In the third year of marriage with Liam Adams, I prepared a big meal with all my heart and soul to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

I finished cooking, put down my apron, and called Liam to come and eat.

He was focused on his phone and occasionally laughed happily. I didn't know what he was browsing.

I didn't understand, so I walked over to scare him, but accidentally, I caught a glimpse of his phone screen.

It was full of pictures of naked women.

——

My smile froze on my face.

On our wedding anniversary, Liam not only didn't help me but also browsed other women's nude photos there.

Liam noticed me and quickly turned off his phone. He frowned and asked, "Did you peek at my phone?"

He asked in a questioning tone.

I looked at him with a stern face. "You think it's okay to look at other women's nude photos?!"

Liam frowned, with a hint of impatience flashing in his eyes. He said naturally, "Any normal man would look at these. Don't make a fuss about it!"

I felt a chill in my heart. Yes, he was right.

"But today is our third wedding anniversary."

Liam pursed his lips, looking even more impatient. "You women just love playing tricks. Don't you just want a gift? Why deliberately pick a fight? I can buy you one."

I looked at the man in front of me in disbelief, shocked by his words.

It was he who pursued me at the beginning, and he also said that we should celebrate this day every year in the future.

He said that was because, on this day, he married the best girl in the world.

But in just three short years, he had forgotten everything.

He even thought that I did all this just for a gift.

Was he guilty or did he really think so?

After that, I didn't talk to him anymore. I had the meal alone and then went to bed.

Liam didn't care much and slammed the door shut before leaving.

That was how we started the cold war. A few days later, Liam couldn't hold on anymore and bought roses to apologize to me.

He went down on one knee in front of me, just like when he proposed to me, serious and affectionate.

He said he just felt embarrassed and angry, so he said those words without thinking.

He had already prepared the anniversary gift for me. It was a bracelet that I had long wanted but didn't buy.

He gently put it on my wrist and said, "My wife is the most precious treasure in the world."

We had been together since high school. I forgave him due to our years of affection.

He wrapped his hands around my waist and said with grievance, "I'm hungry. I didn't even get to eat the anniversary feast."

"Then I'll make it up to you now. Go take a shower, and you can have dinner after you're done."

He kissed me hard on the face and said, "Honey, you're so nice."

I opened the refrigerator and found it empty.

I suddenly remembered that I hadn't been in the mood to cook these past few days because I was angry with him. I either ordered takeout or had instant noodles. There was no food left at home a long time ago.

I stood at the entrance to the bathroom and discussed with Liam about going out to eat. However, he said he wanted a private moment with me at home.

So, we reached an agreement to order takeout at last.

After choosing the dishes, I prepared to place the order, but my phone suddenly crashed and couldn't be turned on no matter what I did.

Coincidentally, Liam's phone was casually thrown on the sofa, so I used his phone to place the order.

Liam and I had each other's phone passwords. He used my birthday as his password, and I used his.

On the day of our wedding, in front of all the guests, he raised his phone and said loudly, "My phone is open for my wife to check anything!"

He had been like that in the past three years, giving me a great sense of security.

I also respected him, trusted him, and had never secretly checked his phone.

I told Liam that I would use his phone to order takeout, and he hummed a song and told me to order whatever I wanted.

So, I unlocked his phone. When I looked for the food delivery app, I accidentally clicked open his cloud storage.

What caught my eye was a hidden space that required me to enter a password.

Liam had shown me his cloud storage before, which was empty at first, but later it contained the materials that I had shared with him.

But now there was a locked space.

I was a little curious about what he was hiding. Maybe it was those things that men would browse.

I casually entered my birthday. No, it was not the right password.

I entered his birthday. It was still not right.

I didn't want to give up. I entered passwords that were made up of all our special days and the birthdays of our relatives and friends, but none of them were correct.

Finally, a thought flashed through my mind, and I entered a string of numbers unconsciously.

The space was successfully unlocked.

My mind was buzzing, and I was made speechless.

230625.

It was my best friend Hailey Green's birthday.

I clicked open layers of folders with trembling fingers, and the innermost folder was labeled "MYLOOVE".

Inside it were nude photos of my best friend.

My mind went blank, my breathing became rapid, and I fell to the ground.

I never thought such a melodramatic thing would happen to me.

My husband Liam, my best friend Hailey, and I had known each other since high school, or more accurately, Hailey was the matchmaker for me and Liam.

And Hailey was also the best person to me in the world, even better than Liam.

I opened Liam's WhatsApp, and to avoid suspicion, Hailey voluntarily deleted Liam's WhatsApp and formed a small group of three.

Hailey said she wanted to give me the greatest sense of security.

So, we had been chatting in the group.

I searched for Hailey's phone number in the search box but got no results.

I didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or get angry.

My mind was in a mess.

There was a sound coming from the bathroom, so I quickly closed the cloud disk and switched to the food delivery app.

Liam wiped his hair and walked over. "Have you made a choice?"

I shook my head slowly, and Liam smiled. "I knew you. You are a severe sufferer of choice phobia who can't make a choice. Let me do it."

Liam ordered our favorite Spaghetti.

He said he wanted to relive the feeling of us studying together in the past.

