Did he know Bethany liked him?

I didn’t know in my past life because Bethany always avoided me.

She also pretended to be happy about helping me win Liam over.

In Bethany’s suicide note, she said she’d confessed to Liam on her eighteenth birthday.

Liam had turned her down because he was engaged to me.

I found out later that Liam felt guilty about rejecting Bethany.

He always gave her everything she wanted and favored her a lot.

Liam looked guilty.

“Scarlett, don’t say things like that.”

I didn’t want to keep arguing. Instead, I looked at Liam’s empty hands.

“Is it polite to show up empty-handed?”

Everyone started gossiping.

Liam swallowed hard.

He knew it wasn’t polite.

But Bethany’s family was having problems, and he’d been out all morning helping her deal with it.

He’d forgotten about my birthday.

He rushed over when he remembered, but he didn’t have time to get a gift.

Bethany piped up,

“Scarlett, we’re friends. Why are you making a big deal out of it?”

I smiled and left without arguing.

Uncle Michael came over and made a show of standing up for me.

I patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, I can handle it.”

Liam’s family finally showed up, late.

Liam's grandpa even came to show how much they cared about me.

But his face looked grim.

I knew he already knew about the breakup.

“Grandpa, you’re here? I heard you weren’t feeling well.” Liam went to his grandpa.

“How could I not come? You’re embarrassing the whole Foster family!”

His grandpa was blunt. “Showing up empty-handed and making a scene at Scarlett’s birthday party? Do you want everyone to say the Foster family has no manners?”

I stepped forward and helped his grandpa.

“Don’t be angry, Grandpa. Liam’s probably just been busy.”

“I heard a lot of debt collectors went to Bethany’s house this morning. Liam probably went to help her.”

I glanced at Bethany’s clenched fists, not smiling.

His grandpa was even more annoyed.

“Nonsense! He could have asked someone to handle it. Instead, he’s here with…”

He saw Bethany’s pale face and swallowed the rest of his sentence.

He sighed and took out a box from his pocket.

“Here’s the Foster family’s birthday gift. I’m apologizing on behalf of this ungrateful grandson.”

“Grandpa, you’re overdoing it. I’m not really mad at Liam. We’re friends.”

I took the box and saw Liam look relieved.

His grandpa looked at me even more strangely.

He could tell I was being distant and polite.

His grandpa had thought of me as his future granddaughter-in-law.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

He glared at Liam.

He didn’t like looking at Bethany either.

Liam finally calmed down.

He reached for my hand, like always.

I casually avoided him.

I helped his grandpa to the stage, and Uncle Michael followed.

I stood up there and saw Liam looking at me excitedly.

Bethany was biting her lip, looking sad.

Liam didn’t notice her. He was focused on me.

He knew today was the day they were going to announce the engagement.

The girl he'd liked since he was young was finally going to be his wife.

Just as he was about to go on stage, his grandpa waved, telling him not to come up.

Then I held up the microphone.

“Everyone, I have an announcement – I'm ending my engagement to Liam Foster.”