My girlfriend and I had agreed that she would come home with me for Thanksgiving to meet my parents. However, the night before the trip, she canceled on me again.

My older cousin, who had never liked me, immediately started throwing sarcastic comments my way.

“Five years together and she still hasn’t met your family? Maybe she never took you seriously in the first place. And honestly, a man shouldn’t think too highly of himself. You might end up raising someone else’s kid without even knowing it,” he said.

I ignored him and stepped outside to get some air, but then I found that the car parked in front of the neighbor’s house looked strangely familiar. My heart skipped a beat. Could this be a surprise from my girlfriend?

I was just about to call her when my cousin clicked his tongue and pointed at the car.

“Still, you’ve gotta admit Liam Crossby really knows how to live. He brought home a gorgeous and successful girlfriend. You? You’ve spent your whole life losing to him.”

My eyes locked onto the license plate, and my fingers froze. Then, I dialed a hidden number I hadn’t used in years.

“Bring the guys. Trash the car.”

Anthony’s eyes widened.

“Are you insane? Are you really going to smash someone’s car in broad daylight?” He pointed toward the house and said in a lowered voice, “They’re meeting the parents in there and talking about getting engaged. No matter how jealous you are, don’t make a fool of yourself.”

Then, he tried to drag me back inside, but my feet felt nailed to the ground. I couldn’t move. Instead, I kept staring into the house like I was torturing myself.

Heather Hart, the woman who was supposedly working overtime at the office, was sitting inside Liam Crossby’s home. My cold, distant girlfriend, the woman who always kept everyone at arm’s length, was now leaning intimately against another man. Her gaze was filled with a tenderness and intensity I had never received from her before.

When my gaze dropped to their intertwined fingers, I forced down the bitterness rising in my chest and sent her a message.

[Where are you right now?]

When her phone screen lit up, Heather frowned instinctively.

[What is it?]

I repeated stubbornly. [Where are you right now?]

Heather paused. Then, her eyes drifted toward Liam, and her expression softened unconsciously.

[I’m working overtime at the office. Don’t bother me if it’s not important. I’m busy.]

I tightened my grip on my phone as I watched her lie so naturally.

[Got it.]

We had been together for five years. Through countless Christmases, Thanksgivings, and New Year holidays, she had always found some excuse to avoid meeting my parents. Even this time, after I told her I planned to discuss our marriage with my family during the holiday, she used “working overtime” as an excuse and told me to go home alone.

Working overtime? At Liam’s house? And somehow she had worked her way into becoming his girlfriend, too?

I grabbed a brick from the roadside and looked at Anthony after taking a deep breath.

“Didn’t you want to meet my girlfriend? Well, you’re about to.”

The car window instantly shattered with a crash, and the piercing alarm echoed through the entire neighborhood. The commotion outside finally alerted the people inside the house.

Anthony stared at me and shook his head.

“You’ve seriously lost your mind! Even if your girlfriend can’t compare to someone else’s, you shouldn’t take your anger out on innocent people!”

I ignored him and kept my eyes fixed on Heather, whose expression had finally changed. This time, what excuse was she going to use?

In the middle of the silence, Liam suddenly walked over with a smile and casually patted my shoulder.

“Ethan, perfect timing. Heather and I were just talking about you. We all work at the same company, and we’re friends anyway. When we get married, you have to be my best man.”

I shoved his hand away and looked directly at Heather, asking, “Married?”

Seeing the awkward look on Liam’s face, Heather finally stepped forward and lowered her voice.

“It’s not what you think. Please just cooperate for once.”

Liam immediately nodded and pulled out his phone to show me their chat history.

“My family’s been pressuring me to get married,” he explained. “So I came up with this idea and asked Heather to pretend to be my girlfriend to get them off my back. Ethan, don’t overthink it.”

As I stared at the transfer record of five hundred dollars in the chat, Liam cleared his throat awkwardly and whispered, “That was a payment to Heather for helping me with this act.”

The way he kept calling her “Heather” so naturally felt like needles stabbing into my ears.

With a frown, Heather blamed me. “Now that we’ve explained everything, can you stop making a scene?”

I was so angry that I almost laughed at how justified she sounded.

“My girlfriend refuses to meet my parents, but she’s willing to pretend to be another guy’s fiancée instead, and I’m not allowed to be upset?”

