He Cheated With My Neighbor, I Won Big

Chapter 3 Everything Felt Hollow and Meaningless

A sharp phone ping cut his words short.

I froze.

Vito hated all kinds of message alerts. He kept every chat on do-not-disturb mode—even mine.

I'd once gotten upset and turned off the mute for our conversation. Still, he muted it again the next day without fail.

It had been ages since I'd heard his phone make that sound.

A dull, stinging pain washed over my heart.

His hand, resting on my waist, pulled back in an instant. His fingers tapped quickly across the phone screen.

He seemed to be having a good chat. I even heard him let out a quiet laugh.

I said nothing and slowly pulled out my own phone.

A new i********: post popped up right away.

It read, "This guy replies instantly even deep into the night. What a sweetheart."

It was from Tiffany Wampler.

There was no photo and no names given. Even so, my heart plummeted straight away.

I opened Tiffany's i********: page and noticed she had made all her posts public.

It turned out she and Vito had been involved for an entire year.

One post read, "Thanks to great neighbor Vito for helping me find Ample!"

The picture attached showed Vito holding Ample.

Another post said, "Got myself a new running buddy."

Vito showed up in nearly every one of her posts, in ways that were hard to miss.

Then I saw an old post, which read, "The power's out. I'm so scared..."

This was the very first post Vito had ever liked from her.

I stared at the screen and spotted Tiffany's comment right below it.

Tiffany: [He's truly one of a kind. I told him I was scared, and he came over right away to stay with me.]

That day came rushing back to my mind.

The whole neighborhood lost power that evening. I had just gotten home from work and got trapped in the elevator.

Panicked and scared, Vito was the first person I chose to call.

He didn't pick up the first time.

I called again, and his voice was clearly annoyed. "Sabrina, I'm busy. This is just a trivial problem. Can't you get help from the building management? Did you call me, thinking I could pry open the elevator doors to get you out?"

I had no reply.

I was simply terrified, and all I wanted was him by my side.

Later, Vito made excuses. He said he'd been swamped and lost his temper without meaning to.

I'd truly believed he was busy working back then. In reality, he was over at Tiffany's place, supposedly "lending a hand".

By now, Tiffany obviously thought she had Vito completely wrapped around her finger.

She even opened all her i********: posts for me to see. It was an obvious provocation—she made sure I knew all about their affair.

I turned off my phone. Beside me, steady snores filled the quiet room.

Suddenly, everything felt hollow and meaningless.