I felt my heart skip a beat. I immediately bought an overseas plane ticket and decided to leave the hotel as quickly as possible.

I had only just finished packing my things up and checked out of the hotel room when I received a text message from Randell.

"I got the refund notification from the hotel. Did anyone say something to you?

"You're being impossible again, aren't you? You're doing this on purpose, refunding the hotel room! Cassie, when will you finally act a little more mature, like your age?

"Fine. I went back because of Evelyn, but it's because she's in a very urgent situation. I'm only just going back now to help her.

"We're all classmates here. How could you be so cold and heartless?"

After that, the screen was immediately filled with comments from the audience once more.

"Oh, my God, how could Cassidy be such an evil person? Is she getting ready to chase after Randy and stop him from leaving now?"

"She even refunded the hotel room on purpose to make Randy feel sorry for her! Why don't you go and jump off a cliff instead?"

"Exactly! She knew very well that Randy and Evie liked each other, but she still insisted on separating them and dragging Randy on the trip with her! If Cassidy had never dragged him with her, poor Evie wouldn't have lost her support pillar at home. Cassidy is such a disgusting person! She deserves her terrible fate!"

"But didn't you guys see that she seems to have bought a plane ticket instead? The destination seems to be overseas!"

The final comment was quickly sent all the way down by other comments, and not many people managed to read it.

I stared at the text message from Randell and felt a lump in my throat.

I was thoroughly confused. I hadn't even said a single word to him about anything!

I didn't understand why Randell would always think the worst about me.

Randell and I were childhood best friends, and we even attended the same preschool, middle school, and high school together.

In the past, I used to be scrawny and lanky with a lot of acne on my face, so I was often the target of bullying by the other students in my class.

However, Randell would always stand up for me and protect me every time the kids picked on me.

Once, I got heavily pranked at school. Someone balanced a bucket of water on top of the door. When I pushed the door open and walked in, the bucket tipped over and poured cold water all over my head and my body.

At that time, Randell had grabbed the person who played the prank on me and threw him to the floor before beating him up. And after that incident, I began tailing Randell wherever he went, all the way from middle school to high school.

Randell was always at the top of the class, while my grades were just average. Yet, I put in a lot of effort studying during middle school so that we could enter the same elite high school together.

While the other kids my age were out playing during the weekend, I would be busy burying my nose in some textbook instead.

While the other students met up for soccer or shopping after school, I would still be revising my notes for the day or doing extra homework to catch up.

Of course, all my hard work eventually paid off, and I managed to get into the same elite high school as Randell did.

I barely scraped the passing marks to get in, but at the very least, I could still continue studying in the same school as he was.

However, I hit puberty and gradually grew curvier and prettier over the next few years in high school. From some point onward, people began sneaking confession letters into my locker.

One day, someone purposely got in my way before bashfully handing me a confession letter in an envelope. Randell suddenly yanked me away and pinned me back against the school wall.

Then, he leaned close and said, "Cassidy Stanford, do you not know that you are mine? And when have I ever given you the permission to date?

"You're not allowed to fall in love with anybody else except me. Understand? We'll get together after we've graduated high school, okay?"

Although Randell never confessed to me, he treated me even better than before. And I took his words to heart.

However, I didn't know when it all began, but suddenly, Evelyn appeared while we were all in our senior year of high school and began hanging around Randell.

She would always ask him for help with math problems she couldn't solve, bottle caps she couldn't open, or even buying sanitary products for her during that time of the month.

Eventually, Randell and I barely had any time left alone because Evelyn was always there like a pesky, persistent fly.

At first, Randell thought that Evelyn was very annoying. He would pet me on the head and say, "She's not as sensible as you are, Cassie."

However, as time passed, he would suddenly walk closer to Evelyn while accompanying me back home. They would also begin talking about the things that happened in their class and discussing their classmates too.

And since I wasn't in the same class as Randell, there was nothing I could say to join them. I'd then just kick at the pebbles around my feet and wait for them to end their conversation.

Every time this happened, Evelyn would suddenly straighten up and exclaim, "Oh, dear! I totally forgot that Cassidy was with us the whole time!

"Sorry, Cassidy, but I was so engrossed in talking to Randy that I completely forgot about you."

