My Best Friend Stole My Cheating Boyfriend, I Called It Double Blessing Chapter 02
The first year, he rushed off on a business trip with Chloe and left me home alone.
The second, he posed as Chloe’s fake boyfriend to get her pushy parents off her back.
And the last one was today. The whole day’s worth of hurt finally broke through. I choked down a sob and typed back: [Mom, I regret everything. I want to come down south and be with you guys.]
Nathan never came into the bedroom that night. When the first light crept through the window, the door swung open.
He tugged at my blanket, his voice dripping with that same patient, condescending tone you’d use on a bratty child. “It’s been a whole night. You done sulking?”
It was just like every other fight about Chloe. He never explained. He iced me out and waited for me to cool off on my own. I stared at him, morning light catching his face—a face I’d memorized over twenty-something years.
Nathan and I grew up next door to each other. I’d trailed after him my whole life. When my parents moved south for their business after college, I begged my mom for an entire month before she finally gave in and let me stay.
I even turned down an offer from a top dance company my mentor recommended. I threw away over a decade of passion to follow him into his firm and end up as a nobody behind the front desk.
Then I helped Chloe get a job there, and everything changed.
He used to promise he’d love me forever, that I’d always come first. Now, the thing he said most was, “Why can’t you be more mature, like Chloe?”
After all those years, I couldn’t let go without a fight.
“Nathan, yesterday was my birthday. You promised we’d celebrate together. You forgot.”
His cool composure cracked for a beat. Just a beat. Then his brow furrowed.
“That’s what this is about? You’re mad at Chloe over that? You have a birthday every year. Missing one is not the end of the world.”
I stared at him, stunned. His first instinct was still about Chloe’s feelings. He seemed to catch his own harsh tone and dialed it back.
His voice softened as he Venmo’d me a few bucks. “There. Buy yourself something.”
He paused. “Ella, we are really busy. I don’t have the energy to keep managing your moods.”
We. When did he and Chloe become we?
My fingers twisted into the blanket, knuckles aching. Then I let go. Whatever was left in my chest—that last stubborn spark—just… died. I exhaled and nodded.
“Got it.”
That was all it took. His face relaxed, like I’d just solved a problem for him. “Good. I have to go pick up Chloe for a client meeting. Don’t skip breakfast.”
Nathan never commuted with me. He called it “keeping things low-key.”
In five years at the company, no one but Chloe knew we were together. But for Chloe, he’d pick her up and drop her off whenever. When I asked him about it once, he said she was his right hand and my only friend, so he had to take care of her.
I see it now. That was always just an excuse.
By the time I got to the office, Lewis, the other receptionist, was already deep in gossip mode, watching Nathan and Chloe head out for their meeting.
“Eve, oh my God—Mr. Carter came in with Chloe again today. You’re tight with her. Are they a thing or what?”
I swallowed the acid rising in my throat and forced the words out. “Maybe they are.”
“They have to be. I made a joke about how good they look together, and Mr. Carter didn’t even deny it.”
That hit me like a punch to the chest. All this time, he wasn’t dodging rumors. He was dodging me.
A strange, hollow laugh bubbled up. I sat down at my station, typed up my resignation letter, and submitted it.