At the Engagement Party, My Fiance Sat His Best Friend Beside Him

At the engagement party, my genius best friend was discussing hydrology data with Brent James again.

I trailed behind them, carrying her bag.

The seats of honor his parents had set aside for Brent and me were already laid out.

I tugged at Brent's sleeve.

Sit down first. You can talk about this later.

"Gladys."

My best friend pressed her hand over mine.

"We're going over the data. Could you not interrupt Brent and me while we're thinking?"

Brent didn't even look up from the test report.

"Go on with what you were saying. Don't mind her."

Gladys kept talking.

Brent pulled out the chair at my seat.

"Sit. Take your time."

I gripped the strap of her bag.

"Then where do I sit?"

Brent paused.

Only then did he remember that was the seat of honor for the two of us.

He jerked his chin toward a chair in the corner.

"There's still a seat over there, isn't there?"

That chair was next to the trash can.

Gladys looked up.

"Gladys, go sit down first. Once Brent and I finish going over this data, we'll deal with whatever it is you need."

They sat in the seats meant for the engaged couple.

Absorbed in the hydrology charts.

Everyone crowded around, thrilled.

Not one of them seemed to think there was anything wrong with two geniuses discussing research here.

I turned and set her bag on the chair in the corner.

Then I went outside and hailed a cab home.

If even something like my own engagement could be pushed aside,

then this marriage,

wasn't worth going through with either.

...

When Brent came home,

it was already eleven at night.

The door in the entryway woke me.

I opened my eyes on the couch.

"You're back."

I broke the silence first.

"You're angry?"

He could tell.

I lowered my eyes.

Said nothing.

A sigh.

He sat down beside me.

"Letting Gladys take your seat today was careless of me."

Brent rarely apologized.

I opened my mouth without thinking.

"It's fine, I..."

"But Gladys, that's no reason for you to just leave without a word."

I froze.

His eyes were full of disapproval as he looked at me.

"You walked out on a whole room of guests just because Gladys sat in your seat for a bit.

"Don't you think that was going too far?"

I stared at him.

"You're saying it's my fault, for not being able to stand someone taking my seat to talk about things that have nothing to do with the engagement?"

"Gladys."

Brent sighed.

"You studied painting, you come from a liberal-arts background. The things Gladys and I talk about, you wouldn't understand them anyway.

"What would be the point of explaining them to you?"

"I..."

I swallowed.

"Talking about research is a perfectly normal thing. Are you going to throw a fit every single time?

"Do you have any idea how much you embarrassed Gladys by just walking out?

"And leaving her bag in that corner on your way out. Weren't you basically announcing to everyone that you have a problem with her?"

Brent's brows were tight, his eyes full of displeasure.

So.

That was what he was really angry about.

"Brent..."

I clenched the hem of my shirt.

The words I'd been turning over all day finally came out.

"Let's call off the engagement..."

"Brent!"

The keypad door was shoved open.

I stared blankly at my best friend, Gladys Winfield, standing there in our home.

"Brent, you gave her the door code?"

"Gladys has questions to ask me sometimes. Some things are hard to explain online, so it's easier in person."

"But..."

Gladys cut me off before I could finish.

She came over with her files and settled in shoulder to shoulder with Brent.

"That fitting problem you couldn't solve, I tracked it down. The error here never cleared. Look."

Brent's eyes lit up.

"Perfect! Let's do it your way, run the fit again!"

"Brent"

I reached out to stop her.

Gladys pressed my hand down.

"Meryl, we've got something really important to work through. Whatever you want to say, save it until we're done."

"Leave her. Come here."

Brent shut the study door from the inside.

I heard the lock click home.

I stood frozen in the doorway.

But Brent.

You told me this was our love nest.

That passcode, 5203344.

A secret only you and I knew.

I drew a deep breath.

I forced the tears back down.

It's fine.

Anyway.

I'm not getting married.

I turned around.

But the study door opened from the inside.

"Meryl, Gladys and I are probably going to be at this all night.

"Go make two cups of coffee.

"Gladys's should be hot, with two sugar cubes."

And with that.

Brent moved to close the door.

The way he had countless times before.

He simply assumed I wouldn't refuse.

"Brent."

I called after him. "I'm going to bed."

He paused.

"You can't just make the coffee first, then sleep?"

"No."

I grew up hearing stories about the two of them, the child prodigies.

Even my parents used to say:

"When Gladys and Brent are talking things over, don't go hovering around them.

"If you can lend a small hand, lend a small hand.

"Once they've made something of themselves, maybe they'll bring you along too!"

And so.

They talked on the road, and I walked behind carrying the bags.

They planned trips, and I booked the tickets a day ahead.

They discussed hydrology data at my own engagement party, and I was supposed to give up my seat too.

"Meryl, Brent and I really can't step away right now."

Gladys poked her head out.

"Just go make us two cups, please, I'm begging you~"

"No."

I swallowed.

Two refusals in a row, something I'd never done before.

