Abigail’s mind spiraled as she stared at the paused video. Her fingers hovered over her phone screen, trembling.
She pressed play again.
The memory of Sebastian’s reaction when she gave him the scarf resurfaced vividly. His smile had been radiant, his joy uncontainable.
“Abby, I like it very much,” he had said, immediately wrapping it around his neck. “I’ll definitely cherish it.”
That moment had felt like a promise, one of countless assurances of their love.
But now, in the video, his words cut through her like shards of glass.
“Don’t be in a bad mood,” Sebastian said softly to Gabriella. “Wear it obediently. You’ll be cold later.”
He adjusted the scarf around her neck with a tenderness that was once hers. “If Gabriella doesn’t like it, you can do whatever you want with this scarf. But for now, you must wear it.”
Abigail’s heart clenched as she watched him hand over the scarf she had painstakingly knitted—a symbol of her love—and tell Gabriella she could treat it however she wished.
The video ended abruptly, leaving her staring at the empty screen, her chest tightening with unbearable pain.
Before she could process the hurt, another notification lit up her phone. It was a text message from an unknown number.
With trembling hands, she opened it.
The words hit her like a thunderclap:
"Sebastian only likes me now. He hates you so much. If you ask me, you should give up your position as soon as possible."
Abigail's hand clenched around the phone so tightly that she didn’t notice the pain until it became unbearable. Slowly, she loosened her grip and placed the phone down, her fingers trembling.
She raised her eyes to the dark night sky outside, her gaze hollow and unfocused. A single question echoed in her mind: Is Sebastian still the man I knew?
How could someone change so much in just a single week?
Her thoughts spiraled back to the video, replaying it in her mind over and over again, as though dissecting it might somehow restore the man she loved. She clung to memories of the past, the weight of nostalgia, the only thing anchoring her as she stumbled through this thorny path.
As she had come to expect, Sebastian didn’t return that night. The once warm and lively bed felt unbearably cold, and she fell asleep with tears staining her pillow.