That night I was half-asleep when I heard someone carefully opening the door.
I smelled Chase's familiar scent as he slipped into bed behind me and pulled me into his arms.
I mumbled groggily, "Weren't you supposed to stay at a hotel until you wrapped?"
Chase bit my ear. "Too happy. Needed to see you immediately."
Chase loves me deeply. I've always known that.
Our families go way back. We've known each other since we were babies—childhood friends who went to the same schools from elementary through high school.
In high school, Chase was rebellious. He skipped class constantly and became the class troublemaker.
But even so, he showed up every morning just to bring me breakfast. He'd get me water during breaks and carry my bag after school.
Our relationship was smooth. We started dating in college, dated for seven years, then got married.
When he first broke into the entertainment industry, his looks got him tons of idol drama offers and people constantly asked for his number.
To reassure me, he pivoted to serious dramatic roles in his second year of fame—taking the hard road to carve out his own path.
But I knew he'd always been insecure deep down.
Over the past two years, his anxiety had gotten worse, which is why he kept bringing up going public with our marriage.
As I expected, the next day Chase's marriage made headlines and stayed at the top of trending topics.
After the initial shock wore off, people started digging into my background.
The livestream video went viral. A lot of regular people agreed that Sophie's swan-feeding was actually harmful.
Under public pressure, Sophie had to post an apology.
But I was the one most affected.
In one day, my follower count jumped from 20k to a million.
Most were just shocked, but the rest said I wasn't good enough for Chase.
Half my DMs were insults:
"She's just some nobody streamer?"
"What does Chase even see in her? Is he blind?"
"Unfollowing Chase..."
Some crazy fans even found my home address. The first day they left hate notes on my door. The second day they splattered fake blood on the ground.
The third day was Chase's wrap day. I was planning to pick him up from set when I found a dead rat on my car window.