Dilated Pupils

When the entertainment industrys big celebrity roundup scandal broke, Tiffany was posting her 'conquest' photos on social media.

The caption read: Battle-hardened, yet still haven't experienced the feeling of pupils losing focus.

I found it amusing and even shared the gossip with my boyfriend, Adrian.

But Adrian stared intently at his phone, his eyes bloodshot.

That night, Adrian excused himself, claiming he had to work late.

Hours later, the intern updated her conquest" photos once more.

"First 'pupil focus loss' experience: accomplished!"

This time, the man in the picture had a distinctive red mole on his collarbone.

It was identical to Adrian's.

1.

I'm not the type to just stew in silence, so I called Adrian immediately.

But after a few "dings," the call disconnected.

I stubbornly tried several more times, each call hung up instantly.

I left Adrian a message on our chat app, demanding he call me back right away to explain.

But the next moment, I scrolled past two new posts from Tiffany.

"Ugh, so annoying. Can some 'doting wives' develop a bit of self-sufficiency? Stop calling and disturbing people's beauty sleep!!"

"Called over a dozen times, truly frightening. I bet the doting wife will be kneeling downstairs at my apartment later, begging her husband to come home, right? (Mouth covered in a giggle)"

These posts were clearly aimed directly at me. At this point, I didn't need Adrian to confirm anything.

So, I announced our breakup directly on my own social media.

"Called my boyfriend, but accidentally woke up his bedmate. I felt truly bad, so I had no choice but to turn my boyfriend into an ex-boyfriend, just so the bedmate could calm down."

Then I messaged Adrian privately: "Unilateral breakup. You're on your own."

Even though I'd sent the breakup message, a part of me still hoped Adrian would offer an explanation.

We'd been childhood friends for over two decades; I didn't want our relationship to end so ambiguously.

A minute after sending the message, Adrian called me back.

"Summer, I'm so sorry. My boss was holding us in a meeting, so I had to keep hanging up on you."

"Do you know your breakup message scared me? Are you misunderstanding something?"

I didn't reply, but listened carefully to the background noise on Adrian's end.

There was the sound of typing, and I could faintly hear a man's voice hyping up his subordinates.

"Summer, listen, if you don't believe me, my colleagues are all working overtime right now. They'll think I'm slacking if I even call you back."

Seeing I didn't respond, Adrian immediately held his phone further away.

The typing sounds from the phone grew clearer, occasionally mixed with a few grumbles from overworked employees.

Could I really have misunderstood?

But Tiffany's posts were too coincidental.

Adrian then softly pleaded with me a few more times, seemingly being urged by his colleagues' glares.

After much thought, I decided to wait for Adrian to return home to clear things up.

2.

The next morning, Adrian came home, looking exhausted.

He had faint dark circles under his eyes, as if he really had worked all night.

But seeing me, he still forced a smile, trying to appear energetic.

He held up a bag and said, "Summer, haven't you been wanting to try the pastries from that new bakery? I specifically waited in line to get them. Try them while they're still warm."

The bag contained pastries from a popular bakery.

They were supposedly so popular you had to queue for an hour to get them.

My mood brightened a little. Maybe I was just overthinking things.

But after opening the box, I paused again.

I remembered the bakery's promotional images showed eight pastries, but there were only six here.

The pastries were also no longer warm, and even had some congealed grease on them.

They looked like leftovers.

Adrian noticed my confusion and explained, "Maybe the bakery was too busy and gave the wrong quantity. And I rushed home, so some of the filling might have leaked, which is why they look like this."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get my darling Summer the best-looking pastries. It's my fault."

Adrian resorted to his usual charming act, trying to win me over.

But after the events of last night, the alarm bells in my mind wouldn't stop ringing.

I didn't avoid Adrian. I directly took out my phone to check Tiffany's updates.

Sure enough, just fifteen minutes earlier, Tiffany had uploaded several breakfast photos on another platform.

"The man who abandoned his 'lovesick old lady' to sleep with me actually queued for an hour this morning to buy me pastries, supposedly from a bakery the old lady always wanted to try but never got to!"

The photos clearly showed pastries and popular new items from that very bakery.

On the table were used tissues and two sets of cutlery, and there were exactly six leftover pastries in the box.

For a moment, I didn't know whether to be angry or to just smile bitterly.

Adrian was willing to queue for an hour for Tiffany, but he couldn't even bother to buy a full box of pastries to fool me.

I placed my phone in front of Adrian, waiting to see what else he would try.

Adrian's face fell. Then, frantically, he reached out to grab my hand, but I pulled away.

