She Always Comes First

Herbert Fischer lets his precious childhood sweetheart dump scalding stew all over me as everyone watches.

Worse, he tells me to apologize, all because I said one harsh sentence to her.

Tears stream down my face as I ask him, "Is my life worth less than a hair on her head?"

He snorts. "Stop overthinking. It's just hot stew—you won't die from a few burns."

I didn't expect Michelle Watson to throw the pot of seafood stew all over me.

I stayed rooted to the ground. The only thing I could do in time was to close my eyes.

Everything was ruined—the dress I had painstakingly chosen for that day and the makeup I'd applied to my face.

There had been spicy peppers in the stew. The smell choked me, causing my eyes to water up from the sting.

It was deathly quiet in the private dining room. The other people around us were just watching us curiously, ready for more drama.

I stood there, rooted in place, and not a single person came up to me to offer any help.

With tears swirling in my eyes, I immediately turned toward Herbert Fischer. He was sitting by the side with his arms crossed before his chest, a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

"Lyanna Summers. Apologize to Chelly."

I immediately felt wronged as emotions rose within my chest. Tears continued to stream down my face more than ever before.

After such a long time together, this was the very first time I completely lost my cool in front of Herbert. I crumbled as I screamed, "I am your girlfriend, not her! How could you just watch someone else bully me and still demand that I apologize to her?"

Herbert just frowned harder and grabbed a napkin from the table to wipe off the stew that had splashed onto his shirt sleeve.

"If you hadn't called Chelly names just now, she'd never have thrown it at you. Also, Chelly is not just 'someone else'."

Meanwhile, Michelle simply examined her nails and commented nonchalantly, "Herbie, is this the woman Mandy chose for you to marry? She's such a disgrace for screaming and making a scene in public."

The icy look in Herbert's eyes was sharp enough to pierce right through me.

"Lyanna, where have your manners disappeared to?"

I was a huge, dripping mess as I stared at the unfamiliar look in his eyes, like he wanted nothing more to do with me. Then I looked into Michelle's eyes, smug and challenging, and I couldn't stop myself from chuckling bitterly afterward.

I said, "I bet that if Michelle were to hold a knife against my throat one day, I wouldn't be allowed to struggle either, since that would mean I was ill-mannered. Isn't that right?"

Herbert just snorted and chuckled aloud. "You really like overthinking. You were just splashed with hot stew. It's not like you'd die from that."

When the waitress entered with more food and caught sight of me, she