,” another voice chimed in.
I turned sharply.
Josh.
Tyler’s other teammate.
The very same Josh I had thought I was closest to out of all of them. He was always so easy to talk to, always there with a smile and a joke. I had trusted him.
But now, he was smirking, looking right at me like I was nothing more than an inside joke they had all shared.
“Who knew rejection was just part of his strategy?” Josh added, laughing along with the others. “I even took notes on that one!”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I didn't know exactly how I would react to this.
My ears rang and my vision blurred at the edges, different kind of emotions overwhelming me.
All of them—the people I thought I knew, the ones I had laughed with, trusted—were here, part of this.
And Tyler, the man I had loved with everything in me, was standing in front of me, disgusted.
Like I was the one who had done something wrong.
I felt lightheaded, like the ground beneath me had turned to air, and I was free-falling into a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from.
My hands trembled at my sides while my fingers curled into fists as I tried to ground myself.
- Writer
