Honeymoon Quake: Ditching Me for Her

While I frantically searched for them in the crowd, my phone pinged with a boarding notification.

It hit me then that Lily hadn't booked a return ticket at all. Ethan had taken mine to get her on the flight and left me behind.

Stranded, I saw Lily's new post.

[Speaking about clinginess, no one beats Ethan.]

An attached photo showed them kissing.

While I was stunned, someone snatched my phone and the last of my cash. When aftershocks hit, I couldn't dodge in time and got buried under rubble.

Back to reality, I glared at them but didn't call them out. Doom was waiting ahead for them.

Lumora, a small tourism-dependent country, couldn't handle natural disasters. After the quake, society fell apart. Kidnapping, looting, and other bad things happened everywhere.

Around us were all refugees. The collapsed hotel before us echoed with cries for help. It was a mess.

I felt lucky to have survived it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten this second chance.

The crowd around us was a mix of sobbing and shouting in different languages. Just like in my past life, Lily trembled and clung to Ethan.

She was all pitiful. "What should I do? I didn't book a flight back."

Ethan scrolled his phone, checking the situation. His brow furrowed as the ticket site showed no available flights. His eyes darted between me and Lily.

"Luckily, we've booked the return tickets early," he said to me. "I just checked. No flights are available now."

Having lived through this, I knew what he was up to.

Since moving into our house, Lily had been cozying up to my mother, Susan Bennett, and milking her for money.

For two years, every time I saw Lily, her face was bandaged. At my wedding, I finally saw her without the wraps.

Her face was strikingly similar to mine. Seeing her felt like seeing myself in college.

That was when I realized why she always stared at me. She claimed she just admired me, and her sweet, bubbly personality made me brush off my suspicions.

Now I knew the truth. She wanted to replace me.

Ethan planned to use our resemblance to get her on my flight with my passport.

Sure enough, he added, "Babe, give me your passport and other files. You're so forgetful. If you lose them, we're screwed."

When I didn't respond, he pushed, "If you lose your passport and miss this flight, getting home will be tough."

I frowned, nodding. "You're right. I..."

He looked at me hopefully, but I changed my tone. "I'll keep them safe."