Chapter 3

Cassandra's POV

After adjusting my mindset, I returned to university, thinking I could temporarily escape the suffocating atmosphere at home.

As I walked into the Psychology Department building, my steps suddenly froze.

Blake's bicycle was parked at the entrance, with a familiar figure sitting on the back seat—Melody. She was holding tightly onto Blake's waist, wearing a gleaming pearl necklace around her neck.

That necklace... my blood turned to ice.

"Cassie!" Blake saw me and hurriedly helped Melody off the bike. "Why are you back so early?"

I stared fixedly at the pearl necklace around Melody's neck—Mom's treasured heirloom, the one she'd personally said she wanted to leave to me before she died.

"What are you doing here?" My voice was shaking.

"Uncle Theodore helped me transfer schools," Melody said, looking down and unconsciously touching the necklace. "He said this way we could look out for each other..."

"And that necklace around your neck!" I practically shouted. "That was my mother's—she left it to me!"

Blake quickly stepped in front of Melody. "Cassie, calm down! Melody told me about her situation. She's been through enough, you should..."

"I should what? Let her wear my mother's heirloom?" I laughed, the kind of laugh that's uglier than crying. "This is my mother's legacy."

Melody's eyes immediately reddened. "I'm sorry, Cassandra. Uncle Theodore said it was just ordinary jewelry... I didn't know it was so important..."

As she spoke, tears began falling, making her look more wronged than me.

"Theodore rushed the transfer paperwork to surprise you," Blake's tone grew impatient. "Don't make such a big deal out of it. She can just give the necklace back later."

Making a big deal?

Looking at the two of them, I felt a nauseating disgust rise in my chest.

I turned and walked away, not wanting to see them anymore.

Pushing open the student council office door, I froze again.

Melody was sitting in my designated seat, my folders spread across the desk as she organized work materials I'd left from last week.

"What are you doing?" I rushed over and slammed my hand on the desk.

The other students in the office all looked at me with confusion and reproach in their eyes.

"Cassie, what's wrong with you?" Emily, a senior from the club, frowned. "Melody's been helping with your backlogged work. She's worked so hard these past few days."

"This is my seat, my work!" My voice was trembling.

Blake walked in just then, and seeing the scene, he sighed. "Melody was just trying to help lighten your load."

"But this is my position..."

"Cassie, you've become so selfish," Tom, another student, shook his head. "What's wrong with sharing your seat?"

Melody immediately stood up, tears starting to fall again. "Cassandra, if you don't want me to, I can stop... It's all my fault for causing trouble..."

The more she said this, the more I looked like the villain in everyone's eyes.

"Never mind, you can sit there." I said through gritted teeth and turned to leave.

"Cassie!" Blake called after me. "Let's talk properly tonight."

I didn't answer, walking straight out of the office.

I spent the entire afternoon sitting in the library, unable to focus on any book. My mind kept replaying the image of Melody wearing Mom's necklace and Blake protecting her.

At six o'clock, I arrived punctually at our usual corner table at the restaurant, wanting to talk properly with Blake about today's events. But I waited and waited—he never showed. In frustration, I left the restaurant.

What I saw in the restaurant next door nearly made me collapse on the spot.

Blake was cutting steak for Melody.

"I'll eat with you every day from now on. Don't think about sad things anymore," Blake said tenderly to Melody, in that tone...

I'll never forget it—that was the way he used to speak only to me.

My legs went weak; I could barely stand.

"Blake." I walked over, my voice terrifyingly hoarse.

He looked up sharply, his face becoming very unnatural the moment he saw me.

"Cassie? How did you..."

Tears fell directly from my eyes. "You promised to stay with me through the hardest days, and here you are on a date with her?"

"This isn't a date!" Blake hurried to explain. "I was passing by and saw Melody eating alone—she looked so pitiful, I was just..."

"Pitiful?" I laughed, the sound filled with despair. "What about me? Am I not pitiful?"

"But Melody needs me more than you do." Blake's words stabbed into my heart like a knife. "She has no family left. You at least still have Theodore and your brother. Can't you be more mature and stop playing the victim?"

The victim?

I stared at him as if seeing this person for the first time.

"Blake, don't say that about Cassandra..." Melody said softly, but I caught a flash of smugness in her eyes.

I took a deep breath and tremblingly removed the couple's ring from my finger.

"You're right." I placed the ring heavily on the table with a crisp sound. "I really shouldn't play the victim."

Blake was stunned. "Cassie, what are you doing?"

"Let's break up." I looked at him without a trace of attachment in my eyes. "Since my pain means so little to you, since she needs you more than I do, then take good care of her."

"Cassie, don't be impulsive..." Blake tried to reach for me.

I stepped away.

"I wish you both 'happiness.'" I said coldly and turned to leave.

As I walked out of the restaurant, I heard Melody's sobbing behind me: "It's all my fault... I shouldn't have come here..."

And Blake's voice comforting her: "Don't cry, this isn't your fault. Cassie's just being too unreasonable..."

Unreasonable?

I stopped at the door and looked back.

Blake was holding Melody, gently patting her back, just like he used to comfort me.

So his tenderness could be given to anyone.

So when I needed support most after losing Mom, even the person I loved most would leave me.

I walked through the night, my tears long since dried.

Mom, can you see this?

The house has a new daughter, my boyfriend has a new object of care, even my position at school has been taken by someone else.

They all say I'm unreasonable, selfish, immature.

But no one has asked how I've been getting through these days since losing you.

No one cares how much pain I'm in, how desperate I feel.

I pulled out my phone and saw a message from Theodore: "Melody said you were emotionally unstable at school. Come home early—everyone's worried about you."

Worried about me?

I smiled bitterly.

They're only worried about whether I'll affect Melody's mood.

I turned off my phone and walked alone through the empty campus.

Eleanor, what should I do?