Her Instant Replies Proved She Loved Him

Andrew Heath, my best friend, often drags me into a "quick reply game" to test our lovers' loyalty. He believes that the speed of their replies proves whether they truly love you. Andrew and I are having dinner. He messages his mysterious girlfriend, and, in less than three seconds, he receives a 780-dollar transfer for the meal. I sit around until we finish eating before Hailey Somerville, my fiancee, finally replies with a brief message. "I'm in a meeting." Andrew sends his mysterious girlfriend a message during a heavy downpour, saying that he doesn't have an umbrella. His girlfriend sends over a luxury ride to pick him up ten minutes later. I, on the other hand, stand in the rain, getting drenched for a whole hour, only for Hailey to send me a simple message. "Get a cab yourself." Andrew often pats my shoulder and says, "You're so gullible that you wouldn't even know if your girlfriend was stepping out on you, Nathan." I repeatedly defend Hailey, saying, "She really loves me. She's just too busy right now." I then hook my arm over Andrew's shoulder and add, "And besides, I always have you to back me up, Andrew!" It isn't until the bachelor party right before my wedding with Hailey that everything changes. Andrew and I get drugged at a bar and dragged to the private room of a few wealthy women while wearing half-masks. Andrew quickly holds up his phone and says, "I hate seeing you go through this. If she doesn't show up this time, you have to break up with her, alright, Nathan?" I feel completely weak and numb all over. I gather my remaining strength to send Hailey a desperate plea for help. Hailey storms in frantically ten minutes later. I breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that I finally won this time. Hailey, however, doesn't even spare me a glance. She walks straight past me as I slump against the edge of the bed and pulls Andrew into her embrace. "I'm sorry for being late, Andrew…" I freeze on the spot as the drug's effects rush through my system, choking back any sound I try to make. I am forced to watch her support Andrew and leave the private room without turning around. She never realizes that the other person she completely ignores in the private room is me, her actual fiance. It turns out the mysterious, ever-responsive girlfriend Andrew always boasts about is actually Hailey, my fiancee of five years. Chapter 1 Nathan's POV It wasn't long before the drug's effect rushed through my system even more aggressively, leaving my body limp and burning up. I didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. In the meantime, once Andrew Heath, my best friend, was taken away, the people who drugged me returned and surrounded me. I suffered through the ordeal in a blur for God knows how long, and once the assault finally ended, they dragged me out and dumped me outside the private room. I barely managed to steady myself against the wall when I saw Hailey Somerville, my fiancee, helping Andrew into the private room across the hallway. I then heard soft panting and moans coming from behind the slightly ajar door. I dragged my exhausted body over to the door, and just as I raised my hand to knock, a black card was tossed through the crack and landed at my feet. Hailey's voice sounded from the darkness, seductive yet impatient. "Go buy me a box of ultra-thin condoms and bring it over—make it fast!" I silently picked up the black card, my legs trembling uncontrollably. I limped over to the front desk and bought a box of condoms. I then returned to the private room, pushed open the door, and placed it on the coffee table. "Here's what you asked for." Hailey and Andrew, who were making out heavily on the couch, snapped out of it and went still. Hailey froze the moment she saw my face, the lust in her eyes being replaced by utter shock. "W-What are you doing here, Nathan?" "I was the one who messaged you," I replied flatly, staring at the two of them wrapped around each other. Hailey finally snapped out of it, pushed Andrew away abruptly, and scrambled to put on her clothes. In the midst of the chaos, I took her phone from her pocket and unlocked it with my birthdate. I noticed that Andrew's chat was pinned at the top, while my own chat had been put on "Do Not Disturb" mode, with more than 99 unread messages in it. I felt a sharp pang in my chest when I saw that. It turned out Hailey wasn't ignoring my messages because she was too busy to reply. She didn't even bother to read any of them. I swallowed every bit of resentment I wanted to voice after seeing how much attention she gave Andrew. Hailey grabbed my hand, her voice laced with an unusual hint of panic. "Please hear me out, Nathan." I said nothing and just stared fixedly at her chest. Hailey was extremely particular about cleanliness and had always been restrained when it came to intimacy. She never let me leave any hickeys on her body. I accidentally left a hickey on her that one time, and she was so angry that she wouldn't let me near her for three months. Yet, at this moment, Hailey's chest was covered with hickeys. Upon seeing that I wasn't screaming or making a scene, Hailey became even more panicked. "A-Andrew was drugged, so this was all just an accident, Nathan!" Andrew leisurely sat up and draped his shirt over Hailey, right before my eyes. He then pulled her by the waist and grinned at me. "I guess there's no point in hiding it anymore since the cat's out of the bag. I'd like