I had stumbled upon this social media account purely by accident.

At the time, I was just scrolling on my phone when the app recommended the account to me. The profile picture was of a cartoon character that I really liked. Curiosity got the better of me, and I tapped on it.

The account had just over three thousand followers, and the last post had been from three days ago.

It was a photo of a desk late at night, with a caption that read, "Hard to work late till midnight. She said she'd starve with me, but she ended up ordering takeout for both of us. What a silly woman."

I instinctively started scrolling down.

"She said that I've been eating too little lately and insisted on giving me some of her beef. I said I don't like beef, and she laughed, calling me a picky child who never grew up.

"We went up the hill to see the stars together. She told me she sorely wished time could freeze at that moment. To be honest, I felt the same.

"I caught a cold, so she skipped out of work to take care of me. She doesn't even know how to cook, yet she stayed up all night just to make chicken soup for me. It got a little burnt, but it was the best chicken soup I ever had."

As I read post after post, I started feeling rather moved.

These simple yet touching details of an ordinary life painted the picture of the ideal relationship I'd once dreamed of having.

I wanted to wish them the best, but I soon learned the comments section had been turned off. The only thing I could do was follow the account.

Well, I now realized that, in the record of this loving couple's memories, I was the unwitting third party.

According to the posts, they'd been together for ten years. Izzy and I had also been in a relationship for ten years.

Conrad and I had known each other for two decades. He moved into the house next to mine when I was ten.

The first time we met, he was a young boy with a crew cut, handing me a lollipop. "Hi. My name is Conrad Newman. Let's be friends from now on!"

From elementary school through college, we were inseparable. He knew all of my secrets and accompanied me through all the most important phases of my life.

During our sophomore year at college, I got to know Izzy. She was the most beautiful student in the literature department.

There was a mile-long queue of guys who wanted to go out with her. I was just an insignificant, forgettable guy in the crowd. I never thought she'd notice me.

"What's there to be scared of? You're the genius of the architecture department!" Conrad encouraged me. "Shall I get her number for you?"

Later, Izzy and I got together. The first thing I did was tell Conrad about it, and he grabbed me in excitement, looking even more thrilled than I was. "This is incredible! You're finally a taken man, Jamie!"

I was certain that he'd been genuinely happy for me at the time.

That didn't quite apply to Conrad at first.

Although he had been happy when he learned I was dating, after meeting Izzy, everything about her seemed to annoy him.

The first time they met, I took the time to dress up before meeting Izzy for lunch at the campus cafeteria.

Conrad had just finished a major group project the day before. Dressed in his pajamas and slippers, he had dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights and greasy hair from going a few days without a shower. He pushed Izzy out of the way and plopped down next to me.

Startled, Izzy had no choice but to take the seat across from us.

Conrad gave her a once-over before scrunching his face up scornfully. "Is that all? I think I celebrated too early, Jamie. Why don't you reconsider?"

He'd been very blunt about it, and Izzy's expression turned pretty dark as well.

Later on, when I asked her what she thought of him, she said somewhat contemptuously, "He's… fine, I guess."

At the time, I chuckled and pecked her on the cheek before saying, "He's my best friend, and you're my beloved girlfriend. You two will have to get along."

When we started working, Izzy and I rented an apartment together. Conrad would often come over for meals. Sometimes, when it got too late, he would crash on our living room couch.

"You know, it kind of feels like I'm your son," he had once joked.

Izzy would play along and look at him with a strict yet motherly expression. "In that case, my dear son, don't even think about freeloading off us. Go do the dishes."

The apartment was always filled with our laughter. It never once occurred to me that this blissful happiness was simply a mirage built on a lie.

I stumbled into the bathroom and repeatedly splashed cold water on my face, but I couldn't calm myself down.

It was my wedding day tomorrow. The invitations had been sent, the hotel had been booked, and my wedding suit was hanging in the closet. Everything was ready.

My hands trembled as I tried to call Izzy. I called three times. All three went unanswered.

I froze up for some time. Something made me decide to call Conrad.

Again, the line was busy.

My heart sank.

I couldn't wrap my head around this. Did they ever feel the slightest hint of guilt toward me when they were busy fooling around behind my back? Or were they completely swept up in the thrill and the excitement of an affair?

I knew Conrad was a social media influencer who did travel content. He was always filming wherever he went and could be found on every social media platform. I also knew that content creators often had countless alternate accounts.

Using the hotel's location as my search tag, I looked through all the posts tagged in the same place.

At last, I found a photo uploaded by an account with the username "TheUnlovedOneIsTheOtherMan".

It featured the slender hands of a woman grasping a bottle of champagne, preparing to pop it. The bracelet around the woman's wrist was my birthday gift to Izzy last year.

Those hands were hers.

The caption was pretty simple. "Living on stolen time. Every second is a countdown."

There were already dozens of comments on the post. Some said true love would always prevail, while others questioned the account owner for knowingly being the third party in a relationship.

Hands trembling, I tapped on the profile, only to find that this account was completely different from the other account I'd previously discovered.

