Chapter 1

The night before my boyfriend and I flew home, he ran the Rosamund Swanson's Wheel game with the college girls one last time.

"Rosamund, same as the last ninety-eight times. Find your angle and shoot."

"Once we sell the compilation upstream, we go home and buy a place."

I nodded, numb.

The music started. Raymond Sanchez stood in the center.

Six college girls bent at the waist, formed a ring around him, and began to turn.

In the middle of all that springtime skin, his phone suddenly lit up.

His childhood sweetheart, Charlotte Dickerson, had sent a voice message:

"Raymond, when are you planning to come clean with her?"

"I'm already three months along. I'm still waiting to get home and hold our wedding."

"My belly gets any bigger and I won't fit into the dress!"

It was like falling into ice water. I kept scrolling up.

Only then did I find that this wasn't the first time Charlotte had asked him.

But his answer was always the same:

"Just wait a little longer. She has no one, nothing. What would she do without me?"

"That one night we tangled up and made a mistake, but she and I have leaned on each other for four years. It's hard for me too."

Every time the three of us went out, they'd flank me, one on each side, barely saying a word.

I loved Raymond, so I was willing to put up with his game work.

But I couldn't accept that he'd lied to me.

When the game ended, Raymond wrapped his arms around me from behind, gentle.

"It's all over. The three of us fly home tomorrow."

I took a deep breath and wrenched myself free.

"You don't have to feel torn. Let's break up."

Without him, I knew exactly what I'd do.

...

"Rosamund, what did you say?!"

Raymond's hand still hung in the air.

The six girls sensed something was wrong and looked at us, uneasy.

I said coldly, "The ninety-ninth shoot is canceled."

I pulled up the contract. "Today's base pay stands. The compensation for calling it off early is doubled."

"What we've already shot won't go to any third party. I'm deleting the footage right now."

I settled the balance on the spot and posted the payment screenshot to the work group chat.

Raymond got dressed, glanced at his phone, and understood in an instant.

"Rosamund, I'll explain later. This is the last episode, and it's worth the most."

"If we stop shooting now, there's a penalty to pay."

I took out my phone and messaged the business side right away.

"Take the penalty out of my personal cut."

"The first ninety-eight episodes get delivered per the original contract. No one else at the studio gets dragged in."

Raymond's brow tightened, and it finally hit him that I was truly angry.

I ignored him and quickly canceled my flight, too.

Then I opened a chat window sealed away for four years and messaged an old colleague.

"Natalie, is there a rebooked route to anywhere else tomorrow?"

Raymond couldn't take it. He snatched the phone out of my hand.

"Rosamund, you'd really throw away four years over one mistake?"

I looked at him, and it struck me as almost funny. "One mistake?"

I opened Charlotte's voice message and played it out loud.

Three months ago, she'd already been asking him when he was going to come clean with me.

The color drained from Raymond's face, bit by bit.

"I admit it, I lost control after drinking. But the baby's been tested, and it really is mine."

"And there was no feeling in that night. I'd just had too much."

His eyes went red, and he moved to hold me.

"Rosamund, the one I want to buy a house with, build a life with, marry, has always been you."

"Once we're home I'll give her a sum of money, and I'll take legal responsibility for the child, but we..."

I cut him off, cold. "Then why does she think the two of you are getting married?"

Raymond fell silent. I kept going. "You must have given her expectations she never should have had."

A few seconds later, he forced the words out. "She was unstable when she first found out she was pregnant. I promised her we'd talk about registering the marriage once we got home."

"But don't worry, I'll handle this, I swear. You're the only one I love."

A chill ran through me. I turned away to pack up the lens.

My hands wouldn't stop shaking, and all at once the cracked lens hood sliced my palm open.

Blood welled up instantly.

Raymond's face changed. Almost on instinct, he dropped to his knees in front of me and pressed his mouth to the wound.

"Don't move."

Then he rushed for the first aid kit and dug out, exactly, the antiseptic I wasn't allergic to.

But his hands shook worse than mine. He couldn't even tear the packaging open.

"Does it hurt?"

"Rosamund, say something. Does it hurt?"

I looked at all that heartache and panic in his eyes, the love in them almost spilling over.

And that was the moment the apartment door swung open.

Charlotte had arrived.

But when she saw Raymond on his knees in front of me, tending a small cut, the smile on her face froze at once.

She came over meekly, one hand braced against her slightly rounded belly.

"Just... just now you two were talking at the door. I heard all of it..."

"Raymond, if you love her this much, then what are the baby and I?"

Raymond's face went awkward. His voice came out hoarse. "Charlotte, I'll take responsibility for the child."

Charlotte pressed on. "And me?"

He couldn't say what she was, not for the longest time.

I yanked my bandaged hand back.

"Raymond, you split a single answer into two, and you still dare say you know what love is?"

"Your hypocritical lies just make me feel even sicker."