Chapter 3

At exactly seven o'clock, the screen flickered and the lighting suddenly brightened.

Shiven woke up. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and leaned close to the camera:

"Good morning, baby. Did you sleep well? You said you had a nightmare?"

His voice was raspy, his eyes drowsy—his acting was impeccable.

I looked at his face and forced out a smile:

"Yeah, I dreamed you left me and ran off with another woman."

Shiven's expression froze for a moment, then he showed a doting smile:

"Silly girl, dreams are the opposite of reality. How could I leave you? You're my life."

The doorbell rang at that moment.

I walked to the door with my phone.

Through the peephole, I saw a package the delivery person had left on the ground.

The sender's field was blank, with only my name written as the recipient.

I opened the delivery bag to find an exquisite pink gift box.

Opening the lid, inside lay a set of black lace lingerie.

The size was S, while I always wore M.

A card fell to the ground. Written on it in delicate handwriting was a sentence:

"Shiven says you dress too conservatively. He asked me to pick something nice for you. You're welcome."

I picked up the card and held up the lingerie, shaking it in front of the video camera:

"Shiven, is this a surprise you bought me? Why is the size wrong?"

The moment Shiven saw the lingerie clearly, his eyes showed panic.

But he quickly composed himself, frowning:

"Huh? Why would I buy something so disgusting?"

"The seller sent the wrong thing? Or maybe some bored person playing a prank."

"Throw it away. It's filthy."

I tossed the lingerie back in the box and stared into his eyes:

"The card says you think I dress too conservatively."

Shiven's face darkened:

"What are you trying to say? You doubt me?"

"I work so hard every day, and at night I still stay on video to help you fall asleep."

"Don't we have even basic trust between us?"

"Can you be more mature? Stop being so paranoid all the time. It's exhausting for me."

He turned it around on me. He was the one being dirty, yet he blamed me for being suspicious.

Every time we'd had arguments before, he'd used this tactic, and I'd always apologized guiltily.

But this time, looking at his face, I only felt disgusted.

"I'm sorry, maybe I've been under too much stress lately."

"I just care about you too much..."

I lowered my head.

Seeing me back down, Shiven's tone softened:

"Good girl, I care about you too! You don't need that kind of thing—you're already beautiful. Throw it away!"

Just then, a very soft cat's meow came through the video, coquettish and gentle.

Shiven quickly reached to cover the microphone, but it was too late.

"You got a cat?"

I asked with feigned curiosity.

His eyes darted away as he laughed dryly:

"No, it's probably that stray cat from the neighborhood begging for food again."

"I'm going to go shoo the cat away. Gotta hang up now—I need to get to work soon. Love you."

The video ended and the room returned to silence.

I opened that post, and sure enough, the blogger had updated:

[Couldn't help but make a sound just now, so thrilling.]

[He got so scared his face turned white. Hung up the video and pinned me to the bed as punishment. Bad boy.]

Looking at those words, I threw the delivery box into the trash.

I requested annual leave from my company and bought a ticket on the next flight to his city.

By evening, I was standing downstairs from the apartment he rented.

He paid the rent here with my secondary credit card, saying it was to be closer to the office for overtime.

Now it seemed more like it was convenient for secret meetings.

I put on sunglasses and a face mask, found a window seat at the café across the street, and sat down.

My phone vibrated. Shiven sent a message:

[Baby, I have to work overtime tonight, might not be able to video call.]

[Be good and go to sleep on your own. Don't overthink things. Once I finish this project, I'll come see you.]

I replied with [Okay, take care of yourself.]

My gaze traveled through the floor-to-ceiling window just in time to see Shiven walking out of the apartment building with his arm around a woman.

That woman wore the same outfit I'd seen in the post, with his jacket draped over her.

The two kissed at the apartment entrance, Shiven's hand wandering around her waist.

I raised my phone and opened video recording mode.