Her gaze sharpened.
"You only cared about yourself. You chased after Caleb as if I didn’t exist at all." She paused, then added quietly,
"Sotis I even wonder if you only went after Jas because you knew I liked him."
Grace panicked, her eyes widening.
"That’s not true," she cried. "You’re slandering !"
But her reaction only deepened the silence around them. Everyone could see it written on her face.
There was a high chance Lily was telling the truth.
Jas’s expression darkened. He glared at Grace, anger simring in his eyes.
’If she really was a fake best friend,’ he thought, ’then she didn’t just ruin Lily’s life... she ruined mine too.’
If Grace hadn’t pursued him, maybe he would have ended up with Lily long ago.
Mia and Ava exchanged glances before looking at Lily with quiet sympathy.
The scene reminded them of sothing from the past.
There had once been a guy nad Ray, soone Eva had started to like.
Before she could even take a single step, Ray had turned around and forced his feelings onto Ivy, claiming he liked her.
Ivy had indirectly rejected him on the very first day and even apologized to Eva, despite having done nothing wrong.
Back then, Mia, Eva, and Ivy had only been ordinary friends, not particularly close. Yet Ivy had handled things far better.
Because Ava and Ivy were both just common friends, Ivy had made everything clear without hesitation.
On the second day, when Ray continued to pursue her, Ivy rejected him firmly, without any pretense, and openly stated that she already liked soone else.
That mont had changed Ava’s perception completely.
Ivy wasn’t pretentious at all. She was straightforward, honest, and she never allowed anyone to cross her boundaries.
From then on, Ava had started protecting Ivy, both secretly and openly.
When Ivy eventually found out about Eva and Mia’s quiet protection, she had been so touched that she began treating them with genuine warmth in return.
From that mont on, their friendship had deepened and stretched far beyond what it once was.
Now, as Eva watched Grace standing opposite Lily, her face drained of color, she could not help but think,
’If our friendship had started on the wrong note too... who knows if we would be standing like this one day.’
Lily glanced at Grace one last ti, exhaustion seeping into her bones.
She finally decided she was done talking.
However, Caleb did not move away.
Instead, he remained standing in front of Grace, his posture rigid, his expression chillingly cold.
Sothing had resurfaced in his mind, sothing he could no longer ignore.
"Why did you lie to ?" Caleb’s voice cut through the silence.
Everyone froze and turned toward him in confusion.
Grace’s face went even paler, her breath hitching. She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing at his sleeve.
"Caleb, wait... let’s talk about this privately," she pleaded, panic clear in her eyes.
Caleb was having none of it. Without hesitation, he pushed her away, his eyes filled with disgust.
"No," he snapped. "Answer . Why did you lie?"
The tension thickened instantly, and everyone realized sothing serious was unfolding. All eyes turned to Caleb.
Lily felt her heart thump painfully as she stepped forward.
"What happened?" she demanded, her voice tight.
Caleb clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening as he stared at Grace with burning anger.
"She told you didn’t like anymore," he said coldly.
"She said you didn’t want to see at all. I wanted to confirm it, so I even talked to you myself."
His jaw tightened. "But now, it looks like it was her all along."
Lily’s eyes widened. A rush of mories slamd into her mind.
She had never understood why Caleb kept allowing Grace to stay close when he clearly did not like her.
Later, she had convinced herself that maybe he had fallen for Grace, and that was why she had kept her distance.
But now... the truth felt entirely different.
She turned to Grace, who was trembling, her shoulders shaking. Grace bit her lip, tears pooling in her eyes.
"You’re misunderstanding," she cried weakly. "I only said Lily wasn’t ready to see you. That’s all."
Caleb let out a short, humorless chuckle.
"I rember your exact words," he replied calmly, which sohow sounded even more terrifying.
"You said Lily has moved on. You said she doesn’t need in her life anymore." His eyes narrowed.
"You even said that if we t again, we should ignore each other, or she might have a breakdown."
Grace lowered her head, unable to defend herself any further.
Lily’s anger finally exploded. She stepped forward without hesitation.
"Did you really do that?" she demanded.
Grace stayed silent.
The next mont, a sharp sound echoed through the air.
Lily slapped Grace hard.
Grace stumbled back, stunned, her cheek burning as she stared at Lily in disbelief.
"Why did you slap ?" she cried.
Lily laughed bitterly, rage and hurt swirling together.
"You still don’t understand?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how much I endured watching him let you pursue him?"
Her eyes burned. "All because of your lies."
Caleb’s heart twisted painfully. He imdiately reached out and grabbed Lily’s hand. Lily calmly pulled her hand back, turning to him instead.
"Why didn’t you talk to ?" she asked quietly. "If you had... maybe things wouldn’t have turned out like this."
Pain flashed across Caleb’s eyes.
"She sent a recording," he said hoarsely. "In it, you said you were disgusted with . With our entire relationship."
Lily froze.
Then her face went deathly pale.
She rembered it clearly now.
Grace had once asked her to act in a small play, where the hero’s na had been Caleb.
In the script, a side character spoke about how disgusting the relationship was. Lily’s stomach churned.
’She recorded it...’ The realization made her feel like she could tear Grace apart with her bare hands.
Grace, realizing that everything had been exposed, broke down completely.
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