Heather’s expression darkened, disappointment filling her voice. “His parents have been pressuring him to get a girlfriend. Sometimes, he gets so anxious that he can’t even answer their calls, and when he goes home, he has to deal with all the pressure from relatives, too. Can’t you show him a little sympathy?”

The pain in her voice made my heart jolt. Wasn’t everything she said exactly what I had gone through all these years?

Ever since we started dating, my parents had only ever seen photos of her. She had never even agreed to a single video call with them. All my relatives knew I had a girlfriend I’d been dating for five years who had never once shown up in person, and behind my back, the things they said were even harsher than Anthony’s insults.

The pressure I had endured was a hundred times worse than what Liam had faced, and Heather knew all of it. Yet, she left me alone to deal with the gossip and ridicule, ignoring the pressure I had carried for five whole years. Instead, all her sympathy and concern had gone to another man.

I was just about to break up with her when Liam’s mother, Mrs. Crossby, came outside after hearing the commotion.

“What’s going on out here?” she asked as her gaze swept across us, a frown on her face. “Liam, your girlfriend–”

Liam quickly interrupted her. “Mom, this isn’t Heather’s fault.”

Then, he glanced at me awkwardly.

“Ethan’s liked Heather for a long time. That’s why he couldn’t accept our engagement and smashed the car after finding out.”

His tone sounded gentle enough, but he made sure everyone around could hear him clearly. The neighbors who had come outside to watch the commotion immediately changed the way they looked at me.

“Ethan Wright seemed like such a good kid growing up. Who knew he’d end up an adulterer?”

“So, because he couldn’t steal someone else’s girlfriend, he smashed their car? That’s terrible behavior.”

“No wonder he never brought his girlfriend home for five years. It turns out she was never his girlfriend at all.”

Heather frowned when she heard them mocking and cursing me. However, she said nothing, which meant she tacitly agreed with them, and that silence sent a chill down my spine.

Liam spoke again in a calm, generous tone. “We’re all neighbors here, so let’s just forget it. Ethan, you don’t have to pay for the damages.”

Everyone immediately started praising him for being kindhearted.

Anthony shoved me impatiently and said, “Look at how generous he is. Now, apologize instead of embarrassing yourself here.”

The smug satisfaction hidden in Liam’s eyes ignited my anger again.

I turned to Heather and said calmly, “Tell them, Heather. Am I the other man or not?”

Heather was about to answer, but the moment she saw my bloodshot eyes, her expression wavered. Then, she looked away.

“Stop making a scene. We’ll talk when we get back.”

That vague answer instantly planted doubt in everyone’s minds.

Anthony stretched out his hand. “You said you’ve been together for five years, didn’t you? In that case, hand over your phone and prove it.”

I gave him my phone. However, after scrolling for a while, his expression became stranger and stranger.

“You’re saying you dated for five years, but there isn’t a single couple photo on your social media.” He kept swiping as he clicked his tongue. “And these chat histories… why are you always the one talking? What kind of girlfriend is so cold to you?”

I looked at our messages. Most of them were long paragraphs from me, with Heather occasionally replying with a simple acknowledgement. A heavy weight pressed down on my chest.

Heather had always been distant. Whenever we were together, I would speak for one minute, and she would give me a one-word answer. She also hated taking pictures. I would secretly snap photos of us out having fun together, and she would make me delete them afterward. I had grown used to that kind of relationship, but only now did I realize just how one-sided it had always been.

After that, Liam took out his own phone. Looking slightly embarrassed, he showed everyone his screen.

“We haven’t been together that long, so there isn’t much.”

That was what he said, but the moment he opened his profile, everyone saw the freshly posted relationship announcement. In the photos, Heather posed awkwardly beside him and even made heart signs with her hands. In fact, in the last picture, she tilted her head up slightly while Liam leaned down to kiss her. The shot had clearly been taken candidly.

My mind buzzed. Stiffly, I turned toward her.

“If this is all just an act, did you really have to go that far?”

Amidst the suffocating silence, I clenched my fists tightly, as if that could somehow suppress the pain tearing through my chest.

Liam and I had never gotten along since we were kids. Back in school, I was always the “perfect child” that relatives and neighbors compared everyone to. Anthony and Liam both hated me for it, and I had always known that.

