Chapter 1
I secretly married Simon Reed, the most aloof man of the elite circle.
Before the wedding, he handed me an agreement.
It stated three rules: no sharing a bed, no hugging, no kissing.
I signed it without a second thought. As if I cared about that.
After we got married, though? He started sneaking into my bed every single night.
I finally lost it and kicked him off. "Have you forgotten your rules?"
Clutching his back, he looked at me innocently. "Honey, I wasn't thinking straight back then."
*****
My name was Eunice Murphy.
Yep, that Eunice Murphy, the one who wrote "To the Oak Tree."
Sadly, poetry was not my thing. I could only write webnovels.
My latest webnovel just went viral. It was all about the whole real versus fake heiress drama.
My editor rolled her eyes and said, "This trope is everywhere."
I shrugged and told her, "Mine's actually based on a true story."
She wanted to know where I got the real story.
I said it was from a friend.
But honestly, that friend? It was me.
Yeah, I was the fake heiress.
My parents treated me like their precious little girl for twenty-three years, until one day, the hospital called and said there'd been a mix-up at birth.
I was in the middle of eating a chicken wing when I got the news. The chicken wing slipped right out of my hand and hit the floor.
My parents were as stunned as I was.
They kept telling me not to overthink it, but I caught them wiping away tears, hearts aching for their real daughter, imagining all the hardship she must've gone through out there.
They spent two whole days trying to comfort me.
Then they brought their real daughter home.
They even took her to change her name.
At first, she wanted to swap names with me, but for some random reason, she changed her mind and said she didn't want a hand-me-down name.
That was fine by me. I was never all that attached to the name Eunice anyway.
After a few days of chaos, my parents came up with a new name for her: Julia Murphy.
It meant youthful and sounded pretty nice. They obviously liked her name better than mine.
My family and the Reed family had an arranged marriage contract.
Simon's grandfather, Marcus Reed, and my grandpa were old buddies, and they set up a childhood betrothal ages ago.
That marriage was supposed to be for the real Murphy heiress, not for an impostor like me.
Marcus hadn't been feeling well lately, so he was pushing for the wedding to happen as soon as possible.
My parents kept dropping reminders, telling me I needed to be clarify with Simon that he was supposed to marry Julia, not me.
As luck would have it, Simon invited me to dinner that Sunday.
We sat across from each other in a fancy restaurant, and Simon had the classic aloof look on his face.
I spilled the whole story about my birth.
Simon fell silent after hearing my story.
I kept fidgeting with my hands, waiting for him to speak.
"Simon, that's the truth. You're meant to marry Julia, not me," I said.
Simon sat there in silence for ages, then finally managed to squeeze out, "Is that it?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
He sat up straight, shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, gold-rimmed glasses on, looking like he just walked out of a boardroom.
Then he spoke, calm and matter-of-fact, "I said I'd marry you, so I will. It's got nothing to do with anyone else."
I was so dazed, it took me ages to snap out of it.
"Oh," I replied.
Was that all?
Who did he think he was, pretending to be some big shot?
After dinner, he insisted on taking me home.
I tried to say no, but he wouldn't listen.
Our family driver was busy with Julia all the time now, so I had no ride.
As I was about to get out of the car, he spoke up.
"Come to the office tomorrow. We need to discuss the details," he said.
He sounded so serious, one would think we were about to sign some major business deal.
I gave him a fake smile. "Sure, I'll be there."
*****
The next day, I took a cab to Reed Group.
The assistant led me to the reception lounge, poured me a glass of water, and handed me a folder.
"Miss Murphy, please sign the prenuptial agreement," she said.
I opened it, thinking it'd be some complicated terms about dividing property.
But there was only one page inside.
And on that page, there was a line.
It stated: [There are three rules: no sharing a bed, no hugging, no kissing.]
Simon's signature was at the bottom right corner.
I stared at the paper for a good few seconds.
Wow, Simon was seriously narcissistic.
Honestly, he cared more about guarding his body than his bank account.
He didn't seem worried I'd divorce him and run off with half his fortune.
I flipped through the folder and asked the assistant, "Is that all?"
The assistant gave an awkward smile. "That's all."
"What about the assets? Aren't we supposed to talk about that?"
"Mr. Reed said there's no need. He trusts you."
Seriously, I couldn't even.
He trust me, just not enough to let his guard down.
Fine. I'd sign it.
It was not like I was planning to touch him anyway.
*****
The wedding was thrown together in record time.
From signing the agreement to actually getting married, it took less than two weeks.
Other than trying on wedding dresses and getting our marriage license, I didn't lift a finger for anything else.
The day before the wedding, Simon randomly called me out of the blue and told me to come try out the wedding makeup.
Seriously? Was Simon nuts? We were getting married tomorrow and he wanted me to test out makeup today?
When I showed up for the wedding, I realized it was only me, Simon, and a priest.
Neither of our parents showed up.
My folks took Julia on a vacation abroad.
As for why Simon's parents didn't show? I had no idea, and didn't care enough to ask.