I'd spent three years as an online therapist.
A week before my wedding, I posted the announcement and decided to shut down my account for good.
One second before I hit deactivate, a new follower appeared. A private message popped up.
「Dr. Henson, what if your best friend had been sleeping with your boyfriend for years, and you only found out right before your wedding? Could you live with that?」
I barely hesitated before typing back：「My best friend would never sleep with my boyfriend.」
After I sent it, I even laughed a little.
Because I knew Leonora Fox inside and out.
The girl was hopelessly devoted to love. She'd had ten miscarriages for some man she'd never even let me meet.
With all that baggage, who else could she possibly want?
I was about to go through with the deactivation when my phone buzzed again.
「Babe,」
「what if I told you I slept with your best friend?」
……
Every drop of blood in my body went cold.
I stared at the words on the screen. I recognized each one individually, but strung together they were terrifyingly foreign.
A second later, a hotel name and room number came through.
I don't remember how I got downstairs, or how I flagged down a cab.
The whole ride, I kept telling myself it was a prank.
But when I pushed open that door, every last shred of hope shattered.
Seth Vance and Leonora Fox were tangled together on the bed.
Seth saw me. He didn't panic. There was almost something like exasperation in his expression：“Babe, you're really that naive? I literally had to hand-deliver the affair to your face before you'd notice.”
My eyes burned. My voice shook：“Why?”
Seth's expression didn't change：“You know how I am. I have needs. And after what happened to you, you can't stand being touched. Every time we're together you just lie there like a dead fish. But Leonora's different. She knows things. With her, I can do whatever I want.”
“Besides, she's willing to skip protection for me, even get an ab——”
“Enough!”
I couldn't hear another word. I lunged forward, eyes red, and slapped him across the face.
“Seth Vance, you are a goddamn animal!”
I turned on Leonora：“And you! Leonora Fox! I treated you like family! This is how you repay me? Do you even know that I'm getting married to him in one week?”
Leonora went white. She tumbled off the bed and stumbled to her knees at my feet.
“Clara, I'm sorry……”
“I'm shameless, I know. I'm the one who seduced Seth into bed. I'll leave right now, I'll walk away from him……”
“She's not going anywhere!”
Seth pulled her to his side and fixed me with a cold stare.
“Clara Henson, she never asked for a title. She never even asked me to care about her. She gave up everything for you. How can you still want to push her away?”
“And don't forget. When you were exposed as a fake heiress and thrown out on the street, when everyone piled on to humiliate you, Leonora was the only one willing to be your friend.”
“Without us, you'd be dead. As for our engagement, it still stands. The wedding goes ahead in seven days. I won't let you suffer.”
Tears fell before I could stop them. I stared at the two people I had once loved most in this world.
When I was younger, my mother fell ill and needed a blood transfusion. I went to donate and the test came back: I wasn't a Henson by blood.
That same day I was thrown out of the Henson house. People cornered me in an alley and did whatever they wanted.
The whole thing resurfaced out of nowhere when I was a sophomore in college. My roommates, my professors, everyone had something cruel to say.
Only Leonora Fox, from the dorm next door, came to me of her own free will. She stayed by my side.
And Seth Vance.
My childhood sweetheart.
When I was being bullied, he was the one who stepped in front of me and told the world that no matter what I became, I was still his fiancée.
