Hard to Endure Chapter 01

Hard to Endure Chapter 01

While we were filming a couples video, my boyfriend flinched back half an inch without thinking, and my lips brushed his Adam’s apple instead of his mouth. I wrapped my arms around his neck and teased him for getting shy.

Then the video went viral, and one comment shot straight to the top.

[Girl, he doesn’t love you.]

*****

Three years into our couples account, I’d had a feeling for a while that Adrian Shaw didn’t want to be on camera anymore.

To catch a trend, I spent two whole days coaxing him, and we barely made it before the trend died out. There was no script. All I had to do was a little magic trick for him.

Adrian watched me calmly. As for me, I was so focused on getting the hand movements right that I never noticed the impatience in his eyes.

Then I wrapped both arms around his neck.

The magic trick wasn’t really a magic trick. It was a girl offering up her whole heart in the hope of getting someone else’s heart back, so that both of them could be happy. That was the whole point of the video.

But Adrian dodged. Without thinking, he jerked back half an inch and tipped his chin up. I was already leaning in, and instead of landing on his lips, my kiss landed on his Adam’s apple.

As it happened, that was my favorite part of him, along with the little red mole sitting just off to one side of it.

We kept the take. I laughed and teased him. “Look at Mr. Big Shot Influencer, getting all shy.”

Adrian paused. Then he pulled me into his arms and gave a low “Mm.”

In that moment, I was thinking something simple. As long as he wasn’t cheating, I could keep looking at that face of his and pretend I didn’t know.

I ran a couples account. Of course I could tell whether he loved me.

I never expected the video to blow up. It got over a hundred million views and more than a million likes, and that one comment had more than twice as many likes as the video itself.

Oh. So Adrian didn’t love me. I wanted to correct that commenter. It wasn’t that Adrian didn’t love me. It was that he didn’t love me anymore.

Every so often, when I got into an argument with myself, I’d ask a couple of questions. Did it really matter whether he loved me? We were still together, weren’t we?

Still, I hid the video, especially after I looked up and saw Adrian busy in the kitchen.

He had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and he was wearing sweatpants with a purple Kuromi apron tied over them. The corner of my mouth tugged up.

I turned off my phone, walked up behind him, and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Is it ready yet? I’m starving, babe.”

I was a picky eater, and my brother had spoiled me that way growing up. Plenty of chefs had never managed to get the flavors right, but Adrian had nailed every one of them. That was one of the reasons I liked him.

His back stiffened slightly, and I let go at just the right moment. “How about some wine tonight?”

Adrian gave a flat “Mm.” A second later, he changed his mind. “I have to head out after dinner, so I’ll pass.”

Okay, then. I lowered my eyes and poured the red wine into the decanter.

Over on the couch, Adrian’s phone wouldn’t stop ringing. He set a plate on the table and checked his watch. He wasn’t even going to stay and eat with me.

On his way out, he left the umbrella for me and ruffled my hair. “It’s raining. If you go out, take the umbrella.”

I smiled and nodded. The door closed, and my smile dropped.

My eyes landed on the little cat-shaped key tray. Whatever this was, it had to be pretty urgent for Adrian to forget his car keys. I couldn’t help thinking about that comment, so I went downstairs after him.

It was pouring. The elevator was stuck on the parking level, so I took the stairs. I got there just in time to see Adrian climb into a luxury sports car. The person picking him up was a girl.

I only caught a glimpse of her, but it reminded me of the photo I’d found tucked in Adrian’s wallet back when we first got together. My heart skipped a beat.

My body was already moving toward his car. I opened the door, slid in, started the engine, and stepped on the gas. Before I knew what I was doing, I was following them.