After buying a secondhand laptop online, I turn it on and discover that the wallpaper is a fully nude photo of my fiancé, Zane Lockhart.

I am stunned.

Could there be such a coincidence that Zane's old possession somehow makes its way back into my hands?

Just as I am about to call Zane to ask what is going on, the seller starts calling me frantically.

"I'm sorry, miss! I made a grave mistake. I accidentally ship you my boyfriend’s laptop! There are important work files on it, so please do not touch anything!

"I will send the correct laptop to you right away, and I will cover the shipping."

Hearing the feminine and sweet voice on the other end of the line, my heart instantly sinks to the stomach.

Since when does Zane have another girlfriend besides me?

I hung up the phone and forced myself to calm down, my fingers trembling as I slid the mouse across the pad.

Aside from the wallpaper, the desktop was almost too clean, with just a single folder named "My Treasure" saved.

Zane Lockhart had once made me a folder like that, too. It was filled with photos of us growing up together.

My heart hammered against my ribs as an absurd thought exploded in my head. Was he having an affair?

The thought barely lasted a second in my mind before I crushed it. I knew that even if every other man in the world cheated, Zane would be the only exception.

We were childhood sweethearts, and the entire neighborhood had watched us grow up together.

He loved me so much that he remembered my monthly cycle and prepared dark chocolate and heating pads ahead of time. He loved me so deeply that the passcodes to his phone, laptop, and all his social media accounts were my birthday.

Besides, our wedding was barely two weeks away. This had to be a misunderstanding.

I took a deep breath, as if I was trying to push down the wave of inexplicable panic in my chest.

After I double-clicked, the folder opened. The first thing I saw was an intimate photo of Zane with a woman I didn't recognize.

All the blood in my veins seemed to have turned to ice. It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck me, the shock reverberating through all my organs and bones.

One by one, I scrolled through the photos. Each of them seemed to mock me for the lies I had told myself.

Zane had cheated, yet I had been blissfully wrapped up in the joy of becoming his bride. It was pathetically ridiculous.

I didn't know how long I sat there, paralyzed, before I finally calmed down. The first thing I did was to unlock my phone and book a flight to Portia for seven days from now.

Portia was the city of my dreams, which I had given up just to stay by Zane's side. Now, I was going to pick up my brush again and chase the art dream I had put on hold for love for far too long.

Next, I zipped the sordid photos from the laptop and sent them to my best friend, Renee Jones. Her call came through almost instantly, and her voice was full of shock and fury.

"Sadie, I can't believe that absolute monster! Stay right there; I'm coming over with a few tough guys to crush him!"

"No need," I interrupted in a terrifyingly calm voice. "I'll deal with him myself at our engagement party this Saturday. I just need you to do me a favor. I want to give Zane a very special gift."

I had just finished speaking when Zane's voice suddenly came from behind me. It was light and gentle.

"Guess what I got you, Sadie?"

He was holding a box of cream puffs from my favorite bakery. But the moment he saw the look on my face, his smile froze.

"What's wrong, Sadie? Why are your eyes so red?"

He dropped everything and rushed over, reaching out to pull me in for a hug, but I instinctively recoiled.

When I opened my mouth to speak, my voice was so dry that it did not sound like my own at all. "Zane, you—"

Just as I was about to tear away his mask of affection, his phone suddenly rang. He instinctively glanced at the caller ID, and his expression shifted.

He lunged for the phone and hit the mute button before flipping it face down on the table, all a little too fast like he was hiding something.

"That's just… a sales call," he explained in a strained, unnatural voice.

But I had seen it. The moment the screen lit up, the caller ID displayed the name "Cassie".

I looked up at him and softly asked, "Do you love me, Zane?"

The question caught him off guard. Then, he laughed and dotingly tapped my nose.

"Why kind of question is that, silly? Who else would I love if not you?"

I stared straight into his eyes and asked in a clear, deliberate voice, "What about Cassie Tate? Do you love her too?"

Cassie Tate was the seller's name.

The doting smile on Zane's face cracked and slowly crumbled away.

He stared at me blankly, and it took him a few seconds to find his voice, which carried a trace of bewildered absurdity. "What are you talking about, Sadie? Where did you hear that name from?"

In just a split second, that familiar face I knew so well slipped back into a look of hurt and helplessness. He reached out to touch my face, and his voice sounded low and aggrieved.

"Sadie, Cassie is just a new intern in my team. There was a problem with a project today, so I just helped her out a little."

The hurt in his tone, like he had been wrongly accused, was perfectly measured. I would have thought I was being unreasonable too, if I hadn't seen the photos with my own eyes.

Zane tried to pull me into his arms, and his voice softened further, as if he were soothing a child throwing a tantrum.

"Are you just stressed because the wedding is near?

"Stop overthinking. We've been together for 15 years. Don't you trust me?"

I looked at his face so close to mine and instinctively pushed him away. The look of hurt in his eyes deepened at my movement, and his voice carried a faint, barely perceptible tremble.

"What's exactly going on with you, Sadie? Did someone tell you something?"

Just as I was about to grab the laptop and hurl the sordid evidence in his face, the handphone, which was flipped face down on the desk, vibrated again. This time, it wasn't from a call, but a message.

He instinctively reached out to grab it, but I was faster. I caught a glimpse of a calendar reminder popping up on the screen.

"Today, 5:00 pm. Pick up 'Adored'."

My heart violently clenched.

"Adored" was the name of the first painting I had ever sold.

