🔹️🔹️Adrien Russell🔹️🔹️

I was in my office at 6 in the evening when Ryan called and informed me that Evan was here. Although I was in no mood to meet him, I was curious about what he had to say. I was also looking forward to throwing a couple of punches on his face.

When he knocked and came inside, I looked up from my desk to him. He looked awkward and... guilty. We didn't exchange any greetings and I offered him to sit on the couch next to my desk as I too walked there.

"I'll come straight to the point." He started. "Crystal told me that you got some pictures of us kissing but it's not what it seems like. I mean... It was me who tried to kiss Crystal."

I listened to him calmly but only I was aware of the storm brewing inside me.

"You forced a kiss on her?" My nose flared in fury.

"I'm sorry, Adrien. I was dead drunk and my feelings for Crystal were so on the surface that I didn't realise what I was doing. And I didn't really force her, I stopped when she asked me to." His eyes flushed with genuine guilt and a small part of me empathized with him.

"But what I am here for is to tell you that whatever happened, whatever you saw, it was all my fault. Crystal has been loyal to you and she'll always be. Please don't misunderstand the situation and go back home. She is vulnerable without you."

Evan's confession surprised me. A mixture of feelings evolved inside of me. "There's nothing between you and Crystal?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I sighed and rubbed my face. Things had become so exhausting.

"Thanks. For telling me the truth."

He gave me a sad smile. "It's the least I could do for the girl I love." I wasn't mad at that. Not even jealous. I actually felt sad for Evan. We both stood up and shook hands. "Sorry for the trouble." And he left.

There was so much on my mind. Crystal, Brie, Sophie. I needed to talk to someone. Someone who would see things with my point of view and help me. There was only one person who came to mind and I called him.

"Hey, Ty! Wanna grab a drink? Now!"

.

.

"What?!" Tyler choked on his drink when I told him the entire truth of mine and Crystal's marriage. "Holy Shit, you guys were faking it all this time?"

I sighed and answered. "It was a contract marriage but we somehow grew close to each other, so I wouldn't say that all of it was fake."

"So you're telling me that you have started to have feelings for your contractual wife."

"Pretty much."

"Okay. So what's the problem?"

Then I told him the whole story of Evan and those pictures along with Brie's confession.

"Woah. To say that your love life is complicated is an understatement." He commented.

"Tell me about it." I rolled my eyes and chugged down my drink.

"So Brie is back and she claims that she never cheated on you."

"Apparently. But I don't get it. As Brie says, Alan must have lied to me. But those chats and Sophie, how do I turn a blind eye on them?"

"Either one of them is obviously lying." Tyler said. As if I didn't already know that. "Do you notice the similarity in both these situations?" He asked and I gave it a thought. Yes, both the situations were ridiculously similar.

After a minute, Tyler asked. "Who sent you those pictures of Crystal and Evan?"

"Sophie."

...

And then I realised.

Sophie.

It was her who showed me the chats of Alan and Brie. She had convinced me to stop trying to reach out to Brie. She never informed me that Brie had come to visit me. She tried to create misunderstandings between us.

And all of that had been repeated with Crystal.

How could I be so dumb.

"It was Sophie. She had been trying to push away every girl I liked. First Brie and now Crystal." I muttered.

"But why would Sophie do that?"

"Because she loves me. Or at least she says that she does. God, I have to be the most stupid person to not understand this earlier."

"Wow. Your best friend is one hell of a bitch then." Tyler said.

"I gotta go." I ran out of the bar and sat in my car. There were things I needed to know.

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The next day, I first texted Sophie to ask where she was. When she texted back saying that she was home, I drove to her house while I texted Brie her address and asked her to come there immediately.

"Hey. Where have you been?" She asked.

"Just hold on. I'm waiting for someone."

"Adrien-" She began speaking but it was the doorbell that stopped her. I walked to the door and opened it. As Brie came in the sight of others, I watched all the colour on Sophie's face drain out.

We both walked in further as Sophie looked at us in horror.

