---- He sounded slightly guilty, but I didn't call him out on it. "It must've been hard," I replied coldly. Zeke looked a little uneasy. He didn't think I would just go along with what he said. "My friend, Howard, and his girlfriend are getting engaged tomorrow. They invited me to their engagement party. I think you should come with me," he suggested with an awkward smile. 1 lifted my head to look at him. I was stunned-I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd never attended an event like this with Zeke before. His friends didn't like me, so he always brought Scarlett as his plus one instead. If he'd told me this back then, I would've said yes without any hesitation. On top of that, I would've immediately jumped up and started looking for something to wear. ---- Instead of doing that, I continued eating my stew with a blank expression. "It's alright. I wouldn't want to ruin your friend's engagement party." Upon hearing this, Zeke frowned, and his hand froze in midair. He slowly retracted his hand. Then, he declared in a reassuring manner, "You're my girlfriend. I assure you, he won't disrespect you in any way." I looked up from my food and glanced at him. I couldn't believe how serious he looked. Back then, when his group of friends mocked me and claimed that I would never match up to Scarlett, I shot him a desperate look in order to ask for his assistance. To my dismay, he ignored my silent cries for help. When I tried to talk to him about it afterward, he said, "Well, it's not like they said anything wrong. ---- You're my girlfriend, and you can't even deal with my friends? That's kind of pathetic if you ask me." His friends were only treating me that way because he treated me with disrespect-and he clearly knew that. Once I finished the rest of my food, I cleaned up the table and said, ''I'm quite busy tomorrow. Why don't you take someone else?"