I sat there wrestling with myself, turning it over and over. Was I reading too much into this?

I'd always been the stubborn type. Two years ago, a misunderstanding nearly tore us apart for good.

Zane had explained everything, swore he'd never give me reason to doubt him again.

Maybe the frantic cover story was just him trying not to ruin today. This day he'd clearly been planning for a while.

I talked myself down, forced a smile, and reached for the car door.

The moment my fingers touched the handle, Zane's phone screen lit up.

A message from some contact saved as Boba Tea Reviewer：

「You're so bad, Zane. This is YOUR fault for insisting we do it in the car last time. We almost got caught! Didn't I tell you to check and make sure you didn't leave any of my stuff behind?」

I stumbled out of the car and looked up into his eyes, still brimming with love and hope.

He lowered himself onto one knee, solemn as a man at an altar：

“Eva, marry me. Let me spend the rest of my life protecting you.”

The scene I'd pictured a thousand times in my dreams was finally right in front of me.

Except now it was tangled up with that filthy, nauseating lie.

I shook my head with a bitter smile：

“Zane, we're done.”

The smile on his face froze solid.

His brows knitted on instinct：

“Eva, that's not funny. I'm serious right now. I'm proposing to you.”

I met his irritated glare head-on. Didn't flinch. Didn't fold：

“And I'm serious about turning you down. The engagement is off.”

Before he could react, I shoved his phone in his face：

“Do I really need to spell it out for you?”

Zane's pupils locked tight the second he read the message.

On the screen, a flood of explicit photos had poured in, the kind that burned just to look at.

“Eva, you've got it wrong……”

He scrambled for an explanation, but hadn't even settled on an excuse yet.

On the other end, the messages started getting deleted one by one.

「Sorry! I sent that to the wrong person!」

Followed by a string of groveling emojis.

Zane's expression shifted like a fish gasping on dry land that just got tossed back in the water：

“See? She sent it to the wrong person. I can't even remember who she is. Probably just some scammer. You can't jump to conclusions like this……”

I let out a breath. I didn't keep arguing, but I didn't take back what I said either.

I couldn't convince myself anymore. Not after how fast he'd crumbled the second I tested him.

And the fact that the messages kept calling him “Zane” by name. All just a coincidence.

Back home, what used to be our warm little apartment felt like walking into a freezer.

Zane trailed behind me like a kid who knew he was in trouble.

He cleaned the apartment in silence, gathered all my dirty laundry, cooked a full dinner with four dishes and a soup.

At the table, he quietly ladled my favorite corn and rib soup into my bowl. I pushed it aside.

The rims of his eyes went red, this man who never let his pride slip：

“You can't accuse me without solid proof. Someone sends a message to the wrong number and suddenly it's all my fault?”

I stared down at my bowl and told him the truth：

“It's not just that. The tampon I asked you about in the car? It was mine.”

Zane's face darkened：“So you were testing me?”

“It was a joke. I hadn't even told you the truth yet and you were already rallying your friends and coworkers to lie for you. Are you going to tell me that's not what happened?”

I couldn't read the look in his eyes, dark and unsteady. He set his chopsticks down, picked them up again, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.

After dinner, for the first time ever, I was the one who cleared the table. He went to bed earlier than he ever had.

We lay side by side, backs turned to each other, saying nothing. Close enough to touch. Miles apart.

Eventually I sank into a heavy sleep. Beside me, the mattress shifted. He got up and left.

Behind him, where he couldn't see, my eyes snapped open.

My phone buzzed nonstop. Earlier that day, I'd slipped into his group chat using a burner account.

Zane had sent a message：

「Bros, what do I do? That whole thing today was Eva testing me. The tampon was hers. She blew up and turned down the proposal.」

The chat exploded：

「Dude, that's cold! One little move and she had all of us fooled. How is she that calculating?」

「What'd she say? Just flipped out and refused the engagement? After everything you've given her for eight years?」

Zane replied, tone dripping with self-pity：

「It was also because of the message Norma Stewart sent……」

A pink My Melody avatar popped up and dropped a tongue-out sticker.

「Sooorry, I was just worried about you! How was I supposed to know your little wifey was watching that closely?」

I tapped into her profile. The suggestive photo on her page matched the one from the "wrong" message perfectly.

It was never sent to the wrong person. Just at the wrong time.

My fingers clenched the phone until my knuckles went white, and pain spread through my chest like a thousand tiny needles.

Zane followed up：

「It's fine. I'm giving her the cold shoulder. She can only keep up the attitude for one night. By morning she'll come crawling back.」

「She's worthless and desperate to get married. She'd hand over everything she owns just to lock me down.」

A bitter laugh escaped me, and my vision blurred.

Eight years ago, we met at a campus job fair. Both of us too broke to scrape together a dollar between us, desperate for any job that would put food on the table.

We were competing for the same position, but when he heard my stomach growl,

he stepped aside and let me have it.

I knew HR had preferred a male candidate, so I bought him a bowl of ramen to make up for it.

Two people eating hot noodles in the early hours of a spring morning. Hearts tend to close the distance on their own.

Later, when he moved up north for a better opportunity, I gave him every penny I'd saved from work.

