Chapter 3

"Sophia used to have such a sweet temper. I can't believe she just slapped him like that..."

"Maya is so straightforward and sweet. Honestly, I regret not hanging out with her more back then."

The whispers drifted into my ears.

I laughed. The tears I was trying to hold back finally spilled over.

"Maya, you know exactly what you’re trying to do."

Suddenly, Liam stepped in front of her. His tall, powerful frame shielded her completely from my gaze.

"Sophia, when are you going to stop this childish behavior?"

I stared at his swelling cheek. The red mark on his otherwise flawless, aristocratic face made him look human for once.

But the righteous, cold judgment in his eyes remained intact.

He looked like a judge sitting high on a bench, looking down at me with pity and sternness.

The drama finally ended under Liam’s quick arrangements.

This time, Maya didn't get to ride in my passenger seat. Liam hailed an Uber for her.

Through the window, I saw him nodding to her reassuringly, whispering something to the driver.

It looked exactly like that summer afternoon in the school parking lot years ago. Someone had nudged me to look forward.

I had watched Maya skip happily into his car. Liam had ruffled her hair, speaking softly to the driver.

His expression back then was so incredibly gentle.

During those days, they would hang out with mutual friends. I thought that was just their dynamic.

I didn't know they also hung out alone, with nobody else around.

Back then, Maya was young, wild, and bold.

She had pressed a kiss to her palm and then smacked it playfully onto Liam's cheek.

When he looked shocked, she laughed until her face turned red.

I had stood there, completely paralyzed by the scene.

A thousand warnings from people around me couldn't compare to seeing it with my own eyes.

The sharp slam of the car door snapped me out of my thoughts.

Seeing that I was sitting in the back seat instead of the front, Liam let out a tired sigh.

"Sophia, Maya didn't sit in the passenger seat to make a statement. She literally just wanted to feel the AC better."

His tone was incredibly sincere.

Usually, when he used this tone, my anger would already be half-gone. By the next minute, I would have crawled back to the front seat.

And if he bought me a diamond necklace at the next pack auction, the matter would be swept under the rug.

But when it came to Maya, I could never let it go again.

"Liam, since we mated, you have never let anyone else sit in my seat."

The SUV sat idling.

Liam suddenly pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

He knew I despised the smell of smoke. Yet, he lit it in the cramped, enclosed space of the car.

"I thought you’d be happy to see Maya," he said, blowing a cloud of smoke. "You two used to be inseparable. Weren't you?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "Oh, absolutely. We were so close we almost shared a boyfriend."

Silence fell over the car. Forced to breathe in his secondhand smoke, I rolled down my window.

He threw the half-burnt cigarette out of the window, his voice sounding raspy.

"Back then, looking at her just reminded me of you. That's why I had more patience with her. But I only ever saw her as one of the guys..."

The car was dark. I lowered my head, a single tear slipping from my eye and soaking into my clenched fist.

"Did you know?" I whispered. "She once got drunk and cried to me. She said she wished she was born a guy so you wouldn't be so guarded around her. So you wouldn't have distanced yourself from her."

I knew about that night because Maya had shown me the video recording herself. The triumph in her eyes was unmistakable.

She had told me that from that moment on, Liam only stayed with me for duty, not love.