Chapter 1

After the press conference, I collapsed onto the couch, exhausted.

The rising star handed me a cup of tea and smiled sweetly. “You worked hard, Adrian.”

“Thanks.”

I thanked her politely and placed the tea on the table.

I didn’t drink it.

After the modern romance drama I filmed with the rising star became a huge hit,

the popularity of our ship continued to soar.

Marketing accounts edited all kinds of videos of us. Their view counts kept breaking five-year records, and our names appeared on trending searches again and again. It was a genuine phenomenon.

Our agencies immediately saw eye to eye and decided to aggressively market our pairing.

That was perfectly normal in the entertainment industry.

Fans became completely obsessed, shouting that they were witnessing true love.

“The quiet older man and the clever, quirky girl. Lock them together forever. I swallowed the key.”

“Ahhh, they’re so sweet I’m dying. If you two aren’t real, then tell me what is!”

“Does anyone else get it? I’m sitting here grinning like an auntie in the middle of the night.”

In private, however, we still kept our distance.

There was a clear line between us.

After all, I was already married. I had been secretly married to Claire Bennett, the actress, for seven years. I didn’t want her to misunderstand.

Though perhaps Claire didn’t care in the first place.

Once, because of a careless mistake on my part, the media photographed how cold and distant Chloe Carter and I were with each other in private. That day, marketing accounts went wild, claiming our ship was fake and that our agencies were maliciously manufacturing publicity.

Chloe then publicly responded with one sentence:

“Mr. Blake, you really haven’t changed.”

That completely merged our real-life interaction with our characters in the drama. It was as if the characters had stepped out of the screen and into reality.

The shippers celebrated like it was a holiday.

The trending searches exploded again, but I didn’t care much.

I looked back at my chat window.

The entire screen was filled with messages I had sent Claire.

Every now and then, she would reply with a single “Oh” or “Mm.”

“Are you coming home today? I’ll make your favorite plum-glazed ribs.” After thinking it over, I typed out the message.

But the only thing that appeared on the screen was a bright red exclamation mark.

Chloe was about to turn around when she accidentally saw it. She gave me an apologetic smile.

Then she said, “Do you think I’ll ever get the chance to try your cooking, Adrian?”

“I watched you on that variety show before, and it made me so hungry…” Chloe widened her eyes, making them sparkle.

I responded politely. “If you get the chance, I’ll definitely cook for you.”

My eyes remained fixed on my phone.

“Okay.”

Chloe could tell I was only being polite, so she said nothing more. She lowered her head a little, looking disappointed. When she noticed me watching her, she immediately lifted her head and smiled. “I’m looking forward to it!”

…

Claire had deleted me again. It was the three hundred and twenty-sixth time since we got married.

It was exactly what I expected.

Whenever we argued, Claire would delete me.

She said it was to give us both space to calm down. Since our marriage was secret, we barely had any time together in the first place.

Now we truly had no way to contact each other.

Once Claire cooled off, she would add me back.

Then I would reflect on my mistakes, and the argument would be over.

This time, I had asked Claire whether she had recently met a college student.

She had immediately gone cold and thrown a divorce agreement at me before slamming the door behind her.

“Are you seriously accusing me?”

“I have my own life and my own friends. Can you stop being so controlling? Do you have to monitor everything I do?”

“Adrian, you’re my husband, not my entire world!”

I shook my head and was about to explain.

But all I could do was stare blankly at her determined back as she walked away.

That wasn’t what I meant.

It was just that I hadn’t seen her in too long, and there were so many things I wanted to tell her. I didn’t know how to begin.

Claire had never been the proactive type.

Lately, people kept bringing up her relationship with that college student in front of me.

Those things had made me speak without thinking.

Claire had gone to amusement parks and watched movies with that college student. She had done so many things I wanted to do with her but never had.

When I first asked her about it, she said, “We’re both at important stages in our careers. We absolutely can’t be photographed together. We have to avoid suspicion.”

“You can watch a movie anywhere. Watching one at home is the same. Amusement parks are boring anyway. If you want to go, go by yourself.”

But then Claire turned around and did all those things with another man.

There could be countless men by her side, but I would never be one of them. I was the husband she had to hide.

I often wondered whether Claire truly loved me.

My phone suddenly chimed with a notification. I thought Claire had added me back and eagerly opened it.

But what appeared before my eyes was a trending headline:

#Actress Claire Bennett Holds Hands with Her Puppy-Like Boyfriend to Watch the Northern Lights