Dana frowned.
"Bella already explained it to you just now."
I gave a small laugh.
"Dana, do you and Bella take me for a fool?"
The moment I said it, Bella burst into tears.
"Pam, I was just sick and feeling awful, I wanted someone to give me a little comfort. If it upset you, I'll apologize, okay?"
Dana's brows drew together on instinct, a flicker of tenderness in his face.
I stood where I was, and all I felt was exhausted.
To finish the project sooner, I'd pulled a solid week of grueling overtime.
The whole time I'd slept three hours a night, all so I could get back sooner and see Dana.
I never thought I'd come back to find him with someone else.
I looked at Dana and said quietly,
"Dana, let's break up."
His head snapped up toward me.
"Pam, our engagement is already settled. How can you throw out a breakup so lightly?"
I slid off the ring Dana had put on my finger when he proposed and held it out to him.
"Here's your ring back."
For an instant, the air went silent.
I paid them no more attention and turned to leave.
Dana started to come after me, but Bella suddenly broke into sobs.
"Dana, how could this happen?"
He turned back and pulled Bella into his arms, murmuring to comfort her.
Back home, the first thing I did was announce that Dana and I had broken up.
And I made the reason clear.
In no time, all my friends were in an uproar.
Bella saw my post too.
She started calling and messaging me nonstop.
"Pam, don't be rash, please. How can you just call off an engagement like that?"
"Pam, please pick up. I already explained it to you. Why won't you believe me?"
"Pam, can you delete that post? This makes me look terrible. How am I supposed to face everyone?"
...
I blocked her outright.
Another hour passed.
Then Bella suddenly called again.
I picked up. On the other end she was crying so hard she could barely speak.
"Pam, I'm on the roof of your building. I'm apologizing to you. Please forgive me, okay?"
"If you won't forgive me, I'll jump."
I could faintly hear wind through the phone.
I ran up to the rooftop and saw Bella standing alone by the railing, teetering.
Dana came charging up from downstairs, his face grim.
He yanked Bella back from the edge in one motion.
"Bella, do you have any idea what you're doing?"
"If you jumped, what would I do?"
Bella cried even more piteously.
"But I want to apologize to Pam. I want her to forgive me."
"Now everyone's saying I'm the other woman, that I came between my best friend and her boyfriend. I really don't want to live anymore."
Dana's eyes cut at me like knives.
"Pam, she's your best friend. Are you really going to drive her to her death?"
It struck me as absurd.
"What does her wanting to die have to do with me?"
The words were barely out when Bella suddenly tore free of Dana and lunged at me.
I stepped aside, and she went over the edge.
Dana's eyes went wild. He rushed downstairs at once.
I'd called the fire department the second it started.
The safety cushion had long been laid out below.
Bella was fine, just a few scrapes.
Dana checked her over anxiously for a long while, and finally let out a breath.
He carried the fainted Bella off to the hospital, and before he left he turned on me, vicious.
"Pam, if anything happens to Bella, I won't let you off."
I stood there, my heart aching like it had been jabbed with a needle.
I'd known for a while their relationship wasn't ordinary, but Dana's attitude still cut me.
To him, I, his fiancée, mattered less than Bella.
I thought about it for a long time, and in the end I still went to the hospital.
I sat on the long bench in the hospital corridor, looking at the marks Bella's sharp nails had scratched into my hand.
Alone, in silence, I dabbed on the ointment.
Dana walked over and saw the wounds on my hand.
He frowned.
"How did you get hurt?"
He bent down and examined the injuries closely, his tone slipping back to its old gentleness.
"Pam, Bella's fine, you don't need to worry."
"The only reason I was with her is that she's your best friend. There's nothing between us. I went to take care of her when she was sick because of you, too."
"Pam, stop this. Our engagement won't be called off. You know how long I fought with my family to marry you, how much it cost me. How can you have the heart to give me up?"
He paused, then went on.
"I'll buy you a villa. Haven't you always wanted to move your mother to New York?"
"This whole thing made you misunderstand me. That's my fault. I apologize. You know I've never been willing to let you suffer."
"I'll put the house in your name. Consider it compensation."
