Chapter 1

Antony Delgado said he had a severe sleep disorder.

By day, he was the gentle, attentive surgeon who gave in to my every whim.

But at night, he had to put on his earplugs and eye mask and sleep alone in the master bedroom with the door locked from the inside.

For his health, I moved into the guest room with my best friend, Gay Fox, and left him the quietest space in the house.

Then, one week before we were due to sign our marriage license, I got up in the middle of the night to grab my delivery order and found the master bedroom door left ajar.

I thought he'd forgotten to lock it and reached out to pull it shut for him, only to hear Gay's coy voice drift out from inside: "Calling me into the master bedroom in the middle of the night, right under your wife's nose. Doesn't that just make it more of a thrill?"

Then came Antony's familiar low laugh: "Enjoy this last week of living together while it lasts."

"Once we're married, I'll tell her my sleep disorder is cured. And that's when you'll have to move out."

I froze outside the door, the warm bowl of porridge in my hand turning cold in an instant.

Sleep disorder, locked door, all of it, nothing but a scam to make it easier for them to carry on behind my back.

I turned around without a word and went back to my room. That same night I canceled the couples' honeymoon package we'd booked and bought a single plane ticket instead.

And while I was at it, I listed this wedding home, the one I'd paid for in full, on an online resale site.

……

I set the bowl of oatmeal, now gone completely cold, gently back on the dining table.

The phone lit up silently in my palm.

【Your honeymoon package has been canceled. Your refund will be returned via the original payment method within three business days.】

A soft, intimate glow still leaked through the gap in the master bedroom door.

Antony's gentle voice drifted out, low and quiet.

"Does your stomach still hurt? Did the medicine help at all?"

"Stop eating such cold things from now on. Your stomach's bad, don't you know that yourself?"

A few seconds later, the door opened.

Gay came out.

She and I ran straight into each other in the hallway.

"Sam, you... why are you up?"

I looked at her, saying nothing.

She arranged her face into something guilty and pitiful.

"My stomach acted up again in the middle of the night. I was rolling around in bed, it hurt so much I didn't know what else to do, so I knocked on Antony's door."

"You know how it is, he knows medicine. I... I didn't mean to disturb his rest."

Just then Antony came striding out of the master bedroom in his silk pajamas.

The moment he saw me, his brow creased, his eyes full of a tenderness and worry that wouldn't dissolve.

His warm palm went to my forehead before anything else.

In that instant, I felt his fingertips go faintly stiff with guilt.

"Why are you up? Your hands are freezing. Aren't you feeling well?"

His voice was the same as ever, that reassuring, steadying warmth to it.

I stared at that flawless face of his, and the suspicion in me nearly came surging up out of my throat.

But I forced it back down.

Seeing that I stayed silent, Antony explained patiently: "Gay had a stomach cramp. The pain drained the color right out of her face. As a doctor, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

He sighed and rubbed the space between his brows without thinking, the same habit he had when he was under enormous strain after surgery.

He said it in a tone that was almost self-hypnotizing:

"Even though this is exactly my worst 'forbidden window' for an episode, a doctor's instinct kicks in. There was nothing I could do."

For three years, because of this so-called "forbidden window" of his, I'd tiptoed even when I got up to use the bathroom at night.

"I understand."

He took the cold takeout from my hand himself. "It's gone cold. How can you eat that? Let me heat it up for you."

The sight of his back as he turned toward the kitchen was still tall, still straight, still the shape I'd loved for three years.

Gay seized the chance to lean in close, dropping her voice into that intimate, best-friend tone to remind me.

"Sam, Antony's sleep disorder seems to have gotten worse lately. You should go along with him more during this time. Don't do anything to upset him."

When she was done, she hooked her arm through mine, all affection.

I sat at the dining table, waiting for Antony to bring the reheated porridge over.

"Eat up. It'll warm your stomach."

He handed me the spoon, his eyes so tender you could drown in them.

I lowered my head and brought the porridge to my mouth, one spoonful at a time.

By the bright light overhead, I saw it clearly: along the open collar of his silk pajamas, a faint, thin streak of shimmering pink.

That exact shade was the 'Mermaid' highlighter Gay had bought new just yesterday, the one she'd made a point of showing off in front of me.

Every last shred of luck I'd hoped for, every lie I'd told myself, shattered completely in that moment.

Just then, Antony's phone, left behind on the couch, lit up.

A special booking text from 【the Fairmont Hotel】 popped up, clear as day.

【Dear Mr. Delgado, your reservation for the "Love of a Lifetime" couples' suite has been confirmed……】