Page 2 of My best friend and boyfriend are pretending to be on bad terms

Because I didn't respond, Claire and I fell into a strange cold war.

Even Andrew noticed.

After dinner, he made a point of asking me: "Raelynn, did you and Claire have a fight?"

I nodded. "She told me to break up with you. I refused."

Andrew was stunned.

After all, I'd never talked to him about these things before, and I was always singing Claire's praises in front of him.

He hadn't expected me to be so direct, and he even forgot to put on his usual act of being upset.

Finally, Andrew said: "No wonder she seemed to be in a bad mood. You should go apologize to her and cheer her up. Claire's pretty greatyou need to be more tolerant of her."

Did I hear that right?

Andrew, who fought with Claire every single day, was telling me to be more tolerant of her?

I let out a cold laugh and looked at Andrew. "That's strange. You two fight every day, so I thought if Claire and I had a falling out, you'd be celebrating for three days straight. Why are you noticing her bad mood today and telling me to cheer her up?"

Hearing my words, Andrew realized he'd said the wrong thing. He gave a guilty smile and reached out to hug me.

He said: "I just don't want you to be in a bad mood too. Everyone knows you two are closest. If you really had a falling out, you'd definitely cry. Baby, how could I bear to see you upset?"

He called me "baby"the exact same term he'd used for Claire that night.

I felt a wave of nausea and instinctively dodged his embrace.

I said: "You just finished smoking. The smell is too strong. Stay away from me."

Andrew sniffed at himself.

He said: "Is it that bad? Then I'll go take a shower first. Later I'll come with you to find Claire so you can apologize. You need to be good."

Without giving me any chance to refuse, Andrew headed into the bathroom after speaking.

Looking at his phone in his jacket pocket, I hesitated for a moment, then took it out.

His passcode hadn't changedit was still my birthday, and his wallpaper was still a photo of us together.

But everything had already changed.

Andrew's phone was clean, without even Claire's social media accounts.

I thought about it and kept searching. Sure enough, I found another WhatsApp hidden in a messy folder on his desktop.

I clicked on it and discovered it was Andrew's alternate account. His chat history with Claire was still active from just moments ago.

The two of them were even calling each other "honey" now.

My hands were shaking as I scrolled through their chat history, and I suddenly remembered I'd seen this account's profile picture before.

Back then, Claire had openly bragged to me about her flirtatious conversations with this account.

She told me that's how men were these days, and advised me not to be so traditional, or Andrew would be stolen away by someone else.

But back then, I was completely absorbed in the illusion Andrew had created, and I'd confidently told her: "That won't happen. Andrew is the most honest person in the world."

Thinking back to that moment, I wanted to slap myself hard for being so stupid.

I scrolled through their chat history bit by bit.

Even though I'd mentally prepared myself and tried to stay calm, tears still fell one by one.

For three hundred and seventy-four days straight, they hadn't gone a single day without contact.

They'd started chatting just three months after Andrew and I got together.

On the hundredth day anniversary of my relationship with Andrew, while I was heartbroken and guilt-ridden because family issues prevented me from coming back to celebrate, they had slept together.

When Claire and I went shopping together, who could have imagined we were actually texting the same person?

Even during those few days when I was away on a research trip, Andrew would chat with me until 2 AM every night, telling me he "loved me" and saying "goodnight," but in reality he was holding another woman in his arms, having just finished having sex with her.

All the timelines connected, like two parallel worlds sharing the same axis of time.

Fighting back tears, I took screenshots of their chat history one by one, then restored his phone to exactly how it was, pretending nothing had happened.

But no one knew that inside, I was dying from the pain.

I ultimately turned down Andrew's suggestion. Using the excuse that I wasn't feeling well, I returned to my room early.

Though he noticed something was off about me, he didn't say muchjust told me to get some rest. Then he left.

I didn't need to think twice to know he was definitely going to see Claire.

Sure enough, before long, Andrew came back putting on a caring act, bringing me a glass of milk.

His attitude seemed sincere, but there was a lipstick stain at the corner of his mouth that he hadn't wiped clean. It was Claire's favorite shade.

Andrew said, "Raelynn, have some milk. You haven't seemed yourself these past couple days. Is something bothering you?"

As I brought the glass to my lips, I paused slightly.

I suddenly remembered that every time I drank something Andrew brought me, I'd sleep unusually deeply.

And that night when I caught them togetherI'd only had a couple sips of what he brought because my stomach was upset, then put it down.

Could there be something wrong with what he was giving me?

A cold sweat broke out across my body. Looking at Andrew's smile again, I found it strangely sinister and cold.

Not knowing what I was thinking, he just smiled and urged, "What's wrong? Baby, do you need me to feed it to you?"

"Go ahead and drink up. Get some good rest afterward. We're heading back tomorrow, so you need to be well-rested."

I shook my head. "I don't want it right now. Just leave it there."

Andrew's expression immediately became unnatural, but he couldn't very well force me.

After hesitating for a long time, he had to compromise: "Alright. Just remember to drink it later."

Andrew gave me a few more reminders. Seeing that I really wasn't going to cooperate, he finally left the room.

After he left, I immediately poured the milk down the sink, then crawled under the covers and pretended to be asleep.

Sure enough, after what felt like forever, Andrew finally came back to check on me.

Claire was following behind him.

Seeing that I was "asleep," they both relaxed, and their behavior became bolder.

After some rustling sounds of clothes, I heard the sounds of them having sex.

They were shameless enough to do this in my room!

Claire said, "You bad boy! Right next to her, you dare to sleep with me. Aren't you afraid she'll find out?"

Andrew replied, "What are you worried about? I put in more of the drug today. Look, she's sleeping soundly. She dared to upset my baby, so she has to pay the price."

Claire laughed, "You're so good to me. Raelynn's been in such a bad mood these past couple days, actually daring to ignore me. She's not even bringing me gifts anymore. You don't think she's figured something out, do you?"

"How could she?" Andrew kissed Claire's lips, reassuring her. "I've handled everything perfectlydidn't leave any evidence."

"Besides, you and I fight every day, so there's no way she'd suspect us. Once we get back, we can play some more exciting games."

Andrew's last words were drowned out by the sounds of him and Claire kissing.

I felt nauseated, my palms bearing deep marks from my fingernails.

I was indeed heartbroken by Andrew's betrayal, but what I found even harder to accept was how much Claire seemed to be enjoying this.

Claire came from a poor family. When we started freshman year, she was mocked and bullied by some troublemakers in our class because of her heavy accent, and they even stole the scholarship she'd applied for.

I couldn't stand watching it, so I took her all the way to the administration office to get the leadership to help resolve the situation.

Later, because I was constantly coming and going at odd hours, I was worried about disturbing my roommates' sleep, so I moved out of the dorm.

When Claire heard about this, she said she wanted to move out with me too, but she didn't have the money.

So I just had her cover utilities while I took care of the rent and other expenses.

That's how we ended up living in the same place and gradually became best friends.

I'd share half of whatever good things I had with her, and I'd often buy her things she liked.

We once got drunk together and promised to be best friends for life. But how did we end up like this?