After being brutally and unexpectedly dumped by Noah, I was scrolling through my local feed when a girl’s relationship announcement video popped up. The cover was a red-backed marriage certificate photo. She was smiling brightly, her eyes crinkling, leaning her head on Noah’s shoulder. The caption read: “From my professor to my husband. Our exclusive eight-year limited edition!” My mind went completely blank. The comments section was flooded with congratulations, and familiar profile pictures popped up one after another. Noah commented: “It was you all along. Any amount of waiting was worth it!” I scrolled down. And saw a comment my best friend had just left. “The wait is finally over! The couple I’ve been shipping is finally public!” My fingertips wouldn’t stop trembling. Noah and I had been together for eleven years. And he had been dating his student for eight. My best friend knew. Our mutual friends knew. But they all helped him hide it from me. I read that line over and over again. My chest tightened so much I couldn’t breathe. I clicked back into the post and left a comment. “So in my eleven-year relationship, there was an eight-year limited edition hidden inside.” …… Almost instantly, my phone rang. The first to call was my best friend, Maya. “Chloe… you found out?” I didn’t answer. She paused for two seconds, her voice softening: “Could you delete that comment? Lily is… pretty sensitive. She’ll be upset if she sees it.” The girl’s name was Lily. I stood by the elevator banks, the cold air rushing in and chilling the back of my neck. Just last night, Maya had sat on the curb with me, drinking beers and cursing Noah for being a piece of trash. Today, she was self-righteously defending his mistress. “When did you find out about them?” I gripped my phone, my knuckles turning white. The other end was silent for a moment. “Chloe, there’s no point in digging into this now.” “You and Noah are already broken up. Just let it go and move on. I’m telling you this for your own good.” For my own good? Playing me for an absolute fool, spinning me in circles—and she calls that “for my own good.” I opened my mouth to say something else. Suddenly, a young girl’s voice came through the phone. “Maya, hurry up! We’re just waiting on you…” The call ended. All my words lodged in my throat. A few seconds later, Noah sent a message. “Chloe, don’t cause trouble for Lily. She doesn’t know anything.” My eyes suddenly stung with pressure. This was the very first time Noah had initiated contact since he unilaterally dumped me. Three days ago was our eleven-year anniversary. I cooked a table full of his favorite food and waited for him all night. He never showed up. The next day, he sent a sudden breakup text. After that, he blocked me on everything, vanishing as if he had evaporated from the earth. I searched for him everywhere like a lunatic. Just minutes ago, I was still sending him messages, begging him to talk to me. My stiff fingers wouldn’t stop shaking. Tears dripped onto the screen. I wiped them away forcefully, but accidentally clicked back into the video. Lily’s voice drifted from the screen, sweet as melting sugar. “Where love began.” She threw a peace sign at the camera. In the background was Noah, wearing his graduation gown. Countless memories flooded my mind. The year Noah graduated college, I flew across the country alone to find him in Boston. Excitedly, I pulled out the proposal ring I had spent months preparing. But he lowered his head and hugged me apologetically: “Chloe, I want to go to grad school. Give me three more years. After three years, we’ll get married.” Then three years turned into five. He went from a master’s to a Ph.D. From Boston to New York. I followed him everywhere, changing jobs constantly. Every time I brought up marriage. He would say, “Just wait a little longer.” Wait for graduation, wait until we’re settled. And after all that waiting, the only thing I finally got was a breakup text. A stream of heart emojis floated across the screen. The pinned comment was from Noah’s best friend, Liam: “I knew from back then that you were a goner for her, man.” Just last week, Liam had been texting me: “Don’t worry, Chloe. Noah is a saint on campus. I’m keeping an eye on him for you.” The video cut to the next clip, the background changing to a beach. “Fifth time in Miami, and it’s still so beautiful.” They were holding hands, splashing in the waves. The camera was shaking badly, capturing nothing but laughter. Noah and I had never gone on a trip together. He was always too busy. He had to do research, write papers, attend conferences. Every time he broke a promise, he would hug me guiltily: “Next time. We’ll definitely go next time.” He always said next time. Promises that were never fulfilled. They were having a candlelit dinner by the ocean. Noah was peeling shrimp for her, placing them one by one on her plate. “He’s so good at peeling shrimp,” Lily bragged to the camera. “We’ve been together for eight years, and I’ve never had to peel a shrimp myself.” I