Chapter 1

When I saw the name on that marriage certificate, my first thought was whether it was just someone with the same name.

However, the face in the picture shown in the video was the same one I'd woken up to for the past five years.

I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

My girlfriend of five years, Tessa Cross, was already married to someone else. Her legal husband was none other than her childhood friend, Kevin Miller.

What really knocked the air out of my lungs was the date they registered their marriage, February 14th, three years ago.

So she had lied to me for three whole years.

In those three years, she had wrapped her arms around my neck every morning before giving me a good-morning kiss.

Then, she would help me straighten my tie, smiling gently as she sent me out the door.

That was why I never suspected her, even though she couldn't make any of the last seventeen marriage registration appointments.

I had been so confident in what we had that I thought tying the knot was inevitable, so I hadn't felt any need to push for it.

I never imagined that the woman I'd been so affectionate with had long become someone else's wife.

Forcing myself to ignore the bitter feeling in my chest, I continued watching the video.

It went on for a full seven minutes.

Photo after photo showed Tessa and Kevin as kids, how reluctant she looked when he left the country at 18 years old, and how they had rekindled things when he came back three years ago.

Kevin's video painted him and Tessa as childhood sweethearts who had finally found their happy ending.

The video had gone viral, and the comment section was full of messages.

"My faith in love has been restored."

"Childhood sweethearts make the best couples."

"A long-time friend beats a perfect stranger any day."

"What a heartfelt story of a couple reuniting! I wish them the best!"

As I read all the comments filled with blessings and admiration, I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

Yeah. If I weren't Tessa's boyfriend, if I weren't that "perfect stranger", I'd probably be touched by their story too.

As if I were torturing myself, I paused on every single photo shown and read every caption.

"The first thing I did after coming back home on February 14th in 2021 was make my girl my wife."

In the photo, Tessa and Kevin were cheek-to-cheek, holding up their marriage certificates with bright, blissful smiles.

I could still remember waiting for Tessa at the restaurant for three whole hours that day, only to get a message that she had to work overtime.

When she came home past midnight that night, I even hugged her like an idiot, telling her how bad I felt that she had to work so late.

Looking back now, I realized the one I should've felt bad for was myself.

"On 31 December 2021, we went up north to see the aurora borealis."

The two of them were kissing under the aurora, making the picture look straight out of a dream.

So the one-week business trip abroad that Tessa told me about was actually a trip she'd taken with Kevin to see the aurora.

Yet, every time I suggested traveling abroad together, she always said it was too far and tiring.

Maybe I just wasn't worth the effort.

…

"Celebrating 1000 days of marriage with Tess. May we always be this happy."

By the time I got to the last picture, I found myself pulling my stiff lips into a smirk.

No wonder Tessa bailed on me again.

She was probably busy celebrating her 1000-day anniversary with her real husband. Why would she remember me, her "secret boyfriend" who she had been with for five years?

Actually, that wasn't quite right. Even if today wasn't their anniversary, even if she had absolutely nothing else going on, she still wouldn't have shown up at City Hall.

After all, she was already someone else's wife. Marrying me was never an option.