Chapter 2

The moment the words left my mouth, Luca's phone rang.

He glanced at it, his tone casual, as if he didn't care at all.

"I'll just assume you're upset and saying things you don't mean. As long as you behave this year, you'll get everything that's supposed to be yours."

"I'm going to Zoe's welcome back party first. Stay home and think it over."

The instant the door closed, my emotions collapsed. I smashed the only photo of Luca and me together.

My suddenly bright phone screen caught my attention.

It was a link from my best friend.

Luca's book had become popular, and he'd been exposed to the public along with it.

These past few days, she'd sent me plenty of videos related to Luca.

But this time, seeing the text she sent, I froze for a long moment.

\[Your early photos with Luca have been dug up.\]

In truth, Luca had never publicly acknowledged my existence.

Every time I brought it up, Luca would use the excuse that he didn't want his private life to receive too much attention.

So I'd followed Luca for five years without any recognition or status.

Even though I already had a suspicion in my heart, when I clicked the link, my heart felt like it had been pricked by a needle.

In the link was a screenshot from a five-year-old street view map.

The subjects in the image were Luca and "me."

Same height, similar build from behind.

If I hadn't learned the truth about being a substitute today.

I might have thought I'd lost a chunk of my memory.

But Luca would never crouch down to tie my shoelaces.

In the five years we'd been together, Luca and I had done everything couples do.

Everything except him bending down to tie my shoes.

I couldn't count how many times I'd wanted Luca to help me tie them.

But every single time, it ended in vain.

Even when my stomach hurt so badly my face turned pale, Luca remained unmoved by my request to tie my shoes.

What I got was impatience.

"I don't like tying people's shoelaces. Can you stop forcing me?"

I remember that day—I cried like a child.

Later, Luca coaxed me for a long time.

I thought I'd forgotten. I didn't expect that three years later, this memory would still be so clear.

So clear that seeing this scene made my eyes involuntarily sting with tears.

So it wasn't that he didn't like it—it was just that the person wasn't me.