Chapter 1

As soon as I learned which hospital my childhood friend Ryan Cole was in, I rushed to the hospital room.

When I pushed open the door, I saw Damian Pierce kissing my girlfriend, Claire Whitmore, gently on the cheek. Gifts of all sizes were piled around the newborn. The happy scene shattered the instant I walked in.

Aside from Ryan, several of our mutual friends were also in the room, including some of my closest friends. All of them drew in a sharp breath when they saw me.

Damian looked at me in confusion. "Who are you?"

Before I could say a word, Claire shot me a warning look and cut in. "He's just an old classmate I haven't seen in years."

I let out a bitter laugh. Even after ten years together, Claire still refused to call me her boyfriend.

Right then, Ryan grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. "Nathan, don't disturb Claire. She needs to rest. We can talk about this another time."

I stared at his familiar face and remembered all the video calls and late-night talks we'd shared over the years. He watched me survive on just four hours of sleep a night to save for a house, and listened as I excitedly planned my future with Claire.

But he never once told me that the future I'd dreamed of was never going to happen.

When he finally dragged me out of the room, the first thing Ryan did was warn me. "Claire and Damian are married. Don't make a scene in front of them."

"Since when?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Ryan went quiet for a moment. "They'd been together for six years. All of us knew. We didn't tell you because we were afraid you'd cause a scene."

My heart ached so badly I could barely breathe.

Claire and I had been together for ten years, six of them long distance. Whenever I brought up marriage, Claire always had an excuse, either saying the distance was too hard or the timing wasn't right.

She once told me, "Nathan, I'll marry you once you buy a house." Because of that promise, I worked myself to the bone, pulling all-nighters to hit my targets so I could buy a house and marry her.

Yet for six years, Claire always found an excuse not to visit me in Westhaven, claiming she was too busy with work. Whenever I took time off and flew back to see her, she'd say she was busy, and our meetups were always short.

I never suspected anything. I thought she was just tired.

But it turned out she'd been giving all her patience and affection to someone else for the past six years.

Ryan's eyes fell on the property deed in my hand. His expression shifted, and he finally dropped all pretense. "So what if you've been together for ten years? Claire has always loved Damian. Why else would a woman who runs her own company pretend to be broke in front of you?"

He continued. "While you were working so hard, Claire was traveling with Damian, watching the Northern Lights. She even had his child. You should know who she really loves by now."

He took out his phone and showed me proof of their relationship. There were photos of Claire and Damian kissing under the Northern Lights, holding hands in the desert, and cuddling together in the snowy mountains. Each photo had a date, and the oldest was dated March six years ago.

That had been the hardest period of my life. I was still on probation at work, my mom was seriously ill, and everything felt too heavy to bear. Yet whenever I called Claire, she never answered.

It turned out Claire and Damian were already a couple then.

Just then, my phone buzzed with a text from Claire. "Go back for now. I'll explain everything later."

I shoved Ryan's hand away and pushed the hospital room door open again.