Chapter 2

I was sitting on the couch when my phone screen lit up.

It was a message from Noel.

【Bella, I just got out of a meeting. I'm exhausted. I miss you so much. Wait for me to come back.】

【I'll buy you a present.】

Along with it he'd sent a photo. A necklace.

It was a beautiful necklace.

What he didn't know was that Cristina had once sent me that exact same photo.

She'd said she loved the brand, that she was planning to buy it for herself as a birthday gift.

Now it was clear that Noel had already bought it for her.

And bought me one too, on the side.

I picked up my phone and started scrolling through the local feed on TikTok, not really thinking.

Before long I landed on wedding photos of Noel and Cristina together.

They'd been posted from Cristina's second account.

The caption read:【A secret only you and I know is happiness.】

I tapped into the account and went through the posts one by one.

That was when I found out they'd been together for over a year.

Noel taking Cristina skydiving, bungee jumping, out for sushi...

And every single time, he'd told me he was away on business.

Six months ago Cristina had posted a set of photos from a hotel.

The caption was:【I just mentioned in passing that I missed him, and he flew straight over to me. Such a romantic, perfect day.】

My tears fell onto the screen, and my palms were marked with deep red crescents where my nails had dug in.

That day I'd been running a fever of 104, and all Noel did was have fever meds delivered to me.

When he called, his voice had been full of guilt.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I got called away on a last-minute business trip, and the project's swamped. When I'm done I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Later, when he came back, he stayed by my side for two full months, taking care of me down to the smallest thing.

I thought that meant he loved me too.

I never imagined all of it was a lie.

I wiped my tears and sent him a message.

"Noel, let's break up."

"Give your present to someone else."