My Two-Faced Bestie

Synopsis

Alex had always had a cruel tongue. He once drove a classmate to transfer schools and pushed a friend into isolation, hurting everyone around him—until college, when I became his only exception. His friends even joked that I was the second person who could make him act civil. But three months after I gave birth to our child, Alex began lashing out at me with cruel words. As a result, I sank into postpartum depression and harmed myself dozens of times. One day, after weeks of neglect, he took me to a gathering with his friends. I stepped out to use the restroom. When I returned, I overheard them talking outside the door. "Alex, you only used Karina as a stand-in for Sophie. You hurt her for six months just to get Sophie back." "You had a baby with her only because Sophie can't have children." "And now you can't even let her go?" I touched the scars on my wrists, left by his cruelty and my broken state. It all felt absurd. He wasn't treating me this badly because I'd done something wrong. It turns out I had just always been someone else's substitute.