Chapter 5

Jared and his friends turned to look in Alex's direction from their positions at the washroom sinks. When Jared saw Alex, he was left stunned for a long time. Finally, he plastered another smile on his face. "Alex, what are you doing here? You didn't happen to overhear what we said just now, did you?" Alex shot him a look. Then, he slowly walked toward a sink. "I heard everything," he replied coolly. Jared didn't expect Alex to admit everything so honestly. His expression darkened instantly. His friends sensed that something was wrong. They moved to teach Alex a lesson on Jared's behalf. But Alex merely turned on the water tap without giving them a chance to say anything. "Those who take advantage of sincerity will never be treated sincerely." That sentence was enough to shut Jared up. Annoyed, he glared at Alex, soon noticing the mole on the corner of the latter's eyes. It was then he relaxed. A mocking smile now decorating his face, Jared said, "You're just a replacement who never received Estelle's love. You don't even have the right to bring up sincerity in front of me." "Precisely! I wonder who's the one who got abandoned in this godforsaken place!" "What a pathetic boyfriend!" After the trio jeered at Alex, they left the washroom together. Alex didn't go after them. Estelle was toying with his feelings, whereas Jared was toying with hers. Perhaps karmic retribution really was a thing. He was about to flag down a cab at the front door when he remembered that he was halfway up the mountain. As expected, all the e-hailing apps he had showed that there weren't any available rides nearby. On top of that, it seemed as though Jared had said something to the rest of Estelle's friends—more than a dozen cars drove past Alex, yet none of the drivers offered to give him a ride. Alex saw Jared getting into the last car. When he noticed Jared lowering the car window just to shoot him a smug look, he knew right away that Jared was getting revenge on him. Still, Alex merely smiled before starting his trek down the mountain. The evening wind messed up his hair. It was eerily quiet in the mountains. Only the sounds of bugs occasionally chirping accompanied him the whole way down the mountain. Alex let his mind wander around. Memories flashed through his mind, stitching together a movie reel for him. Everything felt unrealistic to him at that moment. Love. Replacement. First love returning to the country. Birthday. Sincerity… Suddenly, Alex got a little curious about the answer to a question. If Estelle were to find out that Jared's act of playing hard had manipulated her into tormenting Alex for eight long years, how would she feel? It was already 8:00 pm by the time Alex got home. He took off his shoes and stared at the bloodied blisters on his feet. Inhaling sharply from the pain, he went to grab the first aid kit. By the time he was done treating his blisters, he was already exhausted. So, he went to bed after washing up in the bathroom. When Alex woke up the next day, the room looked exactly the way he left it last night. Alex didn't care about where Estelle had gone last night. He got out of bed and changed the bandages on his feet. Just as he was done bandaging himself, Clara gave him a call. "Alex, did you go to bed early last night? Why didn't you respond to my messages? I wanted to let you know that your fiancée prepared many birthday surprises for you. "Not only did she ask me to transfer a huge sum of money to you, but she also delivered a bunch of goodies to our home. You can use them as soon as you come home. "So? What do you think? The fiancée I found for you is pretty good, right?" Alex turned on the speaker mode before swiping down the notification center on his phone. As expected, he saw a transaction of 50 million dollars. He was about to respond to Clara when Estelle suddenly came home. "Fiancée? What fiancée?" Upon hearing the familiar voice, Clara instantly perked up. "Alex, who spoke just now? Was that Estelle? Why would she be with you at this hour?" Alex's heart went tense instantly. He quickly came up with an excuse before ending the call. The sight of Alex looking so nervous made Estelle smile once again. Then, she pretended to get mad at him. "Why did you end the call without letting me have a nice, long chat with my best friend? Am I so embarrassing that you don't want to introduce me to her?" Alex didn't want to keep the joke going. He retorted calmly, "I thought you didn't want her to know the true nature of our relationship."