Luckily, I grabbed her in time. But a kid holding an ice cream cone barreled into us, and the sticky mess splattered across my clothes.
When I looked up, Gideon was using his finger to wipe ice cream from the corner of Arabella’s mouth. I felt ridiculous, humiliated, scrubbing my shirt until the stain only grew worse.
Then I heard him say, casual and cruel, “I stopped blaming you a long time ago. My dad used to yell at you. So, him getting hit by you is just his karma. As for Marianne, if she hadn’t been in the picture, maybe you and I would’ve been together long ago. I always thought that sometimes hate, at its extreme, is just another kind of love.”
Arabella’s eyes lit up. “Then will you give me a wedding?”
My vision blurred. I didn’t see his answer. But Colette covered my eyes with both hands, swearing under her breath.
“You ungrateful dog!” she hissed. “If you hadn’t dragged him out of that car back then, he’d be six feet under! You helped him without asking for anything, and yet he let her ruin you for years!”
“Divorce isn’t enough,” she kept muttering as she fumed. “I’ll make sure he walks away with nothing.”
Marianne's POV
I pulled Colette’s hand away from my eyes, only to see that the two of them were still on the bench, kissing like nobody else existed.
My hands shook as I dialed Gideon’s number. Once, twice, three times.
Yet he ignored every call, acting like he couldn’t hear.
Only when he finally picked up his phone did he see my text.
[Gideon, since you’re busy today, I came to the amusement park with my best friend.]
The moment he read it, he jumped to his feet and looked around in panic. But Arabella tugged on his arm and dragged him toward the roller coaster. That was when I stepped out from behind the tree.
All afternoon, I watched them riding the carousel together, taking the Ferris wheel all the way to the top.
All the while, I held Gideon’s spare phone, so I read his private wedding plans with Arabella.
Hundreds of wedding dresses were also sent to their group chat for the guys to vote on.
Those men usually sweetly called me and took favors from me, yet not one of them told me about the plan.
I used to believe Gideon just wasn’t into wedding stuff.