you to meet Hailey Somerville, my girlfriend." Hailey snapped, "Shut up!" Andrew ignored her completely, picked up the box of ultra-thins on the coffee table, glanced at it, and let out a mocking laugh. "Hailey really hasn't slept with you that often, huh? How can you buy such a small size? It's so tight that it'd squeeze the life out of me, Nathan." "I told you to shut the hell up, Andrew!" Hailey barked, her eyes bloodshot as she clapped her hand over his mouth. Andrew chuckled as he touched the back of her hand. "You don't need to be so harsh. You sounded a lot better earlier when you were moaning and clinging to me, Hailey." "Get out!" Hailey lost her temper completely and shoved Andrew out the door. She then turned around and grabbed my hand, saying, "You have to believe me, Nathan. I just lost my head for a moment—" She cut herself short when the light spilling in from the hallway illuminated the blood and bruises covering my body. Her eyes widened in shock, filled with worry. "What happened to you, Nathan?" I pulled away from her hand and replied flatly, "I had a fall, that's all." "I'll go get the first-aid kit, so stay right here, Nathan," Hailey said, her eyes brimming with tears. She gently helped me down onto the couch before rushing out of the private room. I had no idea how much time had passed when the pain finally started to sink in. I curled up on the couch in a daze after Hailey didn't show up for a long time. I absentmindedly called Hailey's number, and this time, the call went through instantly. Chapter 2 Hailey's voice sounded tender and seductive from the other end of the call, though it wasn't directed at me. "I accidentally scratched you in the heat of the moment earlier. I'll put some ointment on you, so hold still." Andrew's deep voice sounded right after. "Why are you taking care of me? Nathan is still waiting for you, Hailey." Hailey scoffed. "Nathan has a great temper and is used to waiting for people. He's nothing like you, a spoiled, needy brat." I felt sick to my stomach. I quickly hung up, letting the screen fade to black. I looked around at the mess in the private room, forcing a wretched smile. I had always been the best at waiting around for her, but a broken relationship could never be fixed, and I wasn't going to spend any more time waiting for a response that would never come. I picked up my phone and calmly made the call. "I'd like to file a police report." … In the police station, the harsh white lights glared down on me, feeling piercingly cold. The police officer knocked on the table and asked, "Do you know how serious this is? Where's your family?" I wanted to tell the police officer that I had no family left, but then the door to the police station suddenly swung open. Andrew walked right in, his leather shoes clicking on the floor. "I'm Nathan's best friend. I was at the scene with him as well, so feel free to ask me whatever you want." The police officer took a look at me, caked in blood and filth, and then at Andrew in his pristine clothes. "Why don't you have any injuries despite being there with him?" Andrew looked at me with a knowing smile. "It's because my girlfriend got there first and got me out of that private room." In that instant, everyone in the lobby fell silent, and the police officer's eyes immediately filled with pity when he looked at me. A cold draft swept through the lobby. Andrew slipped off his coat, draped it over my shoulders, and hurried around, taking care of all the paperwork and forms for me. A female police officer, who happened to stop by to hand me a glass of warm water, said, "You've got a really good friend there." I held the glass of warm water and stared at Andrew through the haze of steam. I suddenly recalled how, back in university, Andrew spent two full days and nights by my side while I ran a high fever, running all over the place to care for me. I remembered how, when things were at their worst, and I had no money left for food after paying my tuition, he would always share half of his meals with me. We had once sworn to have each other's backs for a lifetime. How did things end up like this? Andrew walked back over once he completed the paperwork and casually adjusted the coat that was slipping off my shoulders. I stared at him intently and asked hoarsely, "Why would you do this to me, Andrew?" Andrew stopped what he was doing, his eyes filled with a trace of exasperation. "You love her way too much, to the point where you've lost yourself in it, Nathan. "I told you ages ago—a woman like Hailey is deep, manipulative, and used to men swooning over her. How could an honest guy like you even keep her in check? "How could I, as your best friend, watch you throw yourself into a disaster? I just wanted to test her for your sake. I never would've thought that she'd give in to temptation so easily, Nathan." Andrew always claimed Hailey was the unfaithful type and could never be a good partner for me. Hailey, on the other hand, would always tell me that Andrew had ulterior motives and that I shouldn't believe everything he said. They never got along whenever they met, and things were always tense between them. I was the one who kept trying to make Hailey accommodate Andrew while begging Andrew to accept the woman I loved. I exhausted myself trying to keep the peace between them, making a complete fool of myself. Andrew obviously recalled that moment as well, chuckling as he said, "I actually nudged her under the table with my