Natasha and I had been together for ten years.

Fighting was nothing new for us.

We were both stubborn. Neither of us liked being the first to back down.

But today was the first time she had slammed the door and walked out, leaving me alone like that.

No. Not the first time.

There was one other.

Back when we graduated high school, the class had a farewell dinner.

Natasha and I had already started dating then. We were still in that stage where we were practically glued to each other.

At one point, a girl at the table had a little too much to drink. Laughing, she joked that someone like Vince, so quiet and awkward, would probably never find a girlfriend.

The moment she said it, Natasha's face darkened.

At the time, I didn't think much of it.

I figured she just thought the joke went too far. I even took her hand and told her not to get upset.

Instead, she suddenly shook my hand off.

Without saying a word, she walked out. She left me sitting there with the whole table staring at me.

I had never felt more embarrassed.

That night, her mother said that she never came home. Her phone was turned off, too.

I searched all over town before finally finding her the next day at a lounge.

She only said she had been in a bad mood. She gave a quick, casual apology for leaving me there the night before.

And I believed her.

Thinking about it now makes me want to laugh.

Inside Vince's time capsule was a journal.

One page talked about that exact night.

[Today, Lily Thompson joked about me again, saying I would never get a girlfriend. It hurt, but I'm used to it.

[What I didn't expect was that she would get angry for my sake. She even shook off Alan's hand and came outside to comfort me.

[She stayed with me on the rooftop the whole night. She told me I'm a good guy. That other people just don't see it.

[For the first time in a long while, the whole world felt bright.

[Alan, I'm sorry. I never meant to take her away from you. Even if it was only for one night.]

So that was why she had been in a bad mood that night.

She wasn't upset about anything else. She had simply gone to comfort another guy.

While I spent the whole night worried sick about her, she was up on a rooftop lighting up someone else's world.

There was also a photo in the box, a big group picture from our graduation trip.

Natasha and I stood in the center, smiling brightly.

Vince stood way off in the corner.

His eyes weren't on the camera; they were looking toward Natasha. The loneliness and love in his expression were impossible to miss.

On the back of the photo was Natasha's handwriting.

[May you always smile that widely.]

She had written the exact same sentence in my yearbook on graduation day.

There was also a necklace in the box.

It was identical to the one I was wearing.

Natasha once told me she had searched through several stores before finally finding the perfect matching set for couples.

As it turned out, it wasn't a couple's set; it was a set for three.

Ten years.

My youth, my love, every plan I ever made for the future.

From the very beginning, it had all been nothing but a fragile illusion.

I was never the only one in her heart.

I was just the one she put out in the open.

The pain in my chest grew so sharp that I could barely breathe. I curled up on the couch, feeling like every bit of strength had drained out of my body.

My phone screen lit up.

It was a message from Fiona Carpenter.

She had been Natasha's roommate in high school. They were still pretty close.

I opened it.

It was a photo. The background looked like a private booth in a bar.

Natasha sat in the middle of the booth, a bottle in her hand, her eyes unfocused. She was clearly drunk.

And the man sitting beside her, gently wiping her face with a towel…was Vince.

Another message from Fiona popped up right after the photo.

[I know your wedding's the day after tomorrow, but I really couldn't stay quiet anymore.

[Natasha called all of us out tonight. She said she'd had a fight with you and was in a bad mood. But right after that, she called Vince.

[Those two… It's always been like this over the years. All of us have seen it. We just never had the nerve to tell you.

[They're at Nightfall Bar, Room 302. I think you should come see for yourself.]

I stared at the photo.

The way Vince looked at Natasha was full of concern, almost painful to watch. And Natasha didn't seem uncomfortable at all.

I took a deep breath, stood up from the couch, and grabbed my car keys. Following the address Fiona sent, I drove to Nightfall Bar and found Room 302.

The door wasn't fully closed. Laughter and chatter drifted out from inside.

I stopped in front of it. For a moment, I didn't push the door open.

"Natasha, don't stay mad too long." A woman's voice rang out. "Alan's just got that rich-kid temper. Just smooth things over with him. You two are getting married, anyway."

Another voice chimed in right away.

"Exactly. Why even bother arguing with someone like Alan?"

Then someone else laughed.

"Honestly, Vince is way better. He's gentle and thoughtful. He never makes Natasha upset."

"Seriously. If it weren't for what happened back then…

"Never mind. Natasha, you marrying Alan really makes us feel bad for Vince."

"Feel bad for him? Come on. It's obvious who Natasha really cares about. Every time they fight, who does she call first? Vince."

