Three Years Wrong: I Walked Away

I pushed open the door and stepped into the dimly lit karaoke room. Marlee Scott's legs were casually draped across my fiance Julian Lohan's lap.

She had a lollipop between her lips, and a silver anklet with tiny bells hung around her ankle. As her foot swayed back and forth to the deafening bass, the bells chimed crisply.

When she saw me walk in, she not only did not move her legs away, but also smiled and winked at me. "Oops, Teresa, you won't mind this, will you? I have always been a carefree person, kind of like one of the guys. There is really nothing between Julian and me. He has always treated me as a friend."

Julian was lounging on the leather sofa, a glass of whiskey in one hand and his other hand resting naturally beside her slender ankle.

He glanced up at me but did not move.

The teasing catcalls around us were abruptly gone.

In Metropola, everyone in our social circle knew that I, Teresa Mendez, had a terrible temper, thought highly of myself, and could not tolerate even the slightest offense.

I had been born with an exceptionally beautiful face.

I was cold yet stunning. Even standing there expressionlessly under the dim lights, I was aggressively beautiful.

My personality was indeed unpleasant, but my looks made up for it.

At least that was why Julian had been chasing after me for four years. Back then, he had been so captivated by my cold but pretty face that he could even risk his life for me.

...

The room was deathly silent.

Julian's friend, Rhett Gilbert, let out an awkward laugh, trying to smooth things over. "Teresa, you made it! Come, sit down. Marlee lost a dare. They were just messing around."

I ignored Rhett.

Wearing seven-centimeter heels, I walked step by step toward the center of the room.

I lowered my eyes, my gaze landing on Marlee's ripped jeans that had already faded after having been washed so many times.

She had just graduated from college this year. Julian had sponsored her as a student from a poor background, and that was how they became "close friends."

She was wild, sweet-talking, and always called Julian in an overly affectionate way.

As I had not said anything, a hint of provocation flashed in Marlee's eyes, but she immediately put on a pitiful look and shrank back slightly. "Teresa, do not be angry. I'll take my legs down right away, okay?"

She did it slowly, even brushing her toe against Julian's brand-new suit pants.

Julian finally moved.

He put down his glass, reached out, and grabbed Marlee's ankles. With a gentle motion, he moved her legs aside.

"Alright. Stop it," he said in a low, slightly hoarse voice.

After that, he patted the empty seat beside him and reached out his hand to me, with his usual elegant and careless expression. "Teresa, come sit here. Didn't you say you were getting your nails done and would not come pick me up?"

He was wearing the expensive watch I had given him, his fingers long and slender. He humbled himself completely, as if what had just happened was nothing more than a childish game.

If it had been before, I probably would have sat down with a cold face and let him coax me softly, holding my hand.

But today, I only curled my lips into a smile, one that never reached my eyes.

I stepped forward, picked up the unopened half-full bucket of ice on the coffee table, and, in front of everyone, poured the ice and water inside the bucket over Marlee's lower body with a loud splash.

The icy water instantly soaked through her jeans, and the chunks of ice rolled onto the floor from her pant legs.

"Ah!" Marlee screamed and jumped up. Her entire body trembled from the cold, and her eyes immediately turned red.

"Teresa!" Julian's expression darkened, and he suddenly stood up.

He did not question me first. Instead, he instinctively took off his custom suit jacket and wrapped it tightly around Marlee's soaked legs, his movements so practiced that it made me feel disgusted.

"What is wrong with you?" Julian frowned at me. A trace of anger from being challenged rose in his eyes, but he was still forcing himself to hold it back and trying to make his tone calm. "Marlee was just joking. Why did you have to make a scene here?"

Marlee sniffled as tears rolled down her cheeks. She tugged on Julian's sleeve.

"Julian, don't be mad at Teresa. It was all my fault… I know Teresa has disliked me for a long time, but I really only see you as a friend…"

Several of Julian's stupid friends also began whispering.

"Teresa is way too domineering."

"Exactly. Julian has spoiled her too much. Does she really think being pretty means she can do whatever she wants?"

"Marlee is such a simple person. She is basically like a tomboy. She can not be evil..."

I stood there, watching them put on the same performance one after another, and I actually found it a little laughable.

"Since she is your friend," I met Julian's cold gaze and spoke slowly. My voice was clear and pleasant, but my words were harsh. "It is hot outside. I was just helping her cool down. Is it wrong for me to do so?"

Marlee's face turned pale.

Julian's brow twitched violently.

He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist so forcefully that he had never done so before.

But there were so many scents on him. Besides the cedarwood fragrance, there was also the peach-scented perfume Marlee always wore.

It was disgusting.

I disgustedly pulled my hand away. "Don't touch me."

Julian's hand froze in midair, and his eyes turned dark and unreadable, as if he was suppressing overwhelming emotions.

After a long moment, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and softened his tone as he reached for my hand again. "Teresa, stop making a scene. Let's go home. I ordered the foreign cuisine you like. Your birthday is next week, and I also won that emerald necklace from the auction for you.

