Betrayed by My Fiancé and My Best Friend

1: 1

My best friend and my boyfriend couldn't stand each other!

She was always forwarding me news stories about men who cheated, warning me, Watch outyour Lewis Gilbert is going to stray!

And Lewis was always complaining to me, Lily Fox is a bossy, meddling shrew! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't give her the time of day!

So I smoothed things over on both sides.

"Lewis and I have been together seven years. I trust the kind of man he is."

"Lily's been good to me since we were kids. Don't be so hard on her."

Until one day I came back early from a business trip and walked in on the two of themthe ones who supposedly couldn't stand the sight of each othertangled up in bed together.

When I demanded to know what was going on, hysterical, Lily looked at me like I was the one being unreasonable.

"My hormones have been out of balance lately. I was just borrowing your boyfriend as medicine."

And Lewis thought I was making a scene out of nothing.

"I'm a man. I have normal needs. You should be asking yourself whether you've been doing your job as a girlfriend!"

Fine. Since the two of you are such a perfect match, I'll let you have each other.

I came back early from the trip because I wanted to surprise Lewis.

But when I pushed the door open, the two of them locked together on the bed dealt me a killing blow.

My best friend, in bed with my fianc, with no distance left between them at all.

The moment Lewis saw me, panic flashed through his eyesbut his first instinct was to yank the sheet over and cover Lily.

"Thelma Sullivan, it's not what it looks like."

Lily didn't show a trace of shame. She spoke with total conviction.

"Thelma, I've been diagnosed with a hormone imbalance. I was only borrowing Lewis as medicine for a little while. Don't misunderstand."

One of them was the fianc I'd loved for seven years.

The other was the best friend who'd been at my side for twenty.

And now the two of them were talking about their affair like it was nothing at all.

I couldn't take it in. I turned and ran out.

Outside, the rain was coming down in sheets.

I thought of this time last year, when Lily had come crying to New York to throw herself on me.

Her boyfriend had dumped her. She had nowhere to go.

I was the one who took her in.

I set her up with money for whatever she needed, drank with her to cheer her up, helped her land a job.

Lewis had been so unhappy about it.

He complained that Lily was a third wheel, that she'd hijacked all our time alone together.

And Lily looked down on Lewis too.

Said he was too domineering, didn't know how to be considerate, wasn't good enough for me.

But never once did I imagine it.

That the two people I treasured and trusted most would betray me together.

Then an umbrella appeared over my head.

It was Lewis.

He started coaxing me. "Thelma, don't let your mind run wild. I don't have the slightest interest in Lily!"

I glared at him, my eyes red. "Then what was that I just saw?"

His face went impatient, his voice full of blame.

"I'm a man. I have normal physical needs. You've been away for daysdid you ever once think about how I feel?"

I stared at the man in front of me, dazed.

Nausea rose up in my stomach.

All these years I'd worked myself to the bone, all for our future.

Right after we graduated, Lewis said he had no money, no place of his own, that he couldn't get married yet.

So I worked overtime day and night, took top performer every month, climbed the ranks, and saved up to buy our wedding home.

Later, Lewis said his job wasn't stable, that he was afraid he couldn't give me an easy life.

So I got him a position at my company.

And quietly propped him up, lifted him until he sat in the manager's seat he holds now.

We were supposed to get married next month.

But right now, he felt not the faintest shame over his own cheating.

Instead, he was pinning the blame on me.

2: 2

Seeing my eyes go red, Lewis softened his voice.

"This one's on me. It won't happen again."

He reached out and wiped the rain from my face.

"Besides, it's this late and it's pouring. Where else would you go but home?"

He was right. It was the house I'd paid for in full. They were the ones who'd done wrong.

So why was I the one who had to leave?

When I followed Lewis home, Lily was curled up on the sofa in my pajamas, eating fruit.

Seeing me drenched in the doorway, she came over with a show of concern.

"Thank goodness Lewis talked you into coming back. I was so worried you wouldn't have anywhere to stay tonight."

