Chapter 2
The screen showed the back of a man with broad shoulders and a slim waist.
His dark gray shirt sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, showing off his strong forearms as he cooked for the girl.
The girl's clingy voice drifted in. "My babe is taking me to Magic Spire Kingdom tomorrow. Tonight, we're having a late-night snack at our new place."
The camera panned, revealing the entire kitchen.
My hands trembled as I opened the surveillance app for our wedding home.
Christopher walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl, with a young girl in a strappy nightgown trailing behind him.
The girl jumped onto his back. They laughed and collapsed onto the couch together.
On the side table next to the couch, a pair of white lace panties was hanging on the frame of our first photo together.
My phone rang again. It was Christopher.
"Babe, are you asleep?" His voice was gentle. "I just got to Stellara. I'm so tired.
"I don't want to be on this business trip. I just want to go home and hug you. Babe, I love you."
On the phone's surveillance feed, the girl pouted and leaned in for a kiss.
Christopher laughed and turned his head away, mouthing, "Stop."
I hung up the phone.
The surveillance feed on my phone kept playing.
Christopher tossed his phone onto the couch.
He grabbed the girl and pulled her into a fierce, punishing kiss.
When they finally pulled apart, the girl's lips were swollen from the kiss.
Christopher said to her, "I told you, you can mess around all you want, but she must never find out about you.
"That's my bottom line. Next time you try something like this, you won't be able to get out of bed for days."
Christopher's voice was laced with both affection and reproach.
The girl instantly snuggled into his arms, hooking herself onto his shoulders.
His big hand held her hips steady, giving her a playful pat.
She chirped, "Okay, babe. You really do love her, huh?"
"Yeah, I do. That's why she can never know about you. If she did, it would crush her," Christopher replied.
The girl squirmed in his arms, clearly unhappy. "And what about me?"
Christopher pinched her nose and gave a soft laugh. "You? Well, besides her, you're definitely my favorite babe."
The girl wrapped her arms around his neck, teasingly licking his earlobe as she purred, "I want you to make me feel your love on the big bed in your new place."
Christopher leaned down, brushed her lips with a gentle kiss, then lifted her into his arms. "Since you've been so cute, I guess I can give you what you want."
With that, they made their way to the master bedroom.
I locked my phone. My fingers felt numb and cold.
I rushed to the bathroom and threw up until everything spun around me.
Tears and snot were covering my face.
I leaned against the toilet, sinking down to the floor.
My heart shattered, and I couldn't even cry out.
I clicked into that account.
Trying to scroll for more, I found her account was set to private.
All I could see were those two videos.
I took screenshots and saved them.
It was hard to believe that I'd sworn to my best friend that Christopher would never cheat on me that morning.
That very night, this man proved me wrong.
I remembered how my best friend once asked why I was so sure Christopher would never cheat on me.
At the time, I just smiled and said, "He wouldn't."
He despised his father, a serial cheater who couldn't stay faithful to his mom.
His dad's reckless behavior left his loving mother in constant agony.
In the end, they got divorced.
Christopher always swore he'd never be anything like his father.
But in the end, he went back on his word.
Half-awake, I found myself dreaming about the past for the first time in ages.
The first time I met Christopher was at my grandma's villa.
He was just five, dressed in a perfectly tailored little suit, sitting upright and looking so serious.
Meanwhile, I'd just finished a fight with my cousin and was covered in mud from head to toe.
We both saw the same look of disapproval and disdain in each other's eyes.
The next time I saw him was in the hallway of our middle school.
He was thirteen with shoulder-length hair, and a fringe hid his handsome eyes and brows.
He was slouching lazily by the teacher's office door.
Meanwhile, I was the top student in school that all the teachers bragged about.
I wonder how that prim and proper little boy from back then had turned into this.
Grandma told me that Christopher's parents had gotten divorced three years ago.
He'd been bounced around between relatives ever since, like a hot potato nobody wanted to deal with.
One day, I spotted Christopher squat on the ground in the next alley, his face all bruised and swollen.
Without a second thought, I took him home with me.
From that day on, he became my little shadow, and we became inseparable.
On the day I agreed to be his girlfriend, Christopher was so overwhelmed that he cried for a long time.
He told me I was the light in his otherwise gloomy life, and that he'd love me forever.
He really did. No matter how rough things got with his startup, he always made sure I was happy.
Whenever I had my premenstrual syndrome, he would accompany and take care of me patiently.
He would do everything to make me happy.
He would remember every random snack I mentioned, every movie I wanted to see, and every place I said I wanted to visit.
Even if it was a concert he had zero interest in, he would always stay by my side and listen till the end.
There were countless things like that. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. 'How could someone who loved me so much suddenly fall apart like this?'
The girl's account was updated.
There was only one photo.
The girl was standing in front of the flower bed at the gate of Magic Spire Kingdom.
Christopher was down on one knee, sporting a cute headband.
He was slipping a ring onto her finger.
The caption read: [Finally met the one for me!]
I always thought true love could overcome anything.
But it wasn't until now that I realized how wrong I was.
The faith I'd clung to for years was beginning to crumble.
I found my dad's number and dialed.
Soon, I heard his voice on the other end.
"Dad, I lost," I said. "I'll go home and marry that guy."