Evelyn would also purposely trip and fall on my birthday so that Randell would spend the rest of the day and night with her at the hospital.

Then, she'd say to him, "Oh, dear! It's Cassidy's birthday today, but you never managed to make time for her today. Do you think she'd get angry at me for this?"

I had protested against Randell's doings many times, both openly and inadvertently, but he would always say that I was just being petty and unreasonable.

After all, he thought that Evelyn couldn't possibly have any bad intentions.

This trip he and I went on together was supposed to be him making it up to me for missing my birthday this year. But who would have thought that he would suddenly go back on his own and leave me here alone on the first day that we arrived?

Now, I was only trying to leave this place earlier after receiving a red alert warning on my phone. Was I being unreasonable?

Why did he want to think so terribly of me just because he was afraid I would pester him after he decided to return home for her?

I didn't read Randell's text message and hailed a cab to the airport after that.

Aunt Gracie had actually asked me to visit her in Merunica after I was done with my SATs this time, but I rejected her because I had been looking forward to going on this trip with Randell. So, it was the perfect timing for me to visit Aunt Gracie now.

…

It had already begun drizzling on the way to the airport. I relaxed after realizing that the flight I'd bought for today was taking off in just two hours.

I already had a processed and approved visa anyway, so I could leave at any time I wanted as long as I bought the flight ticket for it.

However, just as I was about to board the flight, I realized that my ticket had been canceled.

I wanted to check with Randell to find out what had happened, and coincidentally, he called me right at that time.

He was furious with me.

"Cassidy Stanford! What the hell is wrong with you? You know very well that the money in the card was from both of our savings! You knew I went back this time to help Evelyn and needed the money in the card!

"How dare you use the money in the card to buy a plane ticket instead? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

"I've already told you to stop being so petty and unreasonable! I've already canceled the ticket! Just stay where you are and wait for me to come back!"

Randell's words completely stunned me.

At that moment, the comments on the screen began appearing once more.

"LOL! Look at how dumb and stupid Cassidy is! To think that she even pretended to buy a flight ticket out of the country! Too bad—Randy immediately saw through her and canceled it at once! LOL!"

"Yes! See, that's what happens when you see an evil character act up, but they only end up getting caught and put in their place! She thought she could get Randy to stay with her and maybe even chase after her by purposely buying a flight ticket overseas, but look! LOL, she's just overthinking things!"

"I saw that Randy was already about to turn on flight mode and board his flight, but look at what he did? He even transferred out all of the money in the card to stop Cassidy from messing things up! LOL! That stupid woman is going to be completely shocked!"

"This is hilarious. She lost all her money, and she'd already canceled her room reservation at the hotel. Let's see what she does now!"

I stared at the comments with my mouth wide open.

Had Randell already transferred out all the money in the card?

As expected, a split second later, I received a notification on my phone that the money had all been transferred out. I looked at the account, which should be showing at least 10,000 dollars in there, and saw that it was now a big, fat zero.

The money in this card consisted of all the allowances and pocket money that Randell and I had been saving up for three years. Half of the money belonged to each of us.

Although I had used it to buy a flight ticket to Merunica, I had only used up my half of the money in the account. I never touched a single penny in his half.

But now, Randell hadn't just canceled my flight ticket but also transferred out my half of the money!

I immediately called him at once. However, his phone had been turned off.

I knew then that Randell's plane should have already taken off.

The flight home to Sothernia would take around two hours. However, there was only one flight to Merunica today, which is the one I was missing now.

And now that my ticket had been canceled, that meant I couldn't leave at all!

But the red alert had already been announced, and if I didn't leave now, it would only be even more dangerous for me to continue staying here.

On top of that, I had already checked out of the hotel room, and I had no more money with me. I didn't even have a place to stay anymore!

I never thought that Randell would completely disregard my life and safety all for Evelyn's sake!

I fought back the tears in my eyes and took a screenshot of the red alert on my phone before sending it to Randell.

"I'm not trying to kick up a fuss with you, Randell Lautner. I received a red alert that there's going to be torrential rain in this area. I had already purchased a plane ticket to get out of here, but you went and canceled it.

"Now, the rain is getting heavier, and I'm stuck at the airport!

"Send me a message when you've arrived. I don't want your money. I just want the half that belongs to me back. I'm being serious with you!"