I'm Just A Substitute Wife For Your First Love?

y home. They were a dark, persistent hum be

s Chlo

elt alien. I looked around, at the photos on the mantelpiece-us smiling in Paris, hiking in Y

y of i

ioned a tragic accident in his youth, something that had shaped him, but he never gave de

saw it for what it was: a wall. A

d to

. I tore through his office, rifling through drawers, file cabinets. Nothing. I

as his "memory box," filled with things from his childhood. He' d shown it to m

remembered. I opened the lid. On top were the familiar item

ery bottom, was a small, leather-bou

ed against my r

ound a girl. She was beautiful, with long, dark hair and a radiant sm

ooked jus

the same dark eyes, the same way her mouth curved when she

wing set. At what looked like a school dance, his arms wrapped around

, a faded inscription:

lo

his first love. The girl he was with befor

ned from my fa

subst

Our entire relationship, a lie. Was my face the only thing he eve

came back to me. Ask him

My fingers flew across the keyboard, searching for old

ten years ago. The headline was stark: "Local Couple Kil

ds shaking so badly I coul

ng the Hayes' family car. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes were killed instantly. Their seventeen-yea

final, devasta

ht. He was a friend of Chloe' s, a boy who had been in

was Lia

of the comatose Chloe Hayes was transferred to the Miller family. She had been living w

ched. I could

the car when her parents died. He survived. Sh

just protecting her from the shock of his engagement. He was protecting a ten-y

ghost he had hi

ning. He hadn't just hidden her from me. He had curated our entire life to erase her, while secretl

he first time Liam saw me. It was at a symphony benefit. I had just finished a solo performance

e had said. "I' ve never

nd loose that night, just like Chloe' s in the photos. I was weari

as seeing her. He had been

I clutched the photo album to my chest, the smooth leather cold against m

s, the memories-they we

I was just the understudy. And n