looked down at my own hands, my nails clipped short. Noah loved shrimp, but hated the hassle. Every time, I was the one who peeled them and placed them in his bowl, the shells piling up like a small mountain. By the time it was my turn to eat, there were usually only scraps left, and the food had gone completely cold. In the video, Noah reached out and wiped a smudge of sauce from the corner of Lily’s mouth. “Eat up, it won’t taste good if it gets cold.” So he did know food didn’t taste good cold. So he could be this considerate. It was just that the person receiving it wasn’t me. Chapter 2 Right then, my phone buzzed again. Lily had posted a new update. In the video, the lighting in the private room was dim and romantic. Maya was the first to stand up and cheer: “Cross your arms! Drink!” Liam joined in, tapping the table, and the whole room started chanting together. Blushing, Lily looped her arm through Noah’s, locking their wrists together. He looked down at her, the corners of his eyes flushed a faint pink. They slowly raised their glasses, arms intertwined. Everyone had their phones out recording. People were screaming and clapping. Maya’s voice was the shrillest: “Kiss her! Come on, kiss her!” Lily’s face turned beet red. She stood on her tiptoes and quickly pecked the corner of Noah’s mouth. The screaming grew louder. Noah reached out, cupping the back of Lily’s head, smiling as he leaned down to deepen the kiss. His face had a slight flush; the alcohol had softened his features. I had never seen him like this. Because he never touched a drop of alcohol. Not only did he not drink, but he would get furious if anyone around him did. He said his father was abusive when he drank; he said alcohol was the filthiest thing in the world. Once, at a work dinner, I couldn’t avoid a toast and took a tiny sip of wine. On my way home from work that day, I bought mouthwash at the convenience store downstairs and rinsed my mouth five times. I stood in the freezing wind outside our building for over half an hour to air out the smell before taking my keys to open the door. But Noah still smelled it. His face darkened as he demanded: “Did you drink?” My voice was weak as I said I just took a sip. He stood up, took a step back, and pulled open the front door. “How many times have I told you? The smell of alcohol makes me sick. You reek of it right now, and I want to throw up.” I opened my mouth, trying to explain. But he grabbed me by the arm and shoved me out the door. I sat in the hallway for the entire night. It was eighteen degrees outside, and my tears froze on my face as they fell. Since that day, I never dared to touch alcohol again. I thought it was his absolute boundary. But now, he was drinking a cross-armed toast. Looking completely blissed out. Following the location tagged under the video, I found the lounge where they were celebrating. Sitting in the back of the taxi. The whole way there, I kept thinking, what am I going to do when I get there? Interrogate them? Fight? Throw a hysterical fit? Or, like they do in the movies, grab a drink and throw it in someone’s face? But I suddenly realized, I didn’t even know whose face to throw it in. Noah’s? Lily’s? Maya’s? Or the faces of all those close friends who were spamming “happily ever after” in the comments? The car stopped by a busy avenue. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I spotted them instantly, gathered around a cake, raising their glasses. Lily was laughing, leaning against Noah’s shoulder, while Maya clapped and cheered beside them. I walked up to the door, my hand resting on the handle, but I couldn’t push it down. I was the one who had been betrayed for eleven years. I was the one who had every right to storm in and flip the entire table. But I still hesitated. Suddenly, the door was pulled open from the inside. Noah’s face appeared in front of me. Before I could even speak, he had grabbed my wrist. He yanked me urgently down the hall, only stopping when we were hidden behind a corner. “What are you doing here?” He smelled heavily of alcohol. He glanced back toward the private room, making sure no one had seen us. “Go home first. I’ll explain everything about me and Lily to you later.” “Explain how you managed to cheat?” My voice was incredibly hoarse. He frowned, looking like he was dealing with an unreasonable child: “Chloe, I know this is hard for you to accept, but we are broken up. Leave the past in the past, we both need to move forward.