Said I didn’t Love Him But I Lied

When the call ended, Josephine’s wicked voice echoed inside Everleigh’s ears. The woman was totally different from the one whom Everleigh had known seven years ago.

Everleigh soon received the address where she would meet up with Josephine. The place was a restaurant situated in the Westfield District.

Everleigh held her phone and stared at it for a while before driving away from the school gate.

On the way to the restaurant, the traffic lights changed. Everleigh’s arm, which was holding the steering wheel, could not loosen up the entire time. Her back was also stiff, as if she was a person who had just learned to drive. She also failed to relax herself.

Had she not left Ocpeace City for seven years, she would never know that her best friend had feelings for her then boyfriend. The very same friend was the only person back then whom she had told about her relationship.

Everleigh felt uneasy even though she knew Josephine and Theodore started their relationship after she had broken up with Theodore because humans are selfish by nature. She found it hard to accept the fact that her best friend had now become her ex-boyfriend’s lover. To her, this was treachery.

Half an hour later, Everleigh arrived at the restaurant.

The place was very high-class. Everleigh was greeted by a waiter at the main entrance and after she registered her name, she was led up towards a big dining hall situated on the second floor.

Josephine had already arrived.

She was dressed in yellow, looking through the window beside her table. Even from afar, she was brimming with elegance as she slowly sipped from her cup of tea. Her current posture revealed her profile and while it did not look anything out of ordinary, it was quite small. Men were quick to pity women whose faces were like hers.

The waiter pulled out a chair for Everleigh and said, “Please, take a look at the menu.”

“Okay.” Everleigh thanked the waiter before sitting down.

Josephine, whose attention was on something outside the window, finally turned her head to face her. She put down her cup before greeting Everleigh. She made it sound like they were just having a casual gathering of old friends when she said, “Oh, Everleigh, you’re here! Was there any traffic just now?”

Everleigh’s face froze and her eyes darkened. “Skip the pleasantries. Get to the point. What do you want?”

Josephine smiled, “Everleigh! You’re as impatient as you used to be.”

“Well, as least one of us has changed.”

“No, I haven’t. But if you really meant that, then it only shows that you never really knew me to begin with.” Josephine scanned through the menu while retaining her air of elegance. “Isn’t this our first meeting after you came back? Don’t you want to chat with me? Or maybe you have things that you would like to ask me?”

“Really? Such as what? What do you think I’m going to ask you?”

“Hmm… How about the reason I’m with Theodore?” Josephine’s eyes stopped looking at the menu and she shot a gaze at Everleigh, “Tell me, Everleigh. Do you hate me?”

Everleigh clenched her fists tightly, but her expression was indifferent. “Why should I? Theodore and I are no more and it’s fair game. My breakup with him has nothing to do with you.”

“Excellent.” Josephine smiled again. “I thought you hated me and wanted to get back at me.”

“What do you mean?”

Josephine pushed her phone on the table towards Everleigh. The phone was showing a photo and Everleigh’s face froze the moment she saw it.

“Does this look familiar to you?” Josephine’s voice sounded like she was hiding a knife behind each of her words.

Of course, Everleigh was familiar with the photo.

A week ago, Theodore had accompanied her and her children to the zoo. The photo was taken at the Panda World.

“I know you’re going to say it’s nothing. Nothing happened between you and Theodore. It’s just a photo. Even if you two aren’t lovers, you’re still classmates and friends.”

Speaking of this, Josephine’s voice suddenly turned into almost a whisper, “But does that mean that you can visit the zoo with someone else’s fiancé?”

Everleigh was speechless. For a moment, her voice failed her. She failed to explain the turn of events.

She did not ask Theodore to go to the zoo with her; it was Adrienne who did. Since Adrienne was her daughter, it was equivalent to her. Not to mention that she did not refuse the request.

“I’m sorry.” In the end, it was all she could afford to say. “It was inconsiderate of me. But rest assured though, it won’t happen again.”

Josephine took back her phone and put on a magnanimous look. “Apology accepted. I hope you’ll never meet up with Theodore ever again.”

Everleigh frowned and said, “Now, you’re thinking too much. I don’t have any connection with him. He’s the president of Godfrey Group and I’m just a humble doctor. Unless he stays at the hospital because of a sickness, otherwise, I won’t be able to see him.”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, don’t you think it’s weird? Tell me this. How many times have you met you after you came back?”

“Those were… Coincidences.”

“Oh, but I hate coincidences, especially the ones like you said. Look, I’m not alone in this. Aunt Madison hopes that you’ll never contact Theodore as well.”

No matter what Josephine said, the truth was, she wanted verbal confirmation from Everleigh. Everleigh knew that her children’s education came first and she refused to hesitate further.

“Fine, you have my word. I will not see him again.”

“But you can’t guarantee that he will do the same to you.” Josephine hated to say it out loud, regardless of how hard she refused to admit it. Her eyes were beaming with jealousy as she said the words.

“What on earth do you really want?” Everleigh began to grow impatient.

“I need you to leave Ocpeace City.”

The demand was spoken softly, each word pronounced clearly.

Everleigh’s eyes narrowed. Without thinking too much, she gave her a response, “That’s impossible.”

She did not come back because of Theodore and she most definitely would not leave because of the man.

“Everleigh, nobody wanted you to come back, not even your sister or your father. It was so peaceful when you weren’t around.”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Everleigh looked determined and was ready to get her bag and car key. “I’m not leaving Ocpeace City. I will find another school for my children. I don’t think you can prevent every last school in the city from taking them in!”

She was always a tolerant person, but it did not mean she could be easily bullied.

“I’m doing this for your own good,” Josephine said without changing her expression, “If your children and their classmates know their real identities, will they still be able to grow up in Ocpeace City?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she put down her cell phone again.

Everleigh stopped midway as she was picking up her bag.Text content © NôvelDrama.Org.

The sound of the video was not loud. Her mobile phone was playing in the middle of the dining table. The sound of the pattering rain came from the speaker, like a summon from the abyss, which threw her into the crazy rainy night seven years ago.

“I’m sure you don’t want your children to live in fear. Am I right?”

Josephine’s voice was as sweet and gentle as ever, but her sweet demeanor was a façade to hide her hideous side. That awful look shot into Everleigh’s eyes; it was the sight that had brought her seven years’ worth of pain and suffering.

“Did you do it?” Everleigh heard those words escape her throat. Fueled with anger, she failed to contain her tone any longer.