Chapter 2
William was Mandy's son. Me? I was nothing more than a substitute for Mandy.
Mandy went missing when she was little.
So her parents, Peter and Emily Jennings, adopted me from an orphanage. They poured all their love for Mandy into me.
They'd cook Mandy's favorite dishes, dress me in her style, and force me into her piano lessons.
My entire life was molded to match how Peter and Emily remembered Mandy.
I became the sensible, obedient, and gentle Vivian.
When I was fifteen, Mandy came back.
Mandy's life was a mix of misfortune and luck.
She went missing as a child, but instead of suffering the hardships of novels and dramas, she was adopted by a wealthy couple overseas.
They treated her well, raising her to be bright, confident, warm, and generous—the complete opposite of me.
Naturally, she commanded the room.
Naturally, I was expected to surrender everything, including Henry.
My engagement to Henry was nothing more than a business deal.
Peter and Emily set it up with the Goodman family for corporate interests, and they never bothered to ask what I wanted.
No one knew how happy I was the day we got engaged.
I'd always had a crush on Henry. So that engagement, even if just for show, was everything I'd ever wished for.
When Mandy came back into the picture, Peter and Emily worried she might reject the arrangement, so they held back from intervening.
They simply suggested she and Henry spend time together.
If nothing sparked between them, the match would still fall to me.
Mandy was like sunshine itself: radiant and impossible to ignore.
She won everyone over instantly, connecting effortlessly with everyone she met. Everyone adored her.
Me? I was a one-man war in a corner no one bothered to look at.
Later, Mandy married her college senior, and together they had a child.
And just like I'd always hoped, I ended up marrying Henry.
I always believed Henry never had feelings for Mandy. There was nothing romantic between them—or so I thought, until the day of that tragic car accident.
In her final moments, Mandy asked Henry to take care of her baby, who wasn't even a year old yet.
Henry gave the baby the name William Goodman.
Only then did I realize William and Mandy had once been secretly together.
Back when they still loved each other, Mandy married someone else out of spite after a heated argument, and Henry ended up marrying me instead.
That was the first time I ever saw Henry so devastated.
He stood outside Mandy's hospital room, looking like he'd lost his soul; he was like a shell of a man.
Mandy called me to her bedside. With her last breath, she gripped my hand tightly, her voice harsh. "Vivian, you'd better treat my son well. This is what you owe me."
I knew exactly what she meant.
If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have been adopted by Peter and Emily, and I wouldn't have ended up marrying Henry.
It was what I owed her, so I agreed.
I used to be her substitute as a daughter. Later, I was her substitute as a mother.
*****
Outside, the wind and snow were growing fiercer.
Hearing my answer, Henry and Yvette seemed momentarily stunned.
They all knew I once valued William above life itself. Now, I seemed not to care at all.
Yvette quickly stepped in, her tone full of reproach. "Vivian, don't say things like that. William will be hurt if he hears you."
William was stunned for a moment, but his expression soon shifted to impatience.
He stubbornly scowled, "I'm not sad. Honestly, it's better if you leave."
He glared at me, blunt and rude. "Didn't you say you were leaving? So why are you still hanging around?
"You just don't want Yvette to celebrate my birthday with me, so you're saying all this on purpose. You're trying to make a scene."
Funny thing was, I was the one who taught him the phrase "Make a scene"; I never thought he'd use it against me so soon.
I held back my tears and nodded at him. "My ride hasn't arrived yet. I'll leave as soon as they do."
But William still didn't believe me. For someone his age, he was already pretty good at being snarky.
He sneered, "What do you mean the person picking you up hasn't come yet? What if they never come? Are you going to stay here forever?
"You're just making excuses. You're not going anywhere."
The tension in the room was suffocating. Yvette stepped in to smooth things over.
She said, "Vivian, don't say things out of anger. William is just a child; he doesn't know any better. Don't be angry with him.
"Everything that happened today is my fault. If you really don't want me around, I swear I won't show up again."
Yvette always knew how to make herself look good: graceful, always the bigger person, which only made me seem more unreasonable by comparison.
And her words made it clear she didn't think I'd actually leave
It wasn't just Yvette and William; Henry was no different.
Henry looked fed up with the whole scene.
He rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. His eyes landed on me, and he said slowly, "Vivian, just put the suitcase down. I can pretend none of this ever happened."
He clearly didn't believe I'd actually leave, so this was his way of keeping the peace.
I was at a loss for words.
They all saw it as me throwing a fit, being difficult for no reason.
No one believed I actually meant what I said.