As the gathering ended, friends trickled out one by one. The festive air dissipated, leaving a strange hollowness in its wake.

My phone rang, startling me. Mechanically, I answered.

“Hannah! You’re back in the country? You said you wouldn’t return—are you staying there?” A familiar voice buzzed on the line. When I didn’t respond, his tone turned desperate.

“Answer me!”

Finally, I croaked out a single sentence, “I’m… back.”

It didn’t matter anymore. My love, my friends—they had all replaced me with Olivia. This place, once a home, now felt foreign. There was nothing left for me here.

Victor Hayes sighed in relief then, realizing it was an afterthought.

“You’ve been crying, haven’t you? Tell me where you are. I’ll fly back and find you. Wait for me!”

A cold, familiar voice interrupted from behind just after hanging up the phone.

“Who were you talking to?” Nathan stood there, his expression dark and piercing. “A man? Who is he? Do I know him?”

Ignoring him, I walked away. But he grabbed my wrist, his grip tight and unrelenting. His determination to get an answer was almost frightening.

Reluctantly, I lied. “A colleague, asking about some documents.”

Satisfied, he released me and tugged me toward the parking lot. “Let’s go. My parents are waiting for us at home.”

It was then I noticed Olivia was gone, having slipped out unnoticed.

My dad and Nathan’s dad were old war buddies. That was why I had lived in Nathan’s house since my dad passed away. As a matter of fact, I should go back and take a look.

It wasn’t until I was standing by his car that I noticed something was off. The passenger seat was accessorized with bright stickers spelling out Olivia Grace, a butterfly-print neck pillow labelled Princess Olivia’s Special Seat and a seat cover embroidered with her initials.

I hesitated for a long time, deciding whether or not to go to the back seat, my hand hovering over the door handle. Nathan glanced at me sideways. “Don’t sit there. Olivia hates it when anyone else does. You’re more understanding—take the back.”

I blinked at him, stunned. He remembered Olivia’s pet peeves but forgot my chronic carsickness, which made anything but the passenger seat unbearable. I didn’t say anything and opened the back seat door.

What met my eyes was a set of sexy red lace lingerie.

My mind raced. During the two hours, I had been waiting eagerly, full of excitement to see him, smiling and dreaming of his warm embrace. And what had they been doing in this car during those same hours? My stomach churned as reality mocked me—this was nothing short of a cruel joke.

***

When we arrived at his family home, his parents greeted me warmly.

“You’re back! Finally, you’re back!” His mother held my hands tightly, beaming with joy.

After some pleasantries, she pulled me aside to show me wedding invitations. “Hannah, which design do you like best? I’ve been trying to pick the perfect one for your wedding!”

“Wedding?” I stammered, taken aback. “But we—”

“Mom, don’t stress her out. Hannah just got back and must be exhausted.” Nathan’s casual interruption startled me. His tone was so… matter-of-fact. Was he genuinely planning to marry me? And if so, what about Olivia?

His parents shared an amused glance, his father chuckling. “This boy! He’s always been so devoted to you. He used to fly overseas to visit you all the time. Now, you’ll finally be together every day.”

Overseas? I froze. He had never once visited me. A flicker of panic crossed his face and he quickly changed the subject. Their words didn’t sit right with me. Something was off.

When I had a moment alone, I messaged a mutual friend, Madison Clarke.

Hannah: [Can you check Nathan’s social media from the past three years? Did he post anything about travelling?]

Her reply was almost immediate.

Madison: [Nope, nothing. Why?]

Still unconvinced, I contacted a few other friends. Their answers were the same: no posts, no visits, no evidence he had ever tried to see me.

Then I remembered. I had an old, forgotten secondary account that might give me a clearer picture. Logging in, I searched for his profile and opened his posts.

What I saw shattered me. A flood of posts, all featuring him and Olivia.

Photo after photo of him and Olivia filled the feed. Their faces beamed in selfies taken against backdrops of iconic landmarks. For three years, I had begged him to visit me. Each time, he’d said he was busy, that it wasn’t the right time. I’d waited alone in a foreign country, clinging to hope. But they had been travelling the world together—while I waited, begged and believed his excuses.

My vision blurred as the truth slammed into me. I wasn’t even worth a weekend trip when I was just a few hours away in a neighbouring country.

When I received my admission letter to study abroad, I hesitated. It wasn’t financially feasible. But Nathan’s generous and well-off parents insisted I pursue my doctorate. Through him, they transferred my tuition and living expenses for the first year.

In the beginning, I could get by with food and clothing, but it only lasted for a few months. After a few months, Nathan’s promised living expenses never came again. Nathan never explained and I didn’t dare ask his parents. Left with no choice, I supported myself through part-time jobs, scraping together enough for tuition while living in a decrepit apartment.

