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Once Cheated, Forever Forgotten
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
I found a digital camera in the storage room. As soon as I pressed the power button, a girl's smile pierced my eyes, making my breath catch in my throat. "Garland, we'll be together forever." My heart...
Chương (4)
第1章
I found a digital camera in the storage room.
As soon as I pressed the power button, a girl's smile pierced my eyes, making my breath catch in my throat.
"Garland, we'll be together forever."
My heart clenched as I watched Garland Mckenzie gently stroke the girl's nose, making his promise.
"Okay, I will be with you forever, Rosie."
My hand trembled and the digital camera fell to the floor.
Garland's voice filled the air, "If I break my promise, I will never be happy again in this life."
My chest ached, my eyes burned and I still couldn't believe it.
Rosie Steele, whom Garland swore to love for life, was my best friend.
——
I sat in the living room, my hands shaking until they went numb.
The air conditioner was blasting, yet I still felt freezing and couldn’t stop trembling. Even so, I forced myself to keep watching the digital camera footage.
Garland held Rosie’s hand, entered a hotel room, pushed her onto the bed and asked her, "Is it okay?"
Rosie smiled and hooked her arm around Garland's neck, then kissed his lips. "I'm yours."
The tender scene felt like a knife to my heart, the pain so intense it almost felt wrong to even feel it.
I thought back to when Garland and I first got together. I had told him, smiling, that I had a childhood friend who meant the world to me.
“She’s like my family,” I said. “If you want our relationship to last, you have to win her over.”
Back then, I was overjoyed, looking at Garland, who was also coaxing me the same way he had coaxed Rosie.
"I will definitely not fail in my mission."
I remembered that day, Garland was holding a snack gift box, sitting with me in the milk tea shop.
When he first saw Rosie, his expression was blank, but quickly, he smiled and greeted her, "Hello, I'm Shannon's boyfriend."
Rosie, usually so gentle and never one to make things difficult for strangers, spoke rudely the moment she saw Garland, "You're not good enough for Shannon."
Ignoring how embarrassed I was, Rosie grabbed the coffee on the table and threw it in Garland’s face.
Then she took my hand and said, “Not just anyone deserves to be with you. Please choose better.”
That day ended terribly.
I didn’t understand why Rosie hated Garland so much until after I saw their affair—when she held him and asked, “Will you fall in love with someone else in the future?”
Garland answered without hesitation, "No, I will only love you, Rosie."
Tears streamed down my face, uncontrollable, like a torrent threatening to engulf me.
Until the bedroom door opened, the living room lights came on and Garland’s voice sounded, “Honey, why are the lights off?”
He walked over and saw my swollen eyes. He quickly put down his briefcase, crouched in front of me and held my face. “Why are you crying? Tell me, who bullied you?”
His voice was gentle—so gentle, made it seem like he truly loved me.
He studied my expression carefully. “I’ll stand up for you, okay? Please don’t cry.”
Garland pulled me into a warm hug, comforting me like I was a child.
“Tell me who bullied you—I’ll kill him for you!”
His embrace and familiar scent had always been my only source of comfort. But now, smelling it again, a hidden pain rose in my chest, making me ask a question without thinking.
第2章
"Garland, do you love me?" My voice was soft and fragile. "If you do, then will you fall in love with someone else in the future?"
I felt Garland stiffen for a second, then he smiled and kissed the corner of my mouth, gently pinched the tip of my nose. "Of course I love you."
"Honey, we've been married for three years. Why are you asking such a silly question after three years?"
Garland looked earnestly into my eyes. "If I don't love you, why would I marry you, silly girl?"
Looking at Garland's serious expression, I remembered that just 100 days into our relationship, someone saw Garland and another woman leaving a hotel.
My friend told me, her voice trembling with excitement, shouting at me on the phone, "Shannon, "I'll stay here for you, so come quickly! Let's catch those two scoundrels off guard."
I was stunned by the news of my boyfriend's infidelity, feeling as if I'd been run over by a giant ship.
My mind went blank and I instinctively dialed Rosie's number, crying as I told her, "Rosie, Garland cheated on me. What should I do?"
I sat crying in a taxi, meeting my friend at a hotel, wanting to catch Garland in the act.
But at the hotel, I witnessed Rosie slapping Garland across the face.
I froze, stunned and heard Rosie say, "Don't think you can get me to plead for you with some favors. I'm telling you, no way."
Then, Rosie and Garland seemed to notice me.
Rosie grabbed my arm angrily. "That bastard asked me to come to the hotel today, saying you were here too. I thought you were here, but it turns out he bought me a gift to curry favor, hoping I'd put in a good word for him."
"What cheating?" Rosie looked at my friend, her tone questioning. "Do you think I would steal Shannon's man? What a joke."
I had always felt guilty about it. I felt I owed Rosie and I also felt I had disappointed Garland.
For the past two years, whenever it came up, Garland would just laugh at me. "You little jealous thing, what were you thinking? You actually thought I cheated on you with that woman who slapped me?"
"If it weren't for you, do you think I'd even glance at her?"
Every time it was brought up. I always felt guilty, so guilty that I had to coax Garland for a long time, constantly telling him that Rosie was actually a good girl.
It turned out, Garland had always understood Rosie's goodness, just like in the digital video, where Garland pushed away the sobbing Rosie and told her, "Let's not see each other again."
Rosie rushed up and hugged Garland. "Then this is the last time."
The last time. It happened three days before our wedding.
I was rushed to the hospital with gastroenteritis, spent the whole night on an IV drip, but couldn't get through to my fiancé. Even my best friend had vanished without a trace.
