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."