He Called Me Toad, I Dumped Him

Chapter 2

Best friend?

I curled the corner of my mouth into a bitter, sarcastic smirk.

We'd known each other since we were five years old. Back then, I felt terrible for her when her father beat her, so I always gave her my milk and my toys to make things a little easier for her.

And what did she do in return? She went around calling me 'Toad' because I had acne. That one cruel nickname crushed my self-confidence for my entire teenage years.

"He's so good to me. Even after we broke up, he still took such good care of me while I was overseas."

Wendy rolled up her sleeve to show off a faint pink scar on her wrist.

"It was just a tiny cut I got cutting fruit. But he insisted on flying all the way over here just to take me to the most expensive private hospital. Then he went and bought a bunch of pearls just to grind them into powder for me to put on the cut! He ended up blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on this stupid little cut, can you believe it?"

I stared at that faint scar in a daze.

I remembered the old days, when I was right by Nathaniel's side helping him build his startup. We were strapped for cash for literally everything back then.

I was pulling all-nighters to meet clients nonstop. I'd spiked a fever of 104 degrees, and I missed a step, ending up with a broken shin.

Agony wracked my body as I lay in the ambulance, and I called Nathaniel. He told me the company had hit a cash flow problem, and he was scrambling to raise money. Then he asked me what was wrong.

I didn't want to add more stress to his plate. I bit back the pain and told him, "I'm fine. Don't work yourself too hard."

I ended up getting the cheapest metal plate for my fracture. To this day, my leg aches like hell every time it rains.

Wendy propped her chin in her hand, her whole face glowing with giddy happiness.

"Then there was the time someone stole my research spot abroad. I only complained about it once, and he hopped on a red-eye flight that same night. He dropped over a million dollars donating new equipment to the lab just to get justice for me! Such a normal thing, right? What was the point of wasting all that money?" she said, like it was just some cute little quirk of his.

I clenched my fingers so tight my nails dug straight into my palm, sharp pain biting into my skin.

I remembered that day. My grandma, who'd been living with psychosis, wandered out and got hit by a bad car accident.

The doctor pressed me for an $8,000 deposit right away, and the surgery itself would cost another $18,000 on top of that.

I drained every last card I had, but I still couldn't scrape together enough. I tried to pull money from the company account, only to find the account was frozen because of a massive capital gap.

My parents died when I was young. Grandma was the only family I had left in the whole world.

I called him like a woman possessed.

He soothed me anxiously from the other end of the line. "Summer, don't panic. I'm stuck overseas sorting out a funding issue, but I swear I'll find the money for your grandma, no matter what."

Three endless hours crawled by.

I waited until Grandma was wheeled back into the emergency room for a second time.

I waited until I'd signed the papers to mortgage the old house my parents left me.

Still, his money never came.

When he finally came back to the country, he pulled me into his hug with red, glistening eyes.

"Summer, I'm so sorry. I bet on the wrong product, lost all my capital on the bad bet. I couldn't get the life-saving money for your grandma."

Against all odds, Grandma pulled through.

I let out a huge breath of relief, then turned right around to comfort him. "It's okay. I still have a little money left. If you're in a tight spot, take it first."

A complicated, unreadable shadow crossed his face, and he pulled me even tighter against his chest. "Summer, I swear I'll give you the best of everything in the whole world one day."

Now I finally understand what that look meant.

Back then, he was probably thinking: How can there be such a stupid woman walking this earth?

My face drained of more and more color, going pale as a sheet.

Wendy smacked her forehead, looking sheepish and regretful. "Sorry if that came off wrong. I wasn't trying to flaunt my relationship on purpose. It's just… we've been apart for seven years, and his love for me never faded once. I can't help but gush about it."

Nathaniel and I had been together for exactly seven years, too.

I was at my breaking point, and I was just about to blow up and make a scene when Nathaniel walked in.

He froze for a split second, then threw me a sharp, warning look.

Wendy tugged my arm and insisted she was treating me to dinner.

I sat stiff as a board in the private booth, frozen in place until she left to use the bathroom.

As soon as she was gone, Nathaniel leaned over and pressed the back of his hand to my forehead.

"You look awful. Are you still feeling sick from the other day? Let me get a doctor for you."

I slapped his hand away hard, and hot tears came pouring down my face before I could stop them.

"Don't touch me! I don't need your fake kindness! You two have been sneaking around behind my back for seven years. You must think I'm the biggest i***t on the planet, don't you?"

Nathaniel let out a tired, helpless sigh, and wrapped me up in a hug before I could push him away.

"I messed up, I'm a jerk, okay? Why put yourself through this heartache when you're already upset? Love never plays by the rules anyway, just try to take it easy. Stop crying, Summer. You can do whatever you want to me. It's been seven years, and when you cry like this... it hurts me too."

I tried to tear myself out of his arms, but the door suddenly slammed open.

Wendy, streaks of tears pouring down her face, came charging at me and cracked me straight across the cheek with her palm.

"We've been friends for over twenty years, and you would still try to steal my boyfriend? You shameless homewrecker!"

Her slap left a long bleeding gash across my cheek.

Curious onlookers crowded around the doorway, craning their necks to gawk.

I shook with white-hot rage and lifted my hand to slap her back.

"We got married seven years ago! You're the one who's the other woman here!"

But before my hand could connect, a brutal shove sent me tumbling backwards to the floor. My skull cracked hard against the wall, and white spots exploded across my vision, the pain blinding me.

Wendy sobbed and ran out.

For a split second, Nathaniel moved to help me up. Then he turned and hurried after her, desperate to catch up!

"Stop talking nonsense!" he shouted over his shoulder.

I crumpled limp to the floor, as more and more restaurant guests flooded over to gawk at the chaos.

Gossiping murmurs and the constant click-click-click of camera shutters washed over me nonstop.

Nathaniel was the new rising star of the business world, and Wendy was the gorgeous PhD who had just returned to the country. It wasn't hard to guess what happened next.

It wasn't surprising at all that, sure enough, the video someone took yesterday, paired with the trending headline "Who is the Real Homewrecker?" rocketed straight to the top of the search rankings.

While the internet blew into chaos, with netizens bashing both sides, Nathaniel released a public statement.

"Wendy and I have been in love for ten years. There is no homewrecker, no infidelity. I just went out of my way to help her friend for my girlfriend's sake. I never expected this misunderstanding…"