The area was far from safe. A few big black-faced men always wandered around the house. Men with harsh faces loitered outside my building, their eyes leering at me when I returned from late classes.

I was so scared that I could only lock all the doors and windows when I went to bed and I would even reinforce several locks on one door and block the closet. Even so, there would still be a few drunken loud banging on the door.

Terrified, I once called Nathan for help. His voice was calm, dismissive.

“Honey, I’m swamped at work. Just hang in there; morning will come soon.”

I hung up, trembling under my blanket, wide awake until dawn. In desperation, I checked his social media.

A fresh post greeted me.

Nathan: [Little girls are so troublesome. Poor Olivia was scared of thunder; I comforted her all night.]

The comments below stung like needles:

[Olivia’s adorable—she’s worth it! Treat her well!]

[Don’t bully our Olivia! Also, remember to block Hannah, haha!]

So they all knew. Everyone. And they all kept it from me.

For three years, I worked tirelessly, got up early and was busy with my studies, hoping to graduate quickly and return to him. But during those years, Nathan transformed my friends into Olivia’s inner circle. I became an outsider, unwelcome in my own life.

At dinner that evening, I felt my body trembling with suppressed emotions. Nathan’s mother mistook my exhaustion for fatigue and told him, “Take Hannah home. She needs rest.”

Following him to the garage, I froze as memories of the car’s interior flashed back. I wrenched my hand from his.

“Get away from me! I don’t want to ride in your car!”

Nathan wrinkled his eyebrows, took a deep breath and patiently said, “Then how do you plan to get home?”

I didn’t answer, turning on my heel and walking. Step by painful step, I made my way toward the house. Night had fallen and the roads stretched dark and silent.

Nathan turned on his car lights and slowly followed behind me.

In the beginning, Nathan knew that I liked quiet, so he purposely bought the house in the suburbs. I walked for two hours and the soles of my feet rubbed raw.

When I finally arrived, he stormed in behind me, seething. “What’s your problem? You’re acting spoiled! Has going abroad made you unbearable?”

“Who spoiled me?” I said, voice trembling. For three years, I had clawed my way through life alone. Where was the luxury he accused me of?

I didn’t bother answering further; I just stepped inside to find everything unrecognizable. My study—once a shared dream for us—had been converted into a nail salon, complete with various manicure tools. The vanity was covered in makeup I didn’t own. Even the bathroom cup bore stickers labelling it “Olivia’s Exclusive.”

Our home, once lovingly decorated together, now screamed someone else’s name.

I was too drained to fight. Opening a guest room, I froze.

There she was. Olivia sat in a wedding gown—my mother’s wedding gown.

The gown was all I had left of her. Now, its aged lace had been carelessly cut away, the yellowed edges discarded on the floor. The jewels and embroidery were stripped, leaving the fabric tattered. Olivia’s careless attempt to squeeze into it had stretched seams to their breaking point.

She smirked as I stepped in, her eyes daring me to react.

With a loud rip, the gown tore completely.

Thunder rumbled outside as my composure shattered. I grabbed a vase and hurled it to the ground, screaming.

“Who told you to touch this wedding dress? Take it off! Take it off right now!”

Olivia shrank into Nathan’s arms, her voice trembling but her smirk defiant.

“Nathan, I’m scared…”

I grabbed my bag, striking at her in desperation. Tears blurred my vision as I shouted, “Take it off! That’s—”

Nathan’s hand struck me hard across the face. The slap rang louder than the thunder.

“Enough! What are you even doing? This is my house! If you want to throw a tantrum, do it elsewhere!”

I collapsed to the floor, my strength drained.

“It’s just a broken wedding dress,” he said coldly. “Why are you acting crazy? Have you lost your mind?”

Just a dress? That gown wasn’t ‘just a dress’. It was the only thing my mother left me—the only piece of her I still had.

But Nathan didn’t remember that. He didn’t care to.

Once, he had said, ‘Hannah, this is our home. You can decorate it however you like.’

Now, he said, ‘This is my house. If you don’t like it, leave.’

It wasn’t a broken wedding dress. This wedding dress is my mom’s relics left me. But he doesn’t remember it anymore.

Nathan dragged me to the door without regard for my protests, his grip like iron. Without a second thought, he shoved me into the night.

“Get out and reflect on yourself! When you’ve figured it out, then come back!”

The door slammed shut behind me, leaving me alone in the pitch-black darkness. A deafening clap of thunder lit up the garden, its light casting fleeting shadows that only deepened my dread.

A burst of unpleasant memories flooded my mind and I slapped the door as hard as if grasping for a life preserver.

