Chapter 23
1/1
Anthony stood in Yasmine’s room, clutching a silver cufflink in his hand. It was Zachary’s.
He recognized the style. It was from the set he’d personally accompanied Zachary to order for his birthday last year.
And now it was here, in his sister’s drawer, carefully stored in a velvet box next to a photograph. In the picture, Yasmine was nestled against Zachary’s chest, wearing the gentlest smile Anthony had ever seen on her face.
འ བོ ཟན རཥ ཥ
Anthony’s breath caught as countless images flashed through his mind. He remembered Zachary’s dazed expression at the bar, the way he kept asking about Yasmine’s well–being, and how his face had instantly turned pale when asked about his secret girlfriend.
Then, there was his persistent questioning about where Yasmine was.
“Fuck!” Anthony slammed the drawer shut and stormed out of the room.
Soon, Zachary’s apartment door shook under the violent pounding. The moment he opened it, a heavy punch flew straight at his face.
He staggered backward several steps, blood immediately trickling from the corner of his mouth. He instinctively clenched his fists to retaliate, but froze when he saw who it was. “Anthony? What the hell is wrong with you?”
Anthony’s eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently. “Zachary, I’m going to ask you once. Was your secret girlfriend my sister?”
The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Zachary’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and after a long moment, he slowly nodded.
“Why, you fucking…” Anthony’s fist crashed into Zachary’s face again, this time knocking him to the ground.
“Why?” Anthony roared hoarsely as he grabbed Zachary by the collar. “We’ve been friends for all these years, and this is how you treat my sister? Are you even human?”
Zachary wiped the blood from his mouth, his voice low and hoarse as he said, “I… I know I was wrong. I’ve realized that the person I love is actually Yasmine…” “Love?” Anthony let out a cold laugh, suddenly releasing him. “Do you think you deserve to talk about love? Playing with people’s feelings like this… Aren’t you afraid of karma?”
He stood up, looking down at Zachary from above. “Besides, you’re nothing but a thief.”
Zachary froze. “What do you mean?”
ཉེ ཆེན ཇ གཽ ངོ ཛིརྗེ སོ ཇ| ཛྱཱ གཽ ཆ སོ བྷན གཽ བྷ ནི ན བོ ཛ ཇ ཇ བོ
“All these years, the reason why Yasmine was devoted to you wasn’t because she loved you.” Anthony’s voice was ice–cold. “It was because she thought you were the one who saved her from that car accident.”
Zachary’s face instantly tumed deathly pale.
“It’s too bad, though.” Anthony’s lips twisted into a cruel smile. “That person wasn’t you at all. It was Xavier. Just because you had the same shirt as Xavier, you stole the love that belonged to him!”
Those words struck Zachary with crushing force. His fingers unconsciously clenched, nails digging deep into his palms, but he felt no pain. “Does she… Does she know about it?” Zachary’s voice was barely audible.
“Of course.” Anthony sneered. “The reason she suddenly went abroad was because she found out the truth and decided to look for Xavier.” Anthony pulled out his phone, scrolling to his chat history with Yasmine and shoving it in Zachary’s face.
Above was Anthony’s message. “What? Why? What are you planning to do?”
To that, Yasmine’s response was, “I’m getting my husband.
“Just wait, okay? You’ll have a brother–in–law real soon.”
11
Anthony continued at that moment, “Besides, my sister and Xavier have already met!”
Zachary’s head snapped up, his voice shaking. “What?“”
“In Lierden.” Anthony spoke each word deliberately. “She’s going to find her happiness, so leave her alone.”
