Chapter 3

Ever since my dad bought me this new car, Eve had been constantly asking for rides, sometimes even borrowing the car outright.

At first, I felt awkward refusing since we were roommates, so I lent it to her a few times.

But every single time Eve used the car, she didn't clean it, and she'd drain the entire battery without charging it. She wouldn't even pay the few dozen dollars it cost to charge.

I wasn't going to be a pushover, so of course I stopped lending her the car.

Because of this, Eve and I had a cold war in the dorm for a long time, only recently patching things up a bit.

A week before Valentine's Day, Eve suddenly bought me a milk tea as a peace offering.

"Karen, I've realized what I did wrong. I promise if I use your car again, I'll definitely clean it. Can we still be friends?"

I couldn't very well ignore her when she was making an effort.

So I accepted the milk tea and made peace with her.

"As long as you know what you did wrong. We've been living together for so long, I'm not going to hold a small thing like this against you."

Hearing my words, Eve eagerly grabbed my arm.

"That's great! Karen, I knew you were the most beautiful and generous person! So, do you have plans for Valentine's Day? Want to hang out with me?"

I calmly pulled my arm free and declined.

"No thanks. You should spend that day with your boyfriend. I don't want to be a third wheel."

"Oh, okay then."

Eve sighed with fake disappointment, then revealed her true intentions.

"Could I borrow your car then? I want to go on a road trip with my boyfriend. I promise I won't make it dirty this time!"

Hearing her ask to borrow the car again, I instinctively shook my head.

"I already sent my car in for maintenance. I can't lend it to you that day."

This wasn't a lie—I really had taken my car in for maintenance.

I was single and didn't have a date anyway, so I didn't need to pick a specific day for car maintenance.

I thought Eve might get angry when I refused, but surprisingly, she didn't seem upset at all. In fact, she looked excited as she pressed me for more information.

"Is it the same shop as before?"

"Yeah."

I answered, a bit puzzled.

"Since it's in for maintenance, I won't borrow it then. I'm going out on my date now. Enjoy your milk tea."

With that, Eve happily left.

At the time, I didn't understand why Eve seemed happy even though she couldn't borrow the car. Now I realized she'd already planned to steal my car.

Thinking of this, I picked up my phone and called the shop.

As soon as they answered, I confronted them.

"Why did you let someone take my car from your shop without even calling me?"

The employee answered nervously.

"Miss Karen, wasn't that your sister who picked it up? She gave us your phone number and knew your name, so we gave her the car."

"Sister?"

I couldn't help raising my voice.

Eve had claimed to be my sister.

"Yeah."

The employee sounded confused.

"This isn't the first time she's picked up the car. She's come for it during previous maintenance appointments too, returning it after a couple days. That's why we gave it to her. Don't you know her?"

His words gave me a bad feeling.

This wasn't the first time Eve had stolen my car.

But why had Lawrence just said this was his first time in this car?

What had Eve been doing with my car?

I quickly told the employee that only I could pick up the car from now on, then hung up.

Then, based on when my car had been in for maintenance, I checked through my dashcam footage.

What I saw nearly made me die of anger.