They Regretted Losing Me

After the scholarship student Lily appeared, my three childhood friends stopped clinging to me.

At a banquet, my dad suddenly asked me:

Sienna, tell Dad who you like, bring him over, and I'll arrange your engagement today!

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone at the banquet looked toward the three wealthy heirs who used to dote on me.

But they acted as if they hadn't heard a thing.

Ethan was feeding Lily food, Lucas was making Lily laugh, and Ryan was massaging Lily's shoulders.

The scene became awkward, and Dad's expression stiffened.

I quickly spoke up: "Dad, my boyfriend is overseas. I'll bring him to meet you when the time comes."

The three childhood friends heard my words and scoffed mockingly, glancing at me.

I knew they didn't believe I had a boyfriend.

They thought I was just trying to save face.

But actually, I really did have a boyfriend.

The next time I went to the three childhood friends' homes, it was to deliver my wedding invitations.

While I was having tea with Mrs. Ashford in the living room, Ethan came downstairs.

Mrs. Ashford called to him: "Ethan, we were just talking about Sienna's wedding"

Ethan, exuding the aura of a CEO, glared at me coldly: "Sienna Walsh, who said I was going to marry you?"

"Don't ask my mom to be your mediator. I told you I'm not interested in you. You better give up on that idea!"

After saying this, he left the house impatiently.

Mrs. Ashford sighed helplessly: "This child only hears half of what people say. Who said she was marrying him?"

She looked at me apologetically because of Ethan's rudeness. "Sienna, I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into Ethan. He used to care for you so much, competing and arguing with those other two boys to treat you well."

"I originally thought if you were to become my daughter-in-law, Ethan would have to work hard to beat those two boys, but who would have thought..."

I smiled and shook my head: "If there's no chemistry, there's nothing we can do. Well, Auntie, I'll be going now."

"Alright, we'll attend your wedding."

After leaving the Ashford home, I went to the Sterling residence.

When the servant led me in, Lucas was on a phone call. When he saw me, a mocking smile curved at the corner of his mouth.

He walked over: "Ethan just called saying you went to his house trying to force him into marriage, and now that he rejected you, you've come to me?"

He had always worn a mask of gentleness: "Sienna, I thought the last banquet made it very clear. We don't like you and won't marry you. You shouldn't pester us like this."

I smiled and nodded: "That's why I'm just here to deliver my wedding invitation."

He froze, then mockingly curled his lips: "Is Sienna trying to pull the same stunt your dad did last time, announcing things without asking first, then appointing one of us as the groom at the wedding, thinking we won't embarrass you and will help you stage a fake wedding?"

"Tsk tsk, Sienna, haven't you learned your lesson from last time?"

"I've told you, we don't like you. To avoid Lily misunderstanding, we won't give you face. When you can't get off the stage, it'll be too late to make up another fake boyfriend."

I shook my head and was about to speak when his phone rang again.

When he saw the caller ID, his expression softened. He answered: "Hello, Lily."

"Okay, I'll be right there."

After responding gently, he looked at me, silently mouthed "take care of yourself," and walked past me to leave.

I sighed helplessly. It seemed that because of the incident at the last banquet when my dad asked me to publicly acknowledge a boyfriend, they were convinced I was trying to force one of them to marry me this time too.

Whatever. They'd find out eventually.

Mrs. Sterling came out, warmly received me, accepted my invitation, and sighed, "My Lucas doesn't have the good fortune."

I came to deliver the invitations in person because, setting aside the friendship between me and the three childhood friends that no longer existed, their parents had treated me extremely well.

When Mom died and Dad was busy with his career, I had rotated between their three homes. I wouldn't forget the warmth from those times.

I suddenly saw Lily's social media postshe had posted photos of the four of them at an amusement park.

So I felt confident going to the third childhood friend's home.

While I was in the living room with Mrs. Blake, I was just saying: "The wedding date is next month"

"Mom, how could you casually decide on my marriage to Sienna Walsh! This is my girlfriend, Lily!"

Ryan suddenly rushed over, pulling Lily along. "Mom, I know we used to play house a lot, and you'd joke about making Sienna our family's daughter-in-law, but that was just when we were young and didn't understand."

"Now we're all grown up. You should respect my choice!"

Mrs. Blake was stunned: "No, Ryan"

Ryan, who had never had a good temper, glared at me: "Sienna Walsh, can you stop pestering us? Do you think having the elders pressure us will make one of us accept you?"

"Can't you see how much we all detest you now, how we avoid you?"

"Ryan!"

Mrs. Blake angrily scolded him.

But Ryan kept a cold expression and wouldn't listen to anything Mrs. Blake or I said:

"Anyway, the person I like is Lily. I will absolutely never marry Sienna Walsh. Just wait for the wedding to fall through!"

With that, he pulled Lily away.

Mrs. Blake sighed: "Sienna doesn't even like him. Where does he get the confidence that you want to marry him?"

I smiled and shrugged: "He probably dislikes me so much right now that he can't be bothered to listen to what I say. Anyway, they'll all understand eventually."

When I left the Blake villa, all four of themEthan, Lucas, Ryan, and Lilywere actually outside.

Following their claim that they detested me, I acted as if I didn't see them and left directly.

"Sienna!"

But Lily suddenly came forward and grabbed me. "Don't misunderstand. Ryan just asked me to pretend to be his girlfriend."

"Lily, why are you explaining to her? I only did that to get rid of her!" Ryan said impatiently.

