Chapter 236: Serves You Right
Brad flashed a cocky grin. "Of course, babe. Otherwise, I'd have to find someone else to keep up with my three-times-a-night routine. Can't have that, you'd hate me for it."
Here we go again!
Like, seriously? Bragging about doing it three times a night? And he says it like it's no big deal.
How thick-skinned is he?
I was speechless.
I wanted to tease him, but he flipped the script and left me feeling awkward.
Man, I really need to up my game when it comes to comebacks. No matter how many times I try, I always end up losing. It's so frustrating.
Hearing I was back, Lillian and Amelia showed up at my door early in the morning, insisting we go out.
Old friends are hard to meet in person these days; everything's online. Finally getting together, we had to go out and have a blast.
Girls our age don't really hit up amusement parks or aquariums anymore; we're not teenagers. Now, it's all about malls and shopping centers, where we shop like crazy and then pig out on some long-missed goodies.
We spent the whole morning walking until our feet were killing us, and we scored a ton of stuff. For lunch, we planned to hit up a new spot around the corner.
We dumped all our shopping bags in Amelia's car. Since the parking spot wasn't too close to the restaurant, we decided to walk. That's when we saw someone we really didn't want to see—Zoe.
How long had it been? If not for this random run-in, I would've almost forgotten about her. Didn't expect her to still be in Sunhaven.
Sunhaven in August is a total oven, yet Zoe was rocking a zip-up long-sleeve sports jacket and gray sweatpants that covered her feet, all wrapped up and looking overheated. Her long hair was chopped short and hung messy over her shoulders, with tear-streaks messing up her face, making her look anything but pretty.
As we passed a narrow alley, she was clinging to some guy's sleeve, crying her eyes out and saying stuff we couldn't hear from a distance.
The guy looked super annoyed, slapped her hand away, and shoved her, yelling at her to get lost.
Zoe stumbled back a few steps, almost falling, but then rushed forward again, undeterred, trying to get into the guy's arms.
This time, the guy was really pissed. He raised his hand and slapped her face so hard I could hear it.
"Zoe, I'm telling you for the last time, there's no way I'm marrying you. My parents don't agree, and I don't want to either. You're a greedy, deceitful woman. I would never marry you, not in a million years. Stop bugging me; it's annoying and disgusting. If you keep this up, I'll spill all the dirty stuff you've done to everyone at your school."
After that, the guy walked away. As he passed by me, I saw his face—it was John, Zoe's childhood sweetheart she promised to marry.
Hadn't seen him in six months, and John looked like he lost a ton of weight, like a stick.
He probably didn't expect to see me either. He glanced at me in surprise but didn't stop, walking away quickly without a second thought.
In the past, he would look at me with eyes full of hatred, but today, he just ignored me.
Something big must've gone down between Zoe and John, something that made John stop hating me.
From John's words, it seemed like Zoe's mess involved more than just Daniel and John. Her private life must be a total train wreck, or John wouldn't use words like "disgusting."
John used to have some real feelings for Zoe. I wondered what she did to mess up that rare sincerity.
Watching Zoe sit on the ground, her face buried in her hands as she cried, I couldn't help but feel a sense of poetic justice. She had once betrayed Daniel and ditched him like he was nothing. Now, she was tasting the bitterness of being dumped. It was pretty fitting.
I didn't mean to kick her while she was down, but all the crap that happened to me was somehow tied to Zoe. I couldn't feel sorry for her, not even a little.
"Hey, am I seeing things? Isn't that Zoe?" Amelia, with her fiery temper, had hated Zoe for years and wasn't about to miss a chance to give her a hard time.
John's slap had been brutal, and Zoe was on the ground, looking hurt. As she struggled to get up, she heard Amelia's loud voice, and the sorrow on her face turned into pure embarrassment.
Zoe puffed up her cheeks, wanting to snap back, but realizing she was outnumbered and with John long gone, she decided to stay put and just sat there, turning her back on us.
Causing trouble and then hiding from it—that's her style.
"Oh, crying now? And you still have the nerve to cry? That's rich," Lillian said softly but with venom.
Zoe was still sobbing.
Kicking someone when they're down wasn't really our thing. After a few snarky comments, we pulled each other away before Zoe lost it.
Zoe's mess was her own doing; no one felt bad for her.
Sitting in the restaurant, we kept speculating that Zoe must've done something really shady behind John's back, or he wouldn't have hit her. Back in the day, John had beaten Daniel to a pulp for her.
If not for that, Brad and I wouldn't have gone through so much crap.
Just thinking about it made me mad.
"In my opinion, John really liked Zoe. If she had been faithful to him, she might've had a good ending. But she was too greedy, so it's no wonder she ended up like this. She deserved it."
"Exactly. She snatched Daniel away back then, thinking she could have a happy ending, but she cheated on him. Jane, let me tell you, it's a good thing Zoe took that trash Daniel away. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known how bad he could be."
"Right, when I heard Daniel and Zoe got together, I was so mad. Now, thinking about it, it's a good thing they did. It's just a pity that jerks and bitches don't stay together forever."
Daniel and Zoe didn't ruin our appetite; we still enjoyed our meal.
After a whole day out, I came home with bags of stuff. Helen said Daniel had come by again and stayed for quite a while. He was probably waiting for me and left disappointed when I didn't show up.
Waiting for me?
What a joke.
I shrugged it off.
I wanted these kinds of toxic people to stay far away from me; I didn't want to see him.
As I chatted with Helen, I suddenly remembered what Amelia and Lillian said about how jerks and bitches are made for each other, and I burst out laughing. I wondered how Daniel would feel hearing that. He'd probably be so mad his face would twist.
I had been out all day and ignored Brad's video calls in the morning and afternoon. He must be pissed.
To make it up to Brad, I decided to initiate a video call, admitting my mistake of neglecting my boyfriend, and sweet-talk him.
The book said men were always simple and childish. In my opinion, men were just big kids who sought attention, acted spoiled, and threw tantrums.
"Finally have time for me?" Brad looked annoyed, his face dark, clearly angry.
Knowing I was in the wrong, I quickly and sweetly coaxed him until he felt better. Then I said pitifully, "Brad, come back soon. Sunhaven is so boring without you. I miss you."
Brad's expression softened a bit, but he still raised an eyebrow and huffed arrogantly, refusing to respond.
I was thrilled; my coaxing was working. I pressed on.
"What's with the huffing? You have beautiful women around you every day. How would you know the loneliness of being alone? When I came back, Amelia and Lillian were picked up by their boyfriends, leaving me all alone. Everyone else has someone; no one cares about me. Even if it rains heavily, no one will pick me up. What's the point of having a boyfriend? Amelia took me out because she saw I was unhappy, and now you're mad at me. If I had known you'd be mad, I wouldn't have gone out. Boredom is just boredom; I could endure it. It wouldn't kill me."
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