Chapter 2

Rachel stared at the screenshots for a long time, her face unreadable.

"Who's Emily Nolan?" she finally asked.

"I have no idea," I replied.

"Are you sure Alex never mentioned her to you?" Rachel pressed.

"No," I said.

Rachel handed my phone back to me.

"Don't tip him off just yet," she said.

She looked at me.

"You need to figure out two things: who Emily Nolan is, and under what pretense Alex sent her that money."

I nodded.

On the way home, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Emily Nolan.

Emily.

Alex had a first love back in college.

He'd mentioned her to me once.

He said he dated a girl majoring in English literature during his freshman year, but they later broke up.

"I got over her a long time ago," he'd said at the time.

What was her name again?

I racked my brain for a while.

Emily...

Emily Nolan.

I pulled over to the side of the road.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel.

The one that got away.

His first love.

Three years.

254,000 dollars.

I closed my eyes.

Then I opened them again.

When Alex came home that night, he was just like always.

He changed his shoes, washed his hands, and plopped down on the couch to scroll through his phone.

"I'm so exhausted from working overtime today," he said.

I was cooking in the kitchen.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Is our daughter asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said again.

During dinner, Alex brought it up.

"The company might be laying people off next month. It's not looking great," he said.

Alex sighed.

"We should try to save more," he muttered.

I looked at him.

He picked up a piece of braised pork with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed a couple of times, then sighed again.

"Don't buy that coat you've been eyeing. Wait until the end-of-season sales," he said.

My hand froze as I reached for another dish.

I've had my eye on that coat for two months now.

130 dollars.

I never had the heart to actually buy it.

"Okay," I said.

He just said "Mm-hmm" and kept eating.

I kept eating too.

Every bite tasted bitter.

After he fell asleep that night, I took his phone.

I knew his password.

I opened WhatsApp.

Emily Nolan wasn't in his contacts.

I kept scrolling.

Then I found a group chat called "Project Chat" with just two people in it.

Alex and "E".

I tapped into the chat.

The latest message was from this afternoon.

E: "The medical bills went up again this month. The doctor said I have to switch to imported meds."

Alex: "How much?"

E: "7000 dollars."

Alex: "I'll figure something out."

E: "Sorry to bother you again, Alex."

Alex: "Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting better."

E: "With you around, I'm not afraid of anything."

Alex sent a hug emoji.

I scrolled up through the chat history.

Message after message.

"Emily, how are you feeling today?"

Emily: "I threw up again. I feel really sick."

Alex: "Sweetie, I'll come see you next week."

Emily: "Alex, your wife won't find out, will she?"

Alex: "Don't worry. She doesn't know a thing."

I stared at that message.

"She doesn't know a thing."

Five simple words.

I lingered on that message for a long time.

Then I kept scrolling.

All the way back to three years ago.

The very first message.

Alex: "Emily? Is that really you?"

Emily: "Hey Alex, long time no see."

Alex: "What happened? Why are you in the hospital?"

E: "They found out. It's lymphoma."

Alex: "I'll come see you."

Emily: "No need, I can manage by myself."

Alex: "Don't carry this all by yourself. I'm coming over"

I didn't go through the rest of the chat history one by one.

There were just too many.

Three years' worth of messages.

Over a thousand days.

I stumbled across a crucial detail.

Last July—the 16,000 dollars transfer.

E: "I'm still 16,000 dollars short for the surgery. I really can't borrow any more."

Alex: "I'll send it to you."

E: "But... that's your wife's money, isn't it?"

Alex: "My money is hers, hers is mine. No difference."

I stared at that message.

"My money is hers, hers is mine."

Funny, when he talked about splitting everything fifty-fifty, he sure didn't say that.

I screenshotted every crucial chat.

Then I closed the app and put his phone back where I found it.

Alex rolled over and mumbled something in his sleep.

I couldn't make out what he said.

I lay next to him.

My eyes stayed wide open.

I didn't sleep a wink all night.