foot when you first introduced her to me, and to my surprise, she reacted right on the spot. "That night, right after she took you home, she came straight over to my place. You never told me that your fiancee was that good in bed, Nathan." I felt sick to my stomach after realizing that it happened during my birthday. Andrew looked at my pale complexion and continued slowly, "And do you know why she always took so long to reply to your messages? She was busy having sex with me. You can only blame her for being so sexually insatiable. You would've gotten your replies much faster if she wasn't." "Shut up!" I covered my ears, shaking violently. It was no wonder that, at some point, Hailey's tone about Andrew changed over time from "your friend is so annoying" to "why isn't Andrew here today?" It would also explain why she would sometimes smell like Andrew's cologne. Those realizations hit me like a crushing blow, as every overlooked detail mocked how oblivious I had been. Just then, Hailey called me. Andrew leaned in close to my ear and chuckled softly. "Do you want to bet that even if you tell her that you had been assaulted, a single message from me is all it takes for her to hang up on you and run straight to me, Nathan?" I remained silent for a long moment before answering the call, holding on to the last bit of hope I had. "H-Hailey, I was assaul—" Andrew opened his chat and sent Hailey nothing but a single period. I could hear the notification sound coming from her end before she abruptly ended the call, leaving me with nothing but the cold, busy tone that felt like a knife driving right into my heart. Andrew's phone started ringing immediately after. He unhurriedly tapped the screen to pick it up, a mocking grin spreading across his face. Hailey's voice rang out clearly from the other end of the call, brimming with excitement. "I'm pregnant, Andrew!" Chapter 3 Hailey hurried into the police station and threw her arms around Andrew, her face practically glowing with excitement. She took a while to realize that I was actually sitting nearby. She approached me guiltily and took my hand. "You probably heard what I said on the phone earlier, right? I'm pregnant with Andrew's baby. How could I just leave him alone in that private room, especially since he's the father of my baby, Nathan?" Just then, two police officers walked past, talking among themselves. "Did you hear what happened just now? There was some guy at the bar who just got used by a bunch of wealthy women! He just came over to file a report…" Hailey's face paled abruptly. She pulled Andrew closer to her side, then turned to me and asked, "Did you hear that? If I hadn't made it there in time, Andrew would've been the one going through that nightmare! "You'd have done the same for someone you cared about, right? You get where I'm coming from, right, Nathan?" Seeing the way she desperately protected Andrew, I laughed bitterly to myself. I looked at her without a trace of emotion and asked hoarsely, "What if I told you that I was the one who had been assaulted, Hailey?" In that instant, everything seemed to go still. Hailey hesitated, then scowled, her eyes brimming with annoyance. "That's enough! I get that you're hurt because I'm having Andrew's baby, but claiming you were the one assaulted just out of spite is completely irrational, Nathan!" I couldn't stand the sight of her lashing out at me so viciously for another man, so I turned on my heel and rushed out. I couldn't stop my mind from flashing back to my memories with Andrew. I had treated him as the only family I had in the world since my parents had died young. I was surrounded by some thugs in an alley back when I was in university. Andrew grabbed a brick and stood between us. He refused to step aside even though his head was bleeding badly. I held his bloodied body that day and cried until I nearly fainted, yet he still smiled and teased me. "If anyone wants to lay a hand on my best friend, they'd have to step over my dead body!" Yet, the very best friend who had once risked everything for my sake had gotten my fiancee pregnant. I suddenly felt a gust of wind whipping across my face. I had unconsciously wandered to the edge of the rooftop. "Nathan!" Andrew shouted frantically from behind. He grabbed me and pulled me down from the edge, his eyes turning completely bloodshot. "How can you kill yourself over some woman who can't keep her legs closed? Have you lost your mind, Nathan?" I stared intently at him, overwhelmed by a crushing pain in my heart, unable to say anything at all. Andrew took out a cigarette from his pack, lit it up, and took a long drag. He stared straight at me and said with absolute sincerity, "You can rest assured that as long as you don't want this baby, I'll convince Hailey to get an abortion. Neither of us will ever have children together after this. I told you before, Nathan—I won't allow anyone to hurt you." Upon noticing my silence, Andrew flicked his cigarette away. He bent down to pick up a steel pipe lying to the side and, without any hesitation, brought it down hard on his own arm. In that instant, a sickening thud echoed through the air. Andrew went deathly pale and fell hard onto his knees. "Andrew!" Just then, the rooftop door was kicked open. Hailey immediately saw Andrew, slumped on the ground with blood soaking his sleeve, and the bloodied steel pipe lying beside me. She rushed over and kicked me aside, her eyes completely bloodshot. "How dare you lay