Chapter 3

[Princess Sienna: Fresh news! Chloe was crying again yesterday, her coworkers saw her!]

[Minion #1 Ethan: I heard about that too.]

[Princess Sienna: See? My method works like magic~ Ethan, you owe me a fancy dinner.]

This was the group chat of Ethan and Sienna's little clique.

There were four guys in the group.

Three of them were labeled as minions.

The extra one was Julian.

He was the only one using his real name.

I remembered Ethan telling me before.

Julian had joined their group halfway through college.

No one really knew why.

My guess was that because Julian's family business was massive and involved heavy investments,

Ethan and his friends had actively tried to suck up to him.

Julian rarely spoke in the group.

It was mostly Ethan responding to Sienna's every word.

[Minion #1 Ethan: A fancy dinner? Haven't I treated you enough? You literally have one of my credit cards. Chloe used to throw tantrums all the time because of that.]

[Princess Sienna: Omg, thinking about that still makes me laugh.]

[Princess Sienna: We've been best friends since we were kids! Who does she think she is to get jealous? Rolling eyes emoji]

[Princess Sienna: Honestly, she's probably just jealous that I have so many guy friends.]

Ethan sent a "Protect the Princess" meme.

[Ethan: Alright, don't get mad. From now on, any gifts I buy for her, I'll let you pick what you want first. Satisfied, Princess?]

[Princess Sienna: Hmph, that's more like it.]

I felt sick to my stomach.

I scrolled up further.

They literally talked every single day.

If I didn't know better, I'd think they were dating.

It turned out that every single time Ethan was late for our dates, it was because of Sienna.

Even when I was sick and sitting alone in the ER getting an IV drip,

He was out shopping with Sienna.

Even the Valentine's Day gift he gave me

Was just something Sienna didn't want.

...

Another new notification popped up.

Ethan had sent Julian a private message.

[Ethan: Hey, I just remembered something.]

I imitated Julian's short, cold texting style: [?]

[Ethan: Two months ago, on Sienna's birthday night, I got totally wasted... and ended up staying over at her place. Make sure you don't let that slip.]

[Ethan: Remember, if anyone asks, I was with you that night.]

I slowly typed out four words: [Did you two actually?]

[Ethan: Ugh, didn't we agree not to bring that up again?]

[Ethan: Sienna and I are pretending nothing happened that night.]

[Ethan: Otherwise, how can we still be friends?]

Julian came out of the bathroom.

The clothes were already washed.

His expression was calm, but the corners of his eyes were still slightly flushed.

I smirked at him. "Are your hands useful?"

Julian froze.

Even though I had already busted his secret,

And accepted his hugs and kisses,

We had never actually taken the next step.

"Is there," I pointed at my clothes, "anything stained on it?"

"...I washed it clean. You can check."

"Don't worry, I don't mind."

I looked Julian up and down.

Six-foot-two, with a practically perfect physique.

No matter how you looked at it, he was ten times better-looking than Ethan.

"I might have to trouble you to wash a dress for me in a bit."

"What?"

Julian looked down at me.

Before he could process what I meant,

I had already slipped out of my robe, stepped up on my tiptoes, and actively kissed him.

"Julian, Ethan might actually be dead."

I said in a sweet, vulnerable voice,

"Can you stay with me tonight?"