My heart was pounding.

Gladys's smile froze.

Brent pulled the door open.

"Forget it. I'll do it."

As he passed me.

He dropped his gaze and swept his eyes over me.

Something dark and unreadable in them.

None of my business.

That's what I told myself.

I went into the bedroom and burrowed under the covers.

When I woke the next morning.

The two of them had already finished breakfast in the living room.

Only two plates on the table.

Clearly nothing had been set out for me.

"Nothing for me?"

I still couldn't stop myself from asking.

Because back when I was the one making the meals.

It had always been three portions.

Brent wiped his mouth.

"You want to eat, go make it yourself."

There was a trace of impatience in his voice.

And resentment.

What did he have to be angry about?

Then I saw the coffee cup knocked over beside the coffee machine.

And I understood.

All the appliances in the house were usually my job.

He'd fumbled it.

"What kind of attitude is that!"

Gladys rapped Brent on the head with her spoon.

She smiled at me.

"Brent didn't get his coffee last night and forced himself to stay up the whole time, so he's in a bad mood. I gave him a scolding for you!"

I said nothing.

Their breakfast was fried eggs.

And a glass of milk.

Much plainer than the meals I usually put together for them.

But also the easiest to copy.

Even so.

Brent had still left out my portion.

"Let's go, Gladys."

Brent stood. "Finish the flow-field simulation from yesterday and submit the report tonight."

"Okay."

Gladys rose too.

As she passed me,

Brent glanced at me once.

Then he shut the study door.

I pressed a hand to my empty, hungry stomach.

I let out a sigh,

turned, and went to the kitchen.

After making myself a sandwich,

I tossed the laundry into the washer as I went,

and loaded the mountain of cups and dishes into the dishwasher.

That night.

Brent, who'd been working all day, came into the bedroom.

But not to sleep.

"I've decided to lay out where you can and can't go in the house.

"From now on, the three rooms around the study, don't go in them."

I froze.

"Why?"

"You're noisy."

He lay in bed,

pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Gladys and I need a quiet atmosphere to do research."

"But you could talk about it at the office."

There was a small ache of hurt in me.

"Sometimes we can't make it to the office in time.

"Meryl, you don't really help with anything anyway. At the very least, I'm asking you.

"Just don't get in the way, all right?"

Looking at his furrowed brow,

I clenched the hem of my shirt.

That night,

we slept back to back.

I thought Brent had only said it out of temper.

But when I got up the next morning,

around those three rooms near the study,

a temporary metal grate really had been strung up.

On it was written:

Meryl Pruitt not permitted inside

In disbelief, I reached out my hand.

A sharp "zzzt!"

The current on the grate stung me hard, and I fell.

The study door opened.

Gladys came out.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you."

She switched off the power,

opened the grate,

and came over to help me up.

"That thing's electrified. Be careful."

"Let go of me!"

I jerked back.

Gladys stiffened.

She turned to look at Brent.

Brent said coldly,

"Don't be difficult. Once Gladys and I finish the simulation, the grate comes down."

"But this is my home!"

There was a catch in my voice.

"Why do I have to walk around my own home behind a burglar grate?"

Gladys reached out a hand.

"Meryl..."

"Get away from me!"

I shoved her hand aside.

Gladys let out a cry,

and fell to the floor.

"Gladys!"

Brent rushed forward.

He held her up.

She cupped the hand I'd just pushed away, her eyes going red.

"Meryl, don't misunderstand.

"If you don't want me here, I'll just go."

And she really did pick up her bag.

She packed set after set of data into it.

"Brent, let's go back to talking about this at the office from now on.

"Meryl's already gotten the wrong idea about us."

"Gladys!"

Brent called after her.

Then he looked at me.

He let out a sigh.

The metal grate was taken down.

Brent never again discussed those unfathomable things with Gladys at home.

At the office,

he kept a certain distance too.

But then one day,

a rainstorm trapped me at the company.

I stood at the entrance, checking my watch over and over.

At last, Brent came striding toward me with his car keys.

My eyes lit up.

"Brent! You came!"

"Move aside."

He pushed past me.

I stood there, stunned.

Gladys was clutching a folder,

bag over her shoulder, walking out of the building.

"Brent?"

I froze.

Brent opened the passenger door for Gladys.

"I need to take Gladys home first. Wait here for a bit."

I froze.

"There's still room in the car, isn't there?"

He sat in the driver's seat.

He rolled the window down.

"Weren't you the one who said Gladys couldn't come to the house to talk work?

"Her place isn't on the way home.

"So you can wait."

"Brent!"

I stepped forward, wanting to say something.

He'd already rolled the window up.

Never mind that my hand was still on the glass.

The tires churned up water and drenched me head to foot.

I stood there in the wind and rain.

I couldn't tell what was tears on my face and what was rain.

One step at a time.

I fought the wind back to the company entrance.

My coworkers had all gone.

The lights in the building were off.

I stood under the awning by the door.