Desperately, I shouted, “Please, Nathan, let me in! I’m scared!”

My voice cracked and I begged, louder and more frantic.

“Nathan, I’m begging you—just this once! Let me in!”

Fear overwhelmed me, my chest tightening, my head spinning with nausea. I clung to the hope that if he opened the door. Even thinking that if he showed even an ounce of kindness tonight, I could forgive everything. But he didn’t.

I heard Nathan’s cold laugh from inside, followed by his teasing voice.

“What are you pretending for? Don’t you just want to compete for favour with Olivia? You’re just throwing a tantrum to get attention. You’re not even scared of thunder. Stop pretending!”

Nathan wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t feared thunder—before. But that night, trapped in a foreign land, isolated and powerless, the sound of thunder had intertwined with the pounding fists of drunk men on my door. Since then, every rumble of the sky had been a trigger, a reminder of my helplessness.

But he didn’t care to know that. Nathan never opened the door.

***

As I stumbled through the spinning world, I suddenly remembered the Nathan of my youth.

Once, bullies locked me in the school’s equipment room. Nathan had ignored the teachers’ warnings, stubbornly using bricks to break the lock. When the door finally swung open, light poured in and there he stood, radiant like a god descending to rescue me.

But that god was long gone.

***

I woke up on a man’s back. Under the dim glow of streetlights, I groggily murmured, “Nathan… is that you?”

Victor is about to be angry and laugh, muffling his voice against his back teeth. “Hannah, open your eyes. It’s me—Victor!”

A single thought struck me through my disorientation, ‘The god has been replaced’.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, there was a loud braking sound behind me. Nathan’s car came to a halt and the next moment, I heard the sound of one person’s hurried footsteps.

Before I could react, Nathan had already punched Victor in the face.

Victor staggered but steadied himself, carefully lowering me to lean against the streetlight. He turned back, his expression sharp as steel. Then, the two men started wrestling.

Nathan’s fists struck flesh. “Who gave you the right to touch my girlfriend? She’s mine!” Nathan roared, his voice filled with fury.

“Yours? Let’s see for how long,” he shot back before throwing himself into the fight.

The two men exchanged brutal blows, neither holding back. Nathan’s rage erupted with every punch. He talked about our past experiences.

“Do you know what we’ve been through? Ten years of knowing each other! Five years together! She has met my parents! She cooked for me at sunrise and stayed up all night to buy me medicine when I was sick. She’s been there for me through everything! What can you offer that compares?”

His words might have meant something once, but now they felt hollow, bitter. He glared at me, his voice laced with accusation.

“You’ve changed! Ever since you went abroad, I remember you’re not the sweet, gentle Hannah. You’ve become unbearable!”

Victor froze mid-punch, his gaze softening as he looked at me. His voice was quiet, yet his anger burned brightly.

“Gentle? If she stayed gentle, she wouldn’t have survived.”

Nathan paused, his movements faltering. His rambling voice sounded as if the pause button had been pressed, “What do you mean?”

Victor didn’t let up.

“She worked three jobs a day, Nathan. Three! She lived in dangerous alleys where she had to grow sharp edges just to make it through. If she hadn’t toughened up, she would’ve been eaten alive by those scum. Don’t pretend you don’t know! “

Nathan’s face fell, a flicker of understanding breaking through his anger. He grabbed Victor’s collar, his eyes bloodshot.

“Why? Why would she need to work? She’s never had to suffer like that before!”

Victor said nothing, his silence more damning than any words.

And then, realization dawned on Nathan. His hands shook as he slapped his own face hard.

“Damn it! I shouldn’t have trusted Olivia with this! She… she wouldn’t have…! How dare she…”

His voice broke, his regret palpable. He clutched his hair in anguish, but Victor wasn’t done.

“You call her your girlfriend,” Victor said, his voice steady but cutting. “So, where were you when she was being followed home by creeps?”

Victor continued, “Where were you when she was harassed, cornered and terrified? When she huddled alone in her room, blocking the door, covering her ears, hoping the drunk men banging on her door wouldn’t get in—where the hell were you?”

Not stopping there, “She cried herself to sleep, Nathan. She dreamed of you, begged for you in her sleep. And where were you? Huh?!”

Nathan’s hands dropped to his sides, his face pale as the weight of Victor’s words sank in.

“You say you’re her boyfriend,” Victor spat. “But for three years, I never saw you once. You would have known the hell she has been through if you could show up even once. You would have known what kind of life she has leading.”

The air hung heavy with silence. Nathan’s lips moved, but no words came. He couldn’t answer the only question that mattered.

“Where were you, Nathan Cross?”