Part 1The Lover in the Shadows

I’d been in a secret relationship with my roommate’s CEO cousin for three years.

Today, he hit me with some news.

“My cousin is bringing her boyfriend of three years to meet her parents in a bit.”

Then he clapped me on the back. “Hey, when are you going to bring your little girlfriend around for me to meet?”

I had no idea how to answer him. I mumbled an excuse and escaped to the balcony, dialing his cousin’s number.

She hung up on me. When I turned around, my girlfriend was standing in the doorway, her arm linked with another man’s.

The smile on her face vanished the second she saw me.

“What are you doing in my house?”

* * *

The question snapped out of her, sharp and accusatory. Every eye in the room turned to me.

Realizing her mistake, Isabella’s tone softened.

“Matt, what a surprise. I thought you were still on your business trip.”

Under the curious gaze of her entire family, I froze for a second before managing a bitter smile, forcing myself to play along.

A sharp pain lanced through my chest. So, this is what it felt like to be a secret. The one who couldn’t be seen in the light.

A thousand questions were screaming in my head, but seeing her there, so composed, I lost the will to ask any of them.

Suddenly, the whole charade just felt pointless.

“Just got back,” I said, my voice steady. “Didn’t have a chance to notify you, Ms. Jiang.”

My compliance seemed to satisfy her. The tension in her face eased.

Dinner was a masterclass in performance art, a perfect family gathering.

I feigned an instant camaraderie with Isabella’s boyfriend, Leo. We clinked glasses, traded stories, and exchanged contact information.

I didn’t say a single word to Isabella all night. After dinner, I went home alone.

I sat on the sofa, the image replaying in my mind: Isabella on Leo’s arm, proudly introducing him to her parents as her boyfriend.

It was everything I had ever dreamed of for us.

I had wanted her to make us public, to take me home to meet her parents. I would have told them I’d spend my life cherishing her, protecting her from any harm.

Instead, I was a rat, scurrying in the shadows.

I sat there until midnight, when Isabella finally came home.

This should have been the moment the dam broke. Our fights always followed the same pattern: a tense quiet, then accusations, shouting, excuses, blame, and finally, the cold shoulder.

But tonight, I felt nothing. The energy for the fight was gone. It all felt meaningless.

After changing her shoes, she must have noticed my unnerving silence. For once, she spoke first.

“I only brought Leo to meet them because my parents have been pressuring me to get married. He was just doing me a favor, playing the part for a day to get them off my case.”

“Mm,” I said, acknowledging I’d heard her.

I offered nothing else.

By all accounts, my response was perfectly reasonable.

But a second later, she was the one who was angry.

The impatience in her voice was so sharp it made me look up.

“Matt, I just explained everything to you. What is with this attitude?”

Her words churned in my mind, a rising vortex of frustration. I couldn't stop myself.

“You asked your assistant to work overtime to play your boyfriend? Why didn’t you just ask me? I’m your actual boyfriend!”

“Because you would have embarrassed me in front of them!”

The words hung in the air. She ripped her purse from her shoulder and threw it at me before storming into the bedroom. The door slammed with enough force to shake the frame.

The bag was a gift from Leo.

A discounted Coach bucket bag from an outlet mall, yet she carried it everywhere. She’d shield it from the rain with her own body.

The Chanel Classic Flap I’d bought her? Leo had taken one look at it, declared it a fake, and she’d slashed it with scissors and thrown it in the trash.

The difference between being loved and not being loved was so painfully obvious.

And the joke was on me, for refusing to see it for so long.

Her words just now, spoken in the heat of anger, were the unvarnished truth.

She thought I wasn't good enough for her.

And maybe she was right. I met her in college, and because of her, I didn’t return to my own family after graduation. I went to work for her company.

She was the CEO of Astra Group. In everyone else's eyes, I was just some leech who got a job through connections, living off her.

I was an embarrassment. Leo, on the other hand, was her perfect match—her equal, someone who made her look good.

It didn’t matter that I had spent three years dedicating myself to her, catering to her every whim. I could never compete with him.

It was time to end this three-year farce.

I pulled a spare duvet from the closet and spent the night in the study.

For the first time in a long time, I slept soundly.

The next morning, I packed my work bag and left for the office. As I was leaving our complex, I got a call from the dealership.

“Mr. Shaw? Your car service is complete. When would you like to pick it up?”

Last month, Isabella had lent my car to Leo without asking.

When he’d returned it last week, he casually mentioned a few new scratches. I’d wanted to confront him, but Isabella had defended him, so I’d let it go and sent the car in for a tune-up.

I arrived at the dealership a short while later.

The manager handed me the keys with a knowing, conspiratorial smile. He gestured to a small gift bag with the dealership’s logo sitting on the passenger seat.

“Hey, kid, we put everything back in the bag for you. I get it, you’re young, but maybe try to control yourselves a bit. And next time, probably best to clear out your valuables before you bring it in for service. It was a little awkward for my mechanics.”

Confused, I walked over and opened the bag. Inside was a set of risqué lingerie and a pair of nipple covers adorned with tiny bells.

There was only one conclusion to draw about how those items ended up in my car.

And I had never, not once, done anything like that with Isabella in my car.

Which meant it was her. And Leo.