Chapter 1
On my birthday, I got a notification on my phone. A 40-thousand-dollar transfer had just hit my account.
I was about to call Brian Gardner, my husband, to ask where the money went, when I happened to see a post from his new intern, Pearl Colon, on Instagram.
Her caption read: [The best romantic gift ever.]
The post showed a screenshot of the transfer and a photo of her holding hands with Brian.
I had just hit like on the post when Brian called me in a hurry to explain, "It's Pearl's birthday. I was just playing along for appearances, so don't let it bother you, okay?"
I couldn't help but laugh dryly, then went ahead and froze all his cards.
As long as he stayed away from my money, I didn't care what he did.
*****
On my birthday, I waited for Brian at the restaurant for a full ten hours.
My mood shifted from anticipation to a quiet calm.
As the evening wore on, the last rays of the sunset faded between the skyscrapers, and the stars took over the sky.
I grabbed my phone, feeling totally drained, and shot Brian a message. [So this is your idea of 'spending quality time' with me, Brian?]
But before I could even blink, a text popped up. Forty grand had just transferred out of my account.
I raised an eyebrow, baffled. Brian couldn't bother to text me back or show up, but somehow he had time to splash cash.
Just as I was about to call Brian and ask what was going on, my thumb wandered over to Instagram by accident.
Suddenly, it all made sense where the forty grand had gone.
The top post was from Pearl, Brian's intern.
It featured a picture of her holding hands with Brian, plus a screenshot of the forty-thousand-dollar transfer.
Her caption read: [The best romantic gift ever.]
The guy in the photo, throwing around forty grand like it was pocket change, was my husband, Brian, who'd been MIA all day.
My eyes suddenly burned with tears.
They looked so close in that picture. If I weren't Brian's wife, I might've been rooting for them.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips.
My heart twisted. I never imagined Brian would cheat on me right in front of my face.
After three years, I had already learned that Brian never loved me.
All he ever gave me was the cold shoulder or just being polite.
We were basically strangers pretending to be a couple.
Suddenly, I just felt exhausted. After running after Brian all these years, I honestly didn't want to waste another second on him.
It all felt meaningless.
Three years together felt like nothing but a dream. It was a lie I kept telling myself.
Thinking about it, my mind wandered back to the past.
Six years ago, I happened to meet Brian.
He was weaving through traffic by the roadside, carefully scooping up a few stray kittens.
That gentle, innocent look on his face made my heart flutter in an instant.
But lost in the sea of cars, all I got was that one fleeting encounter with Brian.
He probably never realized that, somewhere in the crowd, there was a girl who secretly admired him for years.
Later, by some strange turn of events, I ended up marrying Brian. I thought it was fate.
Even after three years of marriage, Brian always kept things strictly courteous between us, like we were just polite strangers.
But it never bothered me. I always believed that someday, Brian would fall in love with me too.
But it wasn't until today that I realized Brian was still hung up on his first love.
That was why he always kept me at arm's length, so cold and distant.
Honestly, it all just felt so damn pointless.
Thinking about it, I glanced at our chat history. He almost never texted me first. Just like these past three years, he never really showed me any affection. Always cold, always distant.
Honestly, he was not even worth loving anymore.
I closed our chat and called up a lawyer friend, asking him to get the divorce agreement ready.
Then I sent Brian one last message. [Let's get divorced.]
Just to be a little vindictive, I liked Pearl's Instagram post.