Chapter 2

Finding that account had been pure chance.

One afternoon while scrolling on my phone, the algorithm recommended nearby accounts, and one profile picture featured an anime character I really liked.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I tapped in.

The account only had around three thousand followers. The latest post was from three days prior.

It was a photo of a late-night office desk with the caption:

[Working past midnight. She said she’d starve with me in solidarity, but ended up ordering two pizzas anyway. What an idiot.]

I instinctively scrolled down.

[She said I've been eating too little lately, so she kept pushing all the steak slices from her plate onto mine. When I told her I wasn't that hungry, she teased me for being a picky baby.]

[Watching the stars on the mountaintop. She whispered she wished time could stop right here. Truth is, so did I.]

[Came down with a fever. She skipped work just to look after me. She can't even cook, but she insisted on making pasta. It was completely burnt, but it tasted amazing.]

...

Post after post, my heart ached with how sweet it was.

Those mundane, tender routines were exactly what I had always imagined true love to look like.

I wanted to leave a comment wishing them well, but comments were disabled, so I just quietly hit follow.

How was I supposed to know that in every single memory of their happiness, I was merely the oblivious third wheel?

He claimed they had been in love for ten years.

Yet Chloe and I had only been together for ten years as well.

I had known Ethan for twenty years.

When I was ten, his family moved in next door.

The first time we met, he had a sharp buzz cut and offered me a cherry lollipop.

"I'm Ethan. We're gonna be best friends!"

From grade school all the way through college, we were inseparable.

He knew all my secrets and stood beside me through every milestone of my life.

Sophomore year of college, I met Chloe.

She was the campus sweetheart, the girl every guy in the humanities department was crushing on.

I was just an average architecture major, quiet and unremarkable. I never dreamed she would ever look my way.

"What are you scared of? You're our department's rising star," Ethan had cheered me on. "Want me to go grab her Snap for you?"

Later, Chloe and I started dating.

Ethan was the first person I told. He picked me up and spun me around, practically bouncing off the walls.

"Hell yeah! Our boy Liam finally bagged the prettiest girl on campus!"

I was certain that in that moment, he was truly happy for me.

People online always joked that a girl's best friend is like a second mother-in-law to the boyfriend.

While a guy's best bro is basically an annoying, adopted child to the girlfriend.

Ethan didn't fit that mold at first.

Even though he acted thrilled when I told him I was in a relationship, the moment he actually met Chloe, he found fault with everything she did.

On our first double-date-turned-lunch at the dining hall, I had dressed up nicely to eat with Chloe.

Ethan, having pulled an all-nighter for a massive group project, showed up with dark bags under his eyes, greasy unwashed hair, sweatpants, and flip-flops. He shoved past Chloe and flopped right down next to me.

Chloe paused, startled, and had to walk around to sit across from us.

Ethan looked her up and down with blatant disdain.

"This is her? Bro, honestly, I think I cheered too soon. You sure you don't wanna reconsider?"

He didn't hold back at all, and Chloe's face went completely pale.

Later, when I asked Chloe what she thought of my best friend, she rolled her eyes. "He's fine, I guess."

I laughed, kissed her cheek, and said, "He's my best friend, and you're the love of my life. You two have to get along."

After college, Chloe and I rented a small apartment together.

Ethan would drop by all the time for dinner, and when it got too late, he’d just crash on our couch.

"Honestly, the way you two treat me, I feel like your adopted teenage son," he once joked.

Chloe would play along, putting on a stern motherly expression. "Then get off your lazy butt, son, and go wash the dishes instead of freeloading."

Our apartment was always filled with the three of us laughing.

I never, in my wildest nightmares, imagined that this cozy life was just a mirage built on dirty lies.