I chose to ignore her, not dignifying her words with a response.
But she didn’t let it go. "No matter what you’ve learned, he only loves me." she said, her smile twisting into something cruel.
"I've been studying abroad for the past few years and all this time, Kenneth has been waiting for me to come back and marry him."
"Look, this is a photo from last year when he flew to Luxford to celebrate my birthday."
In the photo, Kenneth was holding Yara's shoulder and the two of them were standing in front of the Tower Bridge in Luxford, smiling brightly. The date on the photo was exactly my birthday last year, the day he had told me he couldn't join me because of an academic conference.
Yara walked towards me and leaned in to whisper in my ear.
"You think he really likes you? Don't be so naive. Do you know why he chose you? It was just because your silhouette in front of the school bulletin board resembled mine."
A cold shiver ran down my spine and my thoughts flew back to four years ago, the moment I first met Kenneth.
I stood in front of the bulletin board, focused on the IELTS exam information.
He walked over and asked me if I wanted to study abroad. It was then that he offered to teach me.
It turned out that I was just a substitute from the very beginning.
"Do you know why he always had you use the contraceptive injection?"
Yara continued to whisper in my ear, "Because I'm allergic to both birth control pills and condoms. He didn't want me to get pregnant, so he had you try the contraceptive injection instead. After all, who knows if there will be any side effects?"
At these words, my stomach suddenly twisted and a strong wave of nausea surged up my throat.
I couldn't hold it any longer and violently vomited.
Yet Yara continued, taking out her phone, opening the album and showing it to me.
"There's also this."
The photo showed me while I was asleep, some even from private moments after lovemaking.
"What is this?"
Yara sneered, "Every time he sleeps with you, he sends the photos to our friends’ group chat and lets everyone rate them."
A chill ran through me and my stomach twisted in pain, but I still forced myself to hold on.
Yara suddenly grabbed my hand, "Nyta, I really didn't mean to come back and compete with you for Kenneth."
When Kenneth saw us pulling at each other, he rushed over and shoved me away.
He carefully checked on Yara, then looked at me with a face full of anger.