"Ryan, don't be like that. We're all very good friends. I only got to know you guys because of Sienna. I really miss the days when the five of us used to hang out together."

"Sienna, please stop being angry at everyone, okay? I really hope you can continue hanging out with us."

As Lily spoke, her fingernails suddenly dug into my flesh where she was holding my hand.

I hissed and shook off her hand.

"Ah!"

She fell backward as if I had violently thrown her off.

"Lily!"

The three of them rushed over nervously to support her.

"Sienna Walsh! Lily is so kind, and you won't appreciate itthat's one thingbut you actually pushed her? Have dogs eaten your conscience?" Ryan said furiously.

Lucas also had a cold expression: "Lily always hoped you could return to our group, but it seems you really don't deserve it."

"Apologize to Lily right now, Sienna Walsh!" Ethan said in a deep voice.

Lily leaned against Ethan's chest, looking wronged and fragile, but her eyes held a familiar smugness and provocation as she looked at me.

I patted my arm and looked at them coldly: "I'm so terrible, why would I apologize to her?"

"So just take her far away from me, won't you? Then she won't get hurt, right?"

With that, I turned and left directly.

"Sienna Walsh, if you still can't learn to be friendly toward Lily, then we'll have no more friendship to speak of!" Ethan said coldly from behind.

The corner of my mouth twisted sarcastically, and I left without paying any attention.

Ever since Lily appeared, when had there been any friendship left between us?

That evening, following Mrs. Ashford's request, I delivered medicine to the suburban vacation villa for her, only to discover that only Ethan, Lucas, and Ryan were there.

We then realized we had all been tricked into coming here by our parents.

Moreover, our cars had all been driven away, and late at night like this, there was no way back to the city.

Mrs. Ashford said on the phone that she hoped we could find our childhood memories at this place where we used to play often, and reconcile.

Ryan scoffed: "How boring and such a waste of time. I wonder if Lily will be okay without us."

His words made both Ethan and Lucas frown with worry.

I agreed it was a waste of time, but looking at this familiar villa, I still felt a bit dazed.

I walked over to a piano. It had been here for over ten years, hadn't it?

I remembered once, the four of us played eight-handed pieces together. Ryan was always causing trouble, making us argue noisily, while the aunties and uncles watched us with smiles, taking many photos of us sitting at this piano.

"Lily's been learning piano lately. Look at this video I took of her."

Ryan pulled out his phone and played a video.

Ethan and Lucas quickly gathered around to watch.

The intermittent sound of piano playing and a sweet voice came through. The three of them watched seriously, their faces full of smiles.

I stepped out of the villa. The lights illuminated the pool area.

I hazily remembered that year when the three of them competed in the pool to see who could hold their breath the longest. Young and naive, I didn't understand and thought they were drowning. I was so scared I jumped into the water to save them.

"Ethan, Lucas, Ryan, don't be scared, I'm here to save you"

But when I jumped into the water, I swallowed several mouthfuls.

The three of them pulled me up together, wanting to laugh at me but also feeling helpless.

"Sienna is both cute and silly. We must protect you well from now on."

Their words still echoed in my ears. They truly protected me as they said, all the way through growing up.

Blocking all the dangers I faced as a child, taking me to eat good food, taking me to play...

My vision seemed filled with many happy voices and laughter.

Suddenly a voice from reality broke the illusion.

"Lily, don't be scared, we'll come keep you company right away!"

Ethan answered a call from Lily, extremely anxious.

"There's thunder in the city, and Lily was so scared she cried. We need to go be with her!"

Ethan said anxiously to the other two, and they were also frantic.

They rushed out of the villa, looking left and right.

"There's not a single car!"

"No, I can't wait anymore. I'm going to walk back!"

Ryan gritted his teeth and immediately rushed outside.

The other two also anxiously rushed into the night.

"Wait." I called out to them.

Ryan turned and glared at me: "Sienna Walsh, Lily is so scared she's crying, and you're still jealous here trying to stop us?"

Ethan and Lucas also glared at me disapprovingly.

My expression was indifferent: "If you walk back like this, the thunder will have long stopped, and Lily will have already gotten over her fear."

"Then what should we do? We can't just wait here doing nothing!"

Ryan gritted his teeth and was about to rush into the night again.

Lucas calmed down and stopped him: "Let's contact someone to pick us up first, and also look for any transportation."

They searched around the villa anxiously with their phone flashlights.

We were familiar with every corner of this place because we had played countless games of hide-and-seek here before.

"There's an abandoned car here that can be driven."

My phone's flashlight shone on a broken-down car in the corner.

They immediately rushed over.

The broken car was pushed out, and Ethan got in the driver's seat.

Lucas and Ryan got in the back, but the space was cramped. They were tall and large, and there was no room for a third person.

They hesitated and looked at me.

I shrugged: "I never planned to take this back to the city with you anyway. Do as you please."

"Sienna" Lucas began.

I said coolly: "Lily might really be terrified by now."

When they heard this, they immediately became anxious and couldn't care about anything else.

"Sienna, we'll send someone to pick you up."

I calmly watched them disappear into the night, rushing with all their might toward the girl they cared about.

Along with them disappeared twenty years of memories.

"Goodbye, Ethan, Lucas, Ryan."

A car suddenly drove up, and the man who got out had just gotten off a plane to rush here.

I smiled and ran over, throwing myself into his arms.