In the middle of a kiss, my boyfriend pulled away.

He said he'd split his lip cracking crawfish.

When I told Bonnie Henson about it,

she fingered the diamond tooth cap she'd just had set and blew a ring of smoke.

“Probably bit down on something wild out there and wrecked his mouth. I always told you he was no good.”

I slid the ashtray toward her：“He wouldn't. He swore I was the only one.”

The day the office let us off early, I came home and pushed open the door.

Antony sucked in a breath and shouted.

“Get rid of that damn thing.”

And Bonnie had her arms locked around him, laughing like she'd lost her mind.

“If it doesn't hurt a little, how will you ever learn?”

A pain tore through my chest.

……

“What's the fuss about?” Antony's brow barely creased.

He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around Bonnie.

No panic. No scramble to explain. As if I were the one being unreasonable.

Bonnie poked her head out from the blanket.

Not a shred of shame. She looked straight at me and curled the corner of her mouth.

“Philippa, since when do you walk without making a sound?”

“Scared me half to death. I thought someone had broken in.”

She pouted and burrowed closer into Antony's arms.

I stared at the man I had loved for five years, searching his face for even a trace of guilt.

There was nothing.

Antony pulled on a shirt and walked toward me, reaching for my hand.

“Why are you home so early?”

“I thought you said the office had you working late tonight.”

He reeked of Bonnie's perfume and the raw, sour smell of sex.

My stomach turned.

I shook his hand off：“Don't touch me.”

My teeth were clenched and my voice shook no matter how hard I tried to steady it.

“Antony, what exactly were you two doing?”

He sighed, with that look he got when he thought I was making a scene.

“Philippa, relax. Bonnie hit a rough patch, she got upset, had too much to drink.”

“I was just comforting her.”

Comforting her.

Naked.

I looked at that familiar face and felt like I was staring at a stranger.

Three years ago I came down with a high fever. He ran through half the city in a downpour just to bring me back the rice porridge I always asked for. When the nurse slid the IV needle into the back of my hand, he was the one whose eyes turned red.

“Pippa, I will never let you be hurt. Not even a little.”

Those words still echoed.

And now, right in front of me, he was holding my best friend in his arms.

“Does being drunk require taking your clothes off?” I pointed at the tooth cap on the floor, and the tears I'd been holding back finally fell. “Antony, do you think I'm stupid?”

Bonnie let out a soft laugh behind him.

“Oh, Philippa. That temper of yours, same as always.”

“Antony works himself to the bone every day, and you can't even lighten his load. All you do is keep tabs on him.”

“Men need to unwind once in a while.”

She took her time picking her clothes up off the floor and putting them on.

“We're all adults here. No need to act like the sky's falling.”

I turned and looked straight at this woman who'd sworn, over and over, that she'd always have my back.

“Bonnie, have you no shame?”

Antony's expression went cold.

He stepped in front of Bonnie, blocking her from my sight.

“Philippa, watch your mouth.”

“Bonnie's always looked out for you. Is this how you treat her?”

Tears blurred everything, but I could see exactly whose side he was on.

“My attitude? You two pull this disgusting shit right under my nose—”

“and you're telling me to watch my mouth?”

Antony's jaw tightened.

“I told you, it was an accident.”

“Are you not going to stop until you've made everyone miserable?”

He bent down, picked his jacket off the floor, and draped it over Bonnie's shoulders.

“Bonnie's had a scare tonight. I'm taking her home.”

“Cool off on your own. I'll come back when you've figured things out.”

He put his arm around Bonnie's shoulders and walked toward the door.

When he passed me, he didn't spare me so much as a glance.

Bonnie leaned into his arms and looked back at me with the smile of someone who had already won.

The door closed softly. I was the only one left in the house.

The air still smelled like them.

My phone screen lit up. A message from Antony.

【Clean up the study. Don't let Bonnie feel awkward the next time she comes over.】

I sat on the sofa without moving for the entire night.

The next morning.

Antony walked in carrying a few takeout boxes, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Crab roe buns from that place on the north side. Waited in line half an hour for these.”

“Pippa, come eat breakfast.”

I stared at the steam curling off the boxes and didn't move. He used to buy me breakfast from that shop all the time—but after I found out I was allergic to seafood, he never went back. Not once.

Bonnie loved crab roe buns.

I stood up and walked to the table.

I swept every box and everything inside them straight into the trash.

Antony's hand froze in midair.

He drew a long breath and looked at me, barely holding his temper.

“Philippa, how long are you going to keep this up?”

“I already explained last night. It was an accident.”

I looked at him, my eyes dry and raw：“Let's break up.”

Those three words had circled inside me all night. When they finally came out, they were surprisingly easy to say.

Antony blinked.

