Chapter 1

For the 13th time, an AI-generated photo pops up on my feed, showing my best friend, Gwen Spalding, and my boyfriend, Andrew Gunnell, wrapped in each other's arms.

Gwen's still a mess after getting dumped so suddenly, so I assume she's mixed Andrew up with someone else again.

Then a comment stops me cold.

"I was there. Joyce tried to brush it off before and claimed the picture was AI-generated, but let's see her deny this! Besides, look at them. A guy as hot as Andrew belongs with a knockout like Gwen. They look way better together."

Attached to the comment is a candid photo of Gwen and Andrew wrapped in each other's arms, in the exact same pose as the picture on my feed.

I screenshot the comment and send it straight to Andrew.

Instead of explaining himself, he turns it around on me. "You know exactly why I didn't tell you. Gwen's in a really bad place right now. What am I supposed to do, stand back and watch her ruin her life?

"The second I show her even a little kindness, you get jealous. Joyce, you really haven't changed at all."

Before I can answer, he hangs up on me.

I pull up Gwen's social media feed again, and this time, I notice what I missed before.

Her first post is from the new restaurant I've told Andrew countless times I want to try with him. The second is from the movie we made plans to see a month ago.

I keep scrolling.

Everything I'd been looking forward to doing with Andrew, every plan he'd backed out of with one excuse after another, is right there in Gwen's photos.

My vision blurs with tears.

I reach into the trash, pull out the five-year exchange agreement for Caldria I tossed away moments ago, and sign my name.

Once I'm gone, they won't have to lie to me anymore.

Chapter 1

When I got home from work, I found Andrew Gunnell's keys by the door. Figuring he'd forgotten them, I called to ask if he wanted me to bring them over.

The moment the call connected, a burst of noise came from the other end.

"Andrew's in the bathroom. If you need something, just tell me. I'll let him know."

It was Gwen Spalding.

A chill ran through me, but I forced myself to stay calm. "Can you ask him if he left his keys at home? I can bring them over."

"No, he has his keys."

She paused, then seemed to realize what I was talking about. "Oh, you mean that keychain? I replaced it for him a while ago."

My grip tightened around my phone until my knuckles went white.

Andrew and I had bought that keychain one month into our relationship. We'd spotted one we liked at the mall, but it was way too expensive for us back then.

I could tell Andrew was embarrassed, so when I saw an almost identical one at a street vendor on our way home, I pointed to it. "Andrew, let's get this one. It looks exactly the same, and it's way cheaper."

His eyes had turned red, and he'd promised me that once he started making good money, he'd get me anything I wanted.

After that, he worked like crazy, enough that everyone around him started calling him a workaholic.

I checked the time. Andrew still had another two hours of overtime left. Yet somehow, he'd found time for Gwen.

"Forget it. Just tell him to come home early tonight. I need to talk to him."

Gwen paused for a second. When she spoke again, I could hear the smile in her voice, as if something had just clicked.

"Oh, Joyce. It's you. I thought I recognized your voice. Andrew doesn't have your number saved under your name, so I assumed you were just someone from work."

I'd noticed it a week ago. Andrew had deleted my name from my contacts and saved Gwen's as an affectionate "Babe."

When I called him out on it, he brushed it off like it was no big deal. "I'm pretending to be Gwen's ex, so I have to keep up appearances. It's just a contact name. Don't get so worked up over it."

I told him to change mine back. He kept promising he would.

A week later, he still hadn't. Gwen was still "Babe."

"Andrew's back. I'll put him on."

The moment I heard his familiar voice in the background, I hung up.

The sun was setting outside the window, but I felt cold to the bone.

A year ago, the day before Andrew and I were supposed to have our engagement party, Gwen's boyfriend had dumped her without warning.

Later, she was found in a hotel bathroom after cutting her wrists. The doctors had to fight to save her three times before she finally pulled through.

When Gwen woke up, she was confused and mistook Andrew for her ex. From then on, he went along with it, pretending to be her boyfriend to keep her calm.

I just didn't know when it had happened. Somewhere along the way, his fake relationship with Gwen had become real, and ours had become the one that felt fake.

I got up and went into the kitchen, where I spotted the half chicken I'd bought earlier.

Andrew loved my homemade chicken noodle soup.

"Old habits die hard," I muttered.

In the end, I still made a full dinner and waited for him to come home. I wanted to talk to him one last time and finally put an end to whatever was going on between the three of us.

But the hours passed, and he never showed up.

I picked up my phone, about to text him again and ask what was taking him so long. Then I saw a post Gwen had made ten minutes earlier.

Her caption read, "He says he can't relax until he sees me fall asleep."

The photo showed the back of a man I knew all too well. He sat there peeling an apple for her.

I opened my chat with Andrew again. My messages filled the screen, sent ten minutes ago, half an hour ago, an hour ago, even two hours ago.

I deleted every one asking, "When are you coming home?"

Then I typed one final message.

