Chapter 1

My best friend, Chloe, wanted to set me up with her good friend, Dean. I flat-out refused.

But when I finally met him, I fell for him instantly.

Soon after, we got married.

Yet, when I was six months pregnant, Chloe suddenly dropped a bombshell:

"I've loaned him to you for all these years. Isn't it time you gave him back?"

I was absolutely stunned. My mind just froze.

Today was my OB-GYN appointment, and I was already six months along.

Chloe had traveled all the way from out of state to be with me. I was even planning to ask her to be my baby's godmother.

Then she sat down and just threw that sentence at me.

Every memory, every past scene, flickered before my eyes, mocking me.

The truth was, the signs had always been there. I just chose to ignore them.

Whenever we went out, Dean always paid extra attention to Chloe.

He knew what she liked, what she hated, and he even knew her menstrual cycle details.

"How do you know *everything* about her?" I'd joked.

Chloe had chimed in, "We've known each other for ages. I've dated so many guys, but none of them were as thoughtful as Dean."

"The last time he took me to this awful cake place, I completely lost it right then and there. He had to treat me to dinner for a whole week before I even considered forgiving him."

"And another time, we went hiking, and he twisted his ankle. I had to practically carry him down the mountain."

Back then, I actually thought it was normal. They grew up together, so it made sense they had stories I didn't know, and being close was fine.

Turns out, it wasn't like that at all.

Chloe just dropped that line and walked out.

I desperately dialed Dean's number, hitting redial seven, eight times. He didn't pick up.

It reminded me of another time, when Chloe and I were having dinner at my place. Maybe the meat wasn't cooked through, because we both got awful food poisoning, throwing up non-stop.

I called Dean several times, but he never answered.

Chloe eventually got annoyed and said, "Let *me* try!"

Her call connected on the very first ring. "What's up, Chloe? Everything okay?"

Chloe complained, "Elara and I have food poisoning! Come pick us up! I called you so many times, and you didn't answer a single one!"

Dean replied so casually, "Didn't I pick up your very first call?"

At the time, I thought he just happened to see her call. It turns out, he just never missed *her* calls.

I'm not one to give up easily.

On my tenth attempt, Dean finally picked up.

His surroundings sounded noisy, and his voice carried a faint, almost imperceptible hint of impatience.

Was this how he always sounded when he answered *my* calls?

"Why weren't you picking up?" I asked.

"In a meeting. Didn't I just SnapChat you?"

I deliberately said, "Chloe came to my prenatal appointment with me."

He sounded completely unaware of anything, replying naturally, "Hmm, make sure you get everything checked out. Isn't she complaining about stomach pain lately? Can you book her an endoscopy? She's such a wreck, completely neglecting herself."

"She didn't tell me about any stomach pain."

"And you call yourselves best friends? You don't care about her at all. These past few times we've eaten out, she's said she can't eat spicy food. It must be her stomach acting up again."

Oh, you truly know her so well. But do you know that *I* don't eat spicy food either?

Chloe can't live without spice, but I can't stand a single drop of it.

Coincidentally, Dean also loves spicy food.

So, I just went along with it, the minority yielding to the majority, and ate spicy meals with them.

Seeing how happy they were eating, I guess I didn't really care about how my own food tasted.