His Fake First Love

Synopsis

This reality dating show had a wild twist: we could call our past selves from ten years ago. While the other guys were busy making up for past regrets and pouring their hearts out to their first loves, I just sat there, staring blankly at a disconnected number. My husband sat right across from me, his arm wrapped around his new flame, watching my misery with ice-cold eyes. "Cut the act, Sadie," he sneered. "You didn't even know me ten years ago. Alice is the one who saved me." Alice Grant nestled deeper into his chest, playing the shy victim. Meanwhile, the livestream chat was blowing up, tearing me to shreds and branding me a vain, credit-stealing liar. Then, the screen suddenly flickered to life. Following a burst of static, a teenage Simon appeared on the monitor—absolutely drenched in blood. It was the day he was kidnapped. The day he almost died. The boy was fiercely clutching a blood-soaked photograph in his hand. Written on the back was my name. He stared straight into the lens—straight at his future self—and let out a guttural, animalistic roar: "Listen to me, future Simon Clarke! If you ever do Sadie wrong, I swear to God I will haunt you from the grave! You have to marry her!" The studio went dead silent. Present-day Simon turned deathly pale. He reached out with a trembling hand to touch the screen, but the feed abruptly cut to black. I casually wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of my mouth and hit the mute button on my mic. "Well, Mr. Clarke," I said evenly. "Looks like you went pretty hard on yourself."