This account had over 100 thousand followers, and it had been created far earlier.

It seemed that Conrad had been using this account to record the story of the three of us.

The very first post he made was a sarcastic dig at me for being so scheming.

"If I'd known that the prettiest student in the literature department could be won over so easily, I would've pursued her myself. I can't believe my buddy actually managed to get her. He didn't even bother telling me that he was going on a date. He just had to let me show up looking all unkempt in my pajamas just so that he would look better in comparison, huh? I can't believe him."

Someone in the comments joked about our friendship being just for show, and he replied with a smirking emoji.

Later on, when I caught a cold and ran a high fever, Izzy came to look after me. What he ended up writing was, "A certain someone is so pampered. He expects others to wait on him just because he has a fever. Still, I guess it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me. I got to spend some alone time with her. He sure knows how to create opportunities for me to get to know her."

It turned out that the two of them had been secretly having a thing behind my back the whole time.

Another one of Conrad's posts read, "We both added each other with alternate accounts without even discussing it first. Doesn't this mean we're totally in sync?"

That was the caption to a series of censored chat logs. The two of them discussed music, philosophy, and everything Izzy thought I wouldn't understand.

Conrad always knew exactly what to say to keep the conversation going. Izzy commented that talking to him was always so easy and effortless.

On Valentine's Day, Conrad sent a box of handmade chocolates to her office. He refused to accept her gift in return, saying he didn't want her to spend money on him. She was so moved that she said he was unlike any of the other guys.

They maintained the affair cautiously, each update carefully emphasizing it was just done out of consideration for me. His gifts to her were his way of thanking her for taking care of me. Their dinners together were just his way of trying out restaurants for me.

All his descriptions of me made me sound like an immature guy with a bad temper.

Thus, with the help of their self-deceiving lies, they relished in the thrill of their illicit relationship.

On Conrad's birthday, I'd given him the limited-edition watch he'd been eyeing for ages.

The very next day, he put it on and had a chance encounter with Izzy. And when he took a selfie of himself at the cafe, he "accidentally" included her in the frame.

He also took a photo of the two of them secretly holding hands when the three of us went to watch a movie together.

On the day Izzy agreed to marry me, Conrad posted a long outpouring of his anguish and frustration.

"I'm going to get an answer today," he wrote. "If she loves me too, we shouldn't miss out on our chance to be together."

Well, he did it.

That very night, Izzy didn't push him away when he kissed her.

They planned to take a trip together before the wedding, to indulge in all their fantasies without a care in the world. Thus, Izzy told me she had to go on a week-long business trip.

My stomach churned at this revelation. Their so-called claims about having to work overtime and attending company gatherings were just excuses to go on dates.

Throughout that seven-day trip, Conrad uploaded countless videos.

He said he wanted to replace all the memories that Izzy and I shared, so that her life and her future would be filled with memories of him in every corner.

Like some masochistic fool, I watched every single one of his videos. I saw the two of them go everywhere, from the restaurants to the hotels, from the boat trips to the mountain hikes. These were all places I'd been to with Izzy, but now, someone else was beside her.

As I watched it all, my heart went from being racked with pain to being completely numb. Toward the end, it even felt ludicrous to me.

It turned out that once a person's heart lost all feelings for another, even hatred felt like a waste of time.

By now, the sun was starting to rise. I'd made my decision.

The wedding had to be called off.

I turned on my laptop and typed an email to the guests. Every single word cut me like a knife.

Ten years of love and 20 years of friendship had vanished in an instant.

Before I could send the email, I received a call from Conrad. He was returning my previous call.

"What's up, Jamie? Why did you call me so early?" he asked breezily. "You shouldn't be missing out on your sleep, you know. You need to look your best for your wedding day!"

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

Seemingly sensing that I was out of sorts, Conrad immediately asked in concern, "Are you alright, Jamie? Did you have a hard time sleeping because you're too nervous about the wedding? Where's that rotten Izzy anyway? Why isn't she with you?

"Did she miss your calls because she was too busy with work? I've had it with her, you know. If you guys weren't getting married tomorrow, I would've called her up right now to give her a piece of my mind!"

It was all a bitter mockery to me.

Just moments ago, Conrad had uploaded that firm and heartfelt post about the finality of it all. And now he could calmly reassure me.

Eventually, I squeezed out, "It's nothing. I was just feeling a little nervous and suddenly got the urge to hear your voice."

"You're so silly," he remarked with an exasperated chuckle. "Relax. Tomorrow will be perfect. I promise. All you need to do now is go back to sleep and get more rest. Leave everything else to me."

All of a sudden, I heard a muffled exclamation. It was Izzy's voice.

Holding back my tears, I asked, "Are you hiding anything from me, Conrad?"

He was silent for a moment before exclaiming in a flustered voice, "What are you even talking about, Jamie? What on earth is going on with you?"

"Put your phone on speaker mode," I said.

Conrad was confused, but he did it anyway.

"Conrad, Izzy," I called out in a firm, determined voice. "I've decided to call off the wedding. I hope you two will get to be together and live happily ever after."