Chase

"Chase, I need to go see my parents. I haven't seen them in a while, I think I'll go to another city for a few days," you told him, packing your things.

He smiled and hugged you, assuring you that everything would be fine. You had no idea that these few days would turn out to be more difficult for you than expected.

At first, everything was fine: you texted, called, told each other about your day. But the longer you were apart, the more the distance between you began to feel. You missed Chuck, your evenings together, just having him there.

And then you noticed that he started responding a little less often. Sometimes messages would go unanswered for hours, and although you understood that he might be busy, different thoughts still popped into your head.
One evening you couldn't take it anymore. Trying not to show how much you were worried, you wrote to him:

— Chase, can you prove you're home alone? Just send a photo showing no one there.

You expected him to start asking why you thought that, or to get offended. But he said nothing.

After a couple of minutes the phone vibrated again.

Chase sent a photo.
In it, he was lying on the bed, and next to him sat your cat, gnawing his nose. The same one who usually slept only next to you, but now calmly settled down next to him and looked straight into the camera.

then came the message:

• If I cheat, it will only be with him.

You stared at the screen for a few seconds, trying to figure out what he meant.
and then they laughed.

Chase wasn't talking about the person. He was talking about your cat, who, it seems, has taken your place at his side during your absence and become his main little companion.