"Andrew, let's break up."

Chapter 2

After sending the breakup text, I started packing.

I'd struggled with severe insomnia for years. I could barely sleep unless Andrew was beside me.

For years, he'd always made sure to come home early because of it. But tonight, he broke that routine for Gwen.

Maybe I was more exhausted than I realized, because halfway through packing, I sank onto the couch and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke to the soft click of the front door closing. When I opened my eyes, Andrew was standing right in front of me, a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. Out of habit, I reached up to wipe it away.

Before I could touch him, he caught my wrist and pinned me against the couch. But as he leaned closer, I caught the unmistakable scent of perfume on him.

It wasn't mine. It was Gwen's favorite.

Maybe only moments earlier, he'd been this close to her too, just like in that candid photo.

"Joyce, you're seriously breaking up with me over some ridiculous suspicions you've convinced yourself are true?"

I looked straight into his bloodshot eyes. "They're not suspicions. The proof is right in front of me. You can keep calling it helping Gwen recover, but that doesn't change what it is.

"My boyfriend has been sneaking around with my best friend behind my back!"

The veins stood out on the back of Andrew's hand.

"I know you've never gotten over what happened to your mom, how your dad drove her to her death because of another woman. But that wasn't my fault, and it wasn't Gwen's either.

"You've hated her ever since she told me how she felt before you did. But what did she ever do to deserve that? Why should Gwen and I have to pay for what happened to you? How is that fair to either of us?"

With just a few words, Andrew ripped open wounds I'd fought so hard to bury.

For a moment, I could almost hear Mom and Dad arguing in the hallway again.

Dad had built his career with help from Mom's family, all while carrying on an affair behind her back for years.

The first time Mom caught him, he dropped to his knees and swore he would cut the other woman out of his life for good.

I was a senior in high school at the time, and Mom didn't want their marriage falling apart with college right around the corner. So she gave him another chance.

She never imagined he would start secretly moving assets out of her name. Eventually, he stopped even trying to hide the affair and brought the other woman to my school to cause a scene.

That was when I learned the worst part. Dad and that woman had already had a daughter together before he even married Mom.

Mom had grown up in a well-respected family, and the betrayal broke her. In the end, she jumped from a high-rise.

I would never forget the way she looked at me that rainy night. Her eyes were full of despair and a bitterness she couldn't let go of.

Back then, Andrew was the one who covered my eyes and pulled me into his arms.

He gently patted my back over and over, murmuring, "Don't be scared, Joyce. I'm right here."

And now, that same man was using Mom's death against me just to accuse me of being jealous of Gwen.

The truth was, I hadn't even known who Gwen really was until I could finally afford to take Mom's case to court and fight to recover the assets that were rightfully hers.

That was when I found out Gwen was the daughter Dad had with the other woman.

I slapped Andrew across the face so hard his head snapped to the side. Then I turned my back on him and went right back to packing.

Rage simmered in his eyes as he glared at my back. "Joyce, if you walk out that door today, we're over for good!"

I unclipped the keychain from my belt loop and tossed it to the floor. "Why wait? We're already over."

That keychain had survived years of bumps and drops without ever breaking. But this time, it shattered the moment it hit the floor.

Chapter 3

Andrew's lips parted, but before he could say anything, his phone rang.

He glanced at the name on the screen, and his expression immediately softened. Then he turned and stepped out onto the balcony to take the call.

I didn't have to ask who it was. I already knew he wouldn't be coming back after that call.

So I kept packing. I packed through the night, and by the time dawn broke, several large suitcases were stacked on top of each other in the living room.

As I looked around the nearly empty apartment, something finally hit me. Almost everything that had made this place feel like home was something I had bought.

I used to love talking to Andrew about decorating our place. Whenever I mentioned something I wanted to get, he would always say yes. Then he would forget about it.

A few days later, when I brought it up again, he would just say, "Sorry, Joyce. I forgot."

After enough times, I stopped asking and simply bought whatever we needed myself.

Now, seeing how empty the apartment looked, I finally realized something. Andrew or no Andrew, I'd always been perfectly capable of handling everything on my own.

When I found the wedding dress design buried at the bottom of a box, though, I still felt a pang of regret. I'd spent years working on it, revising it again and again.

Back when Andrew and I only had eyes for each other, getting married had seemed like a given. Then Gwen's incident happened.

After that, Andrew stopped talking about marriage. Whenever I brought it up, I got the same answer.

"Gwen's not doing well right now. Just wait.

"Give it a little more time."

I kept setting the design aside. Eventually, it was forgotten and left to gather dust.

Just then, a message from Gwen popped up.

"Andrew's been feeling down, so I'm taking him on a seven-day trip to help him clear his head. If there's any souvenir you want, we can pick one up for you while we're there."

She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was rubbing it in.

I ignored her and texted the landlord instead. "I won't be renewing the lease. I'll be moving out soon."

