The Girl He Chose

I was selling some furniture that was collecting dust on a used-goods site when a girl messaged me about discounts. "Can I get it for a bit cheaper? I'm still in college, and I moved out of my dorm because I got into a fight with my roomies. My boyfriend found me a new place. He's rich and said he'd marry me after I graduate, but I don't want to burden him so much. Please, just twenty dollars off? I can pick it up myself!" I was reminded of my college days with Jonathan Mueller. We used to take shared bike rides for two hours just to save five dollars. I was only an ordinary employee now, but I still had more spare cash than a college student. My kindness took over, and I agreed to the discount. That night, two figures appeared at the entrance of my neighborhood. The girl looked proud of herself. "I spent less than a hundred and got a barely-used washing machine! Brilliant, right?" The man looked at her with unmistakable affection in his eyes. "Yes, darling. You're the best. But I'm making money for you. You don't have to save for me. I'm the CEO of Mueller Group. I can support you. Don't haggle next time." The man raised his head, still smiling. When our eyes met, I froze. That man was Jonathan Mueller—the same man who had told me he was on a three-month business trip to earn three times the travel expenses.. Chapter 1 Delay Silence fell into the air. I could clearly see the shock and panic flash across Jonathan's face. Just when I was about to say something, I saw it. The warning in his eyes. Natalie Shaw was oblivious to the exchange. She puffed out her cheeks and mumbled, "I'm not leeching you off. What if you dump me someday? Um… What are you looking at? Hello?" Jonathan snapped back to himself and gently stroked Natalie's head. "I'd never dump you." Natalie followed his gaze and finally looked at the washing machine beside me. "It works, right?" I snapped out of it and put on a forced smile as I walked them through the washing machine. Jonathan blurted, "Why are you selling furniture? Are you short on money?" I paused. Of course, money was never enough. Before I could say anything, Natalie punched Jonathan. "Shut up!" She turned to me. "Don't mind him. My boyfriend is the kind of guy who forgets ordinary people's struggles the moment he makes a little money." She gave Jonathan a reproachful look, then rolled up her sleeve, revealing a diamond-studded bracelet. "I wanted a bracelet for my birthday, and I had to save six months' worth of allowance. But he gave me a whole set from the latest collection. Even now, there are still unopened boxes in my wardrobe." Last summer, I had fallen in love with a dress. After the discount, it still cost three hundred. Jonathan had wanted to pay for me, but I stopped him. I put on a smile and pretended to shrug it off. "I can't use it for work. It's going to be a waste. We should save up for the house. It's better." I lied. I did want that dress. But two days earlier, Jonathan had complained that three hundred had been deducted from his salary because he was late to work. "I got into a fight with my roomie and wanted to find a rental near the campus, but he bought a whole apartment for me and put it under my name! That place costs eight thousand per square feet. I could work my whole life and still only afford the bathroom!" I had once argued with my landlord until my face turned red over an extra hundred charged to the water bill. Jonathan was furious to see me being shoved around, and he wanted to end the lease, but I talked him down. The place was close to his company. It would shorten his commute and let him sleep a little longer every day. "And I love idol events," Natalie went on. "So, he bought me first-row tickets for concerts! Oh wait, now that I've said it out loud, it does feel like I'm leeching off him!" Natalie sounded like she was grumbling, but her voice was dripping with sweet happiness. Meanwhile, my face grew paler with every word she said. Jonathan coughed, and Natalie smacked her head, frustrated. "Sorry. I didn't mean to show off. Can I get your Instagram? Message me if you have more spare furniture to sell." Jonathan wanted to stop her, but she quickly scanned my QR code. "I'm not relying on you. I want to be self-sufficient." A black Bentley stopped by the road. Jonathan had a resigned look on his face. "You can take a ride in my car. I'm not moving that washing machine and hauling it around like an idiot." When Jonathan and I first started renting, I had bought second-hand furniture online. To save on moving fees, I refused to hire movers and carried a heavy couch and cabinets up to the fourth floor by myself. So that was what being an idiot looked like to him. I stood there, hollow and numb, until they disappeared from sight. My phone buzzed, and it was a text from Jonathan. "It's cold outside. Go home. We'll talk tonight." I laughed at myself and put my hand on my baby bump. Jonathan loved children. Just a few days ago, I had thought about surprising him with the news. Now, the thought only felt like a joke. Even though I knew he must be with Natalie, impulse still pushed me to call him. He hung up the first time. The same the second time. His phone was turned off when I called him the third time. I looked at my hand and realized my nails had scratched my palm open. The wound was tiny, but my heart hurt so much it had gone numb. Once I got home, I approved Natalie's follow request. Chapter 2 Bleeding Her account showed Jonathan going on a trip to see the aurora borealis with her. There was even a day where he rented a whole island to celebrate their anniversary. They laughed together in places I could not even afford to dream of visiting. It felt as if something had wrapped around my throat, tightening little by little, squeezing the air from my lungs. Late that night, the door creaked open. Jonathan walked in and frowned. "Why's