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Chapter Five
Sarah infiltrated my student years like a ghost, penetrating every aspect of it.
It wasn’t until I finished my college entrance exams and was accepted into a prestigious university far away that I finally escaped her shadow.
Sarah’s grades weren’t as good as mine, so she attended a local, ordinary college.
In my desperation to leave behind the nightmares of home, I refused Matt’s repeated pleas to apply to a local university with him.
After our first semester, he coaxed me to come back for a class reunion.
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I didn’t know what kind of feelings to bring to a gathering full of people who once tormented me.
But for Matt’s sake, I went.
He didn’t come to pick me up.
He claimed it was out of his way and told me to go by myself.
I arrived fifteen minutes early, but as soon as I opened the door, a dozen hostile eyes turned toward me, their stares burning holes right through me.
“Oh, look who finally showed up the famous Kelly! What, did we have to beg to get you to grace us with your presence? Or were you just trying to make a grand entrance by showing up an hour late, hoping we’d all remember that meek little girl
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trembling in the bathroom?”
I followed the icy voice and looked over.
Standing beside Sarah, the woman with her arms crossed and a cold, disdainful gaze was the same one who’d led the charge in bullying me back then – the one who’d shoved my head into sinks, locked me in the bathroom, slapped me.
Even though years had passed, my body still reacted instinctively.
I stood frozen, unable to say a word, my gaze drifting to Matt, who sat calmly on Sarah’s other side.
The air tensed for a moment before Matt finally stood up to ease the situation.
“Come on, we’re all classmates here. No
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need for the hostility. Kelly, come sit beside me.”
Looking back now, I realize how weak I was.
Despite their blatant humiliation, I still managed to calmly walk over, sit beside Matt, and listen to them chat and laugh as if nothing was wrong.
What was I thinking at that moment?
Probably something like, Matt must have mixed up the time. He didn’t bring it up, so I can’t embarrass him in front of so many people…
So, I bore all the malice and pain alone.
But what finally shattered my resolve came later. When the group moved to a karaoke bar, I lost sight of Matt and decided to go to
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the restroom to wash my face and clear my mind.
–
That’s when I heard it sounds of intimacy coming from a nearby stall, unmistakably belonging to Matt and Sarah.
I questioned my own ears, but never Matt.
Not until he spoke.
“Sarah, does this make you happy? I deliberately told Kelly the wrong time so
she’d get humiliated by everyone! That must have pleased you, right?”
“Hmph, you dated her so long and still didn’t learn how to handle her properly?”
Sarah’s voice was soft, playful, interrupted by the occasional moan.
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I stared at my own pale face in the mirror, my sorrowful eyes silently pleading for Matt not to say another word.
As long as he kept quiet, I could pretend nothing had changed. I’d rather be a caged bird, blissfully ignorant.
But fate had other plans.
“Dating? Me and her? How could that be? I only pretended to be kind to rescue her so you’d notice me,” he said.
His words were like knives, slicing through my already fractured heart.
My hand lost its strength, dropping limply to my side, and the small purse slung over my arm slipped to the floor.
Hearing the noise, the two of them rustled
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around inside, gathering themselves before opening the door and looking straight at me.
In the mirror’s reflection, I searched Matt’s surprised expression, hoping to find even a hint of regret.
But there was none. Not a trace.
I fought to hold back my tears, my eyes red, and forced a small smile at Matt through the mirror.
He frowned slightly, brushing the wrinkles from his shirt.
“Well, since you heard everything, let’s end it here. I’ve been tired of you for a while now.”
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Chapter Six