Our lease was up the day after tomorrow. I wondered if Andrew would make it back before the landlord came to take the apartment back. If not, he might not even have time to pack his things.

Two days later, a message from Andrew came in, his anger practically jumping off the screen.

"Joyce, the lease is up! Why didn't you tell me? The landlord cleared out all my stuff and dumped it in the hallway!"

I replied calmly, "I did tell you. A long time ago, actually. You just never bothered to remember. There's a woman in the complex who collects junk, so if you don't get back soon, I can't promise your stuff will still be there."

After sending the message, I sat down at my desk and started figuring out what I needed to pack for Caldria in two days.

My phone buzzed again. This time, it was the guy who'd been our class president in high school, inviting everyone to a reunion the next evening.

Maybe because I knew I'd be leaving right after, I found myself saying yes.

But the moment I walked through the door, I regretted it.

I'd set aside a white dress for the occasion, even though I'd hardly worn dresses at all in all the years Andrew and I had been together. It all went back to something he'd once told me.

"You don't have the legs for dresses. Besides, what's the point? They look nice, but they just get in the way at work. Pants are way more practical."

And yet there was Gwen, standing in the middle of the crowd in the exact same white dress I was wearing.

The room immediately filled with whispers.

"Why would she wear the exact same dress as Gwen?"

"Andrew just said how good Gwen looks in white dresses. She obviously heard him and decided to copy her. Could she be any more obvious?"

Andrew spotted me almost immediately.

A second later, my phone buzzed. It was a message from him.

"Joyce, Gwen just posted that dress yesterday. You didn't have to wear the exact same one on purpose. I promise, once she's fully recovered, we can start over. You don't have to move out."

Chapter 4

I didn't text Andrew back. I walked past everyone and took a seat in the corner.

Then a commotion suddenly broke out across the room. Somehow, Gwen had gotten her hands on an old porcelain jar.

"Gwen, what's that? It looks really old."

She ran her fingers lightly over its surface. "I dug it up under that old tree in the alley behind the school. No idea who buried it there."

The room immediately erupted in curious chatter.

"You dug it up? Think there's something valuable inside?"

"Open it! Let's see what's in there!"

The mention of that old tree instantly brought it all rushing back.

After Mom died, I couldn't bring myself to bury her ashes for a long time. In the end, Andrew stayed by my side while I buried them beneath that same tree near my backyard.

I'd been trembling in his arms that day when he promised me, "Joyce, I'll take care of you for her. For the rest of my life."

Only Andrew and I knew where Mom's ashes were buried. And somehow, he'd even told Gwen about that.

Gwen clearly loved having everyone's attention. She held the jar up for the whole room to see. "Well, since we're all here, why don't we open it and see what's inside?"

I shot to my feet and rushed toward her. "Give it back! Give me the jar! It's mine!"

Gwen flinched and instinctively backed away from me.

Just then, Andrew came back into the room. The second he saw what was happening, he stepped in front of Gwen without hesitation, shielding her from me. "Joyce, calm down!"

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down? You know exactly what's in that jar!"

Only then did Andrew look at what Gwen was holding. "Where did you get that?"

Gwen flinched and let go. The jar hit the floor with a loud crash and shattered.

White ashes spilled across the floor.

The room went dead quiet.

Then someone suddenly cried out, "Oh my God! Those are someone's ashes!"

The room erupted into chaos.

In the panic, someone stepped straight into the pile of white ashes, smearing them across the tile. Then more people rushed past, trampling through them as the wind carried them farther across the room.

Within seconds, Mom's ashes were everywhere, ground into the grime beneath people's feet.

Tears streamed down my face. The pain was so overwhelming I could barely make a sound.

"Get out! All of you, get out!"

The room went still. Everyone stared at me, too shaken by the sight of me to say a word.

Andrew stood frozen, staring at the shattered porcelain and the ashes ground into the floor, his face white as a sheet. He took a step toward me, looking like he wanted to explain.

Then Gwen clutched her chest beside him. "Andrew, I'm so dizzy… I don't feel well."

He stopped dead.

His gaze flicked from Gwen, whose eyes were brimming with tears, back to me. For a moment, he hesitated.

Then he made his choice. He turned and went back to Gwen's side.

"Joyce, I need to take Gwen to get checked out first. She's almost fully recovered. Let me take care of her, and then I'll come back for you. We'll go home together."

I watched him carry Gwen out, but for once, I felt nothing.

"What home?"

A gust of wind swept through the room, scattering the ashes among the broken porcelain. Whatever love I had left for Andrew seemed to scatter with them.

Early the next morning, I headed to the airport with my luggage. I'd already shipped everything else ahead.

Andrew was still texting me as I boarded my flight.

"Everything here is taken care of. I'll keep my distance from Gwen from now on. Where are you? I'll come pick you up and take you home."

I let out a bitter laugh and blocked both him and Gwen.

From that moment on, I wanted nothing more to do with either of them.