Chapter 1

My four childhood friends were all handsome and refined, like the male leads in a romance novel.

At first, I thought I was the female lead, but when Emma Adams, the poor transfer student, showed up, I realized I was actually the mean girl in the story.

To stand up for Emma, they showed up at my birthday party with some low-class guy, claiming he was my date, right when my father had intended for me to choose one of them for a political marriage.

In the end, my birthday party became a complete laughingstock.

Afterward, their families forced them to come over and apologize to me.

William Bennett, ever the gentleman, gave a gentle smile. "Olivia, you didn't like him? Looks like your standards are pretty high."

Michael Carter, the cocky one, curled his lips into a mocking grin. "Don't tell me you're only willing to marry one of us? Too bad, none of us are interested."

James Anderson, always the calm one, frowned and said, "If you hadn't gone around telling everyone Emma was your tagalong, making her a joke, we wouldn't have needed to show you what it feels like to be laughed at."

Benjamin Collins, always so distant, said coolly, "Olivia, stop targeting Emma. If you do, we can still be friends."

I shook my head.

They were really overthinking it. I already had a boyfriend, so marrying any of them was the last thing on my mind. And I would never again play the villain to make Emma look better.

*****

In my living room, the four of them were either sitting or leaning back. They didn't act like they were here to apologize at all; their words were laced with mockery, tossed out with casual indifference.

Of course, they had the privilege to behave this way. Their families had more money and status than mine. But back then, that was the reason they stood up for me.

Everything changed when Emma came into the picture.

At first, I thought she was a shy, timid girl. She accidentally bumped into someone, dropped her lunchbox on a classmate's shoe, and got yelled at so badly she was too embarrassed to look up. They made her clean their shoes.

I stepped in to get her out of that mess and got her another lunch.

After that, she started popping up around me all the time, always looking super grateful. I'd give her a hand whenever she needed it.

Whenever I hung out with the four of them, Emma would timidly come over to say hi, looking all shy and a little left out. I'd always invite her to join us.

At first, the guys barely acknowledged her and told me not to bring her along. But I said she had it rough and asked them to cut her some slack.

But after a while, whenever I went to meet up with the guys, Emma would already be there, keeping her head down and acting all meek, totally unfazed by their icy looks.

I didn't know when it happened, but suddenly, there were no more annoyed sighs or impatient glances. They started caring for Emma.

They used to only call me when they wanted to hang out, but now they'd make a point to invite Emma along, too.

They used to only bring snacks for me, but then it turned into snacks for both of us. Sometimes, they'd bring the ones Emma liked.

Eventually, they'd ditch me completely and hang out with Emma alone.

That was when I started noticing that smug, almost provocative look in Emma's eyes whenever she glanced my way.

But in their eyes, Emma was a totally different person.

She'd suddenly have a red mark on her hand and apologize to me, acting like I'd hurt her or something. If her stuff fell in front of me, she'd crouch down to pick it up, looking so wronged and helpless.

Whenever moments like that happened, the four guys would always show up. At first, they'd give me those annoyed, disapproving looks, but later, they'd actually defend Emma.

I finally realized they had completely changed.

For the longest time, it didn't make any sense to me.

I couldn't understand how over ten years of being childhood friends could break apart because of Emma.

I didn't get why they stopped trusting me, why they believed I'd actually pick on Emma.

Because of how good they used to be to me, I cried, I threw tantrums, I did everything I could to hold onto them, and tried to explain myself again and again.

But all of that was nothing compared to a single sad, wronged look from Emma.

That day, I broke down in tears. After confronting them about their blatant favoritism, I finally told them I was cutting ties for good.

For a moment, they seemed almost touched, saying they never really wanted to cut me off. They only hoped I could be more patient with Emma.

They said, "Didn't you always want to go skiing in Snowville? Let's make it happen this holiday."

My heart wavered again. They'd always looked out for me growing up, and honestly, letting them go was so hard.

I was really hoping this trip would help us get back to the way things were.

But after I took an earlier flight to Snowville and waited in the snowy landscape for what felt like forever, they never came.

When I finally got through to James, he said, "Olivia, Emma doesn't like the cold, so we brought her to Sunnbay instead. Why don't you fly over and join us? We'll go to Snowville with you next time."

Not far away, I could hear Emma's playful, chirpy voice. "James, stop talking on the phone. Michael's about to start a water fight with me. Come help me out."

Then came Benjamin's icy warning to Michael, followed by Michael's playful, indulgent laugh.

"Alright, I'm coming." James's tone softened instantly for Emma, but when he spoke to me, it was back to his usual steady self. "Come join us and have fun with Emma."

In that moment, my heart felt colder than the endless snow swirling around me.

That was when I finally realized that there was no going back for us. I started steering clear of them, keeping out of their way.

But since we were still in the same social circle, Emma, always under their protection, never missed a chance to remind me she was there, always making sure I noticed her, like what happened at my birthday party.

Hearing them still go on about it, I didn't bother trying to explain anymore. I never went around telling people Emma was my tagalong.

Some people only believed what they wanted to believe, because they had already made up their minds.

"If you're done, you can leave now," I said.

They all frowned.

Michael snorted, "Olivia, you feel pretty awful, do you? Now you finally get what Emma went through when everyone laughed at her?"

I pressed my lips together and stayed silent.

William let out a tsk. "Olivia, what we did last time was to show everyone we're really not interested in you, and none of us are planning to marry you. That way, people wouldn't think Emma took your spot in our group.

"If you didn't like that guy, we can introduce you to someone else, as long as it's not one of us."

"No need for your matchmaking," I replied coolly.

James shot me an annoyed look. "Olivia, I think we've made it clear. None of us is marrying you, so don't get any ideas."

I gave a small smile, about to say something.

Just then, Benjamin checked his watch, his tone cool. "Now that everything's clear, there's no need to stick around. We still have to take Emma to the amusement park."