Let us forget about this, okay?"

He did it again.

He always thought that as long as he humbled himself and gave me a little material compensation, I would obediently back down.

I took a small step back, avoiding his hand.

"Julian, keep that emerald necklace and use it to buy your friend a new pair of pants." I curled my lips into a dazzling smile, but my eyes showed no emotion at all. "You disgust me."

I turned around and walked out of the private room. My high heels landed on the carpet without making a single sound.

The cold air from the hallway hit my face, clearing my mind.

Soon, I heard hurried footsteps come from behind me.

Julian came out of the room chasing me and caught me, then dragged me into the dim corner of the hallway and pinned me against the cold wall.

Nearly six-foot-three tall, he towered over me with an imposing presence. He braced both hands on either side of me, trapping me firmly within his arms.

"Teresa, what exactly do you want?" He looked down at me condescendingly, slightly panting, his tie crooked, with impatience and frustration in his stunning eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses. "You have been giving me the silent treatment every day for the past few months, and it is all because of Marlee? How many times do I have to explain this? Her father became disabled after saving my father's life back then. She is the only child the Scott family has now, so I am taking care of her because I owe it to her family! She grew up surrounded by men. She is not as calculating as you think. Can you stop maliciously assuming the worst about someone and picking on her because of that?"

Hearing him say those harsh words to me, I tilted my head back and looked at the man I had loved for four years.

The light fell on his sharply defined face, making him look elegant and refined.

Four years ago, he, the son of the Lohan family, a man no woman in Metropola could reach, had waited for me in the pouring rain for an entire night just to give me a box of freshly baked pastries.

Back then, people in our circle laughed at him. "That daughter of the Mendez family is so aloof and stubborn. She is impossible to please. You can get every woman you want. Why do you have to get yourself into trouble with her?"

At the time, Julian casually flicked away his cigarette ash and said, "I just like the way she looks down on everyone. Even if her temper is bad, I can always spoil her. She is that beautiful, so it is only natural that she gets to be a little difficult."

He did exactly what he said.

We had dated for three years and had been engaged for one.

He had turned me into the most envied woman in Metropola.

I casually told him that I wanted to see snow, and he flew me overnight to a foreign city where it was snowing. When I suffered from stomach pain during my period, he canceled a cross-border business meeting about a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars and stayed by my side, handing me ibuprofen and a glass of water when I was lying in bed.

Everyone said I was everything to Julian. Anyone who even touched me would make him fly into a rage.

But at some point, our relationship had quietly soured.

Two years ago, he brought Marlee to Metropola.

At first, he really only arranged a sinecure for Marlee at a branch of Lohan Group.

But gradually, Marlee began to infiltrate our lives frequently.

When she had a stomachache in the middle of the night, Julian left me halfway through making love, got dressed, and rushed over to deliver medicine to her.

When Julian and I went to pick a wedding dress for me, Marlee insisted on coming along. She tried on bridesmaid dresses in a carefree manner, then turned around and asked Julian, "Dude, do I look better in a wedding dress, or does Teresa?"

At the time, Julian laughed and gently tapped her on the head. "What nonsense are you talking about? You can wear one when you get married someday."

Marlee made a grimace. "I am not getting married. I want to be your sidekick forever."

Back then, Julian just smiled helplessly and then turned to comfort me. "She is still young. She does not understand boundaries. Cut her some slack. She meant no harm."

But I did not agree with him.

Last month, I came home early from a business trip and found a pair of lace underwear that did not belong to me in the bathroom of our master bedroom.

Julian explained, "Her shared apartment had a water outage, so she came over to take a shower. She left in a hurry and forgot it. I had the maid throw it away. Nothing happened between us, Teresa. You have to believe me."

That night, Julian knelt by the bed and massaged my calves for the entire night to comfort me. He even transferred shares of two film companies under Lohan Group to me.

He kissed away my tears and, in a hoarse voice, repeated over and over, "Teresa, I swear, you are the only woman I will ever want to be my wife."

He was willing to give me the title of his wife, high social status, and wealth.

And he always wanted my body. He still desired me as intensely as if we had just been together.

But what he gave Marlee was unconditional favoritism, indulgence that made him abandon all boundaries for her, and companionship where he would show up whenever she called, no matter how late it was.

He had split his love between two people.

He could not let go of me, his beautiful fiancee who brought him pride, nor Marlee, the person he could be completely himself around.

"Julian," I looked straight into his eyes, so calmly that I myself was terrified about this. "Do you think I am petty?"

When he saw my expressionless face, a flicker of panic crossed his face.

Before, whenever I was angry, I would throw things or mock him coldly until he lowered his head and said every sweet thing he could think of.

But I had never looked at him the way I would look at a stranger.

