Letitia's eyes were rimmed red as she cursed Abner under her breath, toweling the rain out of my dripping hair.
My phone buzzed.
Abner.
【You smashed your phone, so I dug out this backup just now.】
【You're too extreme, you know that? Look at how things used to be. We all got along just fine.】
Then he sent a photo.
It was Pansy, one arm slung around me and Abner.
In the picture, the two of us were smiling like it hurt worse than crying.
It was taken right before graduation, with Pansy's fingers digging hard into the back of my neck, forcing us to pose.
She'd laughed when she said it:
"Now that we're graduating, don't you dare forget me."
So Abner had really kept that photo all this time.
I didn't reply. I just blocked his number.
The next day, I took Letitia with me to the apartment to pack my things.
I pushed the door open and there was Pansy, wearing the slippers I'd just bought, lounging on the couch.
Abner looked up, saw it was us, and yanked Pansy protectively behind him.
"Trudy, what did you bring her here for?"
"You've got a problem, take it up with me. Don't even think about bullying Pansy."
Beside me, Letitia's face went taut with rage. I patted her hand.
"I'm just here for my things. Move."
Abner froze, then let out a soft scoff.
"Moving out? Trudy, there's a limit to how much of a tantrum you get to throw."
But Pansy poked her head out from behind him.
"Honestly, Trudy, you really shouldn't hate me this much."
"Back then I led everyone in freezing you out because I liked Abner."
"Whose fault was it that you clung to him every single day? And then he actually went and protected you, so I had no choice but to deal with him too."
That was Letitia's breaking point.
"Are you out of your mind? You bullied people for three years over a guy?"
"And you, Abner. Back then all you knew how to do was cower while they beat you. Now you want to play the man?"
"You two pieces of garbage deserve each other!"
Abner's face went ashen, and then he roared.
"Shut up!"
"Fine, since it's all out now, I'm done pretending. Pansy and I have actually been together for a year."
A year?
Those two words shattered something at the top of my skull.
I thought back to a year ago.
Abner had suddenly volunteered to go out to the suburbs for "exposure therapy."
He refused to let me come along, said that with me there he'd just grow dependent again.
Every weekend, he'd head out alone for the better part of the day.
And every time he came back, he couldn't hide the smile in the corners of his eyes, and sometimes he carried the faint trace of perfume.
He'd lied and told me it was the calming aromatherapy from the clinic.
I'd been so happy back then, simmering hot soup at home every weekend, thinking he was finally close to recovering.
Now, looking back.
There was never any exposure therapy.
I'd been a complete and utter fool, hand-delivering my own fiancé into the arms of the woman who'd tormented us.
Abner looked at me, his voice going soft again.
"Trudy! Back then, if you hadn't lied and told Pansy we were together, she never would've bullied us in the first place."
"And besides, I never said I wanted to break up with you. Pansy feels like she owed you all these years, she's been carrying the guilt, she even told me to treat you well!"
"Pansy's been so good to you, and you still want to hold a grudge against her? How can you be so ungrateful?"
Pansy nestled into Abner's arms, the corners of her mouth curving up in satisfaction.
"Trudy. Thank you for taking care of Abner in my place these five years. It must have worn you out."
Letitia lost it, snatching the ashtray off the coffee table to hurl at them.
I held her back, hard.
Throwing away my own life over trash rotting in the mud wasn't worth it.
I turned and walked into the bedroom, packing my cards and important documents into my bag.
