Chapter 3

3.

By the next morning, my retirement was trending at number one across every social media platform.

Right beneath it at number two were Caleb and Carina.

I clicked on the link and watched the recording of Caleb's midnight livestream. He had sat precariously on the ledge of the roof, his eyes bloodshot as he spilled their four-year love story to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

He claimed they had started dating right after I left the country five years ago.

During those four years, they traveled together and shared a cramped, run-down studio apartment.

Even when they were broke and struggling, their love for each other had kept them going.

He worked multiple jobs to save up so Carina could start her own business.

Yet the moment I came back, I allegedly snatched her away from him like a selfish thief.

At that exact moment in the video, Carina burst into the frame and threw her arms around him.

"Caleb, I'm here! Please don't leave me, don't leave me…"

She broke down, sobbing hysterically into his chest.

In all the years I had known Carina, I had never once seen her cry.

When I decided to move abroad five years ago, she hadn't shed a single tear.

She had coldly brushed me off back then. "Then let's break up. I fell out of love with you a long time ago anyway."

Believing her cruel words, I packed my bags and left with a shattered heart.

Then, a year ago, she showed up at my doorstep in the States.

She forced her way into my apartment and kissed me with desperate passion.

She cried and whispered, "I never forgot you, Tristan. Breaking up with you is the biggest regret of my life."

I eventually moved back home for her, and she was the first person waiting at the airport gate.

She drove me straight to the beach, where she had set up an elaborate candlelit proposal.

Surrounded by a heart of flickering candles, she handed me a bouquet of red roses with devotion in her eyes. "I love you, Tristan."

Then, she slipped a positive sonogram into my trembling hands.

"You're going to be a father, Tristan."

At that moment, I was overwhelmed with raw joy and gratitude.

I held her tight and kissed her, believing our misunderstandings were finally over and that we would spend the rest of our lives together.

Now Caleb had appeared out of nowhere, revealing they had lived as a couple for four whole years.

When I had confronted Carina about him before, her excuse was always smooth and convincing. "He's just an obsessive pursuer who lost his mind when he found out we got back together. Ignore him."