Back in my freshman year of college, my work hung in the campus gallery and went completely unnoticed. In the end, it was purchased by a mysterious buyer.

It wasn't until much later that I discovered the buyer was Zane. He hung the painting in our future home, pointed to my messy signature on the painting, and told me, "In this lifetime, I'm marrying you and no one else."

That painting was the starting point of our love and his promise to me of a unique, loyal devotion.

When Zane saw that I had noticed the reminder, a flash of chagrin crossed his face before melting into a look of helpless tenderness. He tapped the note attached to the reminder on his phone.

It read, "Sadie's wedding ring, inspired by her paintings and named with love."

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin in the crook of my neck.

"I wanted it to be a surprise for the day before our wedding, but you found out early.

"I found a Faelorian designer to incorporate elements from 'Adored' into the ring. Sadie, our rings are the only ones of their kind in the world."

His voice carried a hint of a smile, and his warm breath fanned across my ear.

"Don't be mad anymore, okay? I'll admit that Cassie followed me around and talked to me, but I turned her down. There's no room in my world for anyone but you."

He paused and kissed my forehead.

"I'll pick up the ring now. It's freezing outside, so stay home and wait for me. I'll be back to keep you company soon."

I pulled my hand back and replied in an unnervingly calm voice, "Go ahead."

The moment Zane left, I picked up the phone and checked the resale platform transaction history. The seller's name was Cassie Tate, and the address was a luxury apartment in Westfield.

Zane had once pointed at a billboard for that apartment and told me, "Sadie, I bought a small unit here for you. You now have a quiet place to paint!"

I had been overjoyed then and believed that it was another testament to our love. But now, it felt like the biggest joke.

I tapped on a ride-hailing app and entered the address. Half an hour later, the cab pulled up at the gates of the complex.

I immediately spotted Zane's familiar black Cayenne.

Instead of going inside, I stood in the shadows across the street.

Before long, the building doors opened. Zane stepped out with a petite figure beside him, and I immediately recognized her as the woman from the photos—Cassie.

She intimately clung to his arm, practically hanging off him. Then, she tiptoed and kissed his cheek.

As for Zane, he looked down at her and smiled dotingly, just like how he had smiled at me for the past 15 years.

My hands and feet went ice-cold, but I instinctively raised my phone and aimed the camera at them.

My stomach churned violently again, worse than when I had seen the photos.

Cassie tilted her face up to ask for a kiss, and Zane didn't push her away. He just smiled helplessly and tapped her forehead. "Stop playing around. Someone might see us."

Still, she continued swinging his arm and cloyingly whined, "So what if they do? Your fiancee loves you so much that even if she finds out, she'll just assume I'm the one seducing you."

Zane's expression turned cold, and his voice hardened into an icy warning.

"I made things clear before we even got together. I have my responsibilities and boundaries, and Sadie is the woman I'm going to marry. That will never change."

Cassie pouted and pulled out an exquisite velvet box from her bag before holding it out to him. "Fine… Don't be mad. I promise I won't go near her.

"Look at the gift I got you instead. Let's call our ring 'Adored' too, okay?"

For a split second, his expression stiffened. He looked at her, and in the end, he smiled. "You really are a little devil."

I watched Zane take the ring and slide it onto his ring finger. Its design was nearly identical to the ring he had just described to me, which was inspired by my painting.

The last flicker of warmth I held for our 15 years together completely vanished.

After recording this final scene, I tucked my phone away and turned around to flag down a cab.

When I got home, I didn't turn on the lights. Instead, I sat on the couch in the darkness and replayed the video over and over.

I noticed the fleeting hesitation on Zane's face when he put on the ring, and the way he gave in anyway.

None of this was an accident. The laptop and wallpaper were all traps meticulously laid by Cassie, waiting for me, the rightful fiancee, to uncover my husband's true nature with my own hands.

She had succeeded. My world, along with the 15 years of love, had been completely shattered.

After compressing the video and sending it to Renee, I went back to acting as usual and quietly waited for the day of the engagement party.

Perhaps out of guilt, Zane became even more attentive and caring toward me. But the gentler he was, the more disgusted I felt.

The night before the engagement party, he came home excitedly, carrying a delicate gift box. There was a gentle smile on his face as he said, "Come here, Sadie. Look at the gown I had custom-made for you. You'll be breathtaking in it for the engagement party tomorrow."

He opened the gift box as though presenting a treasure. Inside was a champagne-colored mermaid gown, its hem encrusted with tiny crystals that shimmered softly under the light.

Then, he dropped to one knee and opened a velvet box. Inside was a diamond ring with an intricate design, its delicate lines mirroring the composition of my painting, "Adored".

He looked up at me with overflowing love in his eyes. "This is our 'Adored', Sadie. It will be just like my love for you, eternal and unchanging.

"You'll be my wife starting tomorrow. I've waited so long for this day, Sadie."

There was a hint of barely perceptible nervousness in his voice, and his fingertips trembled slightly.

I looked at my reflection in his eyes and saw the woman who used to be so full of joy and hope for the future. Now, she was cold and indifferent.

Instead of reaching out, I simply looked at him and watched the hope in his eyes slowly stiffen into unease. He carefully asked, "Sadie, do you not like it?"

I slowly shook my head and replied in a flat voice, "I like it. It's very beautiful."

He visibly relaxed and reached for my hand to slip the ring onto my finger. But I gently pulled away and took the box from him.

Looking at the winding lines around the ring, I suddenly laughed.

"What will you do if I run away from the engagement party tomorrow?"