Chapter 1

Zayne's POV

Just then, I suddenly received a phone call. Calvin Guest—my best friend—was the first to reach out to me.

"Y-You've found out, Zayne?"

I remained silent.

After a brief pause, Calvin continued, his tone softening. "Do you think you can delete that comment of yours? Wade is… pretty sensitive, so it'll definitely upset him if he comes across it, Zayne…"

It turned out that the man Tiana Sharp, my ex-girlfriend, had married was called Wade Lively.

I lingered at the elevator doors as a chilly breeze rushed in, sending a shiver down my spine.

Just last night, Calvin sat with me on the street corner, sharing beers and tearing into Tiana for being an awful partner. Yet here he was today, immediately standing up for Wade, the shameless other man in the relationship.

I tightened my grip around my phone, my knuckles paling from the pressure. "When did you find out about them, Calvin?"

Calvin briefly fell silent from the other end of the line before saying, "There's no point in bringing that up now. You've already broken up with Tiana, so just let it go and move on with your lives. I'm only doing this because I care about you, Zayne."

I couldn't believe that he actually said he did that because he cared about me. Did lying to me and playing me for a fool actually count as caring?

I was just about to speak up when a cheerful male voice interrupted from the other end of the line. "Hurry up and join us, Calvin! We're just waiting for you—"

Calvin abruptly ended the call, and everything I wanted to say got caught in my throat.

A few seconds later, Tiana messaged me. "Please don't go after Wade for this. He has no idea about any of this, Zayne."

I blinked back tears after reading the message, as it was the first time Tiana had contacted me since she ended things with me.

Our 11th anniversary was three days ago. I booked the restaurant half a month in advance and waited by the window all night. In the end, Tiana never showed up.

The next day, I suddenly received a message from her saying she wanted to break it off with me.

Tiana cut off all contact and blocked me from then on, disappearing from the face of the earth. I had searched everywhere for her like a madman. I had even messaged her a few minutes ago, humbly begging her to give us another chance.

I gripped my phone tightly. I tilted my head back and blinked to keep the tears from falling. I then played the announcement video on my phone again.

Wade's voice rang out from the video, sounding clear and cheerful. "Here's to the beginning of our romance!"

He flashed a peace sign at the camera, with Tiana in her graduation gown in the background.

In that instant, memories flooded back. That year, right after Tiana graduated, I traveled nearly 1,900 miles alone to Haverleigh University to find her.

I excitedly pulled out the engagement ring I had prepared for so long and asked, "Will you marry me, Tiana?"

Tiana, however, lowered her head and nestled into my arms, her expression sad. "I want to pursue my master's degree, so please give me three more years. I swear I'll marry you once those three years are up, Zayne."

In the end, those three years became five. Tiana went from getting her master's to pursuing her PhD, moving all the way from Haverleigh to Bellevue.

I followed her wherever she went, changing jobs countless times along the way. Tiana always asked me to wait a little longer whenever I brought up marriage—from waiting until she graduated to waiting until her career had settled down.

Ultimately, all the waiting resulted in nothing more than a breakup message.

I saw all the heart emojis in the comment section. I also noticed the pinned comment from Tiana's best friend.

"You finally bagged him, Tiana! Congratulations!"

She was the very best friend I sought out yesterday.

She actually assured me when I asked her about Tiana's whereabouts, saying, "Tiana has just been exhausted lately with graduation. You know what she's like, right? She's always like this when her mood hits. She'll be fine in a couple of days, so please bear with her a little, Zayne."

The announcement video then transitioned to the next scene against a beach backdrop. "It's our fifth time visiting Summeridge together, and it's still as breathtaking as ever."

Wade and Tiana walked hand in hand, splashing through the waves as the camera shook wildly and their laughter filled the air.

Tiana and I had never gone on a trip together. She was constantly tied up with something—research projects, paper deadlines, or academic conferences.

Whenever she stood me up, she would wrap her arms around me, looking apologetic. "I swear we'll go on a trip together next time, Zayne."

She always said we would go next time, but when the time came, things ended up exactly the same.

They enjoyed a candlelit dinner by the beach, with Tiana peeling the shrimp for him and setting them on his plate one by one.

Wade bragged in front of the camera, saying, "Tiana treats me so well! I've been with her for eight years, and I've never had to peel a single shrimp myself!"

I glanced down at my hands.

My fingernails were always kept short. Tiana loved eating shrimp but found peeling them bothersome, so I was always peeling them and putting them on her plate while the discarded shells piled high on my plate.

By the time I got to eat, there was barely anything left, and the food had long since gone cold.

In the video, Tiana reached out and wiped the sauce from the corner of Wade's mouth. "You should hurry up and eat them; they won't taste as good once they turn cold, Wade."

It turned out Tiana did know that food didn't taste good when it got cold, and that she was actually capable of being this considerate. It was just that the recipient of her care wasn't me.