Part 2Three's a Crowd: Quitting My Couple Channel

After that day, Caden became Edith's leading man.

Fans naturally assumed that all those flirty lines and romantic moments that went viral were written by Caden.

Tens of thousands of comments flooded in overnight.

"So this is what her boyfriend behind the camera looks like. No wonder Edith kept him hidden for so long."

"He's handsome, and he can write scripts too. He really has it all."

"He and Edith are such a perfect match. They look good together, and their chemistry is amazing!"

I sat in front of my computer, staring at those comments.

A chill ran through me, and I stayed frozen for a long time.

They didn't know I was the one who wrote those scripts.

I taught Edith everything, from the exact moment she should turn around to the way she should look into the camera.

But because Caden was the one standing in front of the camera, all the romance became his natural talent.

All the hard work I put in became his credit.

I was the one who created their love story, yet they erased me from it in the end.

That night, Edith watched the finished video over and over.

She pointed at Caden on the screen and said, "He really is made for the camera. He has a memorable face, and he's very expressive."

I sat beside her and quietly hummed in response.

She seemed to have noticed my silence. Leaning into my arms, she said, "Holden, you're great too. It's just that your presence is a little too subtle.

"You're not really suited for this kind of intense emotional performance."

She said it gently, almost like she was trying to comfort me.

"You're more suited for behind the camera. You're calm, thoughtful, and better at keeping everything under control," she added.

I used to be happy when she said things like that. It felt like she understood me.

But at that moment, I studied Caden's sharp features. Then I saw my own pale, ordinary-looking face reflected in the dark screen.

There was a sharp pain in my chest. There was no wound, but it hurt enough to make my breathing falter.

The celebration continued.

Caden suddenly looked down and rubbed his ankle.

Edith noticed it immediately. She turned around and took out a pair of sneakers from a bag nearby.

"Didn't I tell you to wear this?"

As she spoke, she crouched down and changed Caden's shoes for him.

Everyone around them started teasing again.

"Edith is spoiling him way too much."

"No wonder fans say it doesn't look like they're acting."

I stood not far away, still holding a coil of cable.

Suddenly, I remembered the time I was supposed to appear on camera three years ago.

I wore a new pair of leather shoes that day too. They were meant to go with the white suit I had spent so long preparing.

I stood for six full hours that day. My heels were rubbed raw, and blood stuck inside my shoes.

When Edith noticed, she only frowned and said, "Holden, just hold on a little longer. Today is important. Don't delay the schedule."

I nodded, gritted my teeth, and stepped back under the lights.

But in the end, I wasn't the one to show up in front of the camera.

After changing his shoes, Caden walked over to me with a glass of champagne.

"Holden, when you edit tonight, could you leave a few extra seconds of the part where Edith and I look at each other?" he asked. "The fans seem to really love that part."

I hummed in response.

Caden suddenly seemed to look guilty and lightly patted my shoulder.

"You know, sometimes I feel uneasy too," he said. "You're the one who's really dating Edith, yet I'm the one pretending to be her boyfriend on camera."

He looked down, and his voice grew softer. "If it weren't for the channel and everything you and Edith spent years building, I wouldn't have done any of this.

"I wouldn't have held her hand, hugged her, or filmed those intimate scenes with her.

"Holden, you don't blame me, right? It's just work, after all."

Work.

That word could excuse anything.

Edith holding his hand was "work". So was her changing his shoes.

But what about the ache in my chest that kept getting heavier?

Was that part of the job too?

If it was, then this job hurt too much. It hurt so much that quitting felt like running for my life.

The business manager, Irene Brown, came over with a new contract. "Holden, the brand partner wants the next campaign to be a proposal-themed video.

"It'll ride on the attention from the third anniversary livestream."

I looked up in shock. "A proposal?"