Chapter 23 Chapter 12 (i)
Fae
I had just put down my bag when I entered the door of the condo where I stayed with Sarah, and my phone started ringing. It was my agent.
“Find me a buyer for my unit, Lenny, pretty please? If you have time today, please visit me and make an estimate. I’m leaving as soon as I can, so if you can also help me find a new unit to move into? ASAP, yes.”
The agent didn’t ask too many questions about why I was leaving my unit. Aside from being my late father’s real estate agent passed on to me, Lenny also worked for some of Carl’s friends, so she might already know the situation.
She focused more on my second request.
In fact, she already knew of a place that I would surely like and that suited my needs. If I had time today, we could visit the unit.
I showered and changed into a new outfit, and we met at the site.
Lenny was right; it was perfect for me.
Before the day ended, Lenny had taken care of the documentation for the sale. When I returned to the condo, I had boxes with me for packing.
That night, I started unpacking my belongings accumulated over the past seven years of living there since I left Easton House—books on the shelves, paintings on the walls, stuffed toys and collectibles in glass cabinets, and other things.
It wasn’t easy. I still cried several times, and I didn’t try to stop myself. I knew I needed to do it.
I didn’t want to remember the times I spent with Sarah there, talking about Carl, dreaming about what we would do after graduation, and experiencing the things that close friends do when living together. The times I encouraged Sarah when she was struggling to continue because her family was poor, and she needed to work hard to finish college in our university.
Maybe Sarah needed Carl more than I did. Maybe she was tired of being poor. But she was already earning more than she expected because she was working in the law firm as I was.
I didn’t like the feeling that Carl’s family’s wealth and clout were why she betrayed me with Carl. Wasn’t the promise of a better life enough? Or did she think every hardship would just stop when she married someone wealthy?
I knew I would feel more at ease if Sarah really loved Carl, but I was one of those who doubted her intentions, so I couldn’t.
But wrong or right, that was all done. I would do what was necessary to avoid Carl and not make it harder for him. The scandal during the wedding reception was more than enough.
Now that I knew I didn’t really receive a wedding invitation, I was more annoyed than hurt. I wouldn’t have been determined to attend if it weren’t for Sarah’s fake invitation. There wouldn’t have been a scandal.
I felt bad because I didn’t deserve that. I took care of her in the last two years of our law school so that even in our living arrangement, I could lessen the expenses of her family. Sarah often couldn’t afford to buy food. I fed her. To be fair, she compensated with house work even though there was no need. She cooked, did laundry, and cleaned the condo. She was good at cooking, and she prepared lunch boxes for school.
If there was anyone I knew who was most desperate to fix her life, it was Sarah. She gave double the time to studying because she wasn’t that smart, but she made up for it with hard work. I insisted she stop with other stuff except cooking because she loved that. Otherwise, I knew that Sarah graduating would save her and her poor family from financial difficulties.
But she got involved with wealthy kids in the university.
Guys.
That was why she had money whenever her parents failed to send her monthly allowances. I didn’t want to call it what they called it, up to now. She was my friend. I didn’t tell her that I knew. That was the primary reason why I let her stay with me even after I found out, believing she would stop if she didn’t have to pay for so much. But she still did it from time to time, while I was ashamed to let her know that I knew.
I helped her get accepted at the Easton law firm. I was already assured of a place in the firm even before college if I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps. Daddy’s former partners even promised me that I’d be able to use my father’s work desk. That it was passed on to me and just waiting to be used again.
I took Law, had high grades. I welcomed the almost impossible academic workload. All this because I didn’t want anyone to say that I straight-up apprenticed there from graduation because I was a daughter of a late partner of the firm. Still, I would say life was easy for me compared to Sarah’s life. She didn’t make the cut because her grades were average, so I pleaded with Carl and the uncles to at least give her a chance because it would help her portfolio in case they let her go after the apprenticeship period. Sarah worked harder than before. And it compensated for her average academic grades and low bar exam score later, which she barely passed. She continued to work there, obviously as she was retained after the apprenticeship period.
Not long after, Sarah moved to a different place. She earned enough to be independent. We celebrated. We drank, got drunk, and had fun.
But less than a year later, someone told me that Carl frequently picked Sarah up whenever she worked overtime. I didn’t think much of it because I never thought they would start anything behind my back. Well, not that they couldn’t date, but that at least I would be forewarned because they both knew my feelings for Carl. Maybe it was a coincidence. That they happened to be in the parking lot at the same time, and Carl kindly offered to drive Sarah home because we were friends.
In hindsight, I remembered signs that Sarah was avoiding me. I didn’t think much of it until I learned about the dating rumors.