After ending the call with Suzy, Karen secretly opened Yurika's suitcase, skillfully entering the password. Although Yurika deliberately avoided her every time she opened the suitcase, Karen still managed to uncover her secret. With a ‘bip’ sound, the combination lock opened.
Karen carefully searched inside and found a photo at the bottom, beneath the clothes. It was a picture of Yurika and Justin. Written in red pen on the back of the photo were the letters 'Y (Heart) J’.
She had always known that Yurika was secretly keeping such a photo because, like Yurika, she had loved and lost before. Even though Yurika never admitted her feelings for Justin, Karen could see it in her eyes.
Seeing this photo, Karen's eyes narrowed slightly. Thinking about the fact that the man both Samantha and Yurika admired would soon marry her, a sense of satisfaction filled her eyes.
She took out the photo and placed it under Yurika's pillow. To ensure that Samantha would discover it, she deliberately exposed a corner of the photo.
Once everything was done, she changed into her work attire and left.
After the car left the garage, in a cheerful mood, she called Yurika.
The call was answered, and Yurika impatiently said, "Speak quickly if you have something to say, don't waste my time."
If it weren't for Samantha, she wouldn't want to have anything to do with Karen.
Karen didn't immediately answer her question but leisurely asked, "You should be at the company now, right?"
"Obviously. Do you think I'm like you, planning to climb up the ladder through men?" Yurika said, annoyed. Then, she impatiently asked, "What's the matter?"
Karen still didn't give a direct answer to Yurika's question, "It should take about forty minutes to drive from your company to my house, right?"
Yurika, fed up with her nonsense, hung up the phone directly.
Karen wasn't bothered and called her again.
The phone rang for a long time before Yurika answered, "What do you want? I'm busy and don't have time for your nonsense."
This time, Karen didn't waste any time and got straight to the point, "I placed a photo of you and Justin under your pillow! Tell me, what do you think if Samantha sees that photo?"
As her words fell, Yurika's heart instantly sank into an icy abyss.
Her entire body's blood froze at that moment.
She trembled with anger.
"Karen, you're truly cunning. I regret not exposing you to Samantha earlier..."
After saying that, she quickly hung up the phone, grabbed her car keys, and rushed out.
She couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if Samantha saw that photo.
She had to quickly go back and put the photo away.
Compared to her panic, Karen remained exceptionally calm.
Opening the car's music, she hummed along to a song, tapping the steering wheel in rhythm.
Calculating the time, she called Samantha.
"Samantha, I have a very important meeting this afternoon, but I can't find the documents. Can you check at home for me? Maybe I left them there?"
Samantha readily agreed.
After hanging up, Karen's smile deepened. In a good mood, even the scenery outside the window looked particularly pleasing.
...
On the other side, after ending the call with Karen, Samantha searched the study but didn't find the meeting materials Karen mentioned.
She went into the bedroom to search.
Sure enough, on the dressing table in the bedroom, she saw the documents Karen mentioned.
She picked up the documents and, as she was about to leave, her eyes inadvertently caught a glimpse of a photo partially exposed under the pillow.
Good manners told her she should leave. Even if it was her best friend, she shouldn't peek at someone else's belongings.
However, her hands acted uncontrollably.
They reached out and pulled the photo from under the pillow.
In the photo, Justin had his long arm around Yurika's shoulder. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, leaning their heads together, laughing happily.
Yurika even playfully stuck out her tongue.
She remembered this photo.
It was taken on Justin's eighteenth birthday.
The three of them—she, Karen, and Yurika—had taken the same photo with Justin.
That year, they were all fourteen years old.
She used to keep this photo under her pillow, taking it out every night before sleeping, and laughing foolishly.
Unfortunately, her copy of the photo was now missing.
But Yurika still preserved hers well.
Looking at this photo, Samantha's heart suddenly warmed, and she felt a sense of a bygone era.
She smiled, shook her head, and prepared to put the photo back under the pillow.
The moonlight at the corner of her eye caught something behind the photo.
Seemingly, there were words.
Curious, she turned the photo over.
The words on the back of the photo came into clear view.
She was stunned.
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
She could hardly believe what her eyes were seeing.
If it's said that Yurika has kept this photo for nostalgia, to commemorate the passing youth, then the words on the back of the photo made Samantha start to doubt.
Suddenly, the words Karen said in the private box that day flashed in her mind.
"I know you also like Justin..."
Yurika likes Justin?
This realization hit Samantha like a thunderbolt, leaving her petrified on the spot.
Her mind was buzzing, and she lost the ability to think.
Before she could snap out of this sudden revelation, urgent footsteps echoed outside the door, followed by Yurika's panicked voice, "Samantha, you..."
Before the words 'are here?' could be spoken, Yurika saw Samantha holding the photo, standing there with a pale face.
Yurika immediately became flustered, and her eyes darted around with a guilty look.
"Samantha, listen to my explanation... the four of us grew up together, and he has been like a warm big brother, taking care of us and protecting us. So... uh... I developed feelings for him beyond siblings, I... "
A series of incoherent explanations.
Rather than easing Samantha's expression, it made her look even more unpleasant.
"So, what Karen said that day is true. You really like Justin?"
Yurika was stunned. Her little face turned pale.
She wanted to deny it, but with things having reached this point, no amount of explanation would make sense.
It would even appear whitewashed and feeble.
After a brief hesitation, she nodded and hastily explained, "Yes, I did like Justin back then. But that was a long time ago. Now, I really... really..."
She wanted to say that she no longer liked Justin.
But facing Samantha's earnest gaze, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Her expression, in Samantha's eyes, was a clear sign of guilt.
Unprecedented disappointment overwhelmed Samantha. Tears blurred her vision. Emotionally charged, she said, "Why did you lie to me? For over ten years, I feel like I've been a fool, deceived by you and Karen..."
Until today, she only discovered that not only did Karen like Justin, but Yurika did too.
And for the past eighteen years, she had been completely oblivious.
She felt deceived and manipulated.
Yurika's eyes also turned red, and she lowered her head, saying in shame, "I... I don't know what to say! You have a better personality than me, and Karen is gentler than me. I felt that if he liked any one of you, he wouldn't like me. So, I never thought about declaring these feelings."
She had a very clear self-awareness.
Except for her beauty, she felt she had no redeeming qualities.
Justin was not a shallow man who judged people solely based on appearances.
How could he like her?
***