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Broken up for three days, and you’re already getting your marriage certificate?” He went silent for a moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing: “Lily… she doesn’t know anything. If you’re angry, take it out on me, but I’m begging you, don’t tell her.” As he spoke, his eyes slowly grew red. “Lily is pregnant. She can’t handle the stress.” Chapter 3 “What… did you just say?” I opened my mouth, but it felt like my throat was stuffed with cotton. Noah looked away, unable to meet my eyes. “We just found out three days ago. She has a weak constitution, she really can’t handle any stress.” “I’m begging you, don’t tell her about our past.” So that was it. No wonder he was in such a rush to dump me—he needed to give her a family. I leaned against the wall, my back pressed against the cold tiles, all the strength draining from my body. I instinctively touched my lower stomach. There used to be a child here, too. Three years ago, I stood in front of him holding a pregnancy test with two pink lines, my hands shaking so badly I could barely grip it. He stared at the research papers on his desk, not even lifting his head: “Chloe, I haven’t even graduated yet. How are we supposed to afford a kid? You wouldn’t want to bring a child into this world just to suffer with us, would you?” I said I could get another part-time job, I could manage it. He frowned and shook his head: “Chloe, listen to me. Now really isn’t the right time. Wait until I graduate, wait until everything is stable, okay?” Wait. Always waiting. I had brought it up to him countless times. I said, Noah, let’s get married, let’s have a baby. I want a family. Every time, he said, just wait a little longer. Wait for graduation, wait for tenure, wait for a good job, wait until we buy a house. I waited for eleven years. Now I was thirty-three, all my friends were mothers, and I was still waiting. And what I finally got was him marrying and having a child with someone else. My stomach churned, and I bent over, dry-heaving. Nothing came up. Eleven years of grievances were lodged in my throat, trapped, suffocating me. Noah reached out to help me, but his hand stopped mid-air. The door to the private room at the end of the hall opened, and Lily’s voice drifted out: “Noah, who are you talking to? The cake is melting…” Lily stood in the doorway, tilting her head as she studied me. Maya squeezed past her, her smile instantly freezing when she saw me. Lily’s gaze shifted between the three of us. Sensing the tension, the smile slowly faded from her face. Her eyes settled back on me, guarded. “Do you guys know each other? Who is she?” Before I could answer, Maya jumped in: “She’s my cousin.” She even flashed a forced smile at me, as if signaling: Right, Chloe? I looked at Maya, then turned to Noah. He kept his eyes down, his throat working. He didn’t deny it. He was waiting for me to say yes. Lily let out an “oh,” the suspicion dropping from her face: “Maya’s cousin? Well, come on in and sit with us!” She walked over, looping her arm through mine, pulling me toward the room. She enthusiastically offered me a seat. As she bent down, her collar parted slightly. I immediately noticed the red string hanging just below her collarbone. I recognized it. An amulet from the local Buddhist temple, meant to protect unborn children. Three years ago, after I had the abortion, I was in a terrible mental state. I kept waking up in the middle of the night, hearing a baby crying. I heard that the amulets from that temple were very effective. Even though the child was gone, getting one felt like a way to hold on to a memory. I mentioned it to Noah, asking him to go with me. He had said: “That’s all superstitious nonsense. I don’t believe in ghosts or gods, don’t drag yourself into that irrational garbage.” Lily came back with a glass of juice and noticed my gaze. She reached into her collar and pulled the amulet out. “Noah got this for me from the temple a couple of days ago.” Her voice carried a hint of pride: “He climbed the three thousand steps on his knees, bowing every three steps. His knees were completely scraped up, and they still haven’t healed. I felt so bad for him.” Noah put his arm around her shoulder, comforting her: “For you and the baby, anything is worth it.” My heart plummeted into an absolute abyss. Three days ago, after breaking up with me without warning, he completely vanished. He blocked my number and ignored my messages. I searched the streets for him like a madwoman. I even cried to Maya about it. At the time, she comforted me: “Don’t overthink it. You know how Noah is, he’s probably just busy. The more you push, the more annoyed he’ll get.” I genuinely believed I had annoyed him. For those three days, I didn’t eat or drink, locking myself in my room. I agonized over every word I had ever said to him, every message, every photo. I desperately tried to figure out which day, which sentence, which incident had suddenly made him tired of me. But now I knew. While I was agonizing, desperately trying to salvage our relationship… He was crawling up three thousand steps, bowing, praying for the safety of his new wife and child. Chapter 4 I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I bolted for the restroom, leaning over the sink and dry-heaving violently. My stomach was empty; only bile came up, stinging my throat and bringing tears to my eyes. Footsteps echoed behind me. “So, you’re Noah’s ex-girlfriend.” Lily leaned against the restroom doorway, arms crossed. The warm, welcoming demeanor from earlier was