Chapter 1

It was late, and I'd just finished working overtime. The moment I stepped outside, it started pouring.

While I waited for my ride, I grumbled to my boyfriend.

I texted. [Seriously, it's coming down like crazy and I didn't even bring an umbrella.]

Lucas finally replied after more than ten minutes.

He sent. [Are you dropping hints? Do you want me to jump on a train right now and bring you an umbrella?

[Don't be so dramatic.]

I froze. At the same time, my ride got canceled.

Rain splashed onto my pants, leaving them soaked and sticky.

As I zoned out, my best friend posted something on her feed.

Before I could get a good look, it was gone.

When I refreshed, photos had been cropped and filtered.

All I could see was someone busy cooking in the kitchen.

She posted them with a caption. [Thanks to someone, my new heels didn't get a single drop of rain on them.]

My hands trembled as I zoomed in on the figure in the photo.

I could recognize Lucas anywhere, no matter what.

The cookbook he was holding was the one I'd handwritten for him, packed with all his favorite recipes.

When I got back to my apartment, I was soaked to the bone.

Lucas messaged me like nothing was wrong.

He texted. [Why aren't you replying? Are you home yet?]

*****

Raindrops slid down my bangs and landed on my phone screen, right over Lucas's anime avatar.

The water distorted it, making his avatar look huge, like it was seen through a magnifying glass.

Back then, I had chosen a matching couple avatar to go with his. He used the male lead from an anime, and I picked the official female pairing of that same character. So childish.

I opened our chat and asked him one last time. [Can you change your profile picture?]

This time, he replied almost instantly.

Lucas: [Evelyn, how much more do you want]

Lucas: [I even transferred to another state for you. What more do you want from me?]

Same old blame-shifting.

My best friend Autumn's avatar was another girl from the same anime, the male lead's so-called "first love."

It wasn't until I'd been dating Lucas for six months that I found out he and Autumn had dated before.

It was awkward, but honestly, I didn't really care.

Who doesn't have a few memories from their younger days?

But then, Autumn started coming up in our conversations more and more.

Lucas always talked about her. [A friend gave me three movie tickets. Why don't we ask Autumn to join us? Otherwise, they'll go unused.

[Don't all you girls love sweets? There's a buy-one-get-one deal, so the extra one can go to Autumn.

[Camping isn't that fun anyway. Autumn likes rafting, right? The three of us can share a boat.]

Even when I brought him to meet my parents, he had to invite Autumn along.

Lucas said, "What if your parents don't like me or don't think we're a good match? Autumn could put in a good word for me."

In the end, my parents and I ended up waiting for him for two whole hours, but he never showed.

Because Autumn twisted her ankle on the way, and he dropped everything to rush her to the hospital.

That was the last straw. I couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him.

He didn't say a word, just threw a transfer letter at me.

He said, "Is this what it takes for you to finally trust me?"

After that, with 600 miles between us, he went cold on me for half a year.

In the end, Autumn got him to come over and arranged for us to meet, and that's how we finally got back together.

I actually believed he'd change.

I didn't want to deal with him anymore, so I threw my phone aside and headed for the shower.

And he stayed silent.

At two in the morning, my phone rang.

Lucas's voice came through, complaining. "Why are you ignoring my messages?"

That's when I realized he'd sent me over a dozen messages.

He was asking how I made that egg dish for him last time.

But he said it tasted awful back then.

So I never bothered to write it down in my cookbook.

I was so dizzy I didn't have the energy to deal with him anymore.

I let out a tired sigh. "Let me guess, it's Autumn who actually wants to eat that, right?"

"Wait, how did you know..." Lucas said.

Then he went quiet.

The next second, he sent me a photo of the couch.

There was a thin blanket tossed carelessly on it.

He added, "Don't think we're up to anything shady. I've been crashing on the couch every night. Nothing happened between Autumn and me."

I narrowed my eyes.

That couch was barely under five feet long, and with Lucas being six-foot-three, his legs would be dangling off the edge.

I rolled over, my voice dry. "Yeah. You drove over ten hours to pick her up from work, got up in the middle of the night to make her a snack, and even stuck around, shamelessly sleeping on the couch to stay there.

"You've already done everything you shouldn't have. What else do you want to do?"

There was no difference between that layer of clothing and those tangled, desire-driven movements.

"Evelyn. What is your problem..." Lucas shot back.

"I'll send you the recipe later." Interrupting his angry rant, I kept my tone emotionless.

My voice was calm, as lifeless as dead water.

Silence hung in the air.

Lucas's voice softened, a little uncertain, something he wasn't used to. "You're not mad?"

I gave a wry smile. "We're already broken up. Whatever you do is none of my business anymore. It's not like I have any reason to be upset."

He was stunned for a few seconds.

Then he suddenly raised his voice. "What are you talking about? Why are you giving me that attitude again? When did I ever say we were breaking up? Did you bother to ask me?"

He kept coming at me with questions, one after another.

He couldn't even bother to give me a single explanation.

I remembered how I had worked late until midnight every day for two months to save up leave to see him.

During video calls, my parents kept saying I looked like I'd lost over twenty pounds, and it broke their hearts.

But it was different for him.

I was so done I could only laugh. "So, as my boyfriend, did you ask for my permission before showing up at another woman's place in the middle of the night?

"Lucas, since you can't bother to act decent anymore, there's no point..."

"Ah!" Suddenly, Autumn's terrified scream blasted through the phone.

Her scream cut me off before I could finish.

The call dropped right after.

Ten minutes later, Autumn posted something new on her feed.

Lucas's tall frame filled the bathroom as he stood by the washing machine.

The post read: [Ugh, what a pain. My period hit out of nowhere in the middle of the night and now everything's a mess.

[But someone said he'd take care of it, so I guess I get to catch some extra sleep.]