"I just feel like Sheryl is acting weird," Reina Vance explained. "Back when you were helping out at the coffee shop, she told me she saw you shopping with another woman."
"But didn’t she later say she was mistaken?" Howard Shaw fed her a peeled jumbo shrimp.
"But the fake nail this time was hers, too," Reina Vance said, her brows knitting together. "But when I asked her, she didn’t admit it. Instead, she told me you might have a girlfriend."
Howard’s face immediately darkened. "What the hell? Is she crazy or something? Does she just not want to see us happy?"
"That’s why I thought it was so weird."
"Damn, does she have that big of a problem with me?"
"Exactly! That’s why I asked if she ever chats with you."
"We’ve chatted, but it all seemed pretty normal. She didn’t say anything bad about me," Howard Shaw urged. "You should just take my phone and look at the chat history yourself."
"Okay." Reina Vance knew his passcode and unlocked the phone.
She easily found Sheryl Sterling in his chat list. They had just messaged yesterday.
Reina Vance’s frown deepened.
She tapped open the chat. The last message was from Sheryl Sterling.
[Howard, Rain can be bad-tempered, willful, and likes to stir up trouble, but as her friend, I hope you can be patient with her.]
’What the hell?’
Reina Vance was stunned.
’Is that something a friend should say?’
’Unbelievable. She’s really hoping I’ll break up with Howard!’
Reina Vance scrolled up through the chat history, growing even more speechless.
Sheryl Sterling had sent Howard photos of the two of them hanging out. In every single one, Reina Vance looked awful.
On top of that, she noticed Sheryl had Photoshopped herself to have fair skin, a beautiful face, a bigger chest, and longer legs!
Even worse, mixed in with these group photos was a solo picture of Sheryl.
Sheryl had even added a typically manipulative, cutesy explanation: [So embarrassing, I accidentally sent a photo of myself. I can’t unsend it, so just pretend you didn’t see it.]
Howard had replied: [Rain makes a lot of funny faces.]
Sheryl Sterling: [Those are already some of her most presentable pictures.]
Howard hadn’t replied.
Reina Vance clenched her fists, her blood pressure soaring as she read.
’How had she never realized Sheryl Sterling was such a green tea before?’
Scrolling up further, she saw that Sheryl Sterling had sent a video call request, which Howard had rejected.
Reina Vance played the voice message that followed. She heard Sheryl Sterling’s coquettish, cutesy voice. "Rain, I’m drunk... I feel so awful. Can you talk with me for a bit, please?"
"HOLY SHIT!" Reina Vance was livid.
Howard popped another shrimp into her mouth. "What’s wrong?"
"Why didn’t you tell me she was sending you all this stuff?" Reina Vance demanded, glaring at him with puffed cheeks.
Howard said nonchalantly, "She said she sent them by mistake, so I didn’t think anything of it."
Reina Vance looked at her clueless fiancé and couldn’t help but sigh. "Oh my god. If you had even the slightest ulterior motive, that shameless bitch Sheryl Sterling would’ve already succeeded."