Chapter 1
Chapter 1
While scrolling through Instagram, a photo caught my eye.
Looking past the row of glamorous people in the foreground, | noticed a young man lounging on the sofa behind
them, casually absorbed in his phone.
His hand, propped against the sofa, partially obscured his face, but I could still make out his distinctive profile -
the strong nose bridge and defined brow.
| hesitated, then opened my gallery to compare the photos | had of Alex. The resemblance was uncan
After sdeliberation, | messaged Victoria Bennett, a college acquaintance | only interacted with through likes.
“Hi, could | ask who this person is?” | sent her the photo, noticing she'd deliberately blurred that particular
section.
Her response csurprisingly quick.
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“Why are you asking about him? Trust me, he’s not someone you should be curious about.”
“No reason,” | replied. “He just looks a bit like my boyfriend.”
The similarity was striking. | knew every detail of Alex's face - | could even sketch the exact curve of his frown
from memory.
Victoria's messages cflooding in.
“Emma, are you dreaming? Even my husband can barely get a word in with him. How could your boyfriend,
making what - three grand a month? - have any connection to someone like that?”
“What, finally coming to your senses? Planning to dump that boyfriend of yours who has nothing going
for him?”
| cut off her snide remarks with a cute thank-you gif. “Just asking. That's all.”
Victoria had always been competitive. Ever since freshman year when my makeup-free photo beat hers in the
unofficial campus beauty rankings, she'd turned everything into a competition.
Later, she married the heir to a Fortune 500 company, while | devoted myself to my relationship with Alex, a
supposedly struggling young professional.
That's when she graciously allowedaccess to her social media, as if grantinga window into her
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Seven Years of Love Seven Minutes
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Chapter 1
superior world.
Switching to Alex’s chat, | asked, “Coming hsoon?”
My contact, saved as
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Alex,” replied quickly.
He sent a photo of his office conference room, followed by a sad kitten emoji.
“Still working overtime. Don’t wait up, get ssleep.”
“You're working so hard! Love you” | responded with a couple of hugging and kissing emojis before tucking my
phone away contentedly.
This made sense.
This was my boyfriend - Emma Walker's Alex - just another working-class guy living paycheck to paycheck.
How could he possibly have any connection to Victoria's world of privilege?
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Chapter 2
Chapter 2