Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
The phone kept ringing.
Nobody moved.
The stranger still held his phone out toward me, the picture of him and Tiana frozen on the screen.
A happy couple.
A fake memory.
A lie with a timestamp.
Three months ago.
I couldn’t stop staring at that date.
Three months ago, I was waking up next to Tiana every morning. Three months ago, she was stealing the blankets at night and pretending she wasn’t. Three months ago, she kissed me before I left for work and told me she missed me before I even made it home.
And apparently, three months ago, she was taking pictures with another man.
The ringtone cut through the room again.
Tiana looked down.
Her hand shook.
I noticed that.
Not because I cared anymore.
Because fear was finally showing on her face.
“Who is it?”” I asked.
She locked the screen.
“Marcus…”
“Who is calling you?””
“It’s not important.””
The stranger laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because he was realizing something.
“Not important?””
He looked at her.
“Tiana, you told me you were done with him.””
My eyes moved toward him.
“You knew about me?””
The man’s face changed.
A second of hesitation.
A second too long.
“Tiana said—”
“What did she say?””
He looked uncomfortable.
That was when I understood.
He knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
Enough to stand in my apartment, holding my controller, sitting on my bed, believing he was the person who belonged there.
Tiana stepped between us.
“Marcus, listen.””
I looked at her.
That sentence.
I hated that sentence.
Because every terrible conversation started with those two words.
Listen.
As if the problem wasn’t what happened.
As if the problem was that I didn’t understand.
“Listen to what?”” I asked.
She swallowed.
“I can explain.””
The man shook his head.
“No.””
Tiana looked back at him.
“Ethan.””
So that was his name.
Ethan.
The stranger who was playing my game on my console while wearing the confidence of a man who thought he had won.
He looked at her.
“You said you were single.””
“I am.””
The room went silent.
I almost smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was unbelievable.
“You are?””
Tiana turned toward me.
“Marcus, we broke up.””
“Two weeks ago.””
“Yes.””
“And that picture is from three months ago.””
She looked away.
I nodded slowly.
“Interesting timeline.””
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“Tiana…”
She looked at him.
“What?””
“You told me he moved out months ago.””
That sentence hit harder than anything else.
Not because she cheated.
I already knew that.
But because of how casually she had rewritten my life.
She didn’t just betray me.
She edited me out.
I looked around the room.
My old apartment.
My old bedroom.
Except it wasn’t mine anymore.
My clothes were gone.
My books were gone.
My pictures were gone.
But my PS5 was still here.
The one thing she couldn’t pretend away.
“Where did you meet him?”” I asked.
Tiana didn’t answer.
Ethan did.
“At work.””
I looked at him.
“You knew she had a boyfriend?””
His expression tightened.
“I knew she was having problems.””
“That’s not what I asked.””
He looked down.
And that was answer enough.
Tiana stepped forward.
“Marcus, this isn’t helping.””
I stared at her.
“Helping who?””
Nobody spoke.
Then the phone rang again.
Same number.
Same name.
This time, I saw it before she could hide it.
*Daniel.*
I felt something shift.
Because Ethan noticed it too.
His eyebrows pulled together.
“Who’s Daniel?””
Tiana’s face went completely still.
That was the moment I knew Ethan didn’t know everything.
He was not the secret.
He was only one of them.
I looked at her.
“Who is Daniel?””
“No one.””
I actually laughed.
A quiet, empty laugh.
“Do you hear yourself?””
She stepped closer.
“Marcus, please.””
“Please what?””
“Just go.””
There it was.
Not an apology.
Not an explanation.
A request.
Leave.
Like always.
I looked at Ethan.
He looked just as confused as I felt.
Maybe worse.
Because I had two years of history with Tiana.
He only had whatever version of her she had sold him.
And suddenly, I felt something strange.
Not anger.
Not jealousy.
Something closer to pity.
For both of us.
I walked toward the door.
Behind me, Tiana said my name.
I stopped.
Not because I wanted to.
Because some part of me still hoped she would say something that mattered.
Something real.
“I’m sorry.””
Two words.
Two weeks too late.
I didn’t turn around.
“Sorry for what?””
Silence.
I waited.
Nothing.
I nodded.
“Exactly.””
I walked out.
The hallway felt colder than before.
I made it halfway to the elevator before I heard the apartment door open.
“Marcus.””
I kept walking.
“Marcus, wait.””
I pressed the elevator button.
She came closer.
“I didn’t want you to find out like this.””
I stared at the closed elevator doors.
That sentence bothered me more than if she had screamed.
Because it wasn’t denial.
She knew.
She just didn’t want consequences.
“How did you want me to find out?””
She stopped.
“I don’t know.””
“No.””
I turned around.
“You do know.””
Her eyes filled.
“You were never supposed to come tonight.””
I stared at her.
There it was.
The truth.
Small.
Ugly.
Simple.
She wasn’t shocked that I found out.
She was shocked that I found out before she was ready.
“Who is Daniel?”” I asked again.
Her face changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
And I knew.
“You should leave.””
The elevator doors opened behind me.
I stepped inside.
“Marcus…”
I looked at her one last time.
“I hope whoever Daniel is was worth it.””
The doors closed.
But before they completely shut, I saw her phone light up again.
Another notification.
Another message.
And this time, I saw the preview.
*Daniel: She doesn’t know yet, right?*
My stomach dropped.
The doors closed.
I stood alone in the elevator.
Reading those words over and over in my head.
She doesn’t know yet.
Not I don’t know.
She doesn’t know.
Which meant one thing.
There was something happening that even Tiana was hiding from someone else.
And somehow…
I was the only person in that apartment who didn’t know the whole story.
I didn’t sleep that night.
I tried.
For almost an hour, I stared at the ceiling of my brother’s guest room, listening to the rain hit the window.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same things.
Tiana’s face.
Ethan holding my controller.
That picture.
Daniel’s message.
Eventually, at 3:17 in the morning, my phone buzzed.
I expected it to be Tiana.
It wasn’t.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then another message came through.
*Unknown: You don’t know me, but we need to talk about Tiana.*
I sat up.
My heart started beating faster.
A second message appeared.
*Unknown: She lied to both of us.*
I stared at the screen.
My first thought was to block the number.
My second thought was that I had already spent two weeks believing I knew the truth.
And I didn’t.
I typed back.
*Marcus: Who is this?*
The reply came immediately.
*Unknown: My name is Daniel.*
I froze.
The name from her phone.
The name from the message.
The person she didn’t want Ethan to know about.
The person who apparently knew something I didn’t.
Then another message appeared.
*Daniel: Before you hate me, you need to know what Tiana did with your money.*
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
My fingers went cold.
Because money wasn’t something I had mentioned.
Not to Ethan.
Not to Tiana.
Not to anyone.
I typed:
*Marcus: What money?*
The three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, the message came.
*Daniel: The money from the apartment account.*
I stopped breathing.
Because there was only one person who knew about that account.
One person who had access.
One person I had trusted completely.
Then my phone rang.
Daniel was calling.
And when I answered, the first thing he said was not hello.
May you like
It was:
“Marcus, you need to listen carefully because if Tiana finds out I contacted you, she’s going to destroy the evidence.””