When we were teenagers, Liam stole two girlfriends from me. After that, I threw myself into studying and eventually left for a university in the capital, where Heather and I started dating. It had been five years since then, and when I saw that the company’s new intern was Liam, alarm bells immediately went off in my head. Because of that, I told Heather everything about our past.

She had promised me that she would keep her distance from Liam. She also knew exactly what he had done to me in the past. Yet, she still chose his side. What I couldn’t understand was when the two of them had gotten involved behind my back.

In the middle of the tightly packed crowd, two familiar figures suddenly pushed their way through. They were my parents.

One of the bystanders grabbed my dad and started ranting in his face.

“Mr. Wright, you need to talk some sense into your son! He’s a university graduate, isn’t he? How could he be an adulterer?”

“Exactly! Being an adulterer is bad enough, but showing up at their door too? That’s disgusting!”

My dad’s face flushed red as he shouted back angrily, “That’s bullsh*t! My son would never do something like that!”

His health had never been good to begin with. After getting worked up like that, he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground.

My eyes widened in fury as I rushed forward. “Dad!”

My mom immediately panicked. “Your dad’s heart condition is acting up again! Can’t you be more sensible for once? Do you really want to drive him to his death?”

I felt a lump in my throat, and regret washed over me. I regretted wasting five years on someone like Heather and being blind enough to let things turn into this mess.

My mom looked around anxiously. The nearby roads were under construction, and an ambulance would take at least an hour to arrive. Then, she looked toward the only car in the yard and lowered herself to plead with Heather.

“Miss, my son was wrong, but someone’s life is at stake here. Could you please take his father to the hospital first?”

Heather hesitated for a moment, but Liam suddenly stepped in front of her and spoke quietly. “Heather, everyone already thinks there’s something between you and Ethan. If you take his dad to the hospital now, won’t that make things even harder to explain?”

He gestured subtly toward his parents and added, “My parents are watching too. If they end up disliking you as their future daughter-in-law, they’ll surely force us to break up. Then, I’ll be dragged into blind dates all over again.”

Heather hesitated again before looking at me.

“The ambulance should be able to make it in time, or maybe you could ask someone else if they have a car.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I couldn’t believe Heather would be so heartless.

My mom’s eyes instantly reddened. She was so anxious that she looked ready to cry.

She grabbed me forcefully and shouted, “Apologize! Tell them you’ll never interfere in their relationship again!”

I clenched my jaw stubbornly and refused. “Mom, I’m not the other man.”

Ignoring me completely, she tried to force me to apologize. “You stupid child! Why are you still lying? Liam, you grew up with Mr. Wright. I’ll apologize on Ethan’s behalf. Please, take his father to the hospital, okay?”

Liam suppressed the smile tugging at his lips and sighed helplessly. “Ethan, look at what you’ve done to your father. Seriously, as men, we should be a little more sensible.”

I glared at him and said coldly, “I’ll say it one last time. I’m not the other man.”

“Slap!”

My mom struck me across the face and screamed, “Stop lying! Don’t you care whether your father lives or dies? Sometimes, I wish I’d never given birth to you!”

The slap wasn’t hard, but it felt like my soul had been shattered.

“Mom… I really didn’t…” I stammered.

I could accept Heather betraying me. I could tolerate Liam’s shamelessness. However, I couldn’t bear the distrust coming from my own family.

Heather, visibly shaken by everything happening, looked at the bright red handprint on my face, and a flicker of guilt flashed across her eyes.

“Mrs. Wright, I’ll dri–”

Before she could finish, Liam interrupted her. “Alright, alright. We’re all neighbors here. Of course, we’re not going to let him die. Ethan, just apologize and promise you’ll stop interfering with my relationship with Heather. Then, we can move on from this.”

Even Anthony couldn’t help chiming in. “Why are you still so stubborn? Your parents are being driven to death by your selfishness! Is your pride really more important than their lives?”

Looking at my dad lying unconscious on the ground, and my mom on the verge of breaking down, I closed my eyes and swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat.

Forcing myself to endure the humiliation, I finally said, “Liam, I’m sor–”

Before I could finish, the roar of engines suddenly echoed from the end of the street. The packed crowd split apart instantly, and a convoy led by black Hummers pulled to a stop right in front of me.

Someone in the crowd recognized the person stepping out of the lead vehicle and gasped.

“How on earth is this nightmare here…”

The person stopped in front of me, her voice ice-cold. “Which car did you want smashed?”