Chapter 2

I zoomed in on the video again and again.

Afraid to miss a single detail.

But every detail told me.

This was the cat from our first anniversary.

Ethan had braved a snowstorm to deliver it to me exactly at midnight on my birthday.

He said the kitten's name was Happy.

He hoped I'd be happy every day after that.

A massive sense of absurdity washed over me.

I could barely breathe.

I exited the profile.

And scrolled back to the beginning of the confession thread.

It had been posted an hour ago.

[First time I met him, I hated him. I'd been betrayed before, so I had zero good feelings for men.]

[But he was good to my sister. She has a sensitive stomach, so he kept a note of what she could and couldn't eat.]

[Whenever she worked late, he'd pick her up, no matter how late it was.]

[He remembered all her likes and dislikes. His profile picture, his social media posts, his background — it was all her...]

I bit down hard on my lip, tasting iron.

Ethan was so good to me.

He remembered my period every month, always keeping pain meds in his bag.

Once, I was writhing in pain from cramps in the middle of the night, and he immediately bought the earliest flight to come to me, just to bring me medicine.

Things I'd casually mention, he'd take to heart and make happen the next day.

He was an atheist, but for me, he'd even visit a church and pray for my safety.

I'd always felt lucky to have found the best man in the world.

My hands shaking, I continued to scroll down:

[Later, my sister went on a business trip and told me to go to him if I needed anything, saying he was reliable. I said I'd rather die than ask him for help.]

[That night, there was a heavy rainstorm, and the light bulb in the house suddenly blew out. I'm afraid of the dark, and no one answered when I called maintenance.]

[I had no choice but to dig out the number my sister left and called him.]

[Half an hour later, he appeared at the door, soaking wet, smiling as he said, "Turns out you get scared too."]

[In that moment, I felt something I couldn't explain.]

I remembered that.

Ethan would update me daily.

That night, when we were on FaceTime.

He'd brought it up himself.

"Stella looks fearless, but she's actually afraid of the dark."

He talked about Stella for a long time.

Laughing as he spoke.

His laughter held a hint of fondness.

At the time, I didn't think much of it and even told him that if Stella ever needed anything, he had to help her immediately.

[After that, whenever something broke at home, I'd instinctively think of calling him.]

[We started seeing each other more often, and I guess I didn't hate him as much anymore.]

[He often waited for me to get off work, then accompanied me to the grocery store or to watch a movie.]

[He even learned how to cook my favorite dishes, and just like with my sister, he wrote down what I liked and disliked in his notes.]

[I once said, "Could you please stop using Luna's picture as your avatar when we talk?" and he immediately changed it to an avatar with the same color scheme as mine.]

[My feelings for him became more and more complicated.]

That avatar was the first photo he took of me when we first started dating.

I'd even teased him about it back then.

"Aren't you afraid people will laugh at you for using my photo?"

He gently squeezed my cheek, a proud look on his face.

"My girlfriend is so beautiful, of course I want to tell everyone."

He'd used it for five years, never changing it no matter what anyone said.

The day he changed his avatar, I'd asked him about it.

He said it was for work reasons.

I believed him.

Turns out, it was because of one sentence from Stella.

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring the screen.

[Tonight, he and I went to see a movie. At the end, he suddenly turned to me and asked, "Do you like me?"]

[I heard my own heartbeat, and then I heard him say, "I wish I had met you sooner."]

[I couldn't control myself and kissed him. He didn't pull away.]

[I feel disgusted with myself for doing such a thing to my sister's boyfriend, but I can't control how I feel about him.]

[My sister comes back tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to face her.]