"Summer, I know what you're thinking. You think I have something going on with that crazy woman, but I swear I haven't had any contact with her!"

"I really was working overtime last night, all the way until this morning. If you don't believe me, you should believe my colleagues, right? You've met Daniel and Robert before; they can vouch for me!"

As he spoke, Adrian called Daniel.

The call was answered quickly. Daniel, having heard the gist of the situation, vouched for Adrian wholeheartedly.

"Summer, you have to believe Adrian. All of us colleagues know how much he loves you. How could he cheat?"

"We worked overtime all night yesterday. I have video proof. If you don't believe me, I can send you the video."

Adrian also looked at me sincerely, his eyes watery like a large dog afraid of being abandoned.

I received the video from Daniel.

Everything in the video looked normal; they were indeed working overtime.

But Adrian, who briefly flashed by in the video, wasn't wearing the same clothes as last night.

I asked Daniel, "The shooting date of this video isn't yesterday, is it? Are you really going to use your integrity to cover for Adrian's lie?"

Daniel still tried to argue, but I shut him down with one sentence: "My mother just prayed for me yesterday. The oracle said that anyone who lies to me will have a year of bad luck."

Daniel, originally from a superstitious background, immediately fell silent.

3.

Adrian kept trying to explain.

But I was focused on only one thing: packing all of Adrian's clothes into a suitcase and throwing it out the door.

I stood at the doorway, gesturing for Adrian to take his things and get out of the apartment.

Seeing me so cold-hearted, Adrian also started to get angry.

"Summer, do you have to be like this? I've explained everything. I have nothing to do with that crazy woman, but you just won't listen to me and live in your own delusions!"

"How many more times do I have to say it? I'm innocent. I never cheated on you!"

Faced with his evasions, I said only one word.

"Get out"

4.

Adrian and I officially separated.

My friends all assumed I was single again, and some even sent me contacts for younger men, telling me to just relax and have some fun.

I wasn't in a hurry to start a new relationship.

Adrian and I had known each other for over two decades and been in love for ten years; the impact of that relationship wouldn't simply vanish overnight.

Moreover, Adrian was still relentlessly bothering me, which made me even less inclined to love someone new.

Seeing that I was unresponsive, Adrian packed gifts and went to visit my parents.

He adopted a humble posture and tearfully complained to my parents for a long time.

He claimed that other women were trying to seduce him, and when he refused, they tried to falsely accuse him.

After some back and forth, my father actually believed him and urged me to reconcile with him.

"Your father heard from Adrian. That woman tried to seduce him, and that's why she went to such lengths to destroy your relationship. You need to trust Adrian more. You two are going to get married. How can you always be so suspicious of your husband?"

I couldn't be bothered to listen to my father's old-fashioned nonsense about marital virtues, so I quickly said a few words and hung up.

Then I unblocked Adrian, sent him a middle finger emoji, and dragged him back to the block list.

Probably thinking that appealing to my parents had worked, Adrian went to my house for several days in a row to drink with my father.

After a while, even my mother believed his nonsense and advised me to give him another chance.

I was so annoyed that I decided to talk to Adrian in person.

Fearing Adrian might try some candlelight dinner, kneeling-to-propose-reconciliation trick, I didn't schedule a meeting in advance. Instead, I went directly to Adrian's apartment after work to wait for him.

Who knew I'd stumble upon a big surprise shortly after arriving?

Adrian walked ahead, his face cold, while a long-haired woman scurried behind him and hugged him.

"Tiffany, I told you, don't come looking for me anymore!"

Adrian seemed very angry. He struggled a few times but couldn't break free from Tiffany's embrace.

Tiffany buried her face in his back, laughing freely: "Adrian, stop pretending. Who was it who said they'd die happy in my arms? How could you forget what you said after just a few days?"

Her slender fingers caressed Adrian's face, then she blew a breath into his ear.

"I'm in my safe period today, and I haven't had dinner. Want to take me to your place for a bit?"

Adrian's face remained grim, but he stopped struggling.

Seeing this, Tiffany walked directly in front of him and kissed him.

They kissed for a long time, so long that I managed to record two long videos before they finally stopped.

Adrian cursed, "Are you that desperate for a man? Can any man just take you home?"

Tiffany chuckled, "No, it has to be a man I fancy."

Adrian snarled, "Are you a public transport vehicle?"

Tiffany said, "But aren't I the 'public transport vehicle' you love?"

The two of them were entwined for so long, they didn't even notice me standing nearby.