But as I ate, every bite felt like wax in my mouth. I couldn't help but wonder, was he reminiscing about me or the scenes with Hailey?

That matter was like a thorn stuck in my heart. Even if it just stayed there, it felt like a hangnail on my fingertip, causing me unbearable pain.

It constantly reminded me of the absurd farce.

I browsed many of the previous conversations between the three of us.

The two of them were as normal as they could be. If I was not there, they wouldn't type a word.

I could feel the awkward atmosphere even through the screen.

But the more it was like this, the more I felt suffocated.

I really hoped it was a misunderstanding, a hilarious mistake.

I didn't want myself to be played like a clown by them instead.

Suddenly, Liam turned over and hugged me. "Why haven't you slept yet?"

His chest was pressed against me. I could feel his strong and regular heartbeat. "What do you think of Hailey?"

Liam tightened his arms around me, then casually asked, "Why did you suddenly mention her?"

"I just thought of her suddenly."

Liam's grip grew tighter and tighter. He seemed unaware that his fingertips had already pinched into my flesh.

"She means nothing to me."

Is that so? Then what's with the regret in your tone?

I didn't ask, but I felt upset deep down.

Back in high school, Hailey was the school belle that everyone chased after. She was beautiful and bright, and all the boys liked her.

Perhaps Liam also had the same idea.

But he ended up marrying me.

I resisted the idea in my heart and didn't want to believe that Hailey betrayed me.

Hailey may not be aware of it. Those photos may have been photoshopped by Liam himself. After all, in my impression, although Hailey was a hot girl, she had never taken such explicit pictures.

My phone beeped.

Hailey sent me a message.

[Sally, I have something to confess to you.]

[I... I'm sorry.]

I made an appointment with Hailey at a coffee shop.

As soon as we met, an anxious and uneasy look appeared on her face, and she seemed to avoid looking at me.

I pursed my lips and felt a chill deep down.

I was afraid to hear those words from her, afraid that she would apologize to me.

But she said it anyway.

"I'm in a relationship."

I forced a smile and asked, "Really? Who is it?"

She showed me a photo. The man in the photo was elegant and gentle.

It was not Liam.

I widened my eyes and asked, "Who's this...?"

Hailey immediately hugged my arm and said, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have kept it from you. Please don't be angry, okay?"

I let out a long sigh of relief. It turned out that Hailey had been in a relationship for three months without telling me.

She posted on Instagram in front of me, announcing that she was not single.

She was so open and honest. There was no way she had anything with Liam.

So, it was Liam who was fantasizing about Hailey.

I suddenly felt disgusted.

The lover I spent my days and nights with had such dirty thoughts about Hailey.

The next day, I made an appointment to have dinner with Liam and Hailey.

I wanted to see which flaws of Liam I hadn't noticed before.

During the meal, Hailey took care of me as always, peeling shrimp and removing the fish bones for me. She would always be the first to put them on my plate.

Watching my beautiful and delicate best friend, rolling up her sleeves to do these things for me, I blamed myself for not trusting her before.

Hailey nagged and blamed Liam for not knowing how to take care of me, and not being a good husband.

Liam, however, remained silent and did not retort as he used to.

With a serious face and complex emotions in his eyes, he irritably smashed the things on his plate.

At last, he threw away his fork, got up, and left.

Hailey cursed behind him, saying he had a bad temper.

I caught up with him and asked him what was wrong.

Liam looked at me with grievance and let out a sigh of frustration. "Honey, I thought it was our date."

I was stunned for a moment and instinctively said, "But Hailey is my best friend."

He hugged me, his warm breath brushing against my neck, and his voice was muffled. "You don't know how much I'm annoyed with her.

"A few days ago, I had dinner with Oliver Nelson. His phone ran out of battery, and he said he had an important file to receive. Later, I found out that he had bought your best friend's nude photos at a high price and stored them in my cloud storage. I accidentally saw them, and they disgusted me.

"Don't worry, I've deleted them all. I promised you that I wouldn't browse these things anymore."

My heart trembled, and I became confused.

Oliver was our high school classmate. He had pursued Hailey passionately back then but got rejected eventually.

It turned out that he got those photos.

So, Liam did not betray me nor did he covet Hailey.

I hugged him back, and my chaotic emotions were relieved at that moment. Thank goodness, God heard my prayer. It was really a misunderstanding.

My husband and Hailey were still the two people who loved me the most in the world.

I suggested reporting Oliver's actions to the police.

Liam asked me to leave it to him, fearing that Oliver would retaliate against me later.

With everything settled, my thoughts returned to calmness.

Liam had been very busy with work recently, and he went to bed right after taking a shower every night.

The company was founded by him and me when we graduated, but I had some health problems in the first two years, so Liam asked me to be a full-time housewife for a while.

I deeply understood how hard Liam had worked to get the company to where it was today, so I didn't complain. Instead, I just silently supported him.

When I came out of the shower, he was already asleep, and his phone screen showed a short video.

I took it over and prepared to turn it off for him.

Suddenly, a private message popped up.

The note was very familiar, and it read, "Hayles."

That was how I added Hailey to my friend list.

I clicked open the private message, and my mind went blank instantly.