Chapter 5
The person approaching was Zion Jenkins, one of Zachary's friends.
He was the same man who had shown sympathy toward Tessa during that evening's gathering.
Tessa had known Zion for nearly three years and had always thought highly of him.
"I'm just picking up a few things," she said.
He glanced at the bag in her hand. "Is that for Zachary?"
Tessa didn't feel like explaining, so she gave a silent nod.
"This brand of watch isn't cheap. Even the most basic models cost five figures. You really don't need to
get him something so expensive. Zachary..."
"Didn't deserve it" was what Zion wanted to say.
Zachary had openly confessed that he couldn't let go of Wendy and was only using Tessa as a
placeholder.
Last night, he even abandoned Tessa and walked out with Wendy in front of everyone.
After leaving the birthday party, Zachary and Wendy spent the night together at a hotel. Tessa had no idea
what had transpired, but Zion knew exactly what had happened.
They had a small group chat for their circle of friends, and despite being with Zachary for three years, Tessa had never been added. But as soon as Wendy came back to the country, Zachary added her without a second thought.
Earlier that afternoon, Wendy had shared a photo of herself and Zachary in bed in their group chat, casually suggesting that Zachary keep it as a memento.
However, within minutes, she retracted it, claiming it was sent by mistake.
Zion had caught the message just in time. He had thought about saying something but ultimately decided against it. It wasn't his place, and it felt smarter to stay out of it.
As Zion thought it over, he had initially planned to tell Tessa the truth and urge her to move on. But just as he was about to speak, he hesitated and stopped himself.
"Zachary doesn't need things like this. You really don't have to spend months of your salary on such an expensive gift for him."
Zachary had been his close friend for over a decade, and it was difficult to bring himself to say anything too harsh.
Still, part of him considered telling Tessa that the gift might not even mean anything to Zachary.
too cruel, and Zion couldn't find
meant for him. She nodded
conversation,
sigh. "She's such a good person... How did she end
the feeling, he opened WhatsApp
thousands, and she did it like it was nothing. That's probably a few
having dinner with Wendy
inside him vanished in an instant as he read it, and his
things with the gift. If that was the case,
tone, and assure her not to take it too seriously. Afterward, he'd throw in a few compliments to smooth things over-Tessa
didn't push the
restroom. Seizing the
seen him enter his password before it was his birthday, making it easy to
in
to Tessa's conversation and saw that the last message was from a
interested in taking a trip during the upcoming
guides for
hours to reply. "There'll be so
had
Wendy casually scrolled through the travel destinations, a flash of mockery
their three-year relationship wasn't as
a trip
couldn't even be
significant messages from Tessa, Wendy left the chat and absentmindedly scrolled through Zachary's feed, eventually stopping
Reflecting on the times Tessa had seemed entirely indifferent, a sense
but instead, Tessa was
phone. After placing it back where it had been, she
to run into the woman he's seeing. She was trying
...
to the villa and resumed packing her
for Stephen inside, his cold,
known each other for a
few hundred meters apart in the same neighborhood, so they frequently
four years older than her, and the first time she saw him was at the Jacobson manor. Tessa's parents had taken her to visit the Jacobson family when she
remembered the first time she
strikingly handsome, with an almost intimidating presence, and his eyes as cold as
snow.
asked her to greet him, Tessa would respectfully call
how Stephen had kept his distance, offering only
he must be hard to get close
had stayed with her for
in high school and struggling with math,
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