Chapter 3
752 Words
The line went silent instantly. A long moment passed before Gina finally spoke again.
"Of course he's my boyfriend," she said smugly, her voice dripping with provocation.
Hearing how confident she sounded, I suddenly laughed.
"I figured you were stealing somebody else's man again. It's not exactly your first time."
Back in college, we didn't go to the same school. Gina had fallen for her roommate's boyfriend.
Less than a month later, she'd stolen him away.
The drama got so bad that practically everyone in our college circle heard about it.
And back then, I was still stupid enough to defend her. I honestly believed she wasn't that kind of person.
I thought Gina was my best friend. She would never do something like that to me. Looking back now, it wasn't that she wouldn't.
I was just blind.
I heard her breathing suddenly grow heavier on the other end of the phone.
But soon, Gina laughed again, loud and arrogant. "But if I steal somebody else's boyfriend, doesn't he become mine eventually?"
Then she hung up.
*****
The next day, by the time I got off work, the sky was already pitch black.
I'd walked this road back to my apartment for three years straight. I could've done it with my eyes closed.
But tonight, a van suddenly stopped beside me. A hand clamped over my mouth from behind. A sharp chemical smell flooded my nose and throat.
I struggled desperately, but my consciousness faded almost immediately.
When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed. The same hospital bed I'd spent three years caring for.
The body double who used to lie there was gone.
I tried to sit up, only to realize my wrists had been tied tightly to the bed rails.
"Awake now?" Gina's voice came from nearby.
She sat casually in a chair with one leg crossed over the other.
A phone rested in her hand, its camera pointed directly at me.
"What do you want?" My voice came out hoarse.
Gina stood up slowly and walked toward the bed, looking down at me with satisfaction.
"Lynna, you really are pathetic. A complete i***t. You got scammed for three years and still helped count the money."
My chest tightened.
She leaned closer, staring straight into my eyes.
"I saw you. You were hiding in the corner like some pathetic little rat. For the past three years, Cedric's been with me the whole time. While you were cleaning up after that body double lying in the hospital bed, he was overseas traveling with me. And while you were out delivering food late at night, he was taking me to Michelin star restaurants."
Then Gina lifted her phone and waved it proudly.
"And now, all I had to do was tell him you gave me attitude yesterday. He immediately agreed to let me film a few videos today so I could blow off steam."
Pain twisted through my chest so hard I couldn't even speak.
Suddenly, Gina's expression turned vicious. Her voice sharpened with hatred.
"You know what I've always hated most about you? That superior attitude. I'm prettier than you, so why were you the one with better grades in high school? Why did you get into a better college? And why the hell did you end up with such a hot boyfriend?"
She let out a cold laugh and leaned close to my ear. "You probably don't know this, but Cedric and I slept together the night before he proposed to you. That same night he was setting up your little proposal."
My mind went completely blank.
The night before the proposal.
I had been trying on white dresses like an i***t. Wondering how I should do my makeup the next day. Thinking I was the happiest woman in the world.
Meanwhile, the two of them were together behind my back, doing the most disgusting thing imaginable.
Gina straightened up and clapped her hands.
The hospital room door opened. Two men walked in.
Both looked greasy and filthy, their eyes crawling over me like predators staring at fresh meat.
"Well, if we're filming videos," Gina said with a bright smile, "we need something entertaining. Don't worry. I'll keep these videos safe forever."
She sat back down, grinning as the two men slowly approached me.
I struggled violently, the ropes cutting painfully into my wrists.
Gina raised her phone higher, the camera aimed straight at my face.
And the men's hands reached for my collar.
- Writer
