Chapter 1
My husband, Jeremy Lawson, had changed.
He started cooking, doing housework, and even queued up to buy me blind boxes, something he used to hate.
He'd even line up for hours to grab the ones I wanted.
I was thrilled with his transformation and never questioned it.
But one night, I woke up in the middle of the night, desperate to pee.
The moment I opened my eyes, I nearly had a heart attack.
*****
Jeremy was hovering over me, his face about a fist's length away from mine, staring at me with such intensity it made my blood run cold.
When Jeremy saw I was awake, he flashed a wide, unsettling grin.
"Honey, you're up! Let's play a game together," he said.
I pushed him aside and hurried to the bathroom.
By the time I got back, he was already asleep.
I barely slept that night, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
It wasn't until morning that I suddenly remembered. When Jeremy looked at me, his eyes had no whites at all. They were pitch black.
I stood in the doorway, watching Jeremy bustling around in the kitchen.
The homely atmosphere made everything feel almost unreal, like I was caught in a dream.
I told myself that those eyes last night must've just been my imagination.
"Honey, come have breakfast!" Jeremy called, after putting away his apron and turning to face me.
He hung up his apron, turned around, and called me over.
I sat down at the table, but seeing the half-raw meat on my plate made me feel queasy.
"Babe, why aren't you eating?" Jeremy asked.
I replied, "Just not hungry."
He insisted, saying, "But you need to eat to have energy. Come on, just a little."
Jeremy reached over, offering me a piece of meat from his plate, holding it right up to my lips. His eyes were fixed on me, and his grin was unnaturally wide.
That grin was just plain creepy, as if he were a lifeless puppet or something.
Impossible. I tried to push those unsettling thoughts out of my mind and, even though it made me sick to my stomach, I took the piece of half-raw meat from Jeremy.
Before heading out, I was putting on my shoes by the door, and Jeremy stood nearby, watching me.
"Honey, that blind box you like is dropping this afternoon. I'll go grab it for you," he said.
I remembered how, just a few days ago, he'd frowned at me and said, "Why do you always buy these useless things? They clutter up the place. Blind boxes? That's just a sales gimmick. Girls like you are the only ones who get fooled by that stuff."
In just a few days, he'd changed so much it was almost scary.
Back when we first got married, if Jeremy screwed up, he'd always buy me flowers or little gifts to say sorry.
But now, he didn't do any of that anymore.
Right before I got out of work, my phone started blowing up with messages.
Jeremy: [Honey, I'm here to pick you up from work!]
Jeremy: [Honey, when are you getting off?]
Jeremy: [Honey, you'll see me as soon as you come out. I'm right by the curb.]
Someone next to me shot me a look.
"Clara, your husband is so clingy," one of them teased.
"Ugh, I'm so jealous, Clara. You landed a top designer for a husband. He's good-looking, talented, and totally spoils you," another chimed in.
"Has he been busy lately? Feels like it's been forever since he came to pick you up," someone else added.
I just gave a faint smile. "Yeah, he's really busy."
"Come on, Clara's the real catch here. If her dad hadn't helped him out, Jeremy wouldn't be where he is today," Stella Harmon blurted out, never one to hold back.
She only realized she'd gone too far when a coworker gave her a nudge.
"Oops, sorry," Stella said, a little embarrassed.
I just smiled. "It's fine."
Stella got a point. Jeremy really was my dad's last student. Dad passed down everything to him, like all his skills, secrets, and even the studio itself.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my intern, Lily Hecox, giving me a weird look. When I glanced back at her, she quickly looked away. I just shrugged it off.
When I got off work, Jeremy was waiting right outside the office, just like he promised. He drove us home.
He sat ramrod straight, shoulders stiff, eyes staring straight ahead.
Normally, he'd be slouched in his seat, one hand casually resting on the armrest.
I frowned a little, but didn't say anything.
When we got home, I put the blind box figurines Jeremy had bought into the display case.
As I arranged them, I kept thinking about how weird Jeremy had been acting lately. Was he playing some new trick on me?
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the secret figurine I'd pulled just a few days ago.
Did it just move?
I stared at it, but it was just a normal teddy bear, sitting there without a twitch. I figure I must have been too tired these past few days.
That night, after I finished my shower and slipped into my bathrobe, I was about to step out when my gaze landed on the bathroom door.
A cold shiver raced down my back.
A massive, shadowy figure was sprawled across the frosted glass.
It looked like some bizarre human shape, its face pressed flat against the glass, features blurred and impossible to make out.
My skin crawled. I snatched up a hanger from nearby, gritted my teeth, and yanked the door open.
Jeremy was standing right outside, smiling at me with that unsettling grin.
I gave him an annoyed look and snapped, "Seriously, what are you doing?"
Jeremy tilted his head. "I was just waiting for you. I want to shower too," he said.
"I was just waiting for you. I want to shower too," he said.
Words caught in my throat as I watched him walk into the bathroom.