Chapter 3

3: 3

03

"Fine," I said, nodding. "But you have to do something for me."

"As long as you make this tone-deaf System go away, I'll do anything!"

"For the next few days, I need you to moonlight as my other man."

"What?!"

Stan's pretty peach-blossom eyes snapped wide. "Are you insane? I'm a CEO. Where am I supposed to put my face if I'm playing some woman's side piece?"

I folded my arms and smiled coldly. "Sing for him."

The System launched in on cue.

One line was all it took. Stan shut his eyes, wearing the look of a man whose soul had already given up.

Because the System sang truly, unbearably terribly.

Stan caved. "Fine. Forget the other man. Right now I'd agree to play a dog."

"Good. Then pack your things. We're leaving now."

"Where to?"

"A snow-peak resort in the Rockies."

Before I got engaged to Craig, he always said the snow-capped mountains were the purest place on earth.

He wanted the love between us to last like the snow on the peaks that never melts.

So he'd booked our honeymoon there.

For the longest time, I believed that mountain was sacred ground in Craig's heart.

Until last week, when I pulled the photos out of that album packed with Willa, and saw the writing on the back.

[Willa loves the dumplings from the shop by the school gate. Remember to bring her some.]

[Willa doesn't like being in the sun. Remember to bring a parasol when you go out with her.]

[Willa says she doesn't like pink, but she always buys pink pens. For her next birthday, get her something pink.]

Ninety-nine photos. Ninety-nine little preferences.

Craig had never put that kind of care into me.

Trembling, I wiped my eyes dry and turned to the hundredth photo.

On the back was the most heartfelt wish of Craig's youth.

[If I ever get to marry Willa, I want to take her to a snow-peak resort in the Rockies, because my love for her is like the snow on the mountaintop. It lasts forever.]

So when I saw Willa's post, I felt strangely calm.

I even wanted to laugh.

Laugh at how stupid I'd been.

At how, when Craig told me the wedding was being pushed back, I'd actually asked him, like a fool, "Then what about our honeymoon?"

And how, when he said work was too busy and he had no time to go, I'd stupidly believed him.

It wasn't that he had no time.

His love simply belonged to someone else.

At the thought, I let out a long sigh.

Beside me, Stan's eyes flew open. He said, with real resentment, "Sis, I'm begging you. I haven't slept in three days. Just be quiet and let me sleep a little."

Thinking about what the System had done, I did feel a little guilty.

I said, sheepish, "Go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you when it's time to board."

Stan shut his eyes and dropped straight into a dead sleep.

I picked up my phone, snapped a shot of his profile, and posted it.

The caption was two words: [Setting off.]

The next second, my phone started buzzing nonstop.

Craig called first, and when he found I wouldn't pick up, he started sending message after message.

I didn't read a single one. I just switched the phone off.

The rest of the trip was dull.

Stan only woke for boarding, and the moment he hit his seat he was out cold again.

When we landed and I woke him, he was still groggy, trailing after me in a daze, following wherever I went.

I'd meant to grab a meal first, but seeing him half-asleep on his feet, I sighed and decided to head to the hotel instead.

I just never expected that the moment we walked out of the airport, I'd run straight into Craig.