If he were going to marry, he'd marry a young girl. They were so much more exciting to be with. Not like Elsa, who was already starting to look worn out. Besides, he was already tired of her.

Hearing exactly what she wanted from Xander, Elsa felt her heart swell with satisfaction. She knew it. She had made the right choice. No matter what, she was the person Xander loved most, his number one priority.

So what if she lost her friends? At least she had found happiness. She had found a good man like Xander.

In that moment, Elsa honestly felt like nobody in the world could be happier than she

was.

Time flew by, and soon it was the day before Elsa and Xander's wedding. She had spent the last few weeks in a blissful whirlwind of dress fittings, makeup trials, and wedding rehearsals, so busy and happy that she had almost completely forgotten about Caitlin and Gertrude.

Just as Elsa was finishing up for the day, a new friend request popped up on her WhatsApp.

She tapped on it to see who it was. The request wasn't from a stranger. It was from Gertrude.

[Elsa, I've been thinking a lot these past few days. We've been friends for nearly eight years and have so many happy memories together. Are you really going to throw all of that away? Let's just sit down and talk properly...]

A scornful look crossed Elsa's face. It had been days since their fight, and only now was Gertrude trying to add her back? What a joke. If Gertrude truly cared about their friendship, she would have tried to contact her the very moment she was deleted, not waited until now.

Elsa narrowed her eyes. She didn't accept the request. Instead, she typed a reply: [Sorry, this isn't a recycling bin! Please ask Caitlin to stop bothering me too!]

After sending the message, a surge of vengeful satisfaction washed

over her. She knew exactly why

She

Gertrude was suddenly reaching out. They just wanted to break her and Xander up. How had such a

wonderful man like Xander becomë So despicable in their eyes? Gertrude and Caitlin just couldn't stand to see anyone else happy.

Did they really think she was Caitlin's little puppet, ready to do whatever she was told? She may not have much money, but she had pride and a mind of her own She would never be a marionette for Caitlin to control.

On the other end, Gertrude stared at Elsa's reply, first in stunned silence, then in utter disbelief. It felt like something had clamped down on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

After going back and forth with herself, she'd finally decided to reach out the day before the wedding and at least try to patch things up. She never expected such a cruel response.

"Elsa rejected you, didn't she?" Caitlin said from across the table, seeing the look on Gertrude's face. She had already told Gertrude this would likely be the outcome, but Gertrude hadn't wanted to believe it.

Gertrude nodded, her eyes welling up with tears. "She did."

If Elsa had simply ignored her friend request, it wouldn't have hurt this much. But Elsa had said... she wasn't a recycling bin. In Elsa's eyes, were she and Caitlin just trash?

Sobbing, Gertrude handed her phone to Caitlin. "Catie, look what she wrote to me! Waaaah, Elsa is so cruel! How could she say that about us?"

Caitlin poured Gertrude a cup of tea, her voice soft and even. "Gertrude, life is a process of gaining and losing. We did our best for this friendship. If Elsa is determined to stoy trapped in her own

stubbornness and refuses to see reality, then there's no point in us grieving over it. It's time to let go of this friendship. Stop draining yourself. Just think of it as a lesson we learned over the past eight years."