Noah and I were about to get married.

I was full of joy, but he kept mysteriously disappearing. Sometimes, I couldn't reach him for an entire day. My friends said it was just pre-wedding jitters, and since it was my first time getting married, I believed them.

When he came back drunk after a dinner party, hugging me at the entrance and saying he missed me, I believed he really did miss me.

Until I found a used lipstick in his pocket.

He had changed into that jacket just before going out in the evening. The dinner was with familiar people, and because I wasn't feeling well due to my period, I stayed home to rest. The only other woman at the dinner was my friend, Ava. Ten minutes ago, I had just seen her post on Instagram. She and Noah were standing in the middle of the group, and it looked like their wedding banquet.

I zoomed in on the photo, and the lipstick she was holding was the same one I found in Noah's pocket—the one she bought when I went shopping with her half a month ago.

I had even liked her post.

If it weren't for that lipstick, I would never have suspected anything.

Noah was lying on the couch, sound asleep. My heart sank. Next to a plate of oxidized, yellowed apples was a fruit knife. For a moment, I felt dizzy, thinking that if I ruined myself, I wouldn't let them get away with it either.

The vibration of his phone brought me back to reality. Someone had sent him a message.

The password was my birthday. I opened his WhatsApp and immediately saw Ava's profile picture.

Noah had set me as his top contact. The message I had sent asking him what time he would be home was right next to Ava's message. [Can we not get married?] It was both ironic and laughable.

He rolled over heavily and muttered, "Honey."

I didn't know if he was calling me or Ava.

Back in our freshman year, when he first started pursuing me, the only thing I didn't dislike about him was his face. Even though he called me by my nickname after calling me Honey, it only made him more detestable.

Love and hate can happen in an instant, but hate lingers, deeply ingrained.

Fortunately, this wasn't our wedding night.

"Honey, I'm so thirsty."

I put the lipstick back in his pocket and poured him a glass of water.

"Love you," he said after drinking it, then staggered into the bedroom, collapsing onto the bed without even taking off his clothes.

I had been away for half a year, and just the thought of him and Ava possibly being in that bed together made me too sick to step into the bedroom. I'd rather sleep in the guest room.

There was an unfinished post on my phone. [What to do when your boyfriend cheats with your best friend?]

The top comment was. [The law can't punish him, and moral condemnation is useless. If he's sleeping with your friend, then sleep with his brother—fight fire with fire.]

So I scrolled through my contacts and found his best friend, Huston.

Huston was also in that photo, looking just as he always did, with that bad-boy look. But his eyes looked sincere, even when staring at the selfie stick.

I'd known him longer than I'd known Noah, but it was through Noah that he met me. We'd only exchanged a few words since adding each other, and I wasn't sure if he'd deleted me. So, I sent him a sticker.

A few minutes later, he replied with a question mark.

I couldn't blame him for being cold—the sticker I sent was quite cheeky, with two lines of text. [Got time? Let's sleep together.]

I pretended to be confused. [Sorry, sent that by mistake.]

Huston replied. [Noah didn't come home?]

Me replied. [No, it's late, and I have no idea where he is.]

I waited ten minutes before he replied. [If a man doesn't come home at night, what else could he be doing?]

Left Gu really knows.

Noah and Ava had openly attended the gathering, and everyone there probably knew about them, except me. I'd even planned to buy an apartment in the same complex as Ava, so we could live upstairs and downstairs from each other and be friends for life.

But if this was what friendship looks like, then I might as well end my life right here.

I chose the wrong man and the wrong friend.

I didn't sleep all night. Noah woke up early for work and noticed I didn't look well, asking if my period cramps were bothering me. He offered to take a day off for me and even made porridge before his shower.

Noah dried his hair while bending down to kiss me. "Huston moved upstairs. Let's have dinner together this weekend."

I was taken aback. "Upstairs?"

Noah nodded. "His place is being renovated, so he'll be staying for a few months. It'll be convenient for us to meet up."

I thought to myself. It sure would be, as convenient as going downstairs.

On Friday night, Noah called to say he had to work late.

I didn't confront him. Instead, I took out an unopened box of condoms and headed upstairs.

When the elevator door opened, I saw Huston inside. The fire in me that had been burning so fiercely suddenly extinguished.

He wasn't someone easy to sleep with.

He was looking at his phone, and it took him a while to notice me standing outside. When he did, he paused for a few seconds.

He and Noah were best friends, and they were somehow loosely related by family ties. Technically, Noah should call him "uncle," and Huston should call Noah brother.

Neither of us spoke, and I wasn't sure if he should call me sister-in-law or if I should call him uncle.

