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Avery then tried to call Zayne, but she got the same response.
“Sorry, the number you have dialed is unavailable.”
At that moment, Avery began to get anxious. Please don't tell me that something bad has happened.
Hence, she called Nina, who only took a second to answer.
“What's up, Babe?” greeted Nina before Avery told her what had just happened.
“My mother probably just went over to her friend's for poker. You probably don't know this, but she
tends to leave her phone in her bag whenever she plays poker. As for my brother, he's probably just
busy with work,” explained Nina.
Everything Nina said made sense, so Avery decided to stop overthinking.
After setting her phone aside, Avery entered the bathroom to shower and felt much better afterward.
While drying her hair, she heard her phone ringing on the coffee table.
It was Zayne calling.
“Hey,” greeted Avery after picking up her phone.
As if he was suppressing his emotions, Zayne kept silent for a while before questioning coldly, “Avery,
have you been seeing somebody behind my back?”
“What? Who would I be seeing behind your back?” Avery did not understand what Zayne meant.
“Even now, you continue to play innocent? I feel like I don't know you anymore, Avery. Tell me, am I
talking to the real you?” Zayne raised his voice so much that it turned hoarse.
In response to that, Avery tightened her grip on her phone.
“I need to know. What am I to you? Your boy toy? Or a naive guy you can take advantage of?”
continued Zayne harshly, upset because he was convinced that he was cheated on.
The man's angry voice was like an ice pick stabbing Avery in the ear.
“Please just calm down. Is there some sort of misunderstanding between us?” Avery asked with knitted
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇteyebrows.
To that, Zayne scoffed, “Misunderstanding? I don't think so! All I can feel right now is how much I hate
myself for trusting you unconditionally. I hate myself for not listening to Milana when I was overseas.
What she said was true, wasn't it, Ery? You were promiscuous while studying abroad and secretly had
a sexual relationship with a man.”
The last sentence did not come out as a question but as a statement.
Accused by her soon-to-be life partner of being someone she was not, Avery got so furious that her
hands shook.
“Whenever I asked you out, you'd always tell me that you were busy with work. You lied to me then,
didn't you? Now that I think about it, it does seem pretty suspicious. If you really were so busy taking up
multiple part-time jobs, how come I never saw you with dark eye circles?” questioned Zayne without
giving Avery a chance to speak.
“Okay. If you think I was lying about my part-time jobs, what do you think I was doing then?” Avery
furrowed her eyebrows even tighter.
“Do you really want me to say it out loud?” asked Zayne in a lowered voice.
“Yes. I want to hear you say it.”
“I'm only doing this because you asked me to.” Zayne then proceeded to tell Avery everything Milana
had told him, which he did not believe at that time. “In those five years, you'd been with six men, and
four of them had families! They supported you financially, paid your tuition fees, and even taught you
other languages. Somewhere in between, you got pregnant and had an abortion for them.”
At that point, Avery could feel her heart being shattered into a million pieces.
Tears began to roll down the woman's cheek as she lowered her head to stare at the engagement ring
on her finger.
It had not even been a week since their engagement, and her fiancé was already questioning her like a
criminal over the phone.
Nothing was more important to a woman than her reputation, yet Zayne had chastised Avery just
because of Milana's baseless accusations.
To Avery, the level of distrust she got from her fiancé was not any less severe than an outright betrayal.
Still, Zayne wanted to keep questioning Avery about the man she was supposedly seeing and to tell
her to stop denying it because her neighbor, Deborah, had claimed to be a witness to her affair.
Having had enough, Avery ended the call without another word.
Shortly after that, Avery's phone rang again, but she chose to ignore it.
At that moment, Avery did not feel sad or the need to cry. She was just exhausted.
Hugging her knees and burying her head in them, she decided to be her own comforter.
Avery thought Zayne was too good to be true when he had walked into her life five years ago, yet he
was real. The man was like a ray of light on a cloudy day, giving her hope that the sky would turn sunny
soon.
Just like that, Avery was lured out of her comfort zone and into the open, where she could see the dark
clouds above her.
The ray of light had promised her, “You can trust me. Just stand here and wait for the sun. Soon, I'll
turn your life into a bright sunny day.”
Hence, Avery had gazed at the light and waited obediently for its promise to come true.
Unfortunately, the sky suddenly became even darker as heavy rain poured down.
Drenched in rainwater and shivering because of the cold, Avery felt like the unluckiest person alive.
The woman eventually fell asleep after curling up on the couch for a long while.
It was only because of an unbearable stomachache that she was forced to wake up.
Avery had not eaten anything since she got out of bed in the morning.
After changing her clothes and grabbing her keys and purse, she was ready to go out for a simple
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmlunch. She did not feel like going home after eating, so she walked around the city, which felt as familiar
as it was strange to her. Maybe I'll feel better after this.
Before she could take the subway, someone suddenly grabbed her hand from behind.
Avery quickly turned around and realized that it was Milana.
“Avery, it's really you!” Milana gazed at Avery with a big smile.
“I hate myself for not listening to Milana when I was overseas!” Zayne's words suddenly echoed in
Avery's mind.
She did not doubt that Milana was capable of slandering her and making groundless accusations
against her in front of Zayne.
“Get your filthy hand off me!” Avery shouted before pulling her hand away.
“Filthy?” Milana continued to smile instead of getting upset. Quickening her pace to catch up with
Avery, Milana hurried into the subway before the door closed behind her.
“Mom asked me to tell you she'd like you home for dinner,” Milana informed, standing beside Avery,
who pretended to hear nothing.
“Hey, you're stepping on my foot!” Milana suddenly lowered her head to speak to a woman seated in
front of her.
The woman was none other than Deborah, who managed to grab a seat as soon as she got in.
Realizing that Milana and Avery shared the same mother, Deborah withdrew her foot before inquiring,
“Child, how old?”
“Twenty-six.” Milana would rather not chat with a nobody like Deborah, but she did not want to seem
rude.
Deborah chuckled and pretended to be jealous. “My, my! You sure look young for someone who has a
twenty-six-year-old child.”
“Why you...” Milana's face immediately turned bright red when people around them started giggling. It
would be inappropriate for me to argue with a middle-aged woman here. Damn it!
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