Chapter 1

Seven years into our marriage, the media dug up my singer husband Jax's private Instagram account. It was a digital shrine to his love life, filled with daily updates.

"My wife looked so cute in her pink sweater today!"

"Wrote her a new song. She loves it!"

"Gave her a pink diamond ring. Her smile lights up my world. My girl gets everything she desires!"

"Second day post-concert...missing her already."

Tabloids had a field day: "Notoriously Arrogant Singer Is a Total Simp in Private!"

My best friend Chloe forwarded the articles, gushing, "You're so lucky! He's obsessed with you!"

A bitter laugh escaped me. I don't own a single pink sweater. And that breathtaking pink diamond? Never seen it.

I hated pink.

I did wear pink once. A long time ago.

It was during my pursuit of Jax. Everyone said he liked innocent, girly types.

So I bought a pink dress for our Christmas meet-up, burying my own dislike for the color.

That night, a heavy snow fell. I waited outside his studio, freezing.

Half an hour late, Jax finally showed up. He took one look at me and smirked.

"Rowan, you look like a pink pig."

Laughter erupted around him. I fled, the heat of humiliation searing through the winter chill.

After that, I never wore pink again.

My phone buzzed with Chloe's awkward attempt to smooth things over.

"Don't overthink it, Rowan."

"Maybe he says he dislikes it, but secretly loves it."

"We all know what kind of guy Jax is."

She was right.

In college, Jax was infamous for his sharp tongue and icy glare.

My roommate put it best. "He's gorgeous, but it's a shame he ever opens his mouth."

He tore into every girl who liked him. Except me.

He mocked my clothes, my food, my mere existence beside him.

Yet, at a class reunion, when I sat hidden in a corner, it was him who coolly beckoned me over.

"Hey, come sit here."

Later, he became a superstar.

At his first sold-out concert, he sang an entire love song, his gaze fixed squarely in my direction.

Then the camera found him. His face, impossibly handsome and utterly serious, filled the screen.

"Everyone, meet the leading lady of my life."

Lights flashed. The crowd screamed. And through it all, he was smiling at me.

Backstage, Jax's manager tore into him.

"Are you trying to throw away your career? Your fans?"

Leaning against the wall, Jax just smiled.

"You don't get it. My girlfriend's the dramatic type. If I didn't make a big show of it, she'd have made a scene later."

The fallout was real. His career stalled for years.

It only revived last year, when a new song swept the awards.

However, the person who presented him with the award was a friend who used to be far less successful than him.

That guy had dumped his girlfriend of ten years for his career, then shot to stardom.

So, a reporter asked Jax if he regretted his public declaration back then.

"No regrets."

Jax showed off the necklace on his collarbone to the camera.

It was a birthday gift I'd bought him after delivering takeout for five months straight.

He once said that necklace was more precious than any trophy.

But in his latest faceless selfie from his private account.

The necklace on his neck had been replaced with a pink Hello Kitty cartoon pendant.

He used to say that thing was too childish.

Yet now.

He practically gloated.

"Got matching necklaces with my wife!"