With a loud, the box fell to the ground.

When he saw what it was, he suddenly laughed.

Damn, he was handsome.

His gaze slowly traveled up from my ankles, as if he could see right through my coat. My face flushed with heat, mainly because I had downed two glasses of red wine before leaving.

Men tend to have a bit of a bad streak, especially someone like him, who had played the field. I was afraid he would call me sister-in-law, so I quickly established my stance. "Senior, that night... I didn't send it to the wrong person."

That was right—Huston was my senior in college.

Before Noah ran into me, back when I had just started school, I already knew about Huston.

Of course, it was a one-sided acquaintance.

Before the college entrance exam results came out, all the major universities were working hard to recruit students. In a video pinned on Anaville University's official account, the person holding the sign that said Anaville University Welcomes You was him. That video had a million likes.

I was one of those million.

There was no law against looking at handsome guys.

After receiving my acceptance letter from Anaville University, I was determined to meet the handsome guy in person. But just a few days into the semester, Noah ran into me—literally. As he put it, he knocked me into the hospital and into his heart. It was cheesy, but at that age, I ate it up.

With the alcohol coursing through me, I gathered the courage to ask, "Are you free?"

Let's sleep together.

Huston didn't seem surprised. He raised an eyebrow, "Come in."

I wasn't rejected, so I felt a bit of relief and bent down to pick up the box from the floor.

He was faster than me, but the next second, he tossed it into the trash bin beside him.

I still had some standards, so I was about to say, "I'm not taking any pills for you."

Huston seemed to know what I was thinking. "You won't need them. It's not my number. Next time, don't go to the trouble. I've got some at home."

I awkwardly avoided his gaze.

Next time?

Noah had disgusted me so many times that unless Huston's skills were so good that one time could make up for countless times with Noah, there wouldn't be a next time.

I followed Huston into his home. Although he was only staying for a few months, he had everything he needed.

Huston handed me a pair of clean slippers. He had just moved in and hadn't had any female guests yet. The men's slippers were too big for me, but that didn't matter. I wasn't here for the slippers—I was here to sleep with him. All I needed was a bed, and if there wasn't one, I could make do.

He took off his coat and tossed it casually onto the sofa.

"Do you want to shower first, or should we shower together?"

"I've already showered."

He smiled again. I couldn't quite describe that smile—it was a bit mischievous, a bit roguish, but different from the way he was in college. Maybe it was the alcohol clouding my judgment.

He didn't take long in the shower. When he came out, his hair was still dripping wet. I watched as a drop of water rolled down from his collarbone to his abs, eventually disappearing into his waistband. The small spark inside me suddenly flared up, burning away any remaining sense of decency.

The alcohol blurred the process. After cooling down on the balcony, the embarrassing memories returned with clarity.

He was changHe was changing the sheets, his back turned to me. I saw the scratch marks on his back, and my ears burned. I left his home without saying a word.

Before Noah came back, I didn't feel a single ounce of satisfaction from my little revenge. You couldn't truly empathize until you had gone through the same thing.

This week, I used my period as an excuse not to sleep in the same bed with him. He had suspicions in his heart, but didn't say anything.

Just after he got home, Ava arrived with a bag of fresh fruit. "I heard you're having hotpot at home this weekend. Count me in."

Noah said, "Are on a diet? Hotpot is high in calories."

Ava smiled. "It's okay to indulge once in a while."

Looking back now, I realize I was naive. The way they looked at each other, every glance, was loaded with meaning.

She smiled, and I smiled too. "You're dating someone? Why didn't you tell me?"

Ava pulled her coat tighter to hide the hickey on her shoulder. "Who said I had a boyfriend? I'm still waiting for you and Noah to introduce me to someone."

"If I introduce someone, I can only find someone like him for you."

"Guys like Noah are hard to come by."

"Then should I let you have him?"

"What nonsense!" Noah's face changed.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Just joking."

Noah came over and kissed me, affectionately ruffling my hair. "Don't joke about that. No matter how close you and Ava are, you can't make jokes like that."

This time, it was Ava's turn to look unhappy. She stared silently at Noah, but that's all she could do.

After Ava left, Noah suddenly asked, "Where's your ring?"

I was taken aback and instinctively touched my finger. Ever since Noah proposed, I'd worn that engagement ring every day. I was so used to it that I hadn't even noticed it was missing.

I must have left it upstairs.

Even with the courage from drinking, I was still a loser in front of Huston. I only remembered him laughing low in my ear, telling me not to bite him, but I had no idea when he took off my ring.

