Chapter 1

I've had a knight complex since I was a kid. See someone weak and small, and I want to protect them.

My boyfriend had a childhood friend named Fern Sullivan.

Timid, pale-skinned, like a startled little rabbit.

Every time the three of us ate together, I looked after her without thinking, rinsing her bowl, peeling her shrimp, putting food on her plate.

My boyfriend got so jealous he slammed his chopsticks down. "Who exactly is your boyfriend here?"

Fern clung to me too. Gifts on every holiday, and when she came over she'd insist on sleeping in my bed.

My boyfriend's face went black as a pot bottom.

"She's not coming over again! She keeps crashing our couple time!"

Then one day, a friend of ours dropped me a link. 【Look at this! Fern's this hot online?!】

In the photo, a man's palm was clamped around the slim white curve of her waist, fingers sinking into soft flesh, the whole screen dripping with tension.

【This set almost gave me a nosebleed. She acts way too sweet in person, doesn't she?】

【Such a contrast!!】

I opened the profile. Nothing but couple videos, one after another.

The man never showed his face, just his jaw, his throat, the tight line of his forearm.

I was about to screenshot it and tease her. 【Dating in secret and not telling me?】

A new video popped up on her page. 《Couple Challenge: Husband lifts me with one arm, bonus footage inside》.

On the screen.

The man held Fern up with one hand while she pushed up his shirt, and his eight-pack was unbearably sexy.

But my eyes locked onto the V-line, on that little red mole.

Exactly like the one on my boyfriend's body.

……

I hung up with our friend.

Ding.

A new message.

Fern had sent a voice note.

【Milly, want us to bring you a gift when we're back from Los Angeles?】

【Any celebrity merch you've been wanting?】

I forced down the thoughts churning inside me.

My fingers trembled a little as I typed:

【No need. What are you and Ralph Sanchez doing?】

Fern fired off a selfie right away:

【At the Taylor Swift concert!】

【Ralph keeps whining that he wants to go home and see you, so annoying.】

【I can't stand how he sticks to you like a dog.】

【You're mine, you know, hmph QAQ】

The girl's face was quiet and demure, sitting far away from the man behind her, who looked thoroughly impatient.

The proper social distance of ordinary friends.

If not for—

that black shirt Ralph was wearing.

Being exactly the same one the man in the video wore.

Every month.

Ralph would go with Fern to Los Angeles.

"Ferny's parents live over there, and we grew up together, so I just have to grit my teeth and keep her company."

And Fern would lean close to my ear before he boarded:

"Don't worry, Milly. If he so much as glances twice at those foreign girls abroad, I'll tattle on him to you~"

I always trusted them. I just hoped they'd have fun over there.

But now.

I stared at Fern's account.

Every month there was one "bonus video."

And every one of them was posted from Los Angeles.

Sometimes kissing, sometimes some high-difficulty fitness pose.

But without exception, all of it was couple stuff that made your face heat and your heart race.

Just like the comments said:

【What do they do after filming?】

【I hereby crown them the couple bloggers with the most tension on the whole internet!!】

【Please, the day you two open an account on an overseas site I'm throwing money at it.】

【Ferny's man with those big hands, that eight-pack, I honestly worry about whether little Ferny's tiny frame is holding up okay?】

Ferny replied to that one specifically:

【No need to worry, he's very gentle with me.】

【He even brings freshly washed fitted sheets when he goes abroad to stay in a hotel with me, so you all know just how thoughtful he is!】

My mind went white with a roar.

Like a thunderclap out of a sudden rainy night splitting down onto my head.

My mouth hung open, but I couldn't drag in a breath.

Every time Ralph went to Los Angeles with Fern.

He'd have me wash a few fitted sheets in advance.

"Good wife, the sheets smell like you and like home."

"I can't sleep without breathing that in."

I laughed at how childish he was.

But I still washed them and packed them for him.

The image of him wrapping an arm around my waist, pouting, "Another whole week away from you, I hate leaving," was still right there in front of me.

So which one was the real him?

It was too split apart.

I couldn't hold back from confirming it. I placed a video call.

It was Fern who answered Ralph's phone.

She blinked her big eyes, delighted. "Milly, what's got you calling us out of nowhere?"

"That dog Ralph went to the restroom."

"Is there something you want to buy? Tell me!"

I watched her quietly.

My voice came out colder than my own. "Fern, I came across your social account."

"You're dating someone."

She froze, mouth opening in a startled little gape.

So much flashed through her eyes: confusion, bewilderment, urgency.

But no fear and no guilt.

I was surprised.

If they really had wronged me, how could there not be a single crack in it?

Fern dropped her head, avoiding my gaze.

"Milly, mm, I am dating someone."

"But… I don't want to make it public for now."

Just then Ralph came back.

His handsome face barged in from the side of the screen.

"What dating?"

He looked at Fern, shocked. "You're dating someone?"

A dangerous glint came into his dark eyes.

His tone was like a big brother in charge who'd found the pigs had gotten into the family cabbage:

"Well, well, you little brat! You've got a boyfriend and you dared hide it from us?"

"Wife, I'm hanging up first. Let me interrogate her properly."

"I'll make sure she comes clean for a lighter sentence when we get back!"

The WeChat call cut off with a click.

I clenched my fist.

A chest full of questions sat heavy over my heart.

Their reactions were flawlessly natural.

As if the two of them had rehearsed for this exact situation thousands upon thousands of times.

I hadn't shaken off the suspicion.

I messaged that all-connected best friend of mine:

【Monica Fox, can you look into Ralph Sanchez and Fern in Los Angeles for me?】

【I think they're having an affair.】