Our lives today are constantly being documented. Whether we’re uploading to our Instagram feed or posting to our Snapchat story, we’re always sending photos and videos out to our loved ones. This online collection of our worlds has made it easy for couples to feel close and connected even when they’re far apart. But sometimes, there’s more than meets the eye in an innocent picture — and a closer look could reveal more than the photographer intended. 

Iris and Thomas were an ideal match in the eyes of their friends. Beautiful and talented, Iris had just completed her studies at a fashion school. Handsome and ambitious, Thomas was dedicated to his job, which took him away from home more than Iris would have liked. 

Iris was gorgeous, and her talent for fashion and style only made her more attractive. With her new degree and interest in the industry, she had the world in the palm of her hands. 

As beautiful as she was, Iris was shy. She always had men buying her drinks or offering to take her to dinner, but her social anxiety kept her from following up. It was hard for her to form connections, so she stayed single. 

Many of Iris’ friends met their husbands on a dating app, so they encouraged her to give it a try. They told her that using an app would let her get to know the person first before she met them. Spending some time chatting with a stranger first would take away her anxiety. 

Iris was soon bombarded with inappropriate messages from men. Despite her friends’ success stories, her experience with dating apps was proving to be unpleasant. 

A good-looking man named Thomas had reached out to Iris with a sweet message, and after a few exchanges, he started messaging her all day. Those messages turned into phone calls that lasted hours, and pretty soon, they decided to take the next step and meet in person. 

The moment Thomas and Iris met, they were crazy for each other. He put her social anxiety immediately at ease, and pretty soon, they were spending all of their free time together. 

Unbeknownst to Iris, Thomas had been secretly planning a romantic trip to somewhere warm and tropical where they could enjoy some uninterrupted alone time.

Upon landing at their tropical island destination, Iris and Thomas dove right into vacation mode. They spent their days soaking up the sun on the beach and their evenings checking out all the romantic spots around town. 

Overjoyed at the sheer romance of the proposal, Iris cried and shouted yes. The couple had only been together for a year, but they both felt like they had known each other their entire lives. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. 

Iris and Thomas decided to have a small and elegant wedding with only their closest family and friends. It was a beautiful ceremony, and everyone felt the love in the room watching these two people become one. 

After the wedding and honeymoon were over, Iris and Thomas moved into an apartment together. They wanted to experience as much of the world as they could, and they were both looking forward to married life. 

Iris was able to work from home and spent a lot of her free time decorating their new place. Thomas had to be in the office, and he was determined to earn enough money so that he and Iris could live a good life.

Thomas’ boss gave him the unfortunate news that the company was experiencing setbacks, and they had to let a few people go. Thomas was one of those few. 

Iris had spent a lot of money furnishing their new home. So when Thomas was no longer bringing home a big paycheck, their finances took a major hit. 

Thomas spent a lot of time on the hunt for a new gig. After many unsuccessful interviews, he remained determined — and it paid off. Finally, he landed a position with an insurance agency. 

As an insurance agent, Thomas was required to spend a lot of time traveling. While it earned him a great deal of money, his new position left Iris alone at home more often than not. 

When he took the job, Thomas assured Iris that the constant travel would be temporary. He would be able to stay home more once he got a promotion. And after six months of hard work on the road, Thomas received word that he was going to be promoted. 

One of Thomas’s colleagues had become sick. This employee made a lot of long business trips, and his boss knew that there was only one person with enough experience to fill in: Thomas. 

After two years of marriage, Iris and Thomas were only seeing each other on the weekends. During the weekdays, Thomas was on the road working, and Iris was alone at home. 

Thomas was excelling at his job and slowly started to climb up the ladder of his company. Iris remained constant in her support, and with his steady income, focused on updating their home. 

Iris and Thomas did their best to stay in touch. But sharing their lives over social media only added to the loneliness they both felt. 

After a few years of living this way, Iris and Thomas grew further and further apart. Instead of the happy couple who felt like they had known each other for decades, they now felt like total strangers. Iris gave up supporting her husband’s career goals, and Thomas was too burnt out to spend quality time with his wife. 

Iris was unhappy. She messaged Thomas that she couldn’t go on being in a marriage like this and that something needed to change. 

In an effort to save his marriage, Thomas decided that he would find a job closer to home. By this time, he had gained enough experience that he was sure he could land a better gig with less travel. 

Thomas had decided not to tell Iris about his plan just yet. He was applying to new jobs and going on interviews, but he wanted to wait until he found something solid to surprise his wife with the good news. 

After weeks of interviews and applications, Thomas found a new position. There was just a week left before would see his wife and tell her in person that things were going back to normal.

Tired of feeling alone in her marriage, Iris blew up at Thomas. She blamed him for all their problems and her unhappiness. 

Thomas soon locked eyes with a beautiful woman sitting across the bar. The two began talking and fell into an intoxicating conversation that lasted hours. He hadn’t felt this excited in years. 

Despite the fighting, Thomas loved Iris. But he hadn’t felt a connection like that in years. Drunk off the drinks and this unexpected spark, Thomas went back to this woman’s hotel room and stayed the night. 

Instead of telling Iris about his infidelity, he told her that he was finally coming home for good and that this current trip would be his last. Iris was thrilled, and Thomas was looking forward to returning back to his wife. 

The picture Iris sent Thomas wasn’t much different than the ones she had been sending over the past couple of weeks. It was of her, casually sitting on their unmade bed. 

At the edge of the photo, Thomas noticed what looked like a hand reaching out from underneath their bed. Shocked, he zoomed in on the small detail that Iris had forgotten to crop out.

Sobbing and apologetic, Iris tells Thomas that she’s felt increasingly lonely over the course of their marriage. The more time she spent apart from her husband, the more she began to look for affection elsewhere. 

The hand Thomas saw under the bed belonged to an old friend of his. A man that Iris and Thomas had spent a lot of time with. When that man’s girlfriend left him, he started to reach out to Iris because he knew she was often alone at home. 

It seemed impossible that just an hour ago, Iris and Thomas had been in a happy place and making fun plans for the weekend ahead. With one photo, their lives and marriage were forever changed.

Despite his own transgressions that Iris still knew nothing about, Thomas decided to divorce Iris. He knew forgiveness was not an option, and he felt too betrayed to rekindle their romance. 

Thomas decided to book a trip to the city to try to distract himself and forget about Iris. He didn’t choose his destination for any particular reason. In fact, many of the places he loved to visit had lost their appeal after his divorce. 

Thomas had started his own marketing company and was working on getting it off the ground. Like any ambitious man, he took his laptop on vacation and attempted to get a little work done at a nearby coffee bar. 

A beautiful young woman had walked into the coffee shop, and he recognized her immediately. It was Angel, a childhood friend he had been grown up with. They had even attended the same high school. 

Thomas and Angel had dated in high school, but she had moved abroad in their senior year. The distance caused them to lose contact, and they hadn’t spoken until now. 

Thomas didn’t hesitate and decided to follow his feelings and talk to her. Angel was also sitting alone and smiled the moment she heard his voice. 

Angel, like Thomas, had also finished working. So the two decided to have a drink and catch up. Thomas told her about his recent divorce, and she was happily surprised. Angel still always had feelings for him and secretly wished they would one day reunite. 

Time flew by as the two caught each other up on their lives and what they had been through over the past few years. Their pleasant conversation made Thomas forget about all the drama with Iris and his divorce. 

Angel looked up at Thomas and asked him if he wanted to come back to her house for a nightcap. He didn’t hesitate and immediately said yes.