After that, I took a shower and slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, I switched on my phone to a giant headline: "Culberra's Princess Meets Her First Love in the Dead of Night… What About Her Orphaned Fiancé?"
Attached was a photo, showing Evie and Stewart embracing at the airport. The picture wasn't blurry at all, not that the two of them had any intention of hiding it in the first place.
It didn't take long before it shot to the top of the daily trends.
Everyone thought that, since I was just a stand-in, I should just wise up and stand aside. I agreed, so I had already packed my luggage ages ago in anticipation of being thrown out like the trash.
However, an entire day passed without any news from Evie whatsoever.
Just as I was going to send her a message and break up with her in my impatience, her friend called me.
"Evie's had too much to drink, and she wants you to come fetch her."
When I heard those words, I couldn't help but sigh. I didn't really want to go, but I was nothing if not a professional. Might as well see things through.
I followed the address that her friend sent me, and I found the private room.
The moment I pushed open the door, I heard people inside egging someone on.
"Man, kiss already!"
"Stewart, did you forget all our rules after not joining us for so long?"
"Yeah! You left without saying a word, too! What, were you too good for us?"
I’d experienced some of these trust-fund kids' ways of tormenting people before. They would never give up until they got what they wanted.
I more or less understood why they had called me here.
They were holding a welcome-home banquet for Stewart, so of course they had to summon me, the substitute, to be humiliated.
Now that the real deal was back, they knew that my days by Evie's side were numbered. And so, everyone looked down on me even further.
Unfortunately for them, they were wrong if they thought they’d see me heartbroken.
Meanwhile, Stewart pressed his lips together and told them to stop messing around, before sending a careful glance at Evie.
"Evie…"
Seeing her not showing any signs of refusal, Stewart held her head, preparing to kiss her.
The people around them cheered even louder.
I hesitated. Should I just back out? I wasn't going to ruin such a fine atmosphere.
I was just about to back out, when someone inside spotted me and called out, "Yo, Lewis! What, are you so sad that you can't take a step inside?"
Once he spoke, I had no choice but to enter.
When I looked at Stewart, he was glaring at me with resentment written all over his face. Evie, on the other hand, didn't say a word.
My entrance naturally cut the commotion short.
Evie plopped down on the sofa, squinting at the manicure on her hand, while I casually found a seat and sat down.
Everything that unfolded, unsurprisingly, was going to revolve entirely around the three of us.
-
Back when I played the role of the perfect, devoted boyfriend, I never allowed Evie to even consume a single drop of alcohol in situations like these.
Now that her precious first love was back, it was prime time for me to take a back seat.
I simply watched from the side with indifference.
Evie had always been terrible with party games, and her friends always played circles around her, but she didn't even bat an eye.
She just held her wine glass and looked straight at me.
I scratched my head, feeling speechless. Was she really still expecting me to block drinks for her?
What was the point of her first love coming back, then? I wasn't going to swerve out of my lane for no reason.
For a moment, things were awkward.
Just as Stewart reached towards the glass, Evie jerked her hand away, her gaze not moving from me in the slightest.
"Stewart's not in good health, so you do it."
With that one sentence, my status was once again pushed to the very bottom.
A few spectators eager for drama had practically pulled out buckets of popcorn at that point.
"Seems like Stewart's the winner here, huh?"
Oh, so she was worried about her true love.
You know what? Fine.
I took the glass of wine and drained the harsh liquor in one go.
After finishing it, I paused for a moment to recover.
Seeing my expression, the people around assumed I was devastated.
In reality, I was overjoyed.
The more Evie cared about Stewart, the faster I could make a slip for it.
After that, both Stewart's and Evie's drinks ended up down my throat.
As if they were doing it on purpose, they kept losing each time, no matter how many times they played.
In the end, I bolted for the toilet, throwing up the contents of my stomach violently.
But then, as I thought of the free life waiting for me in the future, everything felt like it was worth it.
I had just come out of the restroom and was about to head back to the private room, when I received a call from the hospital.
Hearing the doctor's serious tone, my heart tightened.
Without caring that Evie was still inside, I bolted out as fast as I could.