I calmly replied, "I went home in the afternoon, took it off while washing things, and forgot to put it back on."

Noah's phone rang, and his attention shifted away from me. He lit a cigarette and went to the balcony.

He chatted, and I tried to sleep, but I couldn't rest easy.

After thinking it over, I sent Huston a message, cautiously asking if the ring was at his place. He didn't reply, but he did post a status on Instagram—the only one on his feed.

If I wasn't already thinking about the ring, I probably wouldn't have understood the photo.

In the morning, as soon as Noah took the dog out for a walk, I rushed upstairs.

Huston was still yawning when he answered the door, shirtless. "If you'd slept here last night, I might've been a bit more interested."

"I'm not here for that," I thickened my skin. "Give me back the ring."

He played coy. "What ring?"

"The one you posted on your Instagram!"

"No one claimed it, so I threw it away."

"You threw it away?" I widened my eyes.

Huston was clearly in a much better mood now. "Yeah, why don't you shout a little louder so the neighbors can hear?"

I quickly pushed him back inside. "That was my engagement ring. If you threw it away, I'll have to find another one just like it to give back to Noah."

"When do you plan to give it back?" Huston leaned against the shoe cabinet, his breath lightly brushing my face as he spoke.

It was one thing to be close on the bed, but off it, I wasn't comfortable with such intimacy. I subtly stepped back, pressing myself against the door, and whispered, "Definitely not now."

He said, "Then come find me when you've made up your mind."

Noah rarely introduced me to his friends, so I didn't know much about Huston. He dated several girls in college, but none ever spoke ill of him.

They say you see someone's true character after a breakup, so he was either genuinely a good guy, or he treated everyone the same. Whether it was Jane or Jill, anyone who was with him got the same treatment, which might explain why none of his relationships lasted.

That night, Noah invited a few extra people over, with Ava arriving first and Huston last.

My skills at poker were about the same as playing a match-three game—I hadn't won a single round. Huston stood beside me for a while, and someone, seeing how badly I was losing, suggested Huston play on my behalf to win back some of my losses.

"If anyone's going to help, it should be Noah. Dumplings are dumplings, but a sister-in-law is still a sister-in-law."

"They're a family; it doesn't matter who helps."

One moment, I felt relieved by that distant joke about our complicated family connections, but the next, my heart was in my throat.

Huston sat in my spot, and as I stood, I noticed the necklace around his neck, with my engagement ring hanging from it. Fortunately, his shirt quickly covered it up, and no one else noticed.

Huston won three hands in a row, and all the money Ava had won from me was now his. She called out to Noah as she usually did, "Noah, help me with my hand."

"Ask Rodney to help," Noah might have been avoiding suspicion, given that I was right there. He turned to Huston and asked, "Why do you keep yawning? Did you stay up late last night?"

Huston smiled, "Yeah, didn't get much sleep."

It felt like an unspoken code, with the men teasing each other. Ava couldn't join in the laughter, though. Noah had drunk quite a bit but wasn't drunk. In this state, he was clingy, asking me to feed him fruit and help him unbutton his shirt when he felt hot. Nine out of ten things he said were to call me Honey.

"When are you two planning to get married?"

Noah kissed my hand, "Whenever my wife decides."

I responded half-heartedly, sneaking a glance at Huston, only to be caught by him. I couldn't read his expression, but I could tell he wasn't happy.

Huston got up with his phone in hand. "You guys keep playing; I'm heading back."

A friend whistled, "Got someone waiting for you at home, or someone coming over later?"

Huston's eyes flicked over to me. "Who knows?"

Ava stood up as well. "We should all head home."

They were all familiar faces, so Noah didn't see them out. As soon as the door closed, he came over to hug me. I pretended to dislike the smell of alcohol, but the truth was, I didn't want to share a bed with him.

"I'm not feeling well."

"What's wrong?"

"My head hurts a bit, maybe I caught a chill."

We were this close to getting married, so he knew what I meant. "There's cold medicine in the drawer. Take a couple of pills, and I'll go out for a smoke."

Before smoking half a cigarette, he couldn't help it anymore. "The boss asked me to work overtime at the company, you go to sleep first, don't wait for me."

Noah got in the elevator, and I took the stairs.

Twice in one day, I knocked on Huston's door. He was only wearing a bathrobe, as if he had just stepped out of the shower to answer the door. If there was someone inside, I'd leave. If there wasn't, I'd go in.

"Got time?" I started with the same line.

"I'm not interested in drunks."

"How about a pretty drunk?"

Before I could finish, Huston had already pulled me inside. He really had been showering, and the pleasant scent wrapped around me, holding me captive.