Substitute Woman

She suddenly recalled the promises they once made, their plans to visit Zurich, Venice and Jeju Island after the wedding. Back then, Nathan had carefully mapped out their future, telling her with unwavering seriousness, “Wendy, you’ll always be a part of my future.”

She wasn’t as carefree as she liked to believe. It still hurt. But she was already trying to pull herself away.

Letting the tears fall freely, she told herself. ‘When the day comes that love is auctioned off like a discarded item, I’ll finally be able to forget Nathan completely and walk away with nothing but peace.’

She didn’t know how much time had passed before the door creaked open.

Nathan stood there in a bathrobe, looking down at her from above. “Wendy, do you even have a heart?” he asked coldly. “I just slept with another woman and you don’t care at all?”

Wendy hurriedly stood up, flustered. Her legs were numb from crouching too long and she stumbled a bit. Nathan instinctively caught her in his arms.

Still, she remained expressionless.

His jaw clenched. He forced out a cruel laugh and sneered, “Since you’re so generous, how about going out and buying me some condoms? The more the better. I’m worried I won’t be able to stop once I get started!”

After saying that, he waited for Wendy to get angry, to curse at him or slap him. But instead, she simply nodded calmly, then turned and left to buy condoms for him.

He stared blankly at Wendy’s thin and fragile back, a sharp ache piercing through his heart. Suddenly, he punched the wall with such force that his hand bled, but he didn’t care at all.

Inside the room, Kyle watched the scene intently. Seeing Nathan subconsciously testing Wendy, she felt a tightness in her chest, a creeping sense of insecurity beginning to rise.

During all that time earlier, Nathan had thoughtfully prepared cold water for her, even laid out clean underwear, yet he hadn't touched her at all.

She finally understood. Even asking Wendy to go buy condoms was merely to provoke her, to try and get a reaction out of her.

She heard footsteps approaching and rushed to the door, tiptoeing to press a sudden kiss on Nathan’s lips while stripping off all her clothes.

She thought confidently. ‘Isn't it my body that Nathan loved the most?’

Sure enough, once she was bare, Nathan didn’t push her away. Instead, he stared at her intently, even reaching out instinctively to touch the red birthmark on her neck.

When Wendy walked in, what she saw was a completely naked Kyle and a gentle, intimate Nathan caressing her.

In that moment, she felt as if she’d been nailed to the spot, her blood rushing in reverse.

This was what it felt like to witness Nathan baring himself to another woman with her own eyes.

The moment Nathan saw Wendy, it was as if he finally snapped back to reality.

The laughable part was when his hand touched the red birthmark on Kyle’s neck, the person in his mind was actually Wendy.

It was absurd. All along, Wendy had merely been a stand-in for Kyle’s body. He pinched the space between his brows, feeling as if something was silently shifting inside him.

As he stared at Wendy obediently handing over the condoms she had bought, he didn’t take them. He simply stared at her coldly.

Wendy felt as if her entire body were ablaze, the pain unbearable. She still couldn’t act like an outsider, nor could she bear watching them commit such a shameful act.

Suddenly, she shoved the plastic bag into Nathan’s arms and fled in near panic.

She no longer cared about the reaction of those behind her. She walked alone down the street in the dead of night. The temperature was below freezing, her body was cold, yet nothing could compare to the chill in her heart.

Tomorrow was the day of the emotional auction, the moment she would finally leave this place for good. Nearly all the prominent figures in town would attend the auction, including Nathan.

In the early hours of the morning, Wendy’s phone was flooded with a series of provocative photos from Kyle.

Nathan was asleep, red marks dotting his neck, his bathrobe hanging loosely open. And Kyle, completely nude, was lying across his chest, the image of a pair of intimate lovers.