a hand on him, Nathan!" I lost my footing and fell hard onto the bare concrete, an exposed piece of rebar piercing straight into my right leg. Hailey didn't even bother to check the facts before accusing me of striking Andrew, going so far as to kick me with brutal force. I could taste the blood rising in my throat every time I drew in an agonizing breath. I gathered the last bit of strength I had left and said hoarsely, "We should just call off the engagement. We're done, Hailey." Hailey held Andrew gently against her chest and shot me a murderous look. "You'd better stop threatening me by calling off the engagement! I don't have time for your nonsense, Nathan!" "I actually mean it this time—" Andrew groaned in pain before I could even finish what I was saying. Hailey grew frantic. She propped him up and led him away, not sparing me a single glance. I curled up on the ground, barely clinging to life, while a large pool of blood spread beneath my leg. Chapter 4 I stared at the hospital ceiling, my expression hollow. Hailey sat beside my hospital bed, holding my cold hand in hers with an expression brimming with remorse. "W-We'll find a way to treat your leg… There has to be a way to treat it, Nathan…" I glanced at Andrew, whose eyes were brimming with tears, before shifting my gaze toward Hailey. I then said faintly, "I've injured my leg for the second time now, Hailey." Hailey immediately stiffened. Three years ago, amidst a heavy blizzard, Andrew dragged me into a "quick reply game" to test our significant others' loyalty. Ten minutes later, a Maybach pulled over and whisked Andrew away. I, on the other hand, was left stranded in the freezing blizzard. I eventually passed out in the freezing snow and remained unconscious all night. I came to with terrible frostbite on my right leg, which had nearly required amputation. Hailey had once again ruined my right leg, all for the sake of Andrew. It was clear that the two of them remembered that blizzard incident too, their eyes instantly filling with overwhelming guilt. Andrew's eyes were completely bloodshot as he repeatedly struck his own head. "It's all my fault! I'll pay for it with my life! I'll make up for what I did to you, Nathan!" Hailey's expression shifted drastically as she pulled Andrew into a tight embrace. She kissed the tears off his face, telling him over and over again that he hadn't done anything wrong. I watched their tearful drama without feeling the slightest emotion. I pulled the IV needle from my arm and limped out of the hospital ward. I calmly began packing my belongings as soon as I returned to the villa. I then took out the wedding suit from the back of my closet—the one I'd spent countless nights designing by hand—intending to throw it into the trash. Just then, the door swung open. Hailey caught sight of the wedding suit lying on the bed, and the guilt in her eyes deepened. "I get that you're afraid that if I have Andrew's baby, it'll mess with your standing in our relationship. You can rest assured that you'll always be my husband—and that no matter who the biological father is, you're the only one who'll be their father." I dodged her hand by stepping to the side as she reached out to hold me after saying that. Hailey's hand froze halfway. She took a deep breath and patiently coaxed me, saying, "I swear we'll get married tomorrow. I'll even take you to Fioren to watch the Northern Lights after the wedding. You won't be upset anymore after that, right, Nathan?" I had once dreamed of having a wedding and watching the Northern Lights with her, but now that I was finally getting them, my heart remained completely unmoved. Just then, my phone buzzed with an update from the court. "All three suspects involved in the sexual assault case are now in custody. Your hearing is set for 10:00 am tomorrow, so please be present on time. Those suspects indicated in their statements that they were acting on someone else's orders, Mr. Zeller." I was just about to speak up when a dedicated ringtone interrupted me. Hailey instantly answered the call, snatching her coat and rushing outside in a hurry. "Andrew isn't feeling well, so I need to take him to the hospital right away. You should just stay home and rest well. I'll come pick you up first thing tomorrow morning for the wedding, Nathan." I couldn't even tell her that my court case was going on trial the following day as she rushed out and closed the door shut behind her. I smirked bitterly, packed up all my case files, and left them sitting on the cabinet in the foyer. … Third-Person POV It was the following morning, and the lively wedding party gathered at the villa's front doors. Hailey looked radiant in the wedding dress. She walked up to the front door, her smile wide, and keyed in my birthdate at the smart lock, only to hear the mechanical sound ringing out from it. "Passcode is incorrect." Hailey's smile faltered as an inexplicable sense of anxiety welled up inside her. Andrew chimed in from the side with a teasing remark. "It seems like the groom had deliberately changed the passcode to stop you at the door! You don't think you can marry Nathan without putting in some effort, do you, Hailey?" Hailey forced down the unease rising within her and used her spare key to unlock the door. She went completely still the moment she saw the files on the cabinet in the foyer. Just then, two police officers suddenly walked up behind them and addressed Andrew. "We need you to come with us, Mr. Heath."