5
When I left the company, it had started raining outside.
I went to the front desk to borrow an umbrella from Lily, but she mysteriously pulled me aside.
Lily gripped her phone tightly, looking a bit nervous as she glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before asking, “Mr. Lin, do you know Jack’s Instagram account?”
I should know Jack’s Instagram.
But as far as I knew, he hadn’t updated it in a long time.
Lily handed me her phone.
I looked at the Instagram profile on the screen for an account called “Jack Knows” with over 1 million followers, labeled as a couple’s account.
I glanced at the most recent post from yesterday.
[M is taking me to see the Northern Lights in Iceland!]
There was also a 9–photo collage of pictures he took in Iceland.
Looking at the date, I suddenly remembered that just a week ago, I had wanted to go on a trip with Celine but she said she had a business trip. Then when I went to find Jack, he said he had to go back home for something.
Could it be that they had both lied to me and actually gone to Iceland together?
I thanked Lily and told her not to spread this around.
Back in my car, I searched for this account on my phone.
Scrolling to the bottom, I saw posts from two years ago when we had just graduated college.
[Graduation trip with M! I said I like the ocean so she brought me here.]
11:50 PMN
<
The photos were of Jack’s travels, including many that I had taken for him.
Graduation trips were popular when we finished college. At the time, both Celine and Jack had asked me to go on a trip with them separately.
I had to convince them for a long time before they finally agreed for the three of us to travel together.
To help them get along, I put in a lot of effort and carefully planned out an itinerary, looking forward to traveling with my girlfriend and best friend.
But I never imagined that they had hooked up that day, keeping it from me for two whole years.
[M rushed back from out of town in the middle of the night when she heard I was sick.]
I looked at the date – it was around the time my mom passed away.
The company was just starting up then, and Celine was traveling everywhere trying to secure project partnerships.
When my mom died of cancer, Celine was on a business trip in Shanghai.
I called her in despair, wanting her to come back and be with me.
But she said she really couldn’t get away, and would fly back as soon as the deal was done to be with me.
But even after the seventh day memorial service for my mom, I still hadn’t seen her return.
Yet the day after my mom died, when Jack had appendicitis and was hospitalized, she couldn’t even wait for the next day’s flight and had her driver bring her back that same night.
So it wasn’t that she couldn’t come back. I just wasn’t worth coming back for.
Tears blurred my vision, making it hard to see the screen clearly.
I closed my eyes and tears rolled down my cheeks onto my phone.
My heart was in so much pain.
It felt like countless ants were biting my heart.
I wiped away my tears and continued scrolling through Jack’s Instagram.
[One year anniversary! M took me to Disneyland, she’s my princess forever.]
This date was last June 1st, when I had planned for a long time to go on a trip with Celine. But the day before we were supposed to leave, she told me she had to meet an important client and might have to delay our trip by a few days.
So the important client she mentioned was Jack.
She didn’t go on a trip with me, but went to accompany Jack instead.
[M and I had a fight today. I was in a bad mood, but then she bought me 999 roses and a diamond ring. I guess I’ll forgive her.]
The photo showed their intertwined hands, with shiny diamond rings clearly visible.
I noticed a mole on the woman’s index finger.
Celine has a mole just like that on her hand.
I didn’t want to look anymore. I quickly closed my phone and leaned my head on the steering wheel, accidentally hitting the horn which blared loudly in the empty underground parking lot.
The sound briefly snapped me out of my daze.
11:50 PM
<
But as soon as I thought about how Celine and Jack had betrayed me for two whole years, my heart ached unbearably again.
I took a deep breath, started the car and drove out of the parking garage towards home.
But just as I was getting close to home, a car suddenly swerved out of nowhere. I quickly turned the wheel to avoid it, but ended up crashing into a tree.
