1: 1

There was an app running a couples promotion: link up as a couple, post your photos together, and win a prize.

But I tried a few times, and it kept telling me I couldn't link my account with Hubert Floyd's.

He took the phone back and said it lightly.

"The platform's probably just glitching. It's only a bouquet. If you want flowers, I'll order you a few from the florist."

Two days later, his little childhood sweetheart came up to me carrying a bunch of roses that had long since wilted and dropped their petals.

"You linked up too late. Hubert and I bound our accounts ages ago. He even took time off work to take pictures with me. I already got the roses from the prize."

"I heard you wanted a prize too. These flowers are wilted now, sure, but at least I saved you a couple of leaves so you could see."

"Hubert, don't you have anything to explain?"

I stared at the flirty photos of the two of them on the phone and demanded an answer.

Hubert didn't take it seriously.

"Didn't we agree? I give in to Mel on the little things, but on the big things I'm always on your side. She wanted that bouquet, so I went along and linked with her."

He told me to give in to his childhood sweetheart on the little things.

But in five years together, there had never once been a big thing.

1

I really wanted to ask him what counted as a big thing.

Last week, at my birthday, everyone was there in the private room.

Right in the middle of the cake, all noise and laughter, Melody Chase suddenly got it into her head that she wanted to go up the mountain to look at the stars.

Hubert didn't hesitate for a second. He left me there to make her happy.

Drove three hours to take her hiking out in the countryside.

When I confronted him about it, he came home, collapsed on the bed exhausted, and pulled the covers over his head.

"There's a birthday every year. I'll celebrate with you next time. It's one little thing. No point nitpicking over it."

But the next day Melody came to the house, and this time she took a liking to my pile of birthday gifts.

Hubert decided all on his own to tear open every present I hadn't unwrapped yet and give her everything she wanted.

By the time I woke up, all that was left on the floor was a heap of gift wrapping nobody had cleaned up.

He acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"None of those gifts were worth much anyway. If they'd been expensive, I never would've let Mel take them."

"We're all friends. And I basically watched her grow up like a little sister. I couldn't upset her over a few things like that."

In five years, there'd been more of this than I could count.

I looked at those carefully staged, sweet photos and my eyes stung, my chest aching.

Every one of them shot from an angle chosen with care.

In every picture, Hubert was smiling at the girl.

Not a trace of impatience in his face.

"This platform is so generous. It gave out nine hundred and ninety-nine roses in all. Hubert and I took so many pictures together."

Melody forced the flowers into my arms and pouted.

She shoved them so hard that a bunch of the rotting roses fell right off, leaving nothing but bare stems.

"The flowers are wilted, sure, but if you take them home and put them in water, the stems'll hold up another two days."

"They're already dead. What would I want with this garbage?"

I pressed my lips together and dropped them straight into the trash.

I'm not the one who collects garbage.

Who can't afford a bouquet of flowers?

What mattered was the thought and the joy between a couple.

Melody curled her lip in contempt.

She looped her arm through Hubert's, close and cozy, and pointed at the figurine shop across the way, wheedling.

"Hubert, let's go paint a plaster figurine together, you do half and I'll do half."

"Then when we come out, we can go grab a meal, and this afternoon we'll check out the art gallery."

2: 2

2

Every date was three people.

Today was no different.

The two of them walked ahead, talking and laughing.

I trailed behind, carrying the bags, with no way to get a word in.

Hubert hesitated for only a second. Just when I thought he'd refuse, he spoke.

"Kath, you're allergic to those paints, so don't come in with us. Why don't you head home first?"

"Painting a plaster figurine takes hours. You'd be waiting outside way too long."

My heart sank hard.

My nose stung.

If he knew I was allergic to the paint, why not just choose not to go at all?

I gripped the movie tickets in my hand and reminded him.

"Hubert, today's supposed to be our date. I already bought the tickets, and the movie's about to start."

"You can watch a movie anytime. How much were the tickets? I'll send you the money, and I'm buying Hubert for the whole day."

Melody pouted, then pulled out her phone and transferred me a hundred right there.

She tugged at his arm and swung it back and forth.

"Hubert, come on, let's go."

He didn't know whether to laugh or sigh at her. He gave a soft click of his tongue, the corner of his mouth curving up.

"How much allowance do you even have left? Throwing a hundred at someone so freely. I'll send you some later."

He pulled the door open and let her go in first.

Before he went in, he waved at me, hurrying me along.

"Kath, head home for now, or sit outside and wait for us to come out. We'll try to be quick."

"I'll watch the movie with you another day. Today's about keeping Mel happy first."

I opened my mouth, but before the words could come out, he was already following her inside.

I stood there so long my legs went numb.

Across the street, only a pane of glass separated us.

