He Sees Himself in Her

Chloe's POV

Ashton King arrived home half an hour later than I did.

When he came in, he left a black umbrella by the front door.

“Where did that umbrella come from?” I asked softly.

Ashton paused and looked at me.

In the three years we had been together, he had wanted something I made on practically everything he owned.

A little figure I had crocheted hung from his bag. A beaded charm I had made hung from his umbrella.

He treasured them all, partly because they gave him a way to show off that he had a girlfriend.

The umbrella he brought home today was different.

“It’s a spare from the office. I gave my usual one to the cleaning lady because she was stuck there in the rain.”

He recovered quickly before coming up behind me to wrap his arms around me. “Chloe, you have such a kind heart. You wouldn’t be upset with me over an umbrella, would you?”

He was lying to me.

The doubt I had felt earlier grew, but I kept it off my face. “No,” I said.

Then, I spent the evening with him as I always did. We ate dinner, finished our work, got ready for bed, and lay down together.

“Your phone case is getting worn out. We should get new ones together sometime,” I said casually before turning off the light.

Ashton glanced at it. “It’s fine. I can still use it. I like the design.”

I looked at his phone.

The case had a simple hand-drawn cartoon dog on it, part of a matching set with mine.

The artist who had made them was notoriously hard to book. Yet somehow, an intern named Kimberly Hower had managed to commission an identical one.

Did Ashton really love the design, or did he just not want to hurt her feelings?

I lay awake, my thoughts racing. Once Ashton fell asleep beside me, I opened his phone.

There were few messages between him and Kimberly. Almost all of them were about work.

However, every now and then, she sent him a strangely personal note.

[Mr. King, the parking garage is being repaired today. Please be careful on your way out.]

[Okay.]

[Mr. King, I noticed you rubbing your temples. I left a strong coffee on your desk.]

[Okay.]

[Mr. King, there’s a cold snap in the city you’re visiting tomorrow. I put a few hand warmers in your document bag.]

[Thank you.]

Her last message was sent that evening. She warned him that the roads were slippery in the rain.

Ashton had replied, “Wait for me.”

Kimberly was an intern, not his assistant. Her job did not even require her to deal with him directly.

However, he had answered all of her messages.

I took a deep breath and felt my throat tighten. I sent Kimberly’s profile to my best friend, Rachel Heaton.

A little while later, Rachel sent me links to several of Kimberly’s social media accounts.

[Chloe, you really need to watch out. This goes way beyond a crush. She’s obsessed with him.]

I opened the posts.

Her feelings were all over them, growing bolder with every update.

Stranger still, the same anonymous user had commented on every post I saw.

[I dyed my hair. I wonder if he’ll notice.]

[You look beautiful.]

[I put a new plant in his office. Do you think he’ll like it?]

[Of course. It looks lovely against the view from his window.]

[I keep chasing someone who seems so far out of reach. I wonder if he’ll ever notice me.]

[Maybe he already has.]

Each post and comment read like one half of a private conversation.

I stared at the blank profile picture. I already knew who was behind it, but I waited until the next morning.

“Should we order the same candy for the wedding favors?” I asked casually as Ashton was leaving.

He started to nod, then stopped and turned back to me.

“Let’s add another kind. A friend told me the other day that younger people love it.”

He hurried out, then sent me a photo of the candy.

It was the exact kind Kimberly had posted about yesterday, the one she said she had been craving.

In that moment, the last of my faith in Ashton disappeared.

Kimberly’s feelings were not one-sided. Ashton felt the same way.

So I called the wedding planner.

“Please cancel the wedding favors. I need to reconsider whether this wedding should happen at all,” I said calmly.