My colleague who was with me at the time even joked, "Beware of your best friend."
"Yes, Shannon, be careful."
I was too weak to speak, but I still retorted sharply, "Everyone in the world will betray me. But I'm sure Rosie won't."
My cheeks burned. I felt my beliefs crumbling.
Looking at Garland, who was preparing dinner for me and starting to tidy up the house, I asked him, "Garland, can you tell me about your first love?"
Actually, Garland had told me.
第3章
He had a failed first love. His first love cheated on him with another man and he caught her red-handed.
Devastated, he broke up with her and told me, "Shannon, because I've experienced betrayal, I will never let you go through what I went through. I will cherish our relationship."
And I believed him.
Now, as Garland finished cleaning and sat beside me with a smile, leaning in to kiss me, a scene from the digital video replayed in my mind.
It was where Rosie was crying and begging him, “Garland, even if we break up, your heart can only have me, not Shannon. Promise me you’ll never fall in love with Shannon, okay?”
Garland’s breath brushed my nose and just as his lips were about to touch mine, my stomach suddenly flipped. I couldn’t hold it in.
I ran to the bathroom and threw up uncontrollably, until only bile was coming up and tears streamed down my face.
I heard Garland's worried voice beside me asking me, "Honey, are you feeling unwell?"
"Honey, let’s go to the doctor." Garland draped his coat over me and was about to pick me up when the phone rang.
The familiar ringtone sent a shiver down my spine. It was Rosie.
If it were before, I would have told Garland to ignore me and answer Rosie's call.
I would have told Garland not to keep Rosie waiting. I would have said that Rosie didn't like him anyway, so she must have something urgent to say.
I would have made Garland prioritize Rosie, making her more important than me.
But now, I just silently watched Garland's changing expressions. The subtle changes in his expression that I had never noticed before were now so obvious.
I had been blinded by my own ignorance all these years, only realizing now that Garland was worried about Rosie.
He put me on the bed, then picked up his phone, looked at me with a troubled expression.
"Please don't answer. She's trying to sow discord between us again, trying to get you to divorce me."
"Honey, wait a minute." Garland ignored my reply, walked out of the room and even closed the door.
So blatant, so open and I hadn't noticed a thing.
I was stupid, so foolish for trusting them too much, giving them this opportunity to hurt me.
I heard Rosie's soft sobs through the door and said to Garland, “Please come to me.”
Then Garland comforted her, "Don't be afraid, wait for me for ten minutes."
As they ended the call, I sat back on the bed, looking at Garland’s worried yet complaining expression. “Your best friend is such a handful. Sometimes I really want to block her.”
“You don’t know—she said she had a car accident, got rear-ended and now the traffic police and the other driver are after her. She keeps crying.”
“Why did you have to choose a friend like that? A ‘family member’ like her even made me set a special ringtone.”
Garland complained, but there was a smile on his lips—one he wasn’t even aware of, brightening his eyes.
“Honey, I’ll go help her first. You rest. If you still feel sick later, I’ll take you to the hospital. Be good.”
I watched Garland grab his coat and leave.
I knew I should remind him, like always, to drive safely and not argue with Rosie. She was family, after all.
At the very least, he shouldn’t hold it against her—for my sake.
第4章
I watched Garland’s back as he left and suddenly he felt like a stranger to me.
When I heard a noise at the entryway, I jumped out of bed, ran out without even putting on shoes and called out, “Garland.”
He stood there in the entryway, looking confused.
My heart died inch by inch.
He didn't even notice I wasn't wearing shoes; he was just in a hurry to leave, but I still refused to give up.
"Can you not go?"
With my last glimmer of hope, I still hoped Garland would understand what was most important. I looked at him, almost humbly.
"Can you not go, honey?"
My eyes turned red, a dull pain tightening in my chest until I could barely breathe.
But instead of comforting me like before, Garland only frowned, clearly unhappy. "If I don't care about her, who will? Do you want to see her taken away by the police, Shannon?"
"Let's be sensible, okay? It's not like I'm not coming back."
Garland still left.
In the empty living room, only my heavy breathing remained, along with a WhatsApp message from Rosie.
[Shannon, I'm really sorry, I couldn't find anyone else, so I had to borrow your husband for a bit.]
A roaring filled my ears. It felt like my world was collapsing. The love and friendship I once took pride in had completely died today.
My mind went blank. I grabbed my car keys and rushed to the parking lot, driving toward the accident scene—to the end of this failed love—to make one last stand.
When I arrived, I saw Rosie crying in Garland’s arms and he comforted her, “I’m here, don’t be afraid.”
I watched him argue loudly with the other party, calling her “my lover” and “my wife” again and again, until Garland finally said, "You must apologize to my lover. She's been traumatized. If you don't address this, we'll take legal action."
In the end, he said, "I can suffer injustice, but my wife can't!"
I looked at Rosie, hiding behind Garland, her eyes filled with longing. My love and friendship had finally crumbled into ruins, leaving no trace of life.
As this matter seemed to be nearing its end, Rosie begged him, "Can you not leave? Can you stay with me tonight?"
My nails dug into my flesh. Blood seeped out, the pain driving me to the brink of madness.
At first, Garland hesitated until the very end. But under her tears, he finally nodded helplessly and said, "Okay. But Rosie, this is the last time I'll choose you."
Just like three days before the wedding, when Garland said, "This is the last time."
How many more last times were there between them?
I didn't know and couldn't understand. I only knew that my emotions spiraled out of control.
The instant they turned to leave, I rushed in front of Garland and called out to him.
Then, I slapped him across the face, looking at the stunned and panicked Rosie, I threw down those words, "Garland, let's get a divorce."