it so cold in here?" Although the neighborhood was in the city center, the apartment itself was old, and the heating barely worked. The tenants had moved away because they could not stand the cold. I had only stayed because the landlord promised to waive six months of rent. The door was ajar. I said nothing. Only a sigh escaped me, turning into a faint white mist in the freezing air. Jonathan went into the bedroom and came back with a blanket. Then he wrapped it around me. "This is how you take care of yourself while I'm not around? How do you expect me not to worry, Linda?" I shoved him away. "Don't act like you care! Is lying to me your idea of fun?" Ever since the pregnancy, my body had become slow and heavy. I staggered before finally steadying myself. In the past, whenever I threw a tantrum, he would give me a helpless smile and raise both hands in surrender. "Sorry I got you mad, Linda. You can do anything to me." But now the look on his face was icy. "How much longer are you going to be a child?" A pause later, he added, "Natalie's young. She can't handle a lot of stuff herself." My emotions exploded. "That's your excuse for being her boyfriend? What about me? Why did you pretend to be poor in front of me? Do I look rich to you?" Pain flickered briefly in his eyes. Then he hugged me tightly from behind. "Calm down, Linda!" I tried to tear myself away, but my strength wasn't enough. "Don't touch me!" Something creaked. The door, which had been left ajar, slowly swung open. Natalie appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and she stared at us in disbelief. "You…" "Natalie? What are you doing here?" Then realization struck him, and his face darkened. Coldly, he said, "Why did you come?" Natalie's face was covered in tears. "You installed a GPS in your phone so I could find you anytime. What do you mean what am I doing here? You want me to turn a blind eye to the fact you hooked up with this old woman?" She shoved me. "I trusted you, and you seduced my boyfriend?" I nearly fell. Jonathan quickly caught me, then shot Natalie a sharp glare. "Stop!" That only broke her further. "You liar! You said you'd marry me!" Then she turned and ran out in tears. Jonathan immediately wanted to chase after her, but I grabbed his hand. "There's something I want to tell you." He shook me off. "Let go! She might run into danger running around this late at night!" He ran off without looking back. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. My abdomen struck the corner of the table. A sharp, twisting pain surged through me. Then a terrible warmth spread beneath me. I reached down with trembling fingers. When I lifted my hand, my mind went blank. It was blood. The pain made my thoughts slow and scattered. Without thinking, I called Jonathan. "Help… My stomach… It hurts…" Right before my consciousness faded completely, I heard Jonathan's impatient voice on the other end. "You're at home. You're in no danger. I just managed to calm Natalie down, so stop making trouble." Chapter 3 Twist the Story I opened my eyes and found myself in the hospital. My body felt like it had been run over by a truck, but I pushed myself up. "How's… the baby?" The nurse gave me a look of sympathy. "You'd have died if your neighbor hadn't noticed your door was open. Even if you didn't want the baby, you should've come to us. You shouldn't have just crashed into a table to force a miscarriage." My mind buzzed. Jonathan killed our baby. Then my phone started vibrating so violently that I thought something was wrong with it. "You wrecked someone else's family? You're fired, Linda!" "I can't believe you stole a college girl's boyfriend! You should drop dead, you bitch!" "If you're that desperate for a man, just apply for a job at a brothel! Don't hurt someone else's relationship!" My phone was bombarded with all sorts of messages. Some came from my workplace. Some came from people I didn't know. Natalie had written something online that accused me of being a homewrecker. The miscarriage had weakened my body, and now a wave of sharp pain swept over me. I clutched my chest and gasped. At that moment, Jonathan called. I answered, my voice trembling. "Jonathan, we've been dating for seven years!" I came from a poor family and often worked part time back in college. When he proposed, Jonathan was holding a bouquet of flowers, and he promised, "I know I'm not rich, but I promise I'll do my best to give you a better life. I won't let you suffer." We started going out. Back then, even when we only had instant noodles to eat, he would still give me the only egg. And now? Now he paused before answering, "Natalie's young. It's normal for her to be insecure. That post is just how she vents. Don't overreact. And where are you? You're not at home." The pain I'd been holding in finally cracked me, and it gushed out. I sobbed. "I'm in the hospital. Our…" Jonathan interrupted me coldly. "You're an adult, Linda. Running away from home like a little girl is embarrassing." Then he continued as if none of this mattered. "You've been healthy enough to work three jobs a day. No way you get sick that easily. Drop the act. Natalie's unstable now. You'll have to apologize to her." I was in disbelief. "She twisted the story and sent the entire Internet after me, and now you want me to apologize to her?" "Or what? You want me to watch while the Internet pushes her to suicide?" Jonathan raised his voice. I fell silent, and he said in a low voice, "I'm the one paying for your mother's hospital fees." My heart trembled. My mother had always been frail, and over the past year, she had been admitted to the ICU three times. Jonathan noticed how stressed out I was, so he transferred my mother to an expensive ward and took on all the costs. I worked my butt off to save up and pay back my debt. Only then would I feel like we were equals in this relationship. Now