Perfect. I didn't need to talk to Adrian anymore.

The footage I had just recorded on my phone would be enough to shut everyone up.

Back home, I sent the uncut video to my social media, with the caption: "Two public transport vehicles illegally entered [Apartment Name]is it a distortion of human nature or the degradation of morality?"

5.

Over the next few hours, I received countless messages and calls, all wanting to extract new gossip from me.

A few friends even created a group chat to furiously denounce Adrian, with even his childhood bedwetting being cited as a sign of his scoundrel nature.

My mom called too, asking, "Summer, did Adrian really do something like that?"

I sighed, "Absolutely. I listened to your advice and wanted to talk to him properly, but when I went to his apartment building, I stumbled upon this."

"Ugh, Mom, I feel so exhausted, I don't want to love anymore"

I deliberately adopted a depressed tone, which made my mom scold my dad, telling him not to consider Adrian, that scoundrel, as a son-in-law anymore.

Over the next few days, the incident's popularity didn't wane, even spreading to old alumni groups.

Because of this, Adrian, who had been kept in the dark by mutual friends, found out.

He called, trying to get me to delete the video and clear his name.

"Summer, I don't know when you got to my apartment, but that day I was really rejecting Tiffany. She forced a kiss on me. I was the one being molested."

Banking on the blurry audio in the video, Adrian assumed I hadn't heard their explicit flirting, so he tried to fool me like an idiot.

"Adrian, stop treating everyone like fools. You're a young man, 6 feet 1 and 155 pounds, and you're telling me you were helpless against a frail woman's molestation?"

"You might as well openly admit you enjoyed it. At least then I wouldn't add another mark against you in my mind."

"Summer!" Adrian's tone was agitated.

"Do you know that because of this video, my company's management has already spoken to me, and my old classmates are all laughing at me behind my back? This was all just a misunderstanding, why do you have to post it online and ruin me?"

"Come on, Summer, quickly delete those videos and help me clarify with our classmates."

"Just say I was drunk that day, disoriented, and Tiffany forced a kiss on me. I promise nothing like this will ever happen again. We'll be good from now on, okay?"

I scoffed, "Adrian, did you 'slip' into bed with Tiffany too? Stop feigning sincerity. Even a dog's bark is more believable than you."

At this point, Adrian dropped his act of being a devoted partner and roared furiously:

"Summer! We were together for ten years, how could you stab me in the back like this?"

Even through the phone, I could feel Adrian's rage.

Yes, everything I did was indeed meant to spite him.

He thought I disregarded our past affection, but did he ever consider my feelings when he was fooling around with Tiffany?

If I were a lovesick fool, I'd probably be in agony right now.

"Adrian, I merely told everyone the truth. Is that considered a betrayal?"

"Let me tell you what a betrayal is: a betrayal is you lying to me to go mess around with Tiffany. A betrayal is you disregarding our twenty years of friendship, acting like a public transport vehicle while still expecting me to be your sucker and marry you."

Due to his guilt, Adrian unconsciously raised his voice: "Summer! I just made a mistake any man might make! Why are you so heartless? Do you have to completely ruin me?"

"I'm not ruining you; you're ruining yourself. But don't overthink it. Things like AIDS or syphilis probably won't be so unlucky as to infect you. The probability is likely zero."

With that, I intended to hang up, but Adrian delivered one last threat.

"Fine, Summer, don't you dare regret this! You're just jealous that Tiffany attracts men, aren't you? Then I'll be with her, and make you, this 'man-hater,' look even more pathetic!"

Adrian clearly didn't realize his threat had no effect on me.

Losing his love was like a shark losing a chicken bone.

For a while after, Adrian, to spite me, would constantly flaunt his relationship with Tiffany in various ways.

He not only posted intimate photos and gift photos of them, but also shared pictures of the ultra-thin condoms they used.

To ensure I saw them, Adrian even created a new account and paid for promotional ads.

Tiffany also boldly declared on her social media:

"It's 2024, and I can't believe there are still such old-fashioned 'old maid' wives out there. She got dumped by a man, and now she's taking it out on another beautiful woman (eye roll) (eye roll)"

"So what if I'm a 'thousand-man slayer'? Are you jealous? Just say it. Don't snoop and take pictures like a cockroach in the shadows. But it's all good now~ The little cockroach's darling husband is now my forty-ninth boyfriend. The wife must be crying her eyes out in the restroom~ (smile) (confetti)"

This prompted several mutual friends to send me screenshots, asking if they had lost their minds.

I replied: "Perhaps their brains are rotting."