Chapter 4
Victor crafted a brand new necklace for Charlotte, almost identical to the one he'd broken, as a way to apologize.
His palm had a huge blister from the fire, but he acted like it was nothing. "Do you like it?" he asked.
Charlotte pressed her lips together and shook her head gently.
"It's not the same," she said softly. "No matter what, it's just not the same as the one I had before."
A hint of regret flashed across Victor's face.
"Charlotte, what will it take for you to forgive me?" he asked softly.
He took Charlotte's hand and led her into the mall, the one he had reserved for her.
"Charlotte, I shouldn't have pushed you or let you get hurt. And I shouldn't have broken your necklace. It was all on me," he said, regret heavy in his voice.
"You love shopping for new clothes, don't you? Today, you can go wild and pick anything you want from any store here. Sound good?" he added.
He seemed sincere, as if he meant every word.
It was as if Charlotte were the most important person in the world to him.
He kept picking out cute outfits and gently ushering her into the fitting room, over and over.
For a fleeting moment, Charlotte felt like she was drifting through a dream.
Maybe that account was a figment of her imagination.
But then, a message from Sophie on WhatsApp snapped her back to reality.
Sophie shot her a link to a livestream.
Charlotte tapped it, and her heart skipped a beat. The stream was showing the exact store she was in, right as she was trying on clothes.
The chat was blowing up with comments.
[Girls, check it out, a real big one right here. Look at all that flab on her. Do you dare to kiss her?]
[Ugh, my eyes! That gorgeous dress is ruined by her.]
[I'm never shopping at this store again. She makes their clothes look so bad.]
[Calm down, ladies. The problem isn't the clothes. It's her.]
[Sophie started this livestream to motivate us. She wants us to control our mouths and move our bodies. That's the real lesson here.]
Sophie's username popped up in the chat.
[Don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, give all the credit to my fiancé, Victor.]
[To support my career, he hired a plus-size model to try on clothes for this stream to inspire everyone.]
[By the way, next Sunday, Victor is going to propose to me, and there's a huge surprise waiting for you all. Hope you can come and witness it.]
Charlotte slumped against the icy wall, shaking all over as cold sweat broke out across her skin.
Next Sunday was the same day Victor said he'd have a surprise for her.
So that was it. He was going to propose to Sophie.
At the proposal, is he going to display all those humiliating and fat-shaming photos of me to embarrass me in front of everyone?
What else did he have up his sleeve to torment me?
How was he going to pin things on me that I never did?
Charlotte let out a dry, miserable laugh.
Just then, another message from Sophie popped up.
[Charlotte, looks like you've forgotten all about me.
[Let me help you remember that.
[Back then, my name was Sophie Lynn.
[Ring any bells now?]
Charlotte's eyes widened as that familiar name struck her all at once.
Sophie Lynn was the real bully, the one who'd made Charlotte's life hell.
She was the one who stuffed rats and cockroaches into Charlotte's desk, glued all her textbooks shut, and poured filthy water all over her.
And now she was turning the tables and acting like I was the bad guy?
[You had to be so shameless. First, you tried to seduce my crush back in high school, and now you went after my childhood friend Victor.
[You're so brazen. Did you seriously think Victor would ever fall for someone like you?]
Suddenly, the fitting room curtain was yanked open with a loud swish.
A lip print flashed across one of Victor's shirt buttons.
When that pancake face popped up on the livestream, Charlotte stiffened and hit the lock button on her phone.
Victor looked at her phone and asked, "Are you watching a livestream?"
His gaze wavered, and for a split second, he looked nervous.