"That is not what I meant..." He instinctively reached out, wanting to pull me into his arms like he always did, resting his chin against the top of my head. "Teresa, I just want us to be okay. We are getting married next month. Can we stop fighting over outsiders?"

His breath was warm against my ear, carrying the familiar tenderness that had once made me lose myself.

This was what Julian was best at, using his flawlessly pretty face and the gentle composure of someone in power to smooth things over again and again.

Just then, his phone in his pocket started vibrating frantically.

The screen lit up, showing Marlee's name.

Julian frowned and hung up immediately.

But moments later, a WhatsApp notification rang out, sounding especially jarring in the quiet hallway.

Julian did not check it. He only stared at me. "I am not answering it nor checking it. I am staying with you tonight."

I curled my lips, a trace of mockery flickering in my eyes. "Take a look. What if your friend is dying?"

His eyes darkened slightly. In the end, he still took out his phone.

He saw a photo.

Marlee was crouching by the roadside in thin pajamas. Her knees were covered in swollen red marks left by the ice scraping against her skin. There was only one short line of text that came with the photo. "Dude, I am so cold. My legs hurt so much. I don't know where I should go..."

Julian suddenly tightened his grip around the phone, his knuckles turning pale.

He looked up at me, a trace of nervousness and conflicted feelings flashing through his eyes, so faint that it was almost impossible to notice. "Teresa..."

"Go." I cut him off.

He froze for a moment. "What?"

"I said, go save your good friend." I took a small step back, breaking free from his hold, my expression frighteningly cold. "Don't let her freeze."

Julian stood there, and his expression kept changing.

"Teresa, don't be so sarcastic." He rubbed his temples, a hint of helplessness and exhaustion in his voice. "You were the one who splashed that bucket of ice water at Marlee. Her health has always been poor, and getting chilled could make her old illness flare up again. I am just going over to check on her and take her back to her apartment. Then I will come back to you. Get in the car first. The driver is waiting for you in the underground parking lot."

He even reached out and smoothed my wind-tousled hair. "Go home and wait for me. I will be back within an hour."

After saying that, he pressed the car keys into my hand and walked quickly toward the elevator without looking back.

His steps were so hurried that he did not even bother maintaining his usual composure.

I stood beneath the flickering voice-activated light, holding the car keys that still carried his warmth.

A tiny handmade leather fox hung from the keychain.

I had made it for him as a gift for his twentieth birthday when I first learned handicrafts during my sophomore year of college. My fingers had been covered in tiny bloody pinpricks from the needle when I made it.

He had kept that keychain on his car keys for five whole years.

Even after the leather had worn out and the fox no longer looked as nice as it once did, he had never been willing to take it off.

I used to think that was love.

Only now did I realize that it was nothing more than his habitual way of showing off how devoted he was.

I casually raised my hand and threw the luxury car keys worth millions of dollars straight into the trash can at the end of the hallway.

The metal hit the plastic with a dull thud.

Then I took out my phone and called my assistant. "Book me a one-way ticket to Parolia tomorrow morning."

My assistant on the other end froze for a moment. "Ms. Mendez, isn't the anniversary celebration of your engagement with Mr. Lohan next week? The press releases for all the major media outlets have already been sent out..."

"Cancel it." I pressed my aching temples, my voice completely flat. "Also, have all the projects I am handling with Lohan Group transferred to someone else. I want to see the termination agreement between our company and their group before noon tomorrow."

My assistant said hesitantly. "Ms. Mendez... are you planning to cut ties with Mr. Lohan?"

"Completely." I hung up the phone and walked out of the building.

The hot midsummer night breeze hit my face, yet I felt cold all over.

My phone vibrated at that moment.

It was a notification that someone had updated their WhatsApp status.

I opened it and saw a new status Marlee had just posted.

She had posted nine photos. The one in the center was a cleverly captured photo.

In the picture, there was a man's face hidden in the dim light inside a car. He clenched his jaw, his jawline sharp. It was Julian.

And he was holding a hot towel, carefully wiping Marlee's ankle, reddened from the cold.

The caption on the post read, "No matter how much trouble I get myself into, as long as I turn around, my hero will always be there. Even if the whole world stands against me, I know he will stand by my side. Friends are everything!"

There were even heart and sun emojis at the end.

Below it were several comments from their mutual friends.

"Wow, Julian personally taking care of you? That is some serious treatment."

"Good for you, Marlee. Julian treats you even better than he treats Teresa."

"Keep it low-key. Be careful someone loses her temper and throws ice water on you again."

Marlee's final reply said, "Oh, stop teasing me. Teresa has such a bad temper. I don't want her to get me wrong again. I feel so guilty because Julian even argued with her for me just now." There was a crying emoji at the end.

I looked at the WhatsApp status expressionlessly.

For once, I did not screenshot it and send it to Julian to question him like I used to.

Once someone truly gave up on a person, they would find that even anger at them felt like a waste of energy.

I moved my finger and liked the WhatsApp status.

Then, without hesitation, I blocked Marlee for good.