Chapter 2

Friends? Honestly, becoming friends with Wendy was no big deal at all.

On my first day at the new school, my homeroom teacher pointed to the empty seat next to her, and just like that, I ended up as her desk mate.

She was almost invisible in class. She hardly ever spoke, barely left her seat during breaks, and when she did chat with the people in front or behind her, her voice was barely above a whisper.

We sat together for a whole month, and our conversations were limited to things like "Excuse me" or "The teacher's coming."

But one day in the afternoon, everything shifted.

That day, my period hit me out of nowhere. Because of the great pain, I bent over my desk, barely moving. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead and I couldn't even hold my pen.

And with two more classes left that afternoon, all I could do was bite my lip and force myself to get through it.

During the break, someone gently tapped my arm.

I looked up and saw Wendy handing me a cup. The brown liquid inside was steaming, and the aroma of brown sugar, mixed with a hint of ginger, drifted to my nose.

She looked a bit shy and said, "I happened to bring some brown sugar ginger tea. Do you want a cup? It should help you feel a little better."

The warmth from the ginger tea spread from my hand right down to my stomach. I turned to her and said, "Thank you." She smiled, shook her head, and said it was nothing. Then, she went back to her book, like it was no big deal.

But from that day on, something quietly changed between us.

I started talking to her more, inviting her to eat at the cafeteria together, helping her solve math problems she was stuck on, and asking her to hang out at the bookstore on weekends.

She gradually opened up too. She still wasn't much of a talker, but she'd smile with me, joke about how the teachers were drowning us in homework, and sometimes she'd bring little treats from home to share with me.

We slowly became inseparable friends.

I opened up to her completely, sharing every joy and sorrow, all the trivia from home, and even those secret crushes and hidden preferences I'd never told anyone else.

I thought it was a friendship where we were both fully invested, but I had no idea I was actually handing her a set of razor-sharp knives, one by one.

She soaked up every detail I mentioned, my likes, and all the little pieces of my life. In the end, she used them all to pose as me and start an online romance with Tyler.

The song she hummed to Tyler? That was the one I hummed to comfort her after she flunked her monthly exam and her dad slapped her.

Muffin? That was the name of my cat that had already died.

As for Capital University? With Wendy's grades, she could never get in.

Every memory she shared with Tyler was stolen straight from my life.

She pieced everything together, dressed it up as her own story, and used it to steal a love that was never hers to begin with.

What right did she have to blame me?

What gave her the right to stand on the rooftop on my wedding day and use her own life as a weapon, accusing me of stealing her love?

What right did she have to leave her death on my conscience, to make Tyler hate and humiliate me?

If she was so obsessed with Tyler, then fine—I'd let her have him.

Tyler, you hated me for pretending to be Wendy, didn't you?

Well, I was giving her back to you.

*****

The bell rang, signaling the end of class.

I thought Tyler would rush over and corner me at my desk, demanding answers about the WhatsApp thing. But instead, he only got up looking pissed, walked out of the classroom in a hurry, and his crew hurried after him.

I froze for a second. Something was off. This wasn't his style.

He'd been embarrassed in front of everyone, and he was convinced I'd played him. With his temper, he should've come straight over to demand answers from me after class. There was no way he'd just leave like that.

Unless...

I turned to look at Wendy, who was sitting next to me.

She was quietly packing up her books, her face calm, but I noticed the way she was packing her stationery. She kept shifting her pen around, over and over. People always got extra twitchy when they were feeling guilty.

Then it hit me that during class, she kept her hand inside her desk for quite a while.

I hadn't thought much of it back then, but now it was clear that she was secretly messaging Tyler.

So, did Wendy actually manage to calm Tyler down? I let out a cold, mocking laugh.

Wendy nudged my elbow. "Jessica, next lesson is PE. Let's head to the field together."

I closed my book. "You go first. I need to go to the restroom now. I'll catch up with you later."

She looked surprised, seemingly not expecting me to say no. "Should I wait for you?"

"No, you go ahead."

She paused for a second, then got up and left. At the door, she glanced back at me, looking nervous and unsettled.

So, Wendy, were you already starting to get scared?