Then she shot a look at Lewis behind me.

"If you hadn't left my legs too weak to stand, I'd have gone after Thelma myself!"

Lewis let out a low laugh, his face lit with a loud, brazen kind of pride.

"So now you know what I can do? And here you were, daring to say I wasn't up to it."

The two of them flirting like no one else existed drove straight into me.

Rage swept through me in an instant.

I stormed into the guest room and threw Lily's suitcase out the door.

"Lily, get out."

Lewis frowned, displeased, his eyes full of blame.

"What are you making a scene about now? Didn't I just explain?"

"You were the one who insisted on taking her in. Now you suddenly want to throw her out? Is your kindness really that cheap?"

I looked at him, cold.

"Lewis, you get out too."

His face went ashen. He opened his mouth to say more, but Lily stopped him.

"Don't make Thelma any angrier. Let's go get a hotel for the night and give her some space to cool down."

For once Lewis obeyed, going back to the bedroom to pack his clothes.

Lily took my hand, her face all earnestness.

"Thelma, we're best friends. I would never try to take Lewis from you!"

"I'm doing this for your own good too. You're buried in work all day and can't take care of him. Sooner or later he'd find someone out there. Isn't it better that I'm the one keeping him satisfied for you?"

Her twisted logic shattered everything I thought I knew about her.

For as long as I could remember, Lily had loved making my decisions for me under the banner of my own good.

She drove off the boy who confessed to me, calling him a toad lusting after a swan.

She kept other girls away from me, saying they were only after something.

Later she tried to change my college applications, and I caught it just in time.

Her excuse then had been all false sweetness. "New York has such a dry climate. I was afraid you wouldn't adjust if you went to school there."

Time after time I'd comforted myself with the thought that Lily just cared about me too much.

So when she came to me for help, I opened my arms and took her in.

And now she lived off my care without a flicker of guilt, and after betraying me she could still declare, righteous as anything, that it was all for my good.

Swallowing my disgust, I said it one word at a time.

"Lily, from this day on, we are not friends."

Lewis came out of the bedroom just in time to see Lily raise her hand and slap herself hard across the face.

Without a word he rushed over and pulled her behind him.

The look he gave me was poisonous.

"Thelma! You know she cares about you more than any friend, and you still humiliate her like this?"

I almost laughed.

"You think one slap settles what the two of you owe me?"

Lily grabbed my hand and tried to force it against her own face.

"Thelma, as long as you're not angry, hit me! I won't fight back!"

I only felt sick of it and yanked my hand back hard.

She let herself fall into Lewis's arms.

His face went ashen at once, and he snarled at me, beside himself.

"Thelma! Don't push it!"

With that, he shoved me hard.

I lost my footing, stumbled, and fell, my lower belly slamming into the corner of the table beside me.

Pain tore through me all at once.

I curled up on the floor, shaking all over from it.

The next second, a warm liquid seeped slowly out from under me.

When Lewis saw what was happening, the color drained from his face.

He bent down and gathered me up, his voice shaking with panic.

"Thelma, don't be scared, I'm taking you to the hospital!"

3: 3

In the end, the baby couldn't be saved.

Lewis was full of regret.

"You were pregnant. Why didn't you tell me?"

Yes. I'd been two months along.

I'd planned to tell him tonight, the moment I got home from my trip.

Seeing my tears, Lewis was consumed with guilt.

"It's all my fault, Thelma. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

But I didn't want it anymore.

While the nurse was going over the aftercare instructions, Lewis's phone rang.

Lily's voice came through the receiver.

His face changed all at once, his voice flooded with panic and urgency.

"Where are you? I'm coming right now!"

He hung up and spoke in a rush.

"Lily's being harassed outside a hotel. I'll go over and be right back. Wait for me!"

And with that, he bolted out of the room without looking back.

The nurse couldn't help muttering.

"His girlfriend just lost the baby, and he's off worrying about someone else."

I pushed down the cold spreading through my chest. Worn out in body and mind, I drifted off without meaning to.

When I woke, the room was still empty.

