A chill ran through me. What kind of person is this? I couldn’t ignore the familiar details in the post, and my fear and doubt grew. I clicked on his profile, hoping to send a private message and find out who he really was.
But as soon as I clicked, I saw that all his previous posts had been deleted. I tried to message him anyway, but it showed an error. He’d disabled private messages.
My unease intensified. I stared at his profile picture, searching for any clue to his identity. I barely slept that night.
The next day, I waited until the afternoon before I finally messaged Jake: “Are you free today?”
A while later, he replied: “I’m on a business trip.”
A business trip? Just when I asked him to get a health screening? Why now?
My doubts grew, like a weed that couldn’t be pulled. I tried to reassure myself that he might truly be busy. I’d wait until he returned, and then we could talk about the screening again.
But that evening, I saw a photo on his friend’s instagram—a picture taken at a bar. Jake’s face wasn’t visible, but I saw a hand with our matching couple’s ring, the one engraved with J&L. It gleamed in the neon lights.
My heart sank. I immediately texted him: “Where are you right now?”
It took him a long time to respond: “Still out of town. Why?”
I stared at the hand in the photo, a sudden chill running through me.
For the next week, I didn’t contact Jake at all. He called and texted, but I ignored them.
By the weekend, my parents approached me. “Laura, did you and Jake have a fight? He’s been calling us, asking about you.”
“He wants to get married but refuses to do a premarital health screening,” I told them honestly. “I think something’s wrong.”
My parents frowned. “That doesn’t seem like him. Jake always seemed like an honest guy to us.”
I showed them the texts and the photo. They fell silent. Finally, my mom said, “Well, in that case, let me call his parents and see why he’s so against the screening.”
With my parents backing me up, I felt a sense of relief.
That evening, Jake called again.
This time, I answered.
The first thing he said was, “We’ll go get the health screening tomorrow.”
