Chapter 2

That night, Ryan didn't come back.

I didn't blow up his phone for updates like I used to. I let it slide this time.

After my parents passed away, Henry Shaw, Ryan's grandpa, took me in, and I started living and attending school with Ryan.

Whenever I got bullied at school, it was always Ryan who stood up for me first.

We attended the same school together all the way from elementary through high school.

I moved in with the Shaw family when I was eight, and for the next ten years, Ryan and I were side by side every single day.

Ryan always remembered when I was on my period, and he would have the medicine ready whenever my stomach hurt.

He even helped me buy sanitary pads. We were inseparable, almost like two halves of the same whole.

Everyone liked to joke that I was destined to marry Ryan, and he never denied it.

After spending ten years together day in and day out, I had gotten so used to Ryan being part of my life.

I couldn't imagine ever being apart from him.

I was always picturing a future with Ryan. We would attend the same college, graduate together, tie the knot, and have kids.

I believed there was no way anything could ever come between us.

But all that peace and closeness got turned upside down the moment Yulia, the struggling student the Shaw family took in, showed up.

Yulia showed up at the Shaw family's doorstep during our sophomore year of high school. Her mother, Melanie Brooks, was ill and needed 300 thousand dollars for treatment.

She came to the Shaw family, lowered herself before Henry, bowed her head, and pleaded with him to save Melanie.

The Shaw family could afford that sum, and Henry was as generous as he was kind.

He agreed to help Yulia, and thanks to him, Melanie was able to get the treatment she needed.

Seeing that Yulia was not only hardworking but also devoted to her sick mother, Henry went the extra mile and pulled some strings to get her transferred to our school.

He even gave Yulia and Melanie a place to live, free of charge.

Ryan and I sympathized with Yulia after learning what she'd been through, so we'd always go together to visit Melanie in the hospital.

We even helped Yulia with her schoolwork.

Everything was nice and harmonious between the three of us until that day.

I brought over the soup that the maid Cindy had made for Melanie, but stopped at the hospital room door when I overheard Yulia and Melanie talking inside.

Melanie asked, "So, any progress between you and Ryan?"

Yulia answered, "Ryan likes me, but Juliet is always sticking to him like a leech. I can't separate them yet."

Melanie urged, "You need to hurry up. The Shaw family is the richest in all of Northvale. If you manage to land Ryan, that's your chance to flip our lives around.

"Then we can live in a mansion, drive luxury cars, and never have to suffer through this wretched, poor life again."

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll win Ryan over," Yulia replied.

My mind went blank from shock. I couldn't believe what I'd overheard. In my daze, I accidentally made a noise, and that was when Yulia and Melanie noticed me hovering at the door.

Panic flashed across both their faces.

I felt a knot in my stomach.

Now that I knew Yulia and Melanie were probably faking it to get the Shaw family's sympathy, I started wondering if I should tell Ryan about everything.

But before I could say a word to Ryan, Yulia got ahead of me and made her move.

Yulia asked to meet up, putting on a sad and helpless act. She claimed it was all Melanie's idea. Melanie was ill and felt she didn't have much time left, so she wanted Yulia to secure a good future for herself.

Yulia said Melanie was dreaming up this whole thing, and she only went along with it to stop Melanie from worrying.

She even pleaded with me, begging me not to tell Ryan any of this.

I believed Yulia and reached out to steady her.

But the next thing I knew, she grabbed hold of my hand and dragged me with her straight into the lake in the park.

I could swim, so I struggled to shore as fast as I could and screamed for help. Yulia couldn't swim at all and nearly drowned. She swallowed so much water that she spent several days in the hospital before she came to.

When Yulia woke up at last, she accused me of pushing her into the lake, claiming I'd tried to drown her.

She went so far as to say I did it because I was jealous of Ryan helping her.

I refused to admit any of it. I told Ryan straight up that Yulia had grabbed my hand and pulled me into the water deliberately.

I thought for sure Ryan would have my back, but I couldn't have been more wrong. He stared at me, his brows furrowed, and said, "Juliet, tell me exactly what happened. There's no need to make stuff up."

"I'm not making anything up, Ryan. It's all true. Yulia purposely grabbed me and dragged me down with her," I answered.

Ryan shot back, "Juliet, Yulia can't swim, but you can. Isn't that suspicious?"

In his mind, it was obvious Yulia was doomed if she hit the water, so there was no way she'd gamble with her life to set me up.

"She knew I'd shout for help," I insisted, desperate. "Ryan, Yulia and Melanie are scheming to get close to you so they can live a good life."

I had no choice but to spill the beans about Yulia and Melanie scheming to get close to Ryan.

Ryan said with a heavy sigh, "Juliet, what do you expect me to say? Just because you have feelings for me doesn't mean you get to badmouth other girls like this. This makes me disappointed in you."

Ryan didn't buy any of it. He told me that a few days ago, Yulia had come to him, saying I hated her and was giving her a hard time.

Melanie had already asked Henry about moving out, saying she didn't want to cause any drama between their family and Ryan, so they'd decided to leave the house the Shaw family provided.

Now, the two of them were living in a tiny, run-down apartment that barely held together. It was a rough situation compared to before.

Henry asked Melanie why she wanted to leave, and she mumbled that she didn't want Yulia's presence to come between me and Ryan or cause any misunderstandings.

But reading between the lines, she implied that I was the jealous one and that I had been secretly picking on Yulia all because of Ryan.

With Yulia and Melanie moving out, it made them look innocent, and to Ryan, my accusations sounded jealous, as if I wanted both of them gone.

Ryan didn't believe me at all. In the end, after that whole show Yulia put on, he even let her and Melanie move back into the Shaw family's house.

He said it was his way of compensating them for the hurt I'd supposedly caused Yulia.

I was left speechless, reduced in this matter to someone calculating and lacking any sympathy.

I never saw Yulia and Melanie's scheme coming, and there was no way I could let it slide. I was determined to clear my name and prove to Ryan that Yulia was two-faced, not the innocent victim she pretended to be.

But those two were too cunning. No matter what I did, I couldn't expose their true motives. Instead, I ended up falling right into their traps again and again.