Chapter 2

Bella's whole buddy act was pretty selective.

She only played the "one of the guys" card when she was around me. Everywhere else, she was nothing like that.

At every party, she'd always end up sitting right next to Zack, her body angled toward him, and whenever she talked, she'd casually touch his arm, his shoulder, sometimes even his knee.

It was so natural that if I pointed it out, I'd look paranoid.

She remembered everything about Zack better than I ever could: what he liked to drink, what foods he wouldn't touch, even what he was allergic to.

She'd show the right amount of vulnerability around Zack. Normally, she acted all tough and carefree, but now and then, she'd suddenly go quiet.

When people pressed her, she'd act like she didn't mean to mention how rough things had been lately, how work was a mess, or how hard it was being alone in the city.

Whenever that happened, Zack would give her this soft, sympathetic look, and he'd end up spending even more time with her, the so-called buddy.

What really disgusted me was the way Bella talked.

Every time I let my displeasure show, she'd brush it off like I was being petty and insecure. "Anne, it's all in your head. Zack and I are bros. If he ever wanted me, we'd have been together ages ago.

"You wouldn't stand a chance."

What she really meant was: "You only have Zack because I didn't want him."

And every time Bella said that, the guys she'd won over with her tough act would start chiming in. "Yeah, Bella's one of the guys. Anne, you're overthinking things."

When enough people repeated a lie, it became the truth.

Bella and her friends painted me as petty, jealous, and impossible to reason with.

And Bella? She was always the righteous, loyal best buddy everyone adored.

It felt like seeing a fly in my soup, but everyone at the table swore it was a burnt crumb and that my eyes were playing tricks on me.

I started losing sleep.

Lying awake at night, listening to Zack's steady breathing next to me, I kept wondering, 'Am I really overthinking this? Or am I being gaslit?'

Until one day, I saw something with my own eyes at the mall.

That afternoon, I took a half-day off to go shopping. As I walked past a café, I spotted Bella through the glass window.

She was wearing a floral dress.

I thought, 'Wasn't she supposed to be all rough and tough? Since when did she start wearing dresses?'

But that wasn't the real kicker.

The real kicker was the guy sitting across from her.

It was a man, but it wasn't Zack.

That man was dressed in business casual, looked to be in his early thirties, and was smiling as he talked to Bella.

And Bella, the so-called tough, carefree buddy, was resting her chin in her hand, tilting her head, giving him this sweet, flirty look, her voice sugary-sweet and coy. "I really can't drink that much. Will you help me, pretty please?"

I stood outside the glass, goosebumps prickling all over my skin.

So Bella did know how to play sweet and coy. She simply never acted that way around her buddies.

She wasn't really a tomboy at all. She only put on that act when she was with me.

That night, I tried to bring it up with Zack. I didn't mention what I saw at the café. I tried to keep things calm. "Zack, I feel like Bella's attitude toward me is weird.

"She keeps saying stuff like 'you wouldn't stand a chance,' and honestly, it really makes me uncomfortable."

Zack was scrolling through his phone, not even looking up. "She has a big mouth, but she doesn't mean anything by it. Spend enough time around her, and you'll see.

"Bella's always been straightforward. Says whatever's on her mind, never hides a thing."

"Straightforward?" I echoed.

"Yeah, that's how she is." Zack finally looked up, a hint of exasperation in his eyes. "Anne, are you overthinking this again? We've been married for two years. Are you still hung up on this?"

"Again." That word really hit me. It made it seem like I was making a fuss over nothing.

I took a deep breath. "If she's really so genuine, then why does she say stuff like 'you wouldn't stand a chance' in front of everyone? That's honestly pretty insulting."

Zack frowned. "She probably said it without thinking. Don't take it to heart. Besides, she's not wrong. Bella and I have known each other for over ten years. If anything was going to happen, it would've happened ages ago."

His words pricked like a needle. Not thick, but piercing deep, leaving a dull, suffocating ache.

I didn't say anything else.