Waited until midnight, and that familiar car never came.

My phone buzzed.

It was Gladys.

"Meryl, catch a ride home with one of the others.

"Brent and I found a new problem tonight. He probably won't make it over to pick you up.

"Don't wait."

My hand stayed frozen around the phone for a long time.

She'd already hung up, and still I hadn't lowered it.

The cold wind lifted the hem of my clothes.

Snapping in the gusts.

I turned.

And walked alone into the pitch-black building.

Curled up at my desk.

Wrapped a jacket around myself.

And closed my eyes in the dark.

It was the sound of an electrical current that woke me.

By the time I made my way down to the basement lab with a flashlight.

I found the lab already flooded.

The gauge needles swung wildly.

And the ground-fault breaker had been switched off.

There was no time to hesitate.

I lunged over and flipped the ground-fault breaker on.

Quickly hit the drainage switch.

Something, somewhere, went wrong.

The cantilever beam overhead let out a piercing hum.

Then a heavy crash.

It came down hard.

When I came to.

There was still gauze wrapped around my head.

The door opened.

Brent appeared in the doorway, out of breath.

"Where's Meryl?"

The tears spilled out all at once.

"Brent!"

Crack.

A slap knocked me sideways.

My already battered forehead rang instantly.

"What are you even good for anymore!"

Brent stared at me, eyes red.

"Why did you switch off the ground-fault breaker! Do you have any idea, that one move of yours, all of Gladys's experiment data is gone!"

I was shaking.

"I didn't! When I got there the ground-fault breaker was already off! I only went to turn it on!"

"Meryl"

Only then did I notice.

Gladys was standing in the doorway.

Her eyes were red.

"Are you trying to say I was the one who didn't switch off the ground-fault breaker?"

I clenched my teeth to hold back the shaking.

"When I got there the ground-fault breaker was already off"

"Enough!"

Brent looked at me.

"Only an amateur like you makes a rookie mistake like this.

"How many times have I said it, don't touch mine and Meryl's things!

"You don't understand any of it! Why do you always think you know best!"

I stared at him, dazed.

Coworkers, drawn by the shouting.

They tried one after another to calm Brent down.

Brent gave me a cold look.

And turned.

"Brent, where are you going?"

"Back to write the report. This accident is serious. It has to go up to headquarters.

"Meryl is the primary party responsible!"

"Brent!"

My eyes went wet.

"Wait, Brent!"

Someone blocked his way.

"If this gets reported, she'll never find work again.

"And the compensation alone would start in the seven figures."

"You know exactly how expensive that equipment is.

"And you two are supposed to be getting married." Brent's fist tightened.

He looked at me.

"I don't need a self-important idiot.

"You can't get anything done, and you ruin everything you touch!"

Those last words.

He forced them out through his teeth.

I stayed where I was, propped up, dazed.

Watching the way he looked at me.

Like he was looking at an enemy.

The accident was serious.

In the end, the higher-ups decided to send down an investigation team.

They restored the lab's surveillance footage and badge records.

"The records show that the only person in the lab that day was Gladys Winfield."

The investigator continued.

"After that, in the early hours of the next morning, Meryl Pruitt went in with a flashlight."

My forehead was still wrapped in gauze.

I sat in the front row of the conference hall.

Head down, listening to the investigator lay it all out.

Brent spoke up.

"Which means the person who switched off the ground-fault breaker was either her or Gladys.

"So I'd like all of you to think about something."

Brent stood.

He pointed at the footage on the big screen.

It still showed me going down into the lab with a flashlight.

That was the only camera the storm hadn't destroyed.

It only reached the doorway.

You couldn't see the ground-fault breaker in it.

Brent's voice went cold.

"Do you all believe our company's top marine science expert would make a mistake like that?

"Or that a petty little salesgirl who understands nothing, eaten up with jealousy, would do something like this?"

For a moment.

Everyone in the hall.

Including the investigators, frowned.

"I did switch off the ground-fault breaker that day!"

Gladys spoke up right on cue.

"I'm certain of it!"

"Tsk, if Gladys says so, then it's probably true."

They exchanged looks.

"Right, someone like Gladys would never make such a basic mistake."

"And Meryl Pruitt, too. What business does a salesperson have in the lab? Not only did she destroy all of Gladys's hard work, she nearly got herself killed."

"Serves her right."

The team lead nodded.

"As it stands, there's no one this could be but Meryl Pruitt."

Brent nodded. "Thank you, team lead."

They pulled me to my feet.

Two people took me by either side and led me away.

As I passed Brent.

He said, quietly,

"You really went too far this time.

"A little lesson will do you good."

I didn't answer.

Not long after.

One of the investigation team members reached out to me.

"That thing you asked us to look into, we actually did turn something up. Sending it over for you to confirm."

I quickly opened the zip file.

The moment I saw the photos inside.

My heart pounded.

Brent.

This time.

You and Gladys really are about to lose everything you've built these past years.