Chapter 1

"Sign this divorce agreement, and walk away with nothing. Just looking at you makes me sick," said Samuel in an icy and harsh tone as he tossed the document in my face. It was all because his beloved returned to the country.

I looked at Samuel—the man I'd loved for five years, the man I'd spent five years imitating someone else for—and suddenly, it all seemed ridiculous. In silence, I picked up the pen and signed my name. Then, right before his eyes, I took the pregnancy test report from my bag and tore it up bit by bit.

I said, "I'm not keeping this child. Samuel, we're done for good. Let's never meet again."

He froze, and for the first time, I saw something other than coldness in his eyes. But it was too late.

*****

The air hung thick and heavy, reeking of ominous foreboding.

I stood in the living room, still holding the glass of milk. I just warmed it the way Samuel liked it.

Samuel Gordon came home later than usual.

He slung his suit jacket casually over his arm, his face set in that familiar cold indifference I'd grown used to.

But tonight, that indifference seemed laced with shards of ice.

Instead of going to the sofa, Samuel came straight at me.

Without so much as a word, Samuel flung a stack of papers onto the coffee table in front of me.

The stack of papers landed heavily on the table with a dull thud.

The bold words "Divorce Agreement" glared at me from the top of the page, stinging my eyes.

Time seemed to freeze.

My eyes were glued to those papers, and my mind was completely blank, unable to process what I was seeing.

Divorce?

The word hit like a boulder crashing into the calm lake of my heart, only to be consumed by deeper, colder feelings before any waves of shock could even rise.

As I held the cup, the faint warmth seeping through the glass to my fingertips felt almost laughable.

It couldn't even begin to thaw the ice inside me.

The milk was still warm.

But Samuel was already ice-cold.

It took me forever to speak. When I did, I found my voice unbelievably hoarse and dry.

I asked, "Why?"

My trembling voice was so faint I could barely hear myself.

My gaze tore away from that document and clashed with Samuel's icy eyes.

It was these very eyes that once drew me in so deeply that I was willing to abandon everything.

Now there was nothing in Samuel's eyes but cold scrutiny and impatience.

Samuel's words stabbed like a venomous blade, finding every soft spot.

"Sign this divorce agreement," Samuel said.

He paused, sweeping his gaze over me like I was trash.

"Leave with nothing," he added.

Samuel asked me to leave with nothing.

Those words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest, leaving me gasping for breath.

During those five years of marriage, I gave Samuel my all.

I made Samuel my entire world. I abandoned my studies, threw away my dreams, and sanded down every rough edge of myself, just to be the perfect wife.

After everything, this was all I got?

The absurdity drowned me in raw grief.

Tears burned in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

"What did I do wrong?

"Did these five years... mean absolutely nothing to you?" I asked again, the choked tremor in my voice taking me aback.

I searched Samuel's face for any flicker of reluctance.

Samuel just frowned. That look of annoyance directed at me, one I knew all too well.

"Vivian's back."

At last, Samuel tossed out a reason in a light tone.

But those words hit me like thunderbolt.

Vivian Lloyd.

That name was like a key.

It wrenched open the long-sealed box in my heart labeled "stand-in".

It all clicked.

That was why.

I got it.

Those sudden icy stares he'd throw at me in the dead of night.

Those sudden sighs during chats.

Those moments when he looked at me, but his gaze drifted far away.

I used to think it was because I wasn't good enough and failed to mirror Vivian well.

Now I got it. It was never about how much I resembled Vivian.

Now that the real deal was back, a stand-in like me just got tossed aside.

My heart felt like it was being crushed in an iron fist. The pain was so sharp that I doubled over.

The milk glass slipped and crashed onto the rug.

The still-warm milk splattered across the expensive rug, leaving a stain.

That milky-white stain was a fitting footnote to my absurd life over the past five years.

I was such a fool to think I was the one and only Melissa.

I used to believe that even if I was a stand-in living in the shadow, I could still get some light.

What a fucking joke.

For five years, I was just putting on a free imitation show for Samuel.

Now the curtain had fallen, but he wasn't satisfied, and he wouldn't even give me my severance pay.

I could almost hear my heart cracking.

A steep price to pay for my own stupidity.