Chapter 2

Zoe's POV

The caption read: Starting our journey together! Thank you for being here ❤️

The video showed a dorm room, unmistakably UW by the purple banners on the wall. Madison was younger, her hair longer, but her smile was the same. The camera panned over to show a desk, textbooks scattered across it. Then a hand reached out to steady the phone.

"Hey, everyone," Madison's voice said. "Welcome to our first video! This is me and—" She laughed. "Well, he's camera shy, but you'll get to know him through his actions, I promise."

The hand waved at the camera. The same hand I'd held during our wedding vows. The same hand that had touched my face this morning when Alex kissed me goodbye.

I kept watching. Madison making ramen in an electric kettle while Alex's arms wrapped around her from behind. The two of them studying together, his hand absently stroking her hair. A date night at some cheap Italian place, their fingers intertwined on the table.

The comments were full of adoration: "You guys are SO CUTE together!" "Relationship goals fr" "Please never break up, I can't handle it" "When's the wedding?? 💍"

I scrolled through months of videos. Their first anniversary. Moving into a new apartment. Holiday celebrations. Finals week stress. A trip to the San Juan Islands.

The videos were wholesome. Sweet. Exactly the kind of content that would make 47,000 people hit follow.

They were also completely, utterly real.

I could see it in everything, the casual intimacy, the way Madison leaned into Alex without thinking, how his hand found hers in every frame like it was magnetic. The inside jokes, the comfortable silences, the way they moved around each other in that tiny kitchen like they'd been doing it their whole lives.

Alex had never mentioned any of this. Not once in the three years I'd known him.

When I'd asked about his dating history, he'd shrugged it off. "Nothing serious. A few relationships in college, but I was focused on my degree."

Nothing serious.

Not one word about being half of a popular couple's channel. Not one mention of Madison.

My phone buzzed. A text from Alex: Running late tonight. Might be 8 or 9 before I'm home. Want me to grab dinner?

I stared at the message for a long time before typing back: No, I already ate.

I went back to the account and found the breakup video again.

I watched the breakup video again and again.

They'd already met, they'd dated for three years, they'd broken up, and according to this video posted the next morning, they'd just gotten back together while I stood there like an idiot introducing them. I pressed my palm against my chest because my heart was beating so hard it hurt.

I kept scrolling through the newer videos where every single one was stamped with a date and time, Madison probably thought it was cute, that little timestamp in the corner showing when they'd filmed their perfect couple moments.

I started matching them to my own memories.

A video from six months ago, posted at 6:47 AM, showed Madison making pancakes with her hair in a messy bun while the camera caught Alex's arm sliding around her waist from behind, pulling her back against his chest. She laughed and tilted her head up, and even though I couldn't see his face, I saw the kiss.

That morning Alex had come home around seven-thirty with his face flushed and kissed my forehead. "Went for a run," he'd said. "Needed to clear my head."

Another video from three months ago showed late night footage where the lighting was dim, just the glow from a TV screen, and Madison was curled up on a couch with her head on someone's shoulder, Alex's shoulder, his hand playing with her hair and fingers threading through the strands. They weren't really watching whatever was on the screen because every few seconds they'd turn toward each other and kiss, soft and slow.

I remembered that night too because I'd felt awful, feverish and dizzy, so I'd called Alex first and got straight to voicemail. Then I'd tried Madison, thinking maybe she could drive me to urgent care, but her phone was off too. I'd taken an Uber by myself and sat in the ER waiting room for three hours with a 102-degree fever while nurses called people ahead of me, and by the time I got home it was almost three in the morning.

Alex had apologized the next day. "My phone died, I'm so sorry. I was dead asleep."

Madison had texted: OMG I'm so sorry babe, I had my phone on silent. Are you okay??

But they hadn't been asleep, they'd been together on that couch, kissing, while I sat alone in a hospital waiting room.

I clicked on the follower and Alex's face stared back at me from a similar private account I'd never seen before.

Madison's posts weren't hidden, though, maybe she thought one follower meant it was safe, or maybe she just needed somewhere to vent. The posts went back years, hundreds of them, so I started scrolling.

September 2022: "His parents still don't approve. He says he's working on it. How long am I supposed to wait?"

November 2022: "We fought again. I said if he can't commit, we should end this. He cried. Actually cried. Said he can't lose me."

March 2023: "It's over. I can't do this anymore. He chose them over me."