Inside the shop, Melody held his hand, a plaster figurine in hers, turning to say something to him with a bright smile.

Hubert reached up and fondly wiped a smear of paint off her cheek, seeming to answer.

She immediately balled her fist and gave his shoulder a coy little punch, then nestled into his arms.

It was only a pane of glass, yet it might as well have been a canyon between us, the distance felt that far.

My heart felt soaked in ice water, the cold seeping all the way through.

Back home, I pushed the door open to a quiet apartment.

I opened my feed and scrolled straight into the set of nine photos Melody had posted that morning.

So I finally saw those nine hundred roses the way they'd looked in full bloom, as lovely as the app had promised.

The girl nestled in his arms, making a heart at the camera, the huge armful of roses at her side blazing like fire.

*Melody: Thank you to the app for the gift. If you love her, post your photos together and claim nine hundred ninety-nine red roses!*

A few more days passed, and the movie never happened.

Every time we wanted to go out.

Melody had to come along.

Hubert always put what she wanted first.

The buzz around the movie had faded, so I just stopped bringing it up.

Saturday was the day set to pick up the ring at the counter.

It was the birthday gift he'd ordered for me long ago.

The ring just took a long time to make, so it was a week late being finished.

But when I got there and gave my ID number, the counter told me the ring had already been picked up.

I froze, and asked without thinking.

"Who picked it up? But I've never been here..."

The rest of the sentence died in my throat.

If I hadn't picked it up, then Hubert had.

The clerk checked and said.

"Your boyfriend gave your ID number and came in with a girl to pick it up. It's been over five days now."

My heart clenched hard.

3: 3

3

Back home, Hubert was in the shower.

I picked up his coat and dug through the pockets.

Sure enough, I found the ring box.

But when I opened it, only the men's band was left. The women's ring was gone.

I held the box, my eyes stinging.

I didn't have to guess who he'd given it to.

"What are you doing?"

Hubert pushed open the bathroom door and came out, and the moment he saw the ring box in my hand, he frowned.

He had nothing on but a towel around his waist.

I turned toward him and caught sight of a few faint red marks scattered across his chest.

The sight cut deep, and my nails pressed into my palm.

"I went to pick up the ring today. The clerk said you'd already taken it. Did you give it to Melody?"

"Oh, Mel was playing with my phone and saw the ring design. She really liked it, so I gave it to her."

Hubert grabbed a towel and wiped the water off his skin.

He hadn't noticed anything wrong with my mood, or maybe he had and simply didn't care, because he said it offhand.

"When I propose, I'll buy you a more expensive diamond ring. This one was cheap, only a few thousand."

But this ring could only be bought once in a lifetime, under one person's name.

The meaning was nothing alike.

And the design was one I'd chosen myself. I'd looked forward to it for so long, and now I was just as let down.

I pointed at the marks on his chest and threw the ring box straight at it.

"What are those? We're both adults. Don't tell me a mosquito bit you."

"Online you want to link couple accounts with Melody, and you two want matching rings. So let's just break up."

"Kathy, what has gotten into you?"

Hubert caught the ring box and bent to pick the men's band back out of it.

He frowned, his voice edged with irritation.

"Mel and I grew up together since we were kids. If there were anything murky between us, we'd have been together long ago, and there'd be no you. On these little things, if Mel likes something, let her have it. Why are you always so petty?"

"It's just a ring. I already told you, when I propose I'll buy you one dozens of times more expensive than this."

His face went cold as he walked into the bedroom and shut the door harder than he needed to.

I closed my eyes, bitterness rolling through my chest in waves.

What exactly counted as a big deal in his eyes?

Or rather, whether something was big or small was his to decide.

I was so angry my stomach started cramping in sharp pulls.

I sat hunched on the couch, my face growing paler and paler.

When Hubert came out dressed, he saw me looking sickly like that.

He rushed over and steadied me, his voice suddenly anxious.

"Kathy, what's wrong?"

He bent down and scooped me up sideways, not even bothering to dress properly as he headed for the door.

"Your stomach hurts. I'm taking you to the hospital first."

I clutched my stomach, the pain too much for me to speak.

At the hospital, after the exam, the doctor pushed up his glasses.

"You're pregnant, and there are signs of a threatened miscarriage. You need to cut down on fatigue and stop overthinking things for a while."

"I'm pregnant?"

Pale-faced, I touched my stomach.

Only then did I remember my period this month never seemed to have come.

I'd just been so angry these past days that it hadn't crossed my mind.

We picked up some medicine and went back.

Hubert helped me fasten my seatbelt, his expression earnest as he apologized.

"Kath, I'm sorry about the ring. I handled it badly. I shouldn't have done it without asking you first."