002

Sophia

I woke up to the sound of the door opening. Out of impulse, I held my stomach and tried to lift myself up, groaning quietly. I felt like complete trash—no, worse. I had cried myself to sleep on the couch after he left.

The sound at the door told me it must be Alexander. I was surprised he came back tonight. Because sometimes, he’d disappear for weeks, even months, after we fought. Not even this time, which involved a divorce,

I stood up quickly, ready to open the door for him, but froze when I heard his laughter. My stomach twisted. Alexander never smiles at me, much less laughs.

Was he on a phone call? I wondered, as I heard his voice at the door.

"Come on, let's get inside."

Inside? Was he with someone else, not on a phone call as I'd thought? My heart raced at the idea, silently praying it would not be his friends, they never liked me and they didn't even try hiding it whenever they came here.

The door clicked shut, and I heard the squeak of wheels as Alexander pulled in two bags, a bright smile on his face. Something I doubted I would ever bring again on his.

"I told you to leave," he said, his smile fading completely as his eyes landed on me and his voice turned cold. "Why are you still here?"

I shuddered and sank back into the chair.

"Alex... I was waiting for you. Please... you can’t just shove me away," I pleaded, crawling to grasp his arms desperately.

“What's going on, babe? I thought you said no one's at home?” a female voice asked from the doorway, followed by the sound of high heels clicking. I turned to look in the direction, but she wasn't coming in, she was still at the door so I couldn't see her.

“Just give me a few moments, Zoey. I’ll take care of this.”

"Alright, I’ll just grab my makeup box from the car," the voice replied, retreating.

Who was Zoey? Why was Alexander bringing her here?

He suddenly gripped my arms, making me yelp in pain. “I asked you what the hell you're still doing here?” he whispered, forcing me to meet his darkened eyes.

"I... I want to show you something..." I stammered, blindly reaching for the pregnancy report.

If I could just show him this, maybe—just maybe—he wouldn’t throw me out with his child. Despite his distant behavior, I know he wasn’t a monster.

Not even when I’d quit the ring and became a full-time housewife at his request.

“You’re hurting me,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face as the realization hit me. "Is it because of her? You’re divorcing me because of her?" I looked up at his face with my lips trembling and tears streaming down my face.

He didn’t respond. Instead, his grip only tightened. “Look Sophia, Zoey’s back... and I can’t push her away. So stop making a big deal out of this and get yourself out while I'm still being nice.”

So I’m the one to be pushed away? After three years together, I was being tossed aside like yesterday's trash?

More tears spilled from my eyes uncontrollably as I slid from his grasp falling on the floor as though my life had been drained, but then my hand brushed against something. I picked it up—it was the pregnancy report.

I held the brown envelope out to him, my voice shaking with desperation, "Before you make me sign it, please just look at this first."

He eyed it suspiciously, but he finally reached out to take it. Just then, a voice came from the door.

"Babe... you should probably have someone bring my car from the airport," Zoey said, walking closer.

Alexander gave a quick nod, turning to her. "Sure, but first you should get rid of that exhaustion by taking a bath..." His phone buzzed in his pocket cutting his words short. "I have to take this," he said, not to me, but to Zoey.

My heart clenched, and I slumped back into the floor. My worst fear was coming true.

Growing up in the orphanage, I had sworn my child would never grow up without both parents. But now it's crumbling down, my life, everything is becoming my worst nightmare.

Once he was gone, Zoey walked up to my side. "Hello… I'm Zoey," she introduced herself with a smile.

I crawled to stand up and looked at her, however, after seeing her, I wished I could undo the whole moment.

My face was immediately drained of color as I took in her appearance.

We are the same height. Her blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, just like mine. She wore a short red dress that hugged her body.

We looked almost identical, even her heart-shaped earrings, was the same pair Alexander had given to me on our wedding day. She was like my duplicate. No... I looked like her duplicate. I am.

Only my eyes were different.

“Are you surprised?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, as she folded her arms.

"Why do we look alike?" I mumbled to myself, finding it hard to come to terms with that reality.

"Come on, you’ve already guessed it, haven’t you? Although It’s been four years already, he came running back to me as soon as I was in town. Fake will always be fake, no matter how refined it is." She laughed melodically, patting my shoulder. "Your husband, no, your ex husband still loves me after a long time, just a single call that I'm in town he came rushing to me like an infatuated puppy."

My head spun. No... it couldn’t be. But could there really be such a coincidence? We had the same hair, the same height... even the dress she was wearing was one of the ones Alexander bought for me.

Was everything a lie? Our relationship? Was I just… a substitute for her?

"You must be kidding," I laughed almost hysterically with tears streaming down my face as I stumbled back and latched onto the couch to support myself from falling, but in the process, the envelope I was holding slipped from my hands.

Zoey bent down to pick it up, but I lunged forward to snatch it. However, I was too slow, or maybe she was too fast as she got to it first, and ripped it open.

"You're pregnant?" Her eyes widened in fear when she read the content, "No, you can’t be. This is bad for me." She mumbled.

"Give it back!" I snatched it back, stuffing it back into the envelope. But just as I looked up, something hit me in the head, and everything went blurry. I collapsed to the ground, gasping. Zoey raised her foot and stomped on my stomach. I felt the wetness between my legs and on my face as I cried out in pain.

"No..." I sobbed, watching Zoey fall to the ground next to me the following seconds.

I heard indistinct shouting soon after, “Zoey, wake up... please Zoey... don’t do this to me... please, babe.” I forced my eyes open to see him lifting her up, completely forgetting about me. He had made his choice.

My heart broke, my body bled, and I felt myself falling into a dark abyss. All the effort I’d put into pleasing him, changing everything about myself for him—was it all in vain?

The realization hit me. My limbs went limp, and my eyelids fluttered closed. Maybe this was it—my end. My death. The last bit of consciousness I clung to began slipping away.

But then, I heard a distant sound of the door breaking—someone was breaking the door forcefully, and when the loud crash came, I heard someone calling my name and rushing to my side.