Page 1 of My best friend and boyfriend are pretending to be on bad terms

The intimate sounds from the room kept coming. My fingertips trembledI couldn't believe what I was witnessing.

My best friend Claire was actually with my boyfriend Andrew?

Hadn't they always had a terrible relationship, fighting every time they saw each other?

But their intimate conversation reminded me that this was all real.

Andrew said, "Baby, don't worry. If I break up with her, you'd lose your graduate school recommendation, wouldn't you? She told me a couple days ago that her academic report is almost finished. When the time comes, I'll steal it and give it to you to help you win the first-place scholarship."

Hearing this, Claire was thrilled and leaned in to kiss Andrew again.

She said, "Andrew, you're so good to me. Raelynn has such a wonderful boyfriend, yet she neglects you every day at the library. She's so stupid. But once she's done with her studies, she'll have plenty of time to spend with you. You won't dump me for her, will you?"

"Her?" Andrew acted like he'd heard the biggest joke in the world.

He snorted and said, "I've been fed up with her for ages. We've been together for over a year, and she won't even let me touch her. When I kiss her, it's like kissing a piece of wood. How could some boring prude compare to you? If it weren't for you, I would've broken up with her already."

He sounded particularly indignant, making Claire laugh non-stop.

And I stood outside the door, feeling like all the blood in my body had stopped flowing.

How could this be?

What I thought was a "good friend" and "sweet romance" was nothing but a stupid joke in their eyes.

Had they been lying to me about everything?

I suppressed the urge to confront them and stumbled back to my room.

That night, I couldn't sleep at all.

When I woke up the next day, my eyes were swollen and I looked haggard.

As soon as Claire saw me, she rushed over with concern.

She said, "Raelynn, what's wrong? Didn't you sleep well last night? I know what it is. Andrew must have been snoring too loudly and kept you awake! I told you we shouldn't have brought himjust the two of us girls should've gone on this trip, but you wouldn't listen!"

Andrew immediately shot back, "Claire, what's that supposed to mean? Raelynn is my girlfriend. As her boyfriend, of course I need to come along to protect her. Why do you always try to get between us?"

Here they went again.

I'd forgotten when it started, but these two seemed destined to fight whenever they were in the same room.

At first, I thought they both wanted alone time with me, and I was caught up in the happiness of "being cared about by two people."

I even foolishly created opportunities like this trip for all three of us to hang out together, thinking I could help ease their conflicts.

But now I knew their arguments were just a disguise to cover up their illicit relationship.

I was the one who'd been playing the fool in the middle all along.

The more fiercely they argued, the more abnormally I refrained from stepping in to stop them.

Finally, Andrew put on his fed-up act and left the villa.

After he left, Claire sat beside me and started her usual routine of trying to convince me to break up with him.

She said, "Raelynn, look at that attitude of his. Being with someone so emotionally unstable, you're bound to end up in an abusive relationship sooner or later. We're best friends. Would I ever hurt you? I can't bear to see you in such a bad situation."

The worry in Claire's eyes looked genuine. Before, I'd been repeatedly deceived by this very expression, unable to see the truth and thinking Claire was genuinely concerned about me.

Unfortunately, now I knew the whole truth. So every word she said made me feel sick.

Probably seeing that I wasn't reacting, Claire put on her usual disappointed and anxious expression.

She said, "You still don't want to break up with him? What kind of spell has Andrew cast on you? I'm telling youif you don't break up with him this time, we're done being friends!"

Claire angrily finished speaking, then deliberately moved to sit farther away from me and started playing on her phone.

Soon enough, I saw a $2,000 skincare set appear in her recommended videos.

When I looked up, I caught Claire stealing glances at me.

I almost laughed out loud from anger.

Claire had done this before. Every time she and Andrew finished "fighting," she would "accidentally" let me discover something she was interested in lately.

I was afraid of losing her as a friend. So no matter how expensive the item was, I would buy it and give it to her, hoping she wouldn't hold grudges against Andrew.

Claire's daily necessities were pretty much all covered by me for this reasonheadphones, clothes, cosmetics.

But this time, I just glanced at the skincare set and said nothing.

I'd already been scammed out of so much money by these two jerks. I hadn't even figured out how to get that money back yet. And now Claire wanted me to keep spending?

No way!