Chapter 1

It was the end of the year, and bonus season had just hit. I decided to splurge and sent a surprise gift to my boyfriend’s office.

The tracking notification popped up on my phone: Delivered.

Yet, hours passed, and he didn't say a word.

It wasn't until the next day that he finally sent a hesitant voice note.

"...Babe, did you buy me a gift?"

He sounded incredibly unsure, almost nervous.

A sudden instinct to test him bubbled up.

I half-joked, "No. Why? Did someone else buy you a gift?"

He laughed it off awkwardly.

"Maybe it was sent by mistake, or from another friend... I'll ask around."

My heart went cold.

Ask around?

Who else would be sending him a set of couple's rings?

1

Realizing something was off, I pressed him intentionally.

"What kind of gift was it?"

Ethan stammered.

"...Nothing expensive. Just a pair of sneakers."

He was lying again.

My heart trembled.

The line went dead before I could say anything else.

I was restless all day. I knew this wasn't simple.

When he came home that night, he acted perfectly normal. It was as if the afternoon's conversation never happened.

I brought it up on purpose.

"Where are the sneakers? Let me see them."

He froze for a second. "What sneakers?"

Then he recovered. "Oh, those. It was a colleague's order sent to my desk by mistake. I already gave them back."

He immediately changed the subject.

"I'm going to take a shower. We can talk later."

He walked into the bathroom, gripping his phone tightly in his hand.

Even when we went to bed, the phone never left his side. He had a privacy screen protector, so I couldn't see a thing.

I swallowed my anxiety and waited.

Finally, I heard the soft rhythm of his snoring.

Holding my breath like a thief in my own home, I slid his phone out from under his pillow.

I used his thumb to unlock it.

In eight years together, this was the first time I had ever checked his phone.

His texts and WhatsApp were clean. Too clean.

I trusted my gut. I swiped up to see his recently used apps.

Aside from the usual social media, I saw an app he hadn't used in years—Discord.

driven by some invisible force, I opened it.

The chat list was empty. He had cleared the history.

But I knew Discord's search function could sometimes pull up cached logs.

I typed "Ring" into the search bar.

A recent chat log appeared immediately.

...Found it.

My fingertips trembled as I clicked on it.

My heart felt like it had been stabbed.

Right after Ethan asked me about the gift this morning, he immediately messaged a user named "Chloe_XO".

Because I denied sending it, he assumed the gift was from her.

Ethan: Babe, the gift arrived.

Chloe_XO: ...What gift?

Ethan: The couple's rings.

Chloe_XO: What rings? What are you talking about?

Ethan didn't reply for a long time.

He must have realized that if neither I nor Chloe sent them, he was in trouble. He started spinning a lie to cover his tracks.

Ethan: My project bonus came in. I bought us a pair of couple's rings. It's my surprise for you.

She replied instantly.

Chloe_XO: Thank you, hubby!