"Do you remember Brie? I ran into her in a restaurant." Both the ladies looked at each other with different emotions. There was a moment of silence before I started speaking.

"Sophie, how did you get those pictures of Crystal and Evan?" I asked, moving towards her.

"I- M-my friend was there at the party, she recognised Crystal as your wife so she took those pictures." She answered, sweat dripping from her forehead.

"What happened between them was after the party ended. It was nearly midnight. Why was your friend still there?" I questioned.

"I- I don't know. Why are you even questioning me instead of your cheating wife?" She snapped.

"Don't you dare try to call her names, Sophie. You will not like the consequences." I gritted at her, being furious. "Right now, I have questions for you and I want answers to them."

"Those text messages that you showed to me, of Brie and Alan, were real?" I asked.

"Of course, they were."

"Did Brie come back looking for me later?"

"No, she didn't-"

"Don't lie again, Sophie. You know I did. You were the one who sent me away from the door saying that Adrien didn't want to see my face." Brie interrupted.

"Don't believe her, Adrien. You know she is a cheater, a liar." She turned towards Brie. "Don't try to get back in his good books, Brie. You joined hands with that one person Adrien hated."

"I did no such thing."

"Your defense is of no use. Alan himself had confessed it-"

"Because you manipulated him." It was me who spoke. They looked at me. "You promised him that you would leak the details of our hotel's project to him if he had helped you. He lied to us, just like you wanted. And after passing the confidential information to him, you put the blame on Brie."

"I- I do-don't know what you are t-talking about." The fear in Sophie's eyes clearly told otherwise.

"Stop with the lying, Sophie. I went to meet some of Alan's friends and they were the ones who told me all of this."

All this time, for years, she'd been playing with my feelings and breaking my trust while I truly thought of her as my best friend. There was so much rage burning inside me that I wanted to shatter everything in sight but at the same time I was immensely hurt. It was her who I would run to when I had something to be happy about or be something to be upset about. I had spent nights laughing or crying with her. When my first love broke my heart, when my first project under Dad's supervision was stolen and we had no proof for it, it was her I ran to for comfort.

Had I known that she had been the reason for all my misery.

"Why did you do that? What did you even get? Was it fun watching me break into pieces in front of you? Did my failure and misery satisfy you?" I hated how my voice cracked as I spoke. Several tears slid down her face and she sobbed. "I thought of you as my best friend. We were always there for each other at our worst, that's what I always thought. But all you did was take advantage of it. WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" I yelled.

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!" Sophie's scream reached my ears. I couldn't stop the scoff that left my throat.

"Love me? You have been trying to get me away from everything that's important to me, that matters to me and you say that you love me? Seriously Sophie, the least you can do is not insult an emotion like love."

"Yes, I tried to take you away from everything else because I wanted you for myself. Because I hate it when you smile at someone but me, or give attention to anyone but me." She wiped her tears and moved towards me, grabbing my arms. "Think of it, Adrien. All those times only the two of us had been together, hadn't it been the best?"

I looked at her in disbelief. Just how psychotic was she?

"That's because you had left me with no choice, Sophie. Because when I had been vulnerable, when you had made me vulnerable, you pretended to comfort me. You manipulated me. That's anything but love, Sophie."

"I DIDN'T CARE! What only mattered to me that you were with me. That's it! I couldn't stand seeing you with anyone else, Adrien. You cannot fall in love with anyone else. I WILL NOT LET YOU." She grabbed my collars and yelled.

"Sophie, you've gone mad. And if you think your madness will make me fall in love with you, it's not happening. Not after I know what all you have done." I yanked her away from me and moved away.

"I regret calling you my friend. You are not even worth my friendship let alone the love. Selfish people like you don't deserve to be loved." With that I marched out, with Brie behind me.

I insisted on dropping Brie where she had been staying but just as we drove a mile, I received a call from Lily.

"Adrien! Where are you? Crystal isn't well. She has fainted. Please come home."

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