CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST CRACK IN THE PERFECT FRIENDSHIP
For three days, I lived inside a question.
Not an answer.
Not a truth.
A question.
That was the worst kind of prison.
Because when someone hurts you, you can hate them.
When someone betrays you, you can leave.
But when two people you love tell you completely different versions of reality, your own mind becomes the battlefield.
And I was losing.
Every memory became suspicious.
Every conversation became a clue.
Every smile became something I needed to analyze.
Something Evelyn had spent ten years teaching me to do.
Analyze everything.
Look deeper.
Trust patterns.
Notice details.
I just never imagined that one day I would use those lessons against her.
Claire stayed with her sister for a few days.
She didn't officially break up with me.
That almost made it worse.
If she had screamed, if she had called me a liar, if she had thrown my things out the window, maybe I would have understood.
But Claire didn't do any of that.
She simply became quiet.
And quiet from someone you love feels heavier than anger.
Every night, I stared at my phone.
Waiting for her name to appear.
Waiting for Evelyn's name to appear.
Both scared me for different reasons.
Finally, on the fourth day, I called Evelyn.
"I need to talk."
"I know."
The answer came too quickly.
I frowned.
"You know?"
"I know you."
That sentence used to comfort me.
This time, it made my stomach tighten.
"Where are you?"
"Your favorite coffee shop."
I stopped.
The same place where we always met.
The same table where we had celebrated my graduation.
The same place where she had met Claire for the first time.
It felt intentional.
Maybe it was.
When I arrived, Evelyn was already there.
She sat near the window with two cups of coffee.
Mine was waiting.
Exactly how I liked it.
No sugar.
Extra shot.
She remembered.
Of course she remembered.
She looked up.
"You look exhausted."
I sat down.
"Did you send that message?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she pushed my coffee toward me.
"Drink first."
I stared at her.
"Evelyn."
"You're shaking."
"I'm asking you a question."
"And I'm telling you that you're making decisions while emotional."
I felt something inside me snap.
"That's what you always do."
Her expression changed slightly.
"What?"
"You always act like you know what's best for me."
A small silence appeared between us.
For the first time in years, Evelyn looked hurt.
Not angry.
Hurt.
And that made me feel guilty.
Because Evelyn had mastered one thing better than anyone.
She knew exactly when to look wounded.
"Nathan..."
She lowered her voice.
"I never wanted to hurt you."
"Then why did you send that message?"
"Because someone had to."
I stared at her.
"Someone had to destroy my relationship?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Is that what you think happened?"
"What else am I supposed to think?"
Evelyn leaned forward.
"Did Claire tell you what was in that conversation?"
"Yes."
"Did she explain why she had it?"
I froze.
"What?"
"Did she tell you why she was talking to your old classmate?"
I felt confused.
"What are you talking about?"
Evelyn opened her phone.
She hesitated.
Then she showed me something.
A screenshot.
A message between Claire and my former classmate, Emily.
Claire: I need to know if Nathan has always been this easy to manipulate.
My heart sank.
"What is this?"
Evelyn watched my reaction carefully.
"I found it two weeks ago."
"Where?"
"Claire's public account."
I looked closer.
The date was recent.
Too recent.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I needed to know the truth first."
I looked up.
"You investigated my girlfriend?"
Evelyn didn't deny it.
"I protected you."
The words landed heavily.
Protected.
That was always her favorite word.
"I don't need protection from everyone."
Her expression softened.
"You say that now."
That night, I confronted Claire.
She answered after three calls.
"Nathan?"
Her voice sounded tired.
"We need to talk."
A long pause.
"About Evelyn?"
"No."
Another pause.
"About Emily."
Silence.
The kind that tells you everything before someone speaks.
"How do you know about that?"
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
The first crack.
"What is it?"
Claire sighed.
"Nathan, I can explain."
"Then explain."
She was quiet.
Finally, she said:
"Emily contacted me."
"Why?"
"Because she was worried about you."
I laughed bitterly.
"Worried about me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Claire hesitated.
"Because she said Evelyn has done this before."
The room suddenly felt colder.
"What?"
"She said Evelyn has a pattern."
I didn't speak.
Claire continued.
"She gets close to people. She becomes necessary. Then when someone threatens that position..."
"Stop."
My voice came out harder than I expected.
"You're talking about my best friend."
"I know."
"And you're believing some random person over her?"
"No."
Claire's voice cracked.
"I'm believing what I see."
"What does that mean?"
"Look at what happened."
I stayed silent.
"Every time someone gets close to you, Evelyn finds a reason they aren't good enough."
I wanted to argue.
But then memories started appearing.
Small moments.
Forgotten moments.
My ex-girlfriend from college.
Maya.
Evelyn had warned me about her too.
She said Maya was selfish.
That she would hurt me.
Three months later, we broke up.
Then there was Rachel.
Evelyn said Rachel was using me.
A month later, we ended things.
At the time, I thought Evelyn had been right.
Twice.
Three times.
Maybe that was why I trusted her.
Because every warning seemed to come true.
But now...
I wondered something terrifying.
Did her warnings come true because she saw the truth?
Or because she made sure they did?
The next morning, I searched through old messages.
I searched conversations I hadn't opened in years.
And slowly...
I found something.
A pattern.
Not obvious.
Not enough to accuse her.
But enough to make my hands cold.
Every time a relationship ended...
Evelyn was somehow nearby.
Not directly involved.
Never.
She was smarter than that.
She was always the person comforting me afterward.
The person saying:
"I know this hurts."
"I warned you because I love you."
"You'll find someone better."
She was never the villain in the story.
She was always the hero who arrived after the disaster.
But what if...
What if she wasn't arriving after the fire?
What if she had been holding the match?
I decided to do something I had never done before.
I lied to Evelyn.
I told her I believed her completely.
I told her Claire was probably manipulating me.
I told her I needed time away from Claire.
Evelyn listened.
Then she smiled.
Not a big smile.
A relieved one.
"You're doing the right thing."
I nodded.
"Yeah."
But inside, I felt something break.
Because for the first time in ten years...
I wasn't looking at Evelyn as my best friend.
I was looking at her as a mystery.
And mysteries have one dangerous habit.
They always reveal more than you want to know.
Three days later, I received an anonymous email.
No name.
No signature.
Only one attachment.
A photograph.
I opened it.
And my entire body went numb.
It was a picture of Evelyn.
Standing outside a hospital.
Ten years earlier.
The same hospital where my father had suffered his heart attack.
The same night Evelyn had supposedly come to support my family.
But behind her...
Standing beside the entrance...
Was someone else.
Someone I recognized.
My father.
And he wasn't sick.
He was arguing with her.
The email contained only one sentence.
"You don't know the real reason Evelyn entered your life."
I stared at the screen.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
"Nathan Reed?"
"Who is this?"
A pause.
Then:
"The person who knows what Evelyn did to your family."
The call ended.
And for the first time in ten years...
I wondered if meeting Evelyn Cross had been the best thing that ever happened to me.
Or the biggest mistake of my life.
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End of Chapter 2
(Chapter 3: The Secret Behind The Hospital Night sẽ tiếp tục mở bí mật về lần Evelyn xuất hiện trong gia đình Nathan và lý do cô ấy thực sự bước vào cuộc đời anh.)
