"If you don't stay here with me, Rachel is going to destroy me with her anger."
...
Zoe looked at her friend with uncertain eyes.
Lucy stood in front of her, paint all over her hands, trying to act pitiful.
Zoe shook her head.
"If you hadn't lied to me that you were coming to give me a new painting, I wouldn't have come to be your shield against Rachel."
Lucy smiled awkwardly.
"I know… I know. But help me just this once. Please."
"Ahh! Don't grab my clothes with those paint-covered hands!" Zoe said, trying to brush herself off where Lucy had touched her.
But before they could continue, the door was flung open forcefully.
That very moment…
Smack!
The sound of a slap rang through the air.
Lucy's face snapped to the side from the force.
She remained standing there, her hand holding her burning cheek.
"Shit! Rachel, are you crazy?" Zoe shouted.
"Why are you hitting her like that?!"
Rachel was breathing heavily with rage.
"You stay out of this," she told Zoe harshly.
Then she turned to Lucy.
"You shameless slut!" she said sharply.
"I can't believe you did that to my brother!"
"Hey! Watch your words," Zoe fired back angrily.
"No matter what happened, you have no right to call your friend that!"
Rachel laughed mockingly.
"Friend?" she said with contempt.
"After what she did to my brother, you think she still has the right to call herself my friend?"
Lucy stepped forward from behind Zoe.
She faced Rachel directly.
"I know you're hurt," Lucy said calmly.
"And I know I've put you in a difficult position. I'm your friend… and he's your brother."
Rachel said nothing.
Lucy continued.
"But from the very beginning, I told your brother clearly—I don't do marriage. And the day he brings it up, that's where our relationship ends."
Rachel shook her head in disdain.
"That just means you're a whore, Lucy," she said harshly.
"A whore who doesn't want to settle down with one man!"
"That's enough!" Zoe snapped angrily.