Lewis hadn't come back.

I reached for my phone. A friend request had popped up on the screen.

I accepted it without thinking and tapped into her posts.

The latest one was from an hour ago.

On the rumpled hotel sheets, two hands with fingers laced together.

I knew that faint scar on the back of the man's hand better than anyone.

It was the wound Lewis had gotten years ago, driving off the thugs who'd been hassling me.

He'd once said, "This scar is my badge of loving you!"

And now I was lying in a hospital because of him, having just lost our child.

While he was tangled up with another woman in a hotel.

Pain stabbed through my chest, over and over.

With trembling hands, I kept scrolling.

Three days ago, she'd written: "Best friend's away on business, and I'm the one worn out. That dog of a man is strong!"

A week ago, she'd shown off a screenshot of a fifty-two-thousand transfer: "Don't care if it's not official. The man and the money are both mine!"

A month ago: "Best friend working in the study next door, and me and her boyfriend one wall away! So exciting!"

The photo was the bedside lamp in my bedroom.

When I scrolled back to a post from two months ago, my fingers froze.

In the picture, the necklace Lily was wearing was the exact style I'd wanted for so long, the one that was always out of stock.

"I just said I liked it, and he gave me the birthday gift that was meant for my best friend. So happy!"

That day had been my birthday.

Lewis had apologized to me, guilt all over his face, saying he'd been too busy at work and forgotten to get me anything.

I hadn't been angry. I'd even told him kindly not to worry about it.

So it turned out that from that day on, the two of them had already been carrying on behind my back.

Lewis didn't get back to the room until the next morning.

He was still in the clothes from the night before, carrying a grease-stained paper bag.

"Work called me in last night. I went out of my way to swing by the South Side to get you a breakfast sandwich."

Looking at the stone-cold breakfast, I gave a bitter little laugh.

The one who loved breakfast sandwiches was Lily.

I didn't call out his lie. I just had the aide bring me a bowl of oatmeal.

Three days later, I was discharged and went home to recover.

Just as I was about to punch in the code, the door opened from the inside.

Lily and I came face to face.

I stared at her, unable to believe it.

"Why are you still in my house?"

4: 4

Behind me, Lewis stepped in fast to smooth things over.

"You're still weak right now. Lily's just being kind, staying to look after you."

I let out a cold laugh. "No need. I'll hire someone myself. You two can leave."

Lewis frowned.

"Thelma, we're getting married soon. What are you throwing a fit about now?"

He was so sure of itseven years together, and I couldn't live without him.

What he didn't know was that the moment I caught him cheating, whatever we had was over for good.

I was about to throw them both out when my phone rang.

It was a colleague from the office.

"Ms. Sullivan, we're really going to miss you, but marriage is a big deal. Everyone's so happy for you!"

I had no idea what she meant. Only after pressing did it come out.

Lewis had gone behind my back and filed my resignation, saying I was getting married and needed to focus on the home!

I rounded on him, furious, but he brushed it off like it was nothing.

"We're both busy with work. After the wedding, one of us has to give up their career for the family."

"You need to rest anyway. Once we're married, just settle into being a full-time housewife."

He loosened his tie and walked straight into the bedroom to change.

"I've got an important project signing this afternoon. You stay home and rest. I'll take Lily with me."

I was shaking with anger.

Lily leaned close to my ear, her voice tinged with smugness.

"You always used to say we were the best of friends, that you'd share anything good with me"

"I don't mind sharing one man with you, so why get so upset?"

She patted my shoulder and put on that fake, sweet tone.

"Sweet Thelma, don't worry. I'll keep an eye on Lewis for you, make sure no other woman gets near him."

After the two of them walked out arm in arm, I smashed everything in the apartment to pieces.

You want me to play some cozy two-wives-one-husband game with you?

Dream on.

Lewis. Lily.

What you owe me, you're going to pay backevery bit of it.

Cutting your losses in time is the smartest thing an adult can do.

I sorted through the screenshots and videos on my phone.

Then I made a call.