Chapter 5 Those words instantly brought memories rushing back from years ago.
He wasn’t wrong. He had saved me back then.
He’d been smoking behind the adults‘ backs and didn’t put out his cigarette. When he accidentally locked me in the storage room, the fire had spread quickly. I was panicking and crying, but I lost consciousness before anyone came to save me.
When I woke up, everyone said it was Benjamin who had saved me.
But no one knew he was the one who had started the fire.
Out of gratitude for his saving my life, I helped cover up the truth.
But even so, I still had to ask, “Benjamin, was it really you who carried me out of the storage room back then?”
As soon as he heard this, Benjamin’s face twisted with fury, and he angrily slammed his glass onto the floor as if he had been
humiliated.
I had originally thought I might spare him some dignity, considering our childhood friendship. But now that he had thrown all decorum aside, why should I bother protecting his image?
I sneered. “Benjamin, even though I passed out from the smoke, I was still conscious enough to hear what was going on.
Are you really sure it was you who saved me? If it weren’t for your mom always making me delicious food when we were kids, I would’ve exposed you a long time ago. Aren’t you tired of pretending after all these years?”
My voice was soft as I stood up and looked at him with a mocking smile, waiting for his reaction.
“If you hadn’t brought it up, I would’ve let it go, but since you had to mention it, and of all things, for another woman, you really think I have no temper? Do you think I’m easy to push around, which is why you’ve been acting this way in front of me for so long?”
He probably didn’t expect that I already knew the truth about what had happened back then. In fact, I didn’t have any feelings
for him at all.
Benjamin’s proud face slowly drained of color, turning pale.
But what was even more despairing came next.
At this point, there was no reason for me to keep up any appearances.
“You keep saying you and Kathy have nothing, so does that mean the picture of you and Kathy vacationing in the Malde last year is fake? If that’s no big deal, then the pictures of you two hugging each other in public, acting like two dogs in heat, flirting openly… Those are fake, too, right? A man like you, who can do anything but never own up to it, is truly disgusting.”
Benjamin clearly didn’t expect I knew so much. His hands, which had finally relaxed, suddenly clenched into fists.
In the end, he didn’t say a word.
After all, when it came to verbal sparring, if I claimed second place in the courtyard, no one would dare take the first.
After Benjamin left, Norma came out of the kitchen, holding a big bag of chips in her hands.
She looked at me curiously and, in the end, only asked the part that intrigued her the most, “Gloria, come on. Tell me. How did you find out they were hugging and kissing each other like a couple of dogs in heat? Emma, you really know how to curse. It’s so impressive! I can’t stop laughing just thinking about it!”
I grabbed the bag of chips from her, not even looking up. “A man and a woman traveling together, and you really believe they just went on a simple trip? Please, they were definitely up to something.”
Kathy, however, gave me a look as if she half–believed, half–doubted. She kept asking, “No, with what I know about you, I’m sure you didn’t tell the whole truth just now. Be honest with me, during those two years abroad, did you secretly keep another guy? Come on. We’re best friends. How could you forget about me in such a good situation?”
“Ugh, she is so horny.”
Watching her wriggling on the couch, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Strictly speaking, she wasn’t entirely wrong.
In those two years, besides her, there had been emails from strangers, messages about the company, and occasionally photos of Benjamin cheating.
“But so far, I still haven’t been able to figure out who that person was.”
And to be fair, everything they did worked in my favor and didn’t cause me any real harm.
So, I kept a relaxed attitude toward the whole thing.
After all, there are so many people in the world, and plenty of emails get sent by mistake. I didn’t want to waste time figuring
