Chapter 2

I was shaking all over, and I had bitten my lower lip so hard I could taste blood.

With trembling hands, I tapped on the poster's profile.

It loaded for a brief moment before a notification popped up.

"You cannot view this user's profile due to their privacy settings."

He had blocked my account.

The username was "Gavster".

I knew it was Gavin Johnson, my best friend. It was the nickname his family used for him.

We had been college roommates for four years and were like brothers; we were close enough to share almost anything. Besides Clara, he was the person I trusted most.

I introduced her to him in freshman year.

I never imagined that it would be the biggest mistake of my life.

Forcing myself to calm down, I closed the app, switched to a burner account I had never used before, and opened his profile again.

There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of posts. Each one felt like another deliberate cut, tearing me apart piece by piece.

"The baby kicked today. I felt her belly, and she got teary-eyed, saying this is the proof of our love."

The photo showed two hands resting on a rounded pregnant belly.

The woman's wrist bore that same faint scar.

"Our first trip as a family of three. As long as she's by my side, I'm not afraid of anything."

The photo showed a sunny beach. A little girl, no more than two or three years old, was held in the man's arms.

Beside him stood a woman with only the lower half of her face and her gentle smile visible.

I recognized that jawline and that smile immediately. I had kissed those lips countless times. They were as familiar to me as my own reflection.

I couldn't help but keep scrolling Gavin's posts.

Every photo and every caption lined up perfectly with my memories, exposing the truth behind all her lies.

Three years ago, during the Labor Day holiday, Clara told me she had to spend several months out of town overseeing a project.

In reality, she had been staying in the neighboring state with Gavin while she waited to give birth to his child.

On my birthday two years ago, she told me her flight had been delayed, and she couldn't make it home on time.

The truth was, Gavin had taken their daughter to the hospital because she had a high fever, and Clara had stayed with them there all night.

Last month, on our wedding anniversary, she gave me a Rolex. But behind my back, she bought Gavin a Porsche and posted, "A reward for my greatest hero."

The post that disturbed me the most was this. "The marriage certificate his wife and I have is the real one."

I immediately opened the drawer and pulled out the marriage certificate Clara and I had kept. It was an official record of our marriage, signed by both of us.

Beside it was our wedding photo, the two of us smiling like we had a future together.

I couldn't believe she would go that far to deceive me.

Then I remembered our college graduation party. Everyone was celebrating that night, and Gavin kept pushing drinks on me.

I'd never been able to hold my liquor, so after just a few drinks, everything went black.

When I woke up the next morning, I was in a hotel room with a splitting headache.

Clara was sitting beside the bed, her eyes bloodshot as she gripped my hand tightly and said, "Tom… I drank too much last night. I didn't take good care of you. I'm so sorry."

At that time, I thought she was blaming herself for not stopping me from drinking so much.

But looking back, I realized that apology had nothing to do with my drunken state.

She had been apologizing because while I lay unconscious that night, she was sleeping with my best friend in the room next door.

Not long after that, Gavin came to me with tears welling in his eyes, saying he had been dumped and wanted to go abroad to get his mind off things.

Like a fool, I even went to the airport to see him off, hugging him goodbye with a lump in my throat and telling him to take care of himself.

But he had never left the country.

He'd been living in the neighboring state, raising the child he had with Clara and enjoying her love and care.

All the while, he also shamelessly mocked me online—the husband who had no idea he was being betrayed.