No Love Left to Give

I put every gift Frederick and Lennon had ever given me up for sale on a secondhand site, then made plans to have one last meal with my best friend.

"What? You're going back to Bimern to get married and never coming back? Do Frederick and Lennon know? Would they even allow it?" At the restaurant, Jennifer Goulding was so shocked that she dropped her piece of meat.

I couldn't blame her. Anyone who knew me well knew that Frederick and Lennon had always been the two most important people in my life.

I served her some more lamb. "They don't know. And I don't plan on telling them."

Jennifer poked at her food, stunned at first. However, her expression shifted to delight. "After everything they did for that witch? Hurting you over and over like that? Good! Leaving them is the best thing you've ever done.

"And you're right not to say anything. Don't give those scumbags a chance to ruin it. When's the wedding?"

"Five days from now. My mom just sent over a few wedding dress options. Could you help me—"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence when Frederick stormed over, panic written all over his face. He questioned, "What wedding dress? Who's getting married?"

Florence trailed behind him, biting her lip. "Maybe she's trying to force your hand because you never proposed."

Frederick frowned and said, "Lizzy, we're still young. I wasn't planning to get married this early."

It was almost comical, the way he backed away so quickly. After all, he used to be the one who couldn't stop talking about getting married the second we were old enough, worried that I would fall in love with somebody else.

Now, he was acting as though the idea of marrying me was something to avoid at all costs.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and forced a neutral tone as I said, "It's for a friend. Not me."

He let out a breath of relief, then walked off with Florence.

"Ugh. Scumbag. I think he still cares about you, but I hope he finds out that you're marrying someone else and regrets it for the rest of his life!" Jennifer snapped.

I held up my phone and enlarged the photos of the wedding dresses. "Forget about him. Which dress and bridesmaid gown do you think looks better?"

After meeting with Jennifer, I planned to pack and head back to Bimern for the wedding. With just a few more days to go, I thought I could at least get through them in peace.

However, soon after Frederick and Florence left the restaurant, footage of the two of them entering a hotel room with Lennon started circulating online. Lennon was a B-list actor with a decent following, so it didn't take long for the topic to trend online.

Jennifer and I had just picked out the dresses when the news alert popped up on my screen. "Frederick hasn't even broken up with you, and he's already doing this? What is wrong with him?

"Lizzy, are you okay? Please, don't bottle it up. It's not worth getting sick over." She was worried about me.

I exited the alert and simply said, "It used to hurt, but not anymore." If I still cared about Frederick, I would've lost my mind a long time ago.

At this point, whether he or Lennon wanted Florence no longer mattered to me. Even if the three of them ended up tangled together, it had nothing to do with me.

However, on my way home, I began to notice people staring and whispering. A few men looked at me in a way that made my skin crawl, as if they were mentally undressing me.

I had no idea what was going on until a news push notification popped up. Photos of me, Frederick, and Lennon from over the years were plastered online, with headlines claiming I was the real third in their alleged throuple, not Florence.

They were the only ones with those photos besides me. It seemed that they had thrown me under the bus.

Then Florence posted a carefully worded message on her social media account, not naming names, but heavily implying that I was a promiscuous woman who couldn't keep my hands off other men.

Now, everyone thought I was the main character of some messed-up three-way relationship.