Chapter 1

After three years of marriage, my devoted husband has a whole line of gifts made just for me.

Every holiday, he sends me the gas bill, the property-management receipt, the paid-in-full statement for the water and electric.

Even on Valentine's Day, what he sent was a payment screenshot, with a note: Electric bill paid. Valentine's gift.

I sighed and posted the picture online without thinking too much about it.

【My husband is too practical. What do I do?】

Not long after, a comment showed up under the post.

"Advice, please, ladies. My husband's such a hopeless romantic it's giving me a headache. What do I do?"

A little envious, I clicked into her page.

A pink diamond ring. Roses at home, replaced every three days. Disney plushies stacked all over the living room.

I swiped through them one by one, thinking, so men like this actually exist.

Until the last photo.

On a beach, rose petals arranged into a heart, and a man down on one knee, proposing to her.

He was looking up at the girl holding her phone to take the picture, his eyes full of love.

So there really are people in this world who get loved like that.

Too bad that girl wasn't me.

But that man was my husband.

1.

The comments were full of people calling her a show-off, a humblebragger.

Soon the blogger, whose name was Zelda Pruitt, replied and posted a video as proof.

"I swear I'm not bragging. He's the one who said Valentine's Day needs to feel special, and insisted on booking this whole fireworks show for me."

In the video, blue fireworks burst open one after another, spelling out Zelda's initials.

Below the fireworks, Reuben Sanchez had his chin resting on top of the girl's head, holding her tight.

The sound of the fireworks kept echoing in my ears, but my vision was blurring more and more.

I thought about last New Year's Eve, when I'd tugged at him, wanting him to buy me a single sparkler.

His face went dark in an instant.

"Five dollars for a sparkler that burns for a few seconds. You'd really waste money like that?"

I'd thought he was just devoted to keeping the household frugal.

But this was the same man who booked an entire fireworks show for someone else.

As more and more people commented, "So jealous I've gone numb, I'm stuffed with all this cuteness."

She followed up right away with another photo.

"On my birthday, he insisted on taking me to Disney, and bought up every single plushie without even asking."

"I just want to know, is there any hope for a man like this?"

I raised a hand to wipe the tears splashing onto my screen before I could make out the Disney plushies filling it.

In a corner, a plushie keychain with a freebie tag on it, and I knew it far too well.

That was last month, when he used the excuse of a very important project to go away on a business trip.

The one decent gift he brought back for me when he returned.

I'd thought he'd finally come around. I even hung the keychain on my bag and carried it everywhere.

Forcing my emotions down as hard as I could, I typed a question underneath.

"You two are so happy. How long have you been together?"

The reply came fast: "We've been together two years now."

"And he's already proposed to me, hee hee."

I'd thought I was fully prepared, but seeing this still hurt so much I couldn't breathe.

So in the three years Reuben and I had been married, for two of them he'd had someone else in his heart.

I stared at that last line, my eyes stinging.

He'd already promised her a future. And me...

My phone buzzed. Zelda had sent me a private message.

"Happy Valentine's Day, big sis."

"And I'd love some advice from you. How do I get my husband to be a little more devoted to home too?"

My heart dropped hard. So it was true, the ones who are favored are always the ones who feel untouchable.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth and opened the message box.

"If you want to know, come find me at Sycamore Court."