Played By My Best Friend

Chapter 5

Half a year ago

"She said yes!" Alex's voice hollered from the center of the crowd.

Cheers erupted and hoots came from the guys, congratulating Alex.

I bit my lip to try suppress the smile that was growing as I continued to watch from a distance.

As the crowd started to disperse, I was finally able to see a blushing Hannah and a beaming Alex.

My hands were clasped together, otherwise they would've been clapping uncontrollably by now.

As Alex looked around, our eyes met and I sent him my biggest smile, mouthing 'congrats' and raising both of my thumbs to show how happy I was for him.

Alex mirrored my smile and mouthed a 'thank you' before he directed his focus back to his new girlfriend.

Beside me, Beth looked between Alex and I weirdly.

"What?" I asked her after a minute of bearing with the look she was giving me.

"你真的没事吗？(Are you really alright?)"

I gave her an odd look, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Beth gave me a look that has 'Duh' written all over it. "你不用骗我。(You don't need to lie to me.)"

I rolled my eyes. "You're being unreasonable, I'm not lying to you."

"不会吧。(No way) You're telling me you're genuinely happy for them?" Beth asked, looking at me scrutinizingly.

I turned to face her properly, nodding earnestly to show that I'm not lying.

"But- but..." Beth stammered.

"But what?" I asked.

"你不是喜欢他吗? (Don't you like him?)" Beth asked.

This time, it was my turn to look at her weirdly. "What?"

Beth returned my bewildered look with a straight face.

"W-what made you think that?" I sputtered.

"Everything you did. The frequent texting, the smiles, the close relationship between you two. I thought you had a thing going on!" Beth exclaimed before realizing that she was basically broadcasting her opinion to the whole school. Her eyes widened and she took a look around, her hands flying to cover her mouth, knowing she might as well could've started a rumor.

"你真的不喜欢他吗？(You really don't like him?)" She asked in a hushed voice this time.

I nodded once again, feeling like I could explode from the building exasperation in me. It was like I was talking to someone who didn't understand English.

"Well, I guess we don't have a problem then." Beth shrugged, glancing at the new couple once again.

"I was just worried that you had actually fallen for Alex. I don't want you to have to see those lovebirds everyday and listen to Alex gush about her whilst actually having feelings for him." Beth shuddered. "That would be the biggest torture you could ever inflict on a girl."

I shook my head, chuckling at Beth's nonsense talk. I linked our arms together and steered us away from the sight of the lovebirds, taking one last look over my shoulder at the smiling couple who looked very much in love.

I was genuinely happy for them and I'm 100% sure that I have no feelings for Alex whatsoever.

Right?

Okay maybe 99.999% sure.

An insignificant 0.001% wouldn't hurt.

Right?