Part 2Exposing Her Affair At Our Engagement Dinner

I stared at the culprit, a tight, suffocating knot of anger in my chest.

This was the first time I had ever met her. I had no quarrel with Sherry, yet she was inventing this malicious rumor out of thin air.

I forced myself to keep my voice low. “Sherry, you can’t just spread lies. Slander is illegal!”

Being called out seemed to make Sherry more tearful.

Her eyes reddened. “Jolie, I truly didn’t mean to… I’m just a straightforward person. I say what I think; I don’t deal in veiled threats.”

Her defense was a deliberate deflection, sharp as a needle.

She could have easily cleared it up, but she chose to dance around the point, implying so much without confirming anything. I couldn't figure out why she was targeting me.

Still, for Ryan's sake, I tried to keep my temper in check.

"Sherry, you must have the wrong person. It wasn't me. It couldn't have been me."

I was offering her a clear path to retreat gracefully, but she interpreted it as me pressuring her.

She immediately choked up. “Jolie, please don’t be so aggressive… I just thought you looked similar, I mentioned it off-hand. How can you accuse me of slander?”

Sherry just kept repeating the same few phrases, subtly suggesting I had done something shameful and was now too cowardly to admit it.

I finally reached my limit and hissed, “Sherry, we have no history. Why do you feel the need to attack me like this?”

With that outburst, Sherry’s tears began to flow in earnest.

She started sobbing and shrinking behind Ryan’s older brother, Brad, looking like a woman suffering the deepest injustice.

But she didn't forget to add: "Please don't misunderstand. I wasn't attacking Jolie... Ryan, please don't let us fight because of me."

Brad immediately wrapped his arm around her, his tone hostile.

“Sherry had a slip of the tongue. But Jolie, don’t you think your reaction is a little extreme?”

Ryan, his face contorted, actually shouted at me:

“Jolie Wong! Do you have to be so aggressive? If you had nothing to hide, would Sherry just make something up? Don’t you know what you did or didn’t do?!”

A barrage of accusations, and Ryan didn't spare a thought for my position as his girlfriend.

Three years of our relationship, dismissed because of a few ambiguous words from a total stranger. He didn't even try to defend me; he took the opposing side instantly.

The Walker relatives piled on.

"Exactly! Where there's smoke, there's fire!"

"Sherry is a doctor, she has a code of ethics. Why would she lie?"

"Right, it never comes from nowhere. Why would anyone target someone for no reason?"

Ryan slammed his fist on the table and pointed a finger at me.

“Jolie, you tell me the truth! Did you or did you not do something scandalous?”

I took a deep breath, once again stating, "I did not."

Then I turned to Sherry, speaking slowly, deliberately.

“Sherry, you claim you were my surgeon. Which hospital, and when? Slander has legal consequences.”

Sherry's eyes flickered with panic, but she quickly masked it with a look of wronged resignation.

“Jolie, why are you forcing me… I really didn't want to bring this up.”

“I was trying to help you keep it a secret so Ryan wouldn’t find out. But you're accusing me of lying, and I can't take it…”

“To prove I'm telling the truth, I'll pull up the D&C record from the hospital right now!”

She pulled out her phone and, in front of everyone, started tapping away, pulling up a chat log. She showed the phone to everyone, finally thrusting it under my nose.

A note of triumph was barely concealed in her voice: "Jolie, look for yourself. I'm not lying. Your name is right here on the procedure slip!"