Chapter 10 Someone Set You Up
1190 Words
"Wait, what? Did you just say you're married?"
"Yeah."
"s**t! Why didn't you tell me? Charlotte, do you even think of me as your bestie?!" Clenching her fist, Sally asked Charlotte angrily.
"Sorry, but it happened all of a sudden. I only got married the day before yesterday. It hasn't been very long."
"Not very long? You should have told me as soon as you got married!"
Charlotte sighed and said, "Sorry, but I didn't know how to tell you."
"Let me see it!"
"See what?"
"Your marriage certificate."
"I left it at home..."
"I don't care. Take a picture when you get home, and show me that you're really married. Or I'll beat you up!"
Sally's father was a police officer and a colleague of Charlotte's father. The two girls grew up together and were besties.
Sally, an outgoing girl, loved to take up the cudgel for others. She had applied to a military academy in high school without telling her family. When Sally planned to go to school, her father was furious! He didn't want her to be a police officer like him because he knew it was too dangerous for his baby girl.
Charlotte, on the contrary, envied Sally because she could do what she wanted.
Charlotte also wanted to be a police officer like her father, but unfortunately, she had been injured when she was a child. It hurt very badly. She failed the medical exam when she signed up for the military academy.
"Charlotte, is Gerald Natalie's boyfriend?"
"I'm not sure."
She wasn't quite sure if they were seeing each other. But she knew Natalie often bragged to her about how good Gerald was to her.
"So, how did you end up with him?"
"It's very complicated." Charlotte then told Sally the whole story.
Sally's brow furrowed as she listened to her and asked, "This sounds like a conspiracy! Someone set you up! I was there to celebrate your birthday too."
Charlotte had never thrown a party for her birthday. She would only have dinner with Sally and her grandpa to celebrate it.
After all, her birthday was the death of her mother. Her mother had a difficult birth and subsequently died.
Linda always blamed Charlotte for her daughter's death! That's why Linda did not like Charlotte.
When Charlotte was ten years old, her father, Wayne Anderson, went to rescue Mia, who had been kidnapped. The kidnappers wanted to kill Mia. Wayne had fought five thugs by himself in that dangerous situation. Unfortunately, he died!
Linda disliked Charlotte more after that! In Linda's eyes, Charlotte had brought back luck to her family and caused the death of her parents.
Charlotte did not like celebrating her birthday because it would remind her of her dead parents.
However, twenty was a special age, and Sally wanted to celebrate it for her. The two of them planned to have dinner and go shopping that day. But Mia had called and wanted to celebrate Charlotte's birthday at the Millers.
Sally had gone to Charlotte's birthday party as well. Natalie had been there, and so did Gerald. Mia herself prepared a lot of delicious food and ordered a cake for Charlotte. Though not everyone was happy there, it took Mia much effort to prepare it.
The party ended at ten o'clock.
"Ms. Miller had me sent home after the party. Then what happened? Do you remember anything?"
"Neither Natalie nor I left afterward. I went to my room, took a shower, and then went to bed."
Sally frowned. "You didn't go to Gerald's room to look for him?"
"No. Why would I do that?"
"That's strange! You said you woke up in Gerald's room. Did he bring you there?"
"No way! Gerald doesn't like me, and he won't go near me. He wouldn't do it!"
Moreover, he had been so angry after he had woken up and found they had had s*x!
"Did you drink anything?"
Charlotte thought for a while and replied, "Natalie did give me a glass of milk."
Sally slammed the table and said firmly, "It must be her! You drank it?"
"Yes?"
"Then, it's definitely her!"
Charlotte shook her head and asked in disbelief, "Why? Why on earth would she do that?"
Natalie couldn't have let me sleep with Gerald if she wanted to hurt me! She usually wouldn't take a step away from Gerald and would be jealous of others looking at him. So how could she do that? She thought to herself.
Sally shrugged and asked, "Then, tell me who did that to you!"
Charlotte put on a bitter smile. "Maybe I sleepwalked into his room."
"No, that can't be. If you walked into his room, he would have recognized you. It is too weird!"
Sally glanced at Charlotte as she ate and asked, "Charlotte, did you take your birth control pills?"
"Yeah."
"What? Did you buy it yourself?"
"No, Gerald gave it to me."
"s**t! He's such an asshole! I want to beat him up right now," Sally said. She chewed hard on the food in her mouth as if it were Gerald.
"It's okay. I don't want to get pregnant now anyway. What happened that night was a mistake."
"If he likes Natalie so much, then why did he marry you? I think that they must be plotting something!"
"Well, Sally, are you done eating? Let's go for a stroll around the neighborhood."Charlotte tried to distract her angry bestie.
"Charlotte, you're still a student. How come you're married? And, your husband doesn't love you. No offense, honey, but I think you will not be happy in your marriage. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." Sally lamented.
Sally then asked Charlotte why she married Gerald, as he didn't love her.
"I thought God gave me a chance. So I'm going to make the most of it!"
Sally knew since Charlotte had a crush on him as a child, she had never gotten over him in all those years. She wanted to support Charlotte but still couldn't help but worry about her.
When Charlotte returned to Miller's house in the evening, Mia talked to her immediately.
"Charlotte, I'm sorry. I already know how Gerald treated you at work. He's such a jerk!" Mia said.
"Mia, it's okay. It's not a big deal."
Whatever Gerald does to spite me, I'll try to deal with it. She thought to herself.
At that moment, Evelyn suddenly cut in, "Natalie's taking care of Gerald, and I'm relieved to see that."
She said that on purpose, as she wanted to annoy Mia and Charlotte. It also reminded Charlotte of what Natalie had told Gerald in the office at noon.
Gerald had moved out of the house to be with Natalie every day. He must feel so great about that! Maybe he fought with his family on purpose so he could move out. Charlotte thought to herself.
She took a picture of the marriage certificate and sent it to Sally. But Sally criticized that Gerald looked too indifferent in the picture!
Charlotte knew that Gerald was only cold to her. In front of Natalie, he was a completely different person.
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