Chapter 3

3.

After a restless night, I woke up burning with a fever.

I forced myself out of bed and ordered fever reducers and cough medicine on DoorDash.

While waiting for the delivery, I opened Instagram and saw Caleb's latest story.

"The boss lady is the sweetest. She made me hot chicken noodle soup and brought me medicine when I caught a cold~"

The photo showed a pile of cold medicine next to a steaming bowl of homemade soup.

Bridget used to treat me like that too. She used to cook for me and accompany me to every doctor appointment.

Ever since Caleb showed up two months ago, everything had changed.

All the tenderness she once had for me had been redirected toward another man.

Human affection was truly the most fragile, fickle thing in the world.

I opened my laptop and replied to an email from Onyx Records, officially accepting their contract offer.

Onyx was a world-renowned music label I had dreamed of joining since college.

Back in school, I had been the top vocalist in our music department, and singing was my lifelong passion.

To support Bridget's rising pop star career, I gave up my dreams and became her behind-the-scenes manager.

My own music career had completely stalled because of that sacrifice.

Last month, on a whim, I uploaded a few original demos to a streaming platform, catching the attention of an Onyx talent scout.

They wanted to sign me as a solo artist and send me to their headquarters in Los Angeles for intensive training.

I had been overjoyed at the time and immediately shared the good news with Bridget.

She had looked at me with teary eyes and asked, "Jesse, are you abandoning me too?"

Seeing her cry, my excitement had evaporated into thin air.

I had told myself I could wait until her career was completely stable before pursuing my own goals.

Now, I was done waiting.

The talent scout replied almost instantly: "Welcome to the team! How soon can you fly out to Los Angeles?"

I checked the calendar and typed back: "Next week."

I took one last look at my phone wallpaper―a candid photo of Bridget and me that I had secretly snapped years ago.

She had always refused to take photos with me, claiming a leak would ruin her public image.

Yet over the past month, she and Caleb had posted hundreds of cozy selfies together.

I deleted the picture and changed the wallpaper to a default image.