He stood there holding those few thousand dollars, eyes glistening, and swore he'd build us a future.

A few years passed. He landed a position at a top tech company and climbed the ranks, one promotion after another.

But my father fell seriously ill. By the time he was on his deathbed, Zane hadn't made it in time to say goodbye.

I cried until I couldn't breathe, and told him my father's last wish was for the two of us to stay together.

Wrapped in Zane's arms, I'd cried so hard I could barely open my eyes.

“Zane, I have nothing left. My mom walked out on me when I was a kid, and now my dad's gone too. You can't leave me.”

His broad shoulders held me so tight it hurt, and he kept repeating：

“I won't leave you……I won't.”

All I remembered thinking back then was that I had to fulfill my father's dying wish.

But now Zane's heart had moved on, and those promises were nothing but cheap chains.

Tears dropped one by one onto the screen. I didn't confront him. I just closed the phone in silence.

Zane had guessed wrong. I wasn't desperate to get married anymore. And I didn't need him anymore either.

The next morning, we sat across from each other with nothing to say.

As we headed out, Zane held the umbrella toward me out of habit.

I didn't take it. I grabbed my bag, walked out the door, and behind me his ‘be careful out there’ died somewhere between his throat and his eyes.

Once I was at my desk and had settled in, I went straight to my director and submitted an application for the overseas transfer.

The company had wanted to send me abroad last year for a posting at a branch office in a region that needed my language skills.

My college major was in foreign languages. I'd graduated top of my class.

Back then, I'd turned it down without a second thought so I could take care of Zane.

Now that his heart belonged to someone else, there was no reason to stay for him.

The moment I submitted the application, a message popped up from a mutual friend of ours.

「Hey, we all heard about you and Zane. It's just a misunderstanding. How about we all get together tonight and clear things up?」

I didn't reply. I was busy downing coffee to stay awake.

But they wouldn't let up. Each message that came through sounded more earnest than the last.

I sighed and figured it might be better to just hash it out face to face. So I agreed.

Zane messaged me too, said he'd come pick me up.

I waited and waited, until the sky turned pitch black and a downpour hammered the city.

Ninety-nine calls. He never showed.

I sighed again, hailed a cab, and headed over. The moment I reached the door of the private room, I stopped.

Laughter poured through the gap, bright and careless.

“You have no idea. I was just being polite when I invited her, and Eva actually said yes!”

"If you ask me, she's scared that if she throws too big a fit, Zane will dump her for real. So now she's crawling back to make nice.”

“I mean, she's used goods after eight years. If Zane doesn't want her, who's gonna pick up the leftovers? No parents, no family, nowhere to go.”

They talked about me the way people talk about a stray on the sidewalk. Not a shred of feeling.

Zane sat at the far end. The dim light made his expression impossible to read.

A girl with a sweet, innocent face was practically glued to his side.

It hit me a beat too late. The mole on her collarbone was identical to the one in the photos.

She stuck out her tongue, playful and cute：

“Oh, stop being so mean. She kept him company for eight years, after all. Even if you raise a dog that long, you'd feel something!”

Zane didn't nod, didn't push back. He just pinched her nose and smiled at her, indulgent and fond.

A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. My whole body was shaking from how cold my heart had gone.

I didn't bother announcing myself. I shoved the door open. The girl scrambled to push Zane away.

“Oh, quit playing shy! You two are usually joined at the hip. Why pretend you don't know each other now?”

Zane's smile froze on his face. One by one, the others turned and saw me.

The room went so awkward you could hear the silence curdle.

Someone tried to smooth things over：

“Hey, you made it! We were just saying you were taking forever. What kept you?”

I didn't take the bait. I found a seat in the farthest corner, as far from Zane as a galaxy between us.

Everyone traded uneasy glances. It was Norma who broke the silence：

“Come sit by me! We've all been waiting for you!”

I looked at that pretty face and thought about the file my lawyer friend had pulled up for me just hours ago.

Norma Stewart. Fresh out of college. Hired at Zane's company not long ago, interning directly under him.

The truth was, I'd known for a while that a new intern had joined his team. Back then I was too proud, too sure of myself to give her a second thought.

When Zane suggested the three of us grab dinner, I straightened his tie and shooed him off to work：

“I don't have time for that. And you don't need to run this stuff by me. If anything happens between you two, you already know what I'll do.”

Looking back, that had been him testing the waters before he cheated.

I ignored Norma's invitation. The color drained from her face in an instant, and she turned to Zane with wounded eyes.

That was when Zane decided to open his mouth：

“I was working late and forgot to pick you up. Is that really worth this much attitude? She's talking to you. Did you not hear her?”

I scoffed. Then I unclasped the bracelet he'd given me and hurled it straight at his head.

The bracelet was solid and heavy. It split his forehead open on impact, and blood welled up instantly.

Before he could react, Norma threw herself in front of him, eyes blazing.

“What is wrong with you? Can't you just talk like a normal person instead of getting violent?”

The fierce resolve in her eyes was the exact same look I'd had the time I drank myself into coughing up blood to shield Zane at a business dinner.

I let out a cold laugh. I looked at every single one of them closing ranks against me, and all I felt was the bitter taste of irony.

I used to be stupid enough to believe I'd actually become part of his world.