Chapter 1

1: 1

My husband lost a game to his childhood sweetheart.

So he brought home a clone identical to himself.

When I went shopping, he had the clone drive me.

When I went in for prenatal checkups, he had the clone come along.

Even in bed, he let the clone stand in for him.

I broke down and demanded an answer from my husband.

"Why? Isn't this your child I'm carrying? Why should a clone be the one with me?"

He gave a lazy little smile.

"Can't be helped. It's your fault you got pregnant and upset Cecily."

"I lost, so I have to pay up."

"Cecily's condition is that this clone keeps you company for a year before the punishment is done."

"It's only been three months. Be good, hold out a little longer."

Later I simply took the clone as my husband and threw him away.

And he was mistaken for a clone and recycled.

Went mad with regret, all of him.

1

"Ma'am, Mr. Henson says he has a work function tonight. He won't be home for dinner."

Peter Dickerson the butler stood in the doorway of the dining room. "You have your checkup today. Should we reschedule?"

Before I could say anything.

Kerry Henson suddenly spoke. "No need."

He gently carried away my footbath water and carefully dried the drops from my feet.

"The checkup is already done."

"Tell Mr. Henson he has nothing to worry about."

Kerry Henson was the clone, the one identical to George Henson.

He was gentler and more attentive than George, and he never lost his temper.

Looking at that face, I would slip into an illusion and think he was George.

But Cecily Delgado's posts always reminded me otherwise.

My real husband, George Henson, was out with her, checking in at the newly opened restaurant and the amusement park.

Right now, another one popped up.

"Another day of shamelessly hogging my childhood sweetheart!"

"That's what he gets for losing the game,"

"the whole year he has to be my personal bodyguard."

There were comments underneath.

"Cecily, don't you feel any guilt hogging someone's husband?"

"On top of that, his wife is pregnant right now. How can you stand it?"

Cecily fired right back.

"None of my business. I'm not the one who got her pregnant."

I gave a small scoff and shut off my phone.

At ten thirty at night, George came home for once.

He walked in trailing an unfamiliar perfume.

I sat on the couch knitting a little sweater.

Pretending I hadn't smelled a thing.

"Did you go for your checkup today?"

He tossed his coat onto the couch and sat down at the far end.

"Mm."

"How did it go?"

"Fine."

"Boy or girl?"

My hands stopped.

"Don't know. Kerry didn't let the doctor look. He said we should wait for you to go yourself."

George gave a light laugh.

"He knows his place."

I didn't answer, just lowered my head and kept knitting.

He suddenly leaned over and pinched my chin.

"Ivy, you've gotten a lot tamer than before."

"Why aren't you making a scene anymore?"

Before, every time I saw him make the clone keep me company,

I fought back like a woman put through every humiliation.

Threw tantrums, rolled on the floor, smashed everything in the house.

Even threatened to get rid of the child in my belly.

But George was always unmoved.

"Ivy Lawson, I already told you. I lost the game, so I take the punishment."

"Take my advice and accept it quietly. Otherwise, you'll suffer a hundred times worse."

"And if anything happens to my child,"

"your mother's medical bills can stop at any time."

All I could do was accept it, shamed.

Right now, his eyes were full of scrutiny and amusement, like he was admiring an obedient little plaything.

I only spoke flatly.

"Nothing to make a scene about."

He stared at me for a long time, then smiled with a kind of relish.

"Ivy Lawson, you've put on weight."

"I'm seven months pregnant. Isn't putting on weight completely normal?"

Seven months pregnant, my body had turned heavy and clumsy.

Even lying down to sleep left my back aching, and every night Kerry rubbed it for me.

George, my husband, only saw that I'd gotten fat.

"Normal or not, can't you keep an eye on it?"

He let go and leaned back into the couch, a thread of mockery in his tone.

"Cecily got her figure back three months after giving birth. You should learn from her."

"A woman who can't even manage her own figure, a man really loses his appetite looking at her. Don't you think?"

I finally lifted my head.

"Cecily's had her baby?"