Then he reacted like he'd just heard something funny.

“Break up?”

He stepped closer, reaching out to touch my hair.

I turned my head away.

His hand fell on nothing. For the first time, something shifted in his face.

“Pippa, don't joke about things like this.”

“I know last night was on me. I apologize. But the person I love has always been you.”

His voice was earnest, his eyes even carrying a trace of tenderness.

“You know how Bonnie is—she's careless, she gets carried away.”

“I promise I'll keep my distance from her from now on, okay?”

If I hadn't seen with my own eyes how he shielded Bonnie last night.

I might actually have believed that garbage.

“Antony, do you honestly think cheating is something that can be forgiven?”

I took a step back, putting distance between us.

“You love me, so you slept with my best friend?”

“What do you call that? Spreading the love?”

Antony's patience finally ran out.

He yanked at his tie, and his voice went cold.

“I said it was an accident. Why do you have to keep dragging this out?”

“I'm out there every day making money, keeping us afloat. You have no idea how much pressure I'm under.”

“All you do is sit at home painting those worthless pictures nobody wants to buy, and I still have to come home and coddle you.”

“Every man alive has made the same mistake. You really need to turn it into a federal case?”

Every word cut into me like a blade.

So that was what he really thought.

I had given up my career to take care of him, and in his eyes, all I did was paint worthless pictures.

My eyes burned red. I pointed at the door.

“Get out.”

Antony scoffed.

“This is my house. If anyone's leaving, it's you.”

“Philippa, don't overestimate yourself. Without me, you couldn't even make rent.”

He was certain I couldn't leave him.

And why wouldn't he be? For five years, I'd cut off nearly every relationship I had, pouring everything into orbiting his life.

Back then, I'd fought bitterly with my brother just to be with Antony, defying his objections until I finally walked out of the family home.

To prove to my brother that my choice was right, I'd lied to Antony, told him I was just an orphan with no family left.

Five years, and I'd been too proud to go back to the Barnes family even once.

Turns out my brother had been right all along.

I took a deep breath, turned, and walked into the bedroom.

I dragged out a suitcase and started packing.

Antony leaned against the doorframe, watching me.

He didn't try to stop me. His voice was all mockery.

“Packing a few outfits to scare who, exactly? That temper of yours only exists because I let you get away with it.”

“Walk out that door, and who do you think is going to put up with you the way I have?”

I ignored him, shoving the clothes I wore most into the suitcase.

The moment I zipped it shut, Bonnie's call came through on his phone.

Antony glanced at the screen, made no move to step away from me, and picked up.

“Tony, my foot hurts so bad. Can you take me to the hospital?”

Bonnie's syrupy whine poured out of the speaker.

Antony looked at me.

“Sure. Stay put, I'm on my way.”

He hung up and straightened his jacket.

“Bonnie twisted her ankle. I need to go check on her.”

“Stay home and have a good long think about yourself.”

“When I get back, I don't want to hear the word 'breakup' again.”

I walked out with my suitcase.

Once I'd checked into a hotel, I sent my brother a message.

【I was wrong. Come get me.】

I closed the chat and noticed a new post on my feed.

A photo from Bonnie.

She was sitting in a hospital chair.

A man's hand, long-fingered and elegant, was wrapped around her ankle, kneading it gently.

On that wrist was a Patek Philippe.

The one I'd saved up months of freelance earnings to buy Antony for his birthday last year.

The caption read：Some people just know when to show up and spoil you like a little kid.

The comments underneath had already blown up.

“Ooh, Bonnie, is something going on here?”

“Those hands obviously belong to a gorgeous man. Just make it official already!”

I stared at the comments, cold all the way through.

I didn't blow up. I just closed the app.

Making a scene now would only give Bonnie exactly what she wanted.

That afternoon, I got a call from a publisher I'd worked with before.

“Philippa, that art book you submitted? The editor-in-chief picked it up.”

“There's just one thing. We need you to appear at a signing event next week.”

It was the first piece of good news I'd had in years.

I agreed on the spot.

To get ready for the signing, I went to an upscale styling studio in the city center.

I'd barely sat down when a familiar figure appeared in the mirror.

Bonnie, arm linked through Antony's, laughing and chatting as they walked in.

The moment they saw me, both of them stopped dead.

Bonnie recovered first.

She let go of Antony and sidled up to me, all warmth and smiles.

“Philippa! What are you doing here?”

“A place like this isn't exactly cheap, you know—where'd you even get the money?”

She pitched her voice loud enough for every stylist in the room to turn and look.

I met her fake smile in the mirror.

“None of your business.”

Bonnie covered her mouth with a little laugh.

“Oh, don't be mad.”

“Tony said you stormed out of the house. I was worried you'd end up sleeping on the street.”