Secret Love

Chapter 5 One-Sided Love

Ivy was in an unusually good mood that night. The moment we got home, she opened her laptop and created a new folder called "The Good Things in Life."

Then she began uploading the photos from that night one by one. There were more than a hundred in total: Finn, Ivy, fireworks blazing across the sky, drinks, street flowers, even the stray dog they had stopped to pet along the way. Out of every single photo she posted, not one included me.

I stood nearby watching quietly until my eyes started to sting. In the end, I looked away and picked up my phone instead.

At least the candlelit dinner reservation hadn't gone completely to waste. One of my friends had taken his wife there at the last minute.

Looking at the photos he posted, I finally felt a small sense of comfort.

I wasn't happy. But at least someone who genuinely cared about me got to enjoy the night I had prepared so carefully.

The newest message in the group chat was a screenshot.

Ivy had posted on i********: ten minutes earlier. The photo showed fireworks blazing across the sky.

The caption read: I made a wish tonight. I wished you would stay by my side forever.

The guys in the group immediately assumed she was talking about me. They started teasing me nonstop.

A: Damn, we thought your marriage was falling apart.

B: Turns out you two were just being romantic watching fireworks together.

I stared at the messages for a long time.

I started typing a reply more than once, only to erase it every single time. After staring at the screen for a long while, I finally gave up altogether.

The irony hurt too much.

Ever since Ivy and I got together, I had been the one carrying our relationship almost entirely on my own. I spoiled her without limits, spent money on her without a second thought, planned every romantic surprise I could think of, and slowly reshaped myself into the kind of husband she wanted.

But throughout our entire relationship, Ivy had never truly loved me back. She accepted everything I gave her as though it were only natural, yet she never once offered the same love in return. Looking back, the only time she had ever taken the initiative with me was during those early days online.

And now I finally understood the truth. Every bit of warmth she had ever shown me, every moment I once mistook for love, had always been because of Finn. Even from the very beginning, her heart had never belonged to me. After that, I stopped replying in the group chat altogether.

Instead, I opened my music app, shared a song named Fireworks Cool Easily to my i********: story, and quietly went to bed.

After all, it wasn't just the fireworks that had gone cold.