PILOT

CHLOE’S POV

“Happy Anniversary, my love.”

Bryan groaned into his pillow with his buried face, his hair was a hot mess that I had come to like. I stood by the bed, holding a tray of breakfast perfectly balanced in my hands, while my heart jumped. Today was June 6th and it was our first anniversary in years where we didn’t hate each other.

“Babe,” I tapped him with my knee. “Don’t tell me you’re going to sleep through our anniversary. Are you?”

His eyes blinked open slowly, while giving me a sleepy grin as he sat up. I dropped the tray onto his lap, and I could tell that he liked what he saw. Banana pancakes, scrambled eggs and coffee just the way he liked it.

“Well damn,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his hand. “I hit the jackpot when I married you.”

I bent to kiss him and he pulled me closer than I would have expected, his hand curling around the back of my neck like he wanted to take me right there.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

“Don’t thank me yet,” I smirked, turning towards the direction of the curtains. “Your real treat comes tonight.”

The last thing I heard was the bed shift and then a loud smack. I jumped in the air as his hand landed on both cheeks of my ass.

“Bryan!”

“I couldn’t help myself. Your ass has always been a work of art.” He chuckled, with his visible morning wood. “Watching walk away from me is always the highlight of my mornings.”

“Then save your strength for tonight.” I teased him, peeking back at him as I pulled the curtains open seductively. Sunlight rushed in, causing the man I fell in love with to glow like an angel.

We had met in college, back when my hair was shorter, and my bank account was in tears. I’d tried to buy a textbook and some coffee after a class, but my card declined right there. The shop owner called me a thief and humiliated me while people watched and whispered.

Then came Bryan, swooped in like my shining light.

“I’ll pay for it.” He said, sliding the card to the cashier. “She’s with me. I forgot to make the transfer into her account.”

I hadn’t even known his name, but from that moment, he had my heart.

He pursued me with so much persistence that I had never experienced before. I was his future.

Now he was the bestselling author who cared more about his books. And I remained a housewife with an MBA and a closet filled with dreams that I had given up on.

But I still loved. I do.

“Don’t forget the TV interview today,” Bryan reminded me as he finished his breakfast and leapt to the bathroom. “Channel 7. Four o’clock. It’s a big day for ‘The Memory Thief.’”

“Yay. I’ll be there,” I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “After breakfast, I’ll go pick up my dress.”

“Perfect!” he yelled out from the shower. “Let’s show them that we are a power couple.”

His excitement made me smile, because we hadn’t been this way in a while.

Five years ago, I was pregnant with out child. It was a surprise to both of us. We planned everything for the incoming child. And then, one night after stressing so much about my Master's, I woke up and realised I had lost the baby.

It felt like a death sentence to Bryan because since then, I have been too scared to try again. This caused him to dive headfirst into his work, grieving by writing and meeting deadlines or going on book tours. I grieved by becoming a housewife who goes for therapy regularly to save my marriage. So I always stayed home and made sure food was ready when he got home.

Did it almost break us? Yes, but slowly we are getting through it.

*

*

Hours later, I was at the TV station with my dress in a box on the passenger seat beside me. Bryan was standing at the entrance with his editor, Emmanuel. Bryan waved the moment he saw my car.

“There she is,” he called out. “My wife. Always looking like a million bucks.”

I smiled as he walked over and planted a kiss on my cheek. We had agreed to not kissing on the lips in public because we knew how horny we always got.

“Ready to give the world a banger?” I teased him.

“Of course. You know I am.” He winked. “Thanks for being here with me.”

As he turned back to Emmanuel, my phone buzzed in my purse. I reached for it immediately only to find an unknown number messaging me.

I opened the message and froze. Three images of Bryan naked, in bed with another woman whose face had been blurred out. The photos were taken in different locations and on different days with the same woman because she had the same tattoo on her ass.

No. No, no, no....

I blinked, begging that the pictures would just disappear but they didn’t. Everything around me became a blur. My chest felt tight and I couldn’t breathe properly.

“Chloe?” Bryan’s voice cut through into my mind. “Babe, are you okay?”

I couldn’t speak, my hands were trembling, but I was okay to put off my phone.

He rushed over, grabbing me in his arms. “Breathe, okay? Just slow breaths. In and out.”

I followed his voice, while his hand gripped me.

“Can you tell me what’s happening?” he asked with a low voice that seemed like he was concerned.

I wanted to scream, to throw my phone right at his perfect face and demand to know the truth. But my voice cracked.

“I...I can’t go up there with you. I can’t.”

His expression changed. I could see confusion taking over, then he nodded and gave me his approval.

I sat down slowly, my body visibly shaking especially when he placed his hand on me like he was some loving and caring husband. But he was, until a few minutes ago.

And then he walked away. I looked at my phone in my lap, the images still there like my new wallpaper. I didn’t want to believe any of it. It couldn’t be real, right? It had to be photoshopped because we had just become better since the incident four years ago.

I thought we had moved on and today was going to mean something in our healing journey. But there I was in a chair, watching him on a TV screen.

Bryan walked out like he owned the world.

“Please, let’s give the bestselling author a huge round of applause. Bryan Langston!”

Applause erupted and Bryan smiled like his wife didn’t just have a panic attack backstage.

“So, Bryan,” the host said. “We all know today is a big day for you. It’s your book launch and wedding anniversary.”

“Five years of bliss. What’s the secret?”

He laughed and then looked at the audience. “I married my best friend.”

The audience sent loud awws into the air.

“She believed in me when at the beginning of my journey. When I had nothing, she was there. We’ve been through a lot that I wouldn’t wish on any couple. Every time we came out stronger.”

“I really wish that she could be by my side right now.”

I looked at the screen, squeezing my dress as that lying dickhead talked about me.