That must have been the breakup, because then nothing for months.

October 2023: "Saw him today. My heart stopped. God, I thought I was over this."

October 2023: "We talked for hours. He said he never stopped thinking about me. He said he made a mistake."

That was right before she "randomly" met me on the subway.

November 2023: "I met her today. She seems nice. I feel sick."

My throat closed up.

December 2023: "This is harder than I thought it would be. She trusts me completely. She has no idea."

February 2024: "He says he needs more time. More time. How much more time? I've been patient. I've been good. What else does he want from me?"

April 2024: "We had a huge fight. I told him I'm done being a secret. He begged me not to leave. Said he's working on it. I'm so tired."

The posts got more desperate as they went on, more frustrated but also resigned, like she'd accepted her role.

July 2024: "She called me her best friend today. Her BEST friend. I smiled and said she was mine too. I wanted to throw up."

I kept scrolling until I reached the most recent post from a month ago where the photo was dark, clearly taken in low light, showing Madison and Alex in bed together with sheets pulled up to their waists. Madison's head rested on his bare shoulder and his arm was around her, and you couldn't see their faces clearly but you could see enough.

The caption: "As long as he says he loves me, I can keep waiting."

A month ago. I tried to remember what happened a month ago, what I was doing while this photo was being taken.

The flu, I'd had the flu bad enough that I couldn't get out of bed, and Madison had called that evening with her voice weak and scratchy. "Zoe, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm sick too and I'm all alone. Do you think... could Alex maybe bring me some medicine? I don't want to get you more sick."

I'd felt so guilty because she was suffering and I was too sick to help her myself, so I'd told Alex, "Of course, she needs someone."

He'd left around eight and came back after eleven.

"She's really sick," he'd said when he got home. "Made her some soup. Stayed until she fell asleep."

He'd been gone three hours, and then he'd come home and climbed into bed next to me, wrapped his arm around my waist, and kissed my shoulder with her smell still on him.

I found another video posted a month ago late at night with the title "deep night talk."

I almost didn't click it because some part of me knew that whatever was in this video would be the thing I couldn't come back from, but I clicked anyway.

The frame showed a bed with dim lighting and sheets tangled, no faces visible but I could see bodies and movement, and Madison's voice came through breathy and broken: "Who do you love most?"

Silence, just breathing and movement.

"Answer me!" Her voice cracked. "Do you even love me?"

I heard crying.

Then Alex's voice, low and rough: "Don't cry."

"Tell me. Please. Who do you love most?"

"You. The person I love most is you."

Madison's crying turned to something like laughter. "You said it. You said you love me most. So you can't love anyone else, okay? Promise me."

"I know."

"Say it. Promise me."

"I promise."

The video ended.

I put the phone down on the bed next to me where my hands were steady now because I wasn't crying anymore, I'd run out of tears somewhere around the third video.

The person I love most is you.

How many times had Alex told me he loved me, and how many times had I believed him?

I heard the key in the lock.

"Honey, I'm home!" Alex's voice carried from the entryway. "What do you want for dinner?"

I was sitting on the couch, staring at nothing.

Alex walked into the living room and stopped. "Hey, you okay? Your eyes are red."

"I was watching a show." I said. "The ending was really sad."

He sat down next to me, concerned. "What show?"

"Just this drama about a woman whose husband and best friend betray her." I watched his face carefully. "What do you think she should do?"

Alex barely hesitated. "Leave them, obviously. People like that aren't worth it."

"Yeah?"

"Of course. If someone betrays you like that, they don't deserve forgiveness."

I nodded slowly. "Alex, do you love me?"

"What? Of course I do." He took my hand. "Where's this coming from?"

"Do you have any secrets from me?" I looked right into his eyes. "Anything you're hiding? Because if you tell me now, I can forgive you. I promise."

This was it—his last chance, the moment where he could be honest and save whatever was left between us.

Alex squeezed my hand and looked back at me with those brown eyes I'd loved for three years.

"No," he said. "I don't have any secrets from you, Zoe. I've never lied to you."

I stared at him for a long moment before I pulled my hand away and stood up. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed early."

"Do you want me to—"

"No. I just need to sleep."

I walked to the bedroom, closed the door, and locked it before sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at my phone.

I opened my recording app where the conversation I'd just had was saved.

He'd had his chance, I'd given him one last opportunity to tell me the truth, and he'd chosen to lie.