Chapter 2

After seeing June off, Jeffrey finally said to me, "Get in the car."

He patted the passenger seat, where the traces they'd left were still there, yet he acted as if nothing had happened at all.

"You saw it. The two of you look alike, but she's radiant and captivating, and I can never help myself when I'm with her."

"But June is a free-spirited woman who won't be tied down by marriage—otherwise we'd have married long ago."

I clutched my skirt, fighting to keep my emotions in check. "If she's the one you love, why did you marry me in the first place?"

Back when he was pursuing me, he picked nine thousand roses with his own hands and spread them across the whole hall.

He designed the engagement ring himself, and my name was even engraved inside it.

He even broke with his family and set out on his own just to marry me.

But however passionate that love had once been, it looked just as ridiculous now.

After a long silence, Jeffrey said flatly, "Because you look a lot like her, and you're a qualified wife."

What a fine word, "qualified."

I never imagined that what I'd seen as three years of a loving marriage was, in his eyes, nothing more than a stand-in, a qualified wife.

The little figurine swaying at the front of the car was especially glaring. He'd made a point of taking me to have it carved for our wedding anniversary, saying one figure was me and the other was him.

Back then I'd even asked him why the doll he carved had curly hair when my hair was clearly straight.

He only said he wanted to see what I'd look like with big waves.

But I had just seen what June looked like, and only then did I understand that person may never have been me at all.

He gave a soft laugh. "There's no need to overreact. Don't worry, your place as Mrs. Harding won't be shaken."

As he spoke, he lit a cigarette with practiced ease, and the smoke filled the whole car.

I stared at him, tears spilling out.

"Then why tell me all of this?"

I thought that if he'd been willing to hide it all, given how he loved me, I never would have noticed, and I wouldn't be hurting like this.

He sighed and said flatly, "Because she's back. I don't want to have to hide it every time I see her."

For her again.

The whole thing was absurd and laughable.

I looked at the deep kiss marks on his neck and shut my eyes numbly.

"Since I'm only a stand-in to you, and she's back now, let's get a divorce."

Jeffrey irritably stubbed out the cigarette and said coldly, "This is the first time you've brought up divorce. I'll forgive you, but I hope it's the last."

He turned and fastened my seatbelt for me, just like he always had.

We drove in silence until the car stopped at a breakfast shop, and only then did Jeffrey look at me.

"This is June's favorite breakfast place. I'll buy some and bring it over to her. You take a cab home for now."

There was a smile on his face, but his words stabbed at my heart.

I used to not understand why, as busy as he was with work, he would come here every day to buy breakfast, bring it back to the villa, and only then head off to work.

Later, when I really couldn't stand eating it anymore and complained to him, he only said this place had the most nutritious food, and I had to eat it even if I didn't like it.

But now, standing at the door of the shop, he only remembered June, and didn't ask me a single word.

I blocked his car. "Can you not leave? I have something very important to tell you."

Before he could say anything, a WeChat notification came through first.

After reading it, he anxiously started the car. "June's hungry. Let me take this to her first. Come back and tell me if anything's wrong."

Before he left, he added, "Remember to text me when you get home. Don't make me worry."

I watched the car speed off and pushed the pregnancy test results back down.

I still couldn't understand why the one he loved was June, yet the one he married was me.

Even less could I understand how he could have just slept with her and then turn around and put on this act of caring about me.

I held back the pain and didn't cry out loud.

I took out my phone and sent a text to my lawyer friend: Help me draw up a divorce agreement.