Chapter 3

The next day, I took half a day off work.

I drove to a popular artisan bakery downtown and waited in line for bread.

I bought a banana bread, which was much more expensive than regular bread.

Unless you were told, you’d never guess it was banana bread from its appearance.

That was precisely its unique selling point.

After buying the bread, I called my friend Mark.

“Mark, are you home?”

Mark on the other end of the line sounded a little surprised.

“Yeah, just got home from the morning shift.”

“A client gave me some of that trendy bakery bread, it’s pretty pricey.”

“You like bread, right? I’ll drop some off for you.”

Mark didn’t refuse and even thanked me over the phone.

As soon as I rang the doorbell, Mark opened the door.

“Mark, here’s that bread for you.”

Mark smiled as he took the bag of bread.

“Thanks, Leo, you really didn’t have to.”

He seemed reluctant to let me in.

“Mark, we’re brothers, what are you talking about?”

“I really need to use the restroom.”

With that, I stepped forward, ready to walk inside.

He awkwardly stepped aside, suddenly much more enthusiastic as he let me in.

“Leo, the restroom’s over there. Go ahead.”

I nodded, quickly made my way into the restroom, and closed the door.

A quick glance around revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

I flushed the toilet and then turned on the faucet to wash my hands.

As I was drying my hands with a paper towel, I spotted an opened box of condoms.

My heart skipped a beat. Mark was single, I was sure of it.

This only intensified my suspicion about his relationship with Ashley.

I took a deep breath, walked out of the restroom as if nothing had happened.

“Leo, stay for a bit. Want a soda or bottled water?”

“Bottled water is fine.”

I twisted open the water bottle and glanced at the bag of bread on the coffee table.

“Mark, this bread just came out of the oven, you should try some.”

“I’m actually a bit hungry myself.”

Mark opened the bag and started eating the bread.

He even made an astonished expression. “This bread is so good!”

He ate several pieces in one sitting.

“Too bad Ashley doesn’t like this kind of bread.”

I deliberately dropped that piece of information.

Mark frowned, looking puzzled.

“Why doesn’t Ashley like this kind of bread?”

I answered with a serious face:

“She says the smell makes her nauseous.”

Mark nodded thoughtfully.

To my surprise, he ate all the bread before I left.

He even asked me to take the trash out with me.

As soon as I got home, I received a text from Ashley.

【Honey, I’m working overtime tonight. Don’t wait up for me, I might be here all night.】

But Ashley had never worked overtime in all her years at this job.

Most of the time, she even came home early.

I typed out a reply.

【Okay, take care of yourself.】

Today, I had lied to Mark.

Ashley didn’t get nauseous from the smell of the bread; she had a severe allergy to bananas.

And what I had given him was banana bread.