completely gone. I was stunned: “You knew?” She took two steps forward, standing next to me, looking at my reflection in the mirror: “I’m not an idiot. You guys were together for eleven years, how could I not notice?” Her eyes swept over my disheveled appearance, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. “Actually, Noah said you were a nice person. Good-tempered, good at taking care of people… just a bit… unrefined. I mean, those are all things a maid could do.” She touched her stomach: “What he needs is someone who can stand beside him as an equal. Like me.” She looked up, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Tell me, sis. How does it feel to serve him for eleven years, only to get kicked to the curb?” I couldn’t suppress my fury any longer and screamed at her: “You knew he was taken and still slept with him, do you have no shame?!” She smirked dismissively, her eyes full of mockery. “Who’s the ‘other woman’? You don’t get to decide that.” With that, she suddenly threw herself against the edge of the sink, then screamed and fell backward. Before I could even process what was happening, a massive force violently shoved me away. My back slammed brutally against the wall, the impact jarring my internal organs. Noah had already firmly caught Lily in his arms. He turned to glare at me, his face full of disappointment. “Chloe, what is wrong with you?” “Attacking a pregnant woman? When did you become this cold-blooded?” “I didn’t…” My back was numb with pain, my voice shaking as I spoke. But Noah didn’t even look at me. He was entirely focused on comforting Lily. Nestled in Noah’s arms, Lily shot me a provocative, triumphant smile out of the corner of her eye. The tightly wound string in my mind completely snapped. My rage boiled over. I lunged at her. But a second before my hands could even brush her clothes, a heavy blow struck the back of my head. I stumbled, turning around to see Maya’s familiar face. As my consciousness faded, my last sight was Noah carrying Lily away, not once looking back. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. Maya stood by my bed, looking incredibly guilty: “I’m so sorry… Chloe, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” “You were just so out of control. If I didn’t stop you, Lily could have been seriously hurt.” Lily. Again with Lily. I let out a bitter, cynical laugh. “Maya, do you even remember that I’m your best friend?” She sighed, trying to explain: “Chloe, Lily really is an amazing person. She’s so gentle and understanding, like a little ray of sunshine. Everyone loves being around her.” “Plus, she has a Master’s degree from a top university. Standing next to Noah, they’re truly equals. But you…” “What about me?” My eyes burned with pressure as I glared at Maya. “Are you trying to say that because I don’t have a fancy degree, I don’t deserve to be friends with you people?” “Maya, don’t forget that it was me, the uneducated one, who worked day and night to support both you and Noah. And now you’re looking down on me? Where is your conscience?” Maya was left speechless. She lowered her head, muttered a weak excuse, and hurriedly left the room. The door to the hospital room was slightly ajar. I could hear a few nurses whispering in the hallway. “Is she the mistress?” “I heard she put a pregnant wife in the hospital. How shameless.” “Disgusting. I can’t believe our hospital has to treat someone like her.” Confused, I picked up my phone from the bedside table. The scene of my argument with Lily at the lounge had been posted online and was already trending. In the comments, Maya, claiming to be my best friend, was apologizing on my behalf, saying my mental state had been unstable lately. She even tagged my personal account. My DMs were instantly flooded with hate. “Mistresses should all drop dead. Can’t you live without a man? Stay away from married couples!” “She’s so arrogant, actually hunting down the wife to harass her. Let’s doxx her.” My phone vibrated. Maya was calling to explain. “I didn’t have a choice… Lily is about to land a massive federal grant, and Noah is up for tenure. They can’t have a scandal right now. I had to let you take the fall for a bit.” Noah sent a message too. “Chloe, I saw the video. People are just talking trash online to vent.” “Just endure it for a while and don’t say anything else. Blowing this out of proportion won’t do anyone any good.” It was laughable. Letting the actual mistress play the victim. And forcing me, the actual victim, to shoulder all the blame. My last shred of hope completely evaporated. Smiling bitterly, I screenshotted all of Noah’s chat logs. I also exported the recording of my recent phone call with Maya. Then, I compiled every detail of our relationship over the years: the photos, the timelines. After I finished, I turned on my camera and began recording: “Hello everyone, I’m Chloe, the woman the internet is currently branding a homewrecker. There are some truths I need to share with you.”
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