The Stand-In Walks Away

Just before Emily left, the corner of her eye caught sight of me, and she felt a brief pang of guilt.

She instinctively explained, "There's an urgent matter at the company. I need to go deal with it. I'll come back to be with you later."

Without waiting for me to respond, she fled.

I didn't try to stop her. I was just a little surprised that she bothered to explain.

Probably just a habit I had drilled into her over the years. She hadn't been able to shake it yet.

And wasn't Kyle supposed to be under house arrest? How did he end up outside and get into a car accident?

It seemed that punishment was just something she made up to fool me.

I couldn't be bothered to expose it. None of it had anything to do with me anymore.

When my friends heard I was hurt, they came to visit me.

In the past, even a minor bruise would have filled my hospital room with visitors. But now, even though I was seriously injured, only a handful of people showed up.

I understood. Emily used to spoil me, and everyone indulged me for her sake. Now that Kyle had hurt me right in front of her and faced no consequences, everyone knew the truth. Kyle was back. I was just the stand-in, and it was time for me to get lost.

I wasn't sad. The ones who came were my true close friends. They felt sorry for me.

"You were with Emily for eight years. How could she be so heartless?"

Watching their grief and anger, I felt nothing.

If time alone could create love, then all those couples who stuck it out for a lifetime wouldn't still be divorcing in old age.

I made plans to meet up with them again.

They didn't disturb my recovery and left one by one. The ward was empty. Soon, I was completely alone.

I took out my phone to pick a place for us to meet when I saw that someone had tagged me on social media.

I clicked on it. It was Kyle.

In the video, Emily—who had never lifted a finger around the house—was wearing an apron and cooking for him.

They had also changed their profile pictures to couple photos of them in wedding attire.

In the latest post, Kyle showed off Emily's pregnancy test results, announcing that he and Emily were becoming parents.

While showing off, he tagged me in the comments: [Chris, did you ever get treated like this as a stand-in?]

A bunch of people joined in to mock me.

[Honestly, if Kyle hadn't wanted to wait so long to get married, Chris wouldn't have even been a stand-in. He's not fit to be compared to Kyle.]

[Exactly. The only reason Emily spoiled Chris rotten was because he looked and acted like Kyle.]

[Now that Kyle is back, of course Emily is settling down to build a real life with him. Chris is nothing.]

Seeing these replies, I wasn't surprised.

I was just curious. Emily once told me that she was afraid of pain, afraid of ruining her figure, and even more afraid of the dangers of childbirth. She said she was determined to be childless for life.

I never thought those words were just meant to fool me. She turned around and got pregnant with Kyle's child right away.

Maybe Emily just didn't want to have a child with anyone else. If it were with Kyle, she was more than happy to.

Calmly, I liked the post to show my congratulations.

But not long after, Emily came back. She rushed into the room anxiously.

I thought she was going to explain the pregnancy. I was about to say there was no need.

Instead, she forcefully pulled me up from the hospital bed.

"Come with me. I've prepared a birthday party for you."

Today was my birthday. To surprise me, she had promised that on this day, we would get our marriage license. But in the end, she stood me up, married someone else, and announced she was pregnant.

I understood. She felt guilty, so she was trying to make it up to me.