Hard to Endure Chapter 02

Hard to Endure Chapter 02

The whole way there, I lost count of how many times I sighed. At every red light, I thought about turning around.

I told myself that if Adrian was cheating, I could still pretend I didn’t know. While I was still going back and forth, I’d already walked into the club and stopped outside one of the private rooms.

Then another thought hit me. Maybe this would play out like the private-room scene in every romance novel. I’d overhear Adrian brushing me off, and I’d hear his friends mocking me. Then maybe we’d break up for good.

But none of that happened. The girl who’d picked him up leaned in close, and Adrian pushed her away, his tone cold. “I have a girlfriend. Have some self-respect.”

His friends backed him up. “We told you, and you wouldn’t believe us. That account really is Adrian and his girlfriend.”

Every single one of them was defending what Adrian and I had.

She was crying as she demanded, “Then why did you agree to see me? Why did you come to my birthday?”

Good question. Why had he? I strained to hear.

Adrian didn’t answer. One of his friends explained. “You know Adrian. He was always going to tell you face to face.”

Then I heard her again, her voice thick with tears. “Adrian, I want to hear you say it. Tell me you don’t love me anymore. Say it, and I’ll leave.”

That night, Adrian didn’t come home. It was the first night he’d stayed out since we’d moved in together. But I understood.

She’d smashed a wine bottle and slashed her wrist with a shard of glass, and there was blood everywhere. That was when Adrian panicked and finally gave in. “Yes. I love you.”

He scooped her up and rushed out the door. He never noticed me leaning against the wall right outside, lost in thought.

His friends noticed me, of course. Their eyes went wide, and they stammered, trying to explain. I pressed my lips together and smiled. “It’s fine. Go take care of things.”

I wasn’t lying to them. It really was fine. I was only a little disappointed.

I wasn’t ready to break up yet. We’d been running the account for over two years, and it still hadn’t done what I’d started it for. I’d even hidden our most viral video because it made me feel guilty.

That night, I drank a whole bottle of red wine.

Early the next morning, Adrian rushed home. When he saw me reeking of alcohol, he pulled me into his arms. His warm embrace wrapped around me, and everything I’d been holding in for so long came crashing down.

In a daze, I pouted, and the tears fell one after another. “Now you don’t want me either.”

Adrian stilled, then coaxed me softly. “Of course I want you. It was an emergency. I couldn’t leave her like that.”

We made up. Adrian even started filming couples videos with me again. Too bad our numbers kept dropping.

Then I saw a comment.

[Called it. They’re a contract couple. This guy doesn’t look like he loves her at all.]

Right under it, the app suggested a search, and the search term was the top comment from that video, word for word.

I never imagined the video I’d hidden would become the magic formula for blowing up new accounts. Repost accounts ripped it and spread it everywhere. A well-meaning stranger even slid into my DMs.

[Break up with him. He really doesn’t love you.]

I blocked her on the spot, then went through and reported every one of those repost accounts.

Adrian tried to explain the video to me a few times. He hadn’t expected me to lean in so suddenly, that was all. I didn’t care, so I smiled and cut the conversation short. “Babe, of course I know you love me.”

Then Vanessa Hart came looking for me. She was the girl who’d confronted Adrian that night. Her smile was serene, but her eyes were full of challenge.

She showed me her messages with Adrian. Three months earlier, from the moment her flight home touched down, the two of them had never stopped talking.

She looked at me with a sweet smile. “Don’t you think we look kind of alike? If I were you, I’d be the one to break up first. You don’t want that account to turn into a joke, do you?”