he was threatening me with my mother. A wave of exhaustion unlike anything I had ever felt crashed over me. Suddenly, I saw no need to argue with him anymore. … With tears in my eyes, I nodded and went to the villa district according to the address Jonathan gave me. The toll the miscarriage had on my body was heavy. My footsteps were slow and heavy, and I had to drag myself forward with every step. The guard stopped me. "I'm Jonathan's girlfriend." The bodyguard looked me over suspiciously. He called Jonathan to confirm, then finally let me in. But the disdain on his face was impossible to miss. "Everyone knows Mr. Mueller's girlfriend is Ms. Shaw. Honestly, some people really have no shame walking around in broad daylight." When Jonathan saw me, he put on a faint smile, as if he had known I would come. "Do as I say, and I'll keep paying for your mother's stay." He led me to a phone that had already been set up. "We'll start a livestream. Tell everyone you're the homewrecker and apologize to Natalie." I jerked my head up and looked him dead in the eye. "You're calling me the mistress?" Natalie chuckled. "We've already gone public. Of course you're the mistress." Jonathan did not answer my question. Instead, he frowned and handed me a piece of paper. "Do as I say and read off this script. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. It'll be over soon." The script said I had seduced Jonathan and ruined his relationship with Natalie because I was jealous of her. Chapter 4 Severed Ties The moment the livestream began, a large crowd flooded into the room. When they realized it was me, they bombarded the chat and called me a homewrecker. Natalie pretended to be gracious. "Be nice, people. She's here to apologize." All eyes turned to me. My lips curled into a cold smile. "I'm Linda Gray, and I'm here to apologize. I should have quietly watched the real mistress, Natalie Shaw, steal my boyfriend of seven years. I should have let her twist the story and send the Internet after me without making a sound. I'm sorry for not taking it lying down!" Jonathan quickly turned the livestream off, but it had hit the top search chart. 'Natalie Shaw, the homewrecker' had become the number one topic. Jonathan laughed mirthlessly. "You'd better not regret this! Stop all payments to the sanatorium!" I trembled. If the payments stopped now, my mother would die. Jonathan grabbed my hand and stuffed me into the car. "We're going to the hospital. You'll see how your mother pays for your actions!" When we got to the hospital, I cried and begged Jonathan to spare my mother. My tears nearly moved Jonathan, but he looked away. "You hurt Natalie this badly. You have to pay the price." A pause later, he said coldly, "Get on your knees and apologize to Natalie. I'll resume the payment when she forgives you, or else, prepare for the funeral." I trembled and bit my lip so hard, I tasted blood. Natalie looked at me mockingly as I bent my knees and kneeled before her. "I'm sorry." I apologized again and again, numb and hollow, like a dog that had already lost every last bit of dignity. Jonathan's expression softened slightly. Then he stepped out to take a call, leaving only Natalie behind. The moment he was gone, Natalie's face twisted. "You tried to take him from me! You will pay!" Before I could do anything, she rushed to my mother's bed and pulled off the IV tube and oxygen tube. "No!" I struggled desperately to reach her, but the bodyguards pinned me down. The machines began to alarm. My mother's condition worsened in front of me. Life began ebbing out of her, until it was no more, and her head went limp. My mother was dead. I collapsed to the floor, shattered beyond words. Natalie pulled her hair and ran out, then she bumped into Jonathan, who had come back. She started crying. "I just wanted to tuck her mother in, but Linda shoved me and said you were too good for me." Jonathan's face fell. "Is your dignity worth more than your mother's life, Linda?" I put on a sorrowful smile. "My mother? She killed my mother!" Natalie immediately denied it, and Jonathan believed her without hesitation. He laughed mirthlessly. "You would even use your mother's death to lie your way out of this? You still refuse to apologize, don't you? Fine!" He put an arm around Natalie and left. Half an hour later, the Mueller Group made an official announcement. "Mr. Mueller's relationship is now public knowledge. His only girlfriend is Ms. Natalie Shaw. Ms. Linda Gray experienced trauma during her school years and has suffered from unstable judgment ever since. Her statements are false." Then there was a video. A girl was standing in an office, and the hand of an old man was on her waist. My mind buzzed. Back in high school, I was the infamous underprivileged student. One of the teachers knew I had no one to turn to even if he did anything, so he molested me in the office. I said nothing back then, as no one would back me up. That incident left me traumatized until college, and I tried to take my own life multiple times. Jonathan was the one who saved me. He held me tightly in his arms and comforted me again and again. "Don't let scum ruin your life. It's not your fault. I'll always stay with you." That was my darkest past, and I had only told him. And now, to clear Natalie's name, he had torn open my deepest wound and shown it to the whole world. The last bit of hope in me burned to ash. A sorrowful smile touched my lips. I tossed a lit lighter to the bed's curtains. As the flames turned into a wall, I opened the window and leaped. From now on, there would never be another version of us. Jonathan was on a shopping trip with Natalie when he saw black smoke curling from nearby. He had an ominous feeling about this, so he stopped a mall staff and asked him what was going on. "Hospital's on fire. I heard someone died in the burning. It was the VIP ward too."