4: 4
4
Mildred curled into her boyfriend's arms, blinking those big, watery eyes.
"Don't be mad, Vi. I really just twisted my ankle, and that's the only reason Finn rubbed it. We've been like this since we were kids. It doesn't mean anything."
"You twisted your ankle, so he rubbed your foot, and you were hanging off his whole body. And that doesn't mean anything?"
I looked down and let out a sarcastic little laugh.
"Then someday when I twist my ankle and let some other man rub it, you won't mind either, right? Since it doesn't mean anything."
Finn suddenly sneered.
"Go ahead and try."
"Violet, don't just talk tough. Don't say things you don't mean."
"You've been with me three years, and I've never once seen another man near you."
"If you can actually produce another man, then I'll be impressed."
Finn threw the words down coldly and carried the ankle-nursing Mildred off to the tent.
I stood frozen where I was, silent for a moment, then dialed my sworn enemy.
"Didn't you say you've always wanted to chase me?"
"Then come here now and take me away."
"You come, and I'll break up with Finn."
A hoarse, agitated voice came through the line.
"I'm on my way!"
A rush of hurried footsteps followed, and faint background noise carried through too.
"Mr. Weiss, are we canceling the international conference?"
"Push it back."
I hung up and lifted my eyes toward the tent.
Finn, three years together, and you never saw another man around me.
That's because I have restraint, not because no one wanted me.
But now, Finn, this was your last chance, and you didn't value it.
You've been eliminated.
After hanging up, I couldn't stand the sight of the two of them being cozy, so I walked toward the lake.
I sat by the water for a while, and figuring Winston Weiss was about due to arrive, I turned to go pack up my things.
I'd only taken two steps when a rush of hurried footsteps came from behind me.
A force slammed hard into my back.
Caught off guard, I stumbled forward a few steps, my feet hit the slick mud at the water's edge, and I went straight down.
A loud splash.
The freezing lake water swallowed me whole in an instant.
"Help—help me."
I choked down a big mouthful of water, salty and bitter, and thrashed my way back to the surface.
I looked up and saw Mildred standing on the bank.
She held my bag in her hand, that innocent, guileless smile on her face.
"Oh no, Vi, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to grab your bag for you, and my foot slipped."
She said she hadn't meant to, but the smugness in her eyes was practically overflowing.
I gritted my teeth and pushed myself up on the rocks at the water's edge.
My clothes and pants were soaked through, clinging and outlining every curve of my body.
I'd only made it halfway up when a flash of white light went off on the bank.
"What are you doing?!"
I instinctively covered my dripping body.
Mildred just held up her phone, snapping several shots in a row, giggling the whole time.
"Vi, you look hilarious like this, like a soggy little drowned dog!"
"I have to capture this precious moment and send it to Finn."
She took two steps back and snapped several more at me.
"Don't be mad, Vi. I'm just joking around."
"I'll say it one more time. Turn off the phone!"
"No."
She shook her head, grinning. "Not unless you agree to forgive Finn. He went home that night so heartbroken, didn't sleep all night. See how much he likes you? Just forgive him, okay?"
I stared at her face and thought I'd never seen anyone so disgusting.
"So you threw my things in the lake, shoved me into the water, and took photos of me looking pathetic, all so I'd forgive Finn?"
I wiped the water off my face, my voice cold and furious.
"Is something wrong with your head?"
The smile on Mildred's face finally faded a little, displeasure flickering in her eyes.
"Vi, how can you curse at me like that?"
"What's wrong with cursing at you?" I stepped forward. "When you shoved me into the lake, did it ever cross your mind that I'd curse at you?"
"I already told you it was an accident!"
"Say that again?"
She bit her lip, her eyes reddening, looking like she was one second from crying.
But this time, I wasn't going to hold back.
I lifted my hand, grabbed her arm, and with the other hand snatched the phone right out of her grip.
She shrieked: "What are you doing!"
I ignored her, looked down and scrolled through the album, deleted every one of those photos, then cleared out the recently deleted folder too.
Once it was clean, I tossed the phone back into her arms and said flatly: "Take another photo of me, and I'll throw your phone in the lake."
Mildred clutched the phone, her face cycling through green and white, her chest heaving with rage.
"You—you're going too far!"
She stamped her foot and turned to shout toward Finn. "Finn! Your girlfriend's bullying me!"
Finn heard her and came running. He saw me soaked through and froze for two seconds: "What happened to you?"
"Ask her."
Finn looked to Mildred again, and she instantly put on that pitiful, wronged expression, eyes red.
"I just wanted to grab Vi's bag for her, and my foot slipped and knocked her in."
"I already apologized, but she still cursed at me and grabbed my phone—"
Finn held back his anger and looked at me.
"Violet, she already said it wasn't on purpose. Do you have to? Look how badly you scared her."
I stood there, soaked to the skin, and when the cold wind hit me my teeth started to chatter.
When you're speechless to the very limit, you really do laugh out loud.
"Finn, your girlfriend got pushed into a lake, she's soaked through, her phone's ruined, and you don't ask me a single word about whether I'm cold. You just turn around and comfort the person who pushed me. Do you really not get it, or are you playing dumb?"
Then the little childhood sweetheart said she wanted to take a few photos of me looking pathetic and wet.
"I just want to have something on Vi, so she won't dare run her mouth or bully me so easily anymore."
Finn agreed.
"Violet, don't blame me. You brought this on yourself."
They were about to pin me down and shove me back into the lake.
Just then, the roar of an engine came from the distance.
"Let go of Violet!"
