Chapter 1

"Are you positive about this? It's going to be rough out there. What about your old injury? How are you going to break it to your wife?"

I glanced at Yvonne Scott, my wife, and the suitcase spilled open on the floor, a pair of men's briefs lying on top.

I inhaled deeply and let out a wry laugh. "She's cool with it."

"Okay, then. Start packing. We're heading out in two weeks."

The director ended the call, and that was that.

Yvonne stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still dripping, and draped herself over my shoulder.

"Miss me, babe?"

She puckered up for a kiss.

I stepped aside and pointed at the briefs in the suitcase. "That's not mine."

She barely batted an eye. "Oops, those are Wade's. Got mixed up when I packed after our work trip. He's a client."

She tossed the briefs in the trash and reached for my face, her touch gentle.

"Don't sweat it. Wade and I are like family. If anything was going to happen, it would've happened. Plus, he's married. You've got nothing to worry about."

Her smile was too perfect, not a flicker of doubt in sight.

Her lips were inches from mine when the phone buzzed.

She glanced at it and spun around. "I'll be there in a minute!"

With her coat on, she was out the door in a flash.

I caught a glimpse of her phone screen, a name that read 'Wade Lawson'.

I forced myself to focus, pulling up a list of what to pack for a humanitarian mission to Avrika, jotting down each item.

Then came Wade's latest social media update.

[Nothing like a hot bowl of noodles to warm the soul. Thank you for your support in tough times.]

The photo showed a bowl with two fried eggs piled up on the noodles. Off to the side was Yvonne's hand, with the ring I had splurged on catching the light.

It was not our wedding band. That had been lost to time, just like the warmth she had never really shared with me.

For three long years in college, I chased after her, but she never gave me the time of day. It was not until our senior year, in the thick of our internships, that she got swamped with a tough case.

I showed up with a homemade meal to cheer her up, only to run into a troublemaker defendant with a knife in hand.

When I saw the knife heading straight for Yvonne, I did not think twice—I lunged in front of her.

The knife went right through my lung, but in a weird way, I was lucky. That was when Yvonne started to see me differently.

The stab wound left me with lasting issues. My health declined, and I would often find myself gasping for air, especially when my emotions spiked.

She had burned the midnight oil at the office before her trips, and I would drop by with dinner, keeping her company into the wee hours.

One stormy evening, she took my car for an urgent errand and told me to hang tight. I waited in the freezing chill for three hours, she never came back, and I ended up getting sick.

For three days, I was burning up with a fever, barely able to ask for water. Yvonne, busy packing, called me out for being over the top.

"Seriously? A little rain and you're at death's door? Get your own water. And hey, I'll be out of town for a few days."

With that, she was gone, luggage in tow.

I tried to get up, but I only made it a couple of shaky steps before collapsing by the bed.

Despair hit me like a truck, and I could not catch my breath under the weight of it all.

Seeing how differently Yvonne treated Wade on social media, I knew it was time for a change.

I quietly 'unfriended' Wade and, with a sense of finality, circled my departure to Avrika in bright red on the calendar.