The whole room burst into laughter.

I leaned against the wall, feeling the blood in my body slowly turn cold.

I recognized every one of those voices.

They were Natasha's closest friends, people I had known for ten years, people I personally handed wedding invitations to.

So in their eyes, I was just some spoiled rich guy who caused trouble while Vince was the understanding gentleman.

What did Natasha think?

I stared through the narrow gap in the door.

She sat in the middle of the group. Vince fed her slices of fruit, wiping the spilled alcohol from the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

The way they moved around each other looked like a couple deeply in love.

She didn't argue or defend me. She just sat there quietly, letting everyone joke about it while enjoying Vince's attention.

In that moment, something finally made sense.

For ten years, I had always felt like I didn't quite belong among her friends.

Now, I knew why.

In that circle, I was the outsider.

Vince was the one they all secretly treated like Natasha's future husband.

I didn't have the courage to push the door open anymore.

Instead, I recorded a short video through the crack in the door, then turned and left.

Just as I reached the corner of the hallway, I ran into Fiona. She looked at my tight jaw, sighed, and handed me a tissue.

"You saw everything?"

I nodded. "Thanks."

"It's nothing," Fiona said, waving it off awkwardly. "I just thought it wasn't fair to you. Natasha… Never mind. Just don't take it too hard."

I forced a small smile. "I'm fine. Really."

But how could I be fine?

Ten years of love had just collapsed in front of me.

The woman I loved had lied to me for a decade, and the friends I trusted had been laughing at me behind my back the whole time.

Natasha didn't come home that night.

The next morning, I got a friend request from an unfamiliar account.

When I opened the profile, I saw Vince's calm, polite-looking face in the avatar.

We barely knew each other. All I really knew was that he was Natasha's close male friend, nothing more. I had no idea why he wanted to add me, but for some reason, I still accepted the request.

The moment I did, he didn't bother with any greetings. He sent a photo.

It had clearly been taken in a hotel room.

Natasha was asleep, leaning against Vince's arm.

Vince faced the camera, holding up a peace sign. The smile on his face looked proud, almost provocative.

Through the large window behind them, bright daylight poured in.

The time. The place. The people.

Everything was obvious.

As I stared at the photo, my heart seemed to have frozen solid, then shattered into pieces.

Last night, she was at the bar. This morning, she was in a hotel.

What a smooth transition.

I turned off my phone and walked into the kitchen without a word. I poured myself a glass of ice water and drank it in one go.

The cold slid down my throat, but it didn't cool the fire burning in my chest.

At 10 a.m., Natasha finally came home. She still smelled faintly of alcohol and a cologne that didn't belong to me.

When she saw me sitting in the living room, she paused for a moment.

Then, she quickly put on a flattering smile.

"Are you still mad?"

I looked at her quietly.

I decided to give her one last chance. "Where did you go last night? What did you do?"

Her eyes flickered, avoiding my gaze. She reached for my hand.

"I drank too much last night and slept at Fiona's place. Can we not fight? The wedding's the day after tomorrow. Let's not ruin things over something small."

She was still lying.

That was the moment I completely gave up.

I shook her hand off and stood up.

"I'm tired. Handle the wedding however you want."

I went back to my room and locked the door.

She knocked on it for a while, confused and irritated, but I ignored her completely.

Then, I took out my phone and found Vince's contact.

I sent him a message. [Downtown Starbucks, 3 p.m. Let's talk.]

He replied almost immediately. [Sure.]

At 3 p.m., Vince arrived right on time.

When he saw me, he gave a polite, apologetic smile.

"Alan, I'm really sorry. Natasha drank too much last night and kept talking. I had to stay with her and take care of her."

His words sounded apologetic, but the pride in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"Is that so?" I stirred the coffee in front of me, my tone calm. "Well, thanks for the hard work."

He seemed surprised by how calm I was.

After a brief pause, he spoke again, "Don't misunderstand. Natasha and I are just friends. I know you two are getting married. I sincerely wish you both happiness."

He hesitated slightly before continuing.

"It's just… Natasha has a lot on her mind. Some things she can only say to me. She told me her biggest regret is…"

"That she can't marry you. Right?" I finished the sentence for him.

Vince's expression instantly changed.

I looked at him and smiled faintly. "I dug up the time capsule you two buried."

He stopped pretending after that. "If you already know, why are you still holding onto her? The person she has loved from the beginning has always been me."

I set down my coffee and met his eyes.

"In that case," I said calmly, "you can have her."

Vince's eyes widened in shock. "W-What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, you can be the groom at tomorrow's wedding."