I looked at him as he rushed to defend himself, a bitter feeling welling up inside me.

"Alex, I never mentioned Savannah."

Alex's expression froze. After a brief silence, embarrassment turned into anger.

"Autumn, you'd better not come crawling back and beg me to return."

...

Over the next few days, Alex stopped coming home at night. He had taken over Savannah's divorce case and spent all his time running around for her.

Whenever her emotions spiraled, he'd jump into his car in the middle of the night and drive for hours to bring her best friend over to keep her company.

When she wanted pastries from her favorite bakery, he'd speed through red lights all the way there just to make her happy.

He said he owed Savannah a favor. What he didn't know was that the night she returned, the name he drunkenly called out over and over again had been hers.

Men are experts at saying one thing and meaning another.

The day Savannah's divorce was finalized, Alex drank himself into a stupor.

When I got home, he was already passed out on the couch, holding a worn, tattered stuffed doll.

I recognized it immediately. Savannah had given it to him.

I'd always assumed he'd thrown it away years ago. Instead, it had been carefully preserved all this time.

He stared at it in silence, murmuring Savannah's name again and again.

I struggled to help him up. The moment I touched him, he pulled me into his arms.

"Savvy, you came back. I knew you wouldn't leave me."

He mistook me for Savannah and refused to let go.

As I stared at him, a memory suddenly surfaced. He'd looked exactly the same that night in the private karaoke room.

Drunk beyond reason, he had poured out every secret he'd kept buried inside.

He'd said to his friend, Garrett Richardson, "Garrett, I didn't get to marry the woman I loved most. Autumn reminds me of her, but she'll never be Savannah. Autumn's pregnant. I'm going to be a father. But somehow... I'm not as happy as I thought I'd be."

I don't remember how I managed to walk out of that room. I only remember how my legs felt like they were filled with lead. Tears blurred my vision.

That was the day I got into a car accident. When Alex arrived at the scene, he still had an unfinished phone call in his hand.

Savannah's voice came through the speaker, along with the sound of breaking glass and a string of loud crashes.

"Autumn, are you stupid? How do you manage to crash into another car on a road that wide? I'm a lawyer, not a doctor. I'm busy. I don't have time to deal with your ridiculous little problems."

Then he turned and left without a trace of hesitation. The moment he resumed the call, though, his voice softened into the warmth and tenderness he once showed me.

Back when he would wait downstairs in the pouring rain just to see me.

I was an orphan. My grandmother had found me abandoned beside a dumpster and raised me herself.

Alex had promised her he would take care of me and that I would be the only woman in his life.

Somewhere along the way, he broke that promise.

Drunk, Alex lost the cold indifference he usually wore like armor. For a moment, I saw that reckless young man again.

The boy who had appeared when my life was at its darkest and shone into my world like a beam of light.

The boy who promised he loved me and wanted to give me a home.

Now I finally understood that it was only because I reminded him of Savannah. He had been looking at her through me all along.

He agreed to marry me because he couldn't have the woman he truly wanted. Since he'd lost her, it no longer mattered who he married instead.

My nose stung, and tears streamed down my face.

Finally, I thought, 'Forget it, Alex. I'm letting you go.'

...

The lawyer, Zachariah Levine, finished drafting the divorce papers, but an entire week passed without me seeing Alex.

He and Savannah went everywhere together, just like a perfect, loving couple.

Then, during a party, Savannah stopped me outside the entrance. After making sure no one else was around, she pulled off her necklace and tossed it into the pool, smirking maliciously.

"Who do you think Alex will believe? You or me?"

The second before Alex arrived, she deliberately threw herself to the ground.

When he rushed over, she looked utterly pitiful. "Alex, don't blame Autumn. I'm sure she didn't mean to throw my necklace into the pool."

"Autumn didn't mean to push me."

Savannah's performance was laughably unconvincing, yet Alex believed every word.

Or maybe... he had simply never believed me.

Holding Savannah in his arms, he turned to me with anger blazing in his eyes.

"Autumn, why can't you tolerate Savvy? Do you have any idea she's dealing with depression? Why would you deliberately upset her?"

To give Savannah the explanation she deserved, he demanded that I retrieve her necklace. Ignoring the fact that I was pregnant, he shoved me into the swimming pool in front of everyone.

Voices erupted from the shore. Their comments tangled together as they drifted into my ears.

"I told you Alex never got over Savannah. If Autumn hadn't chased after him back then, there's no way he would've agreed to be with her."

"I know the real story. Alex only ever treated Autumn as a substitute. Now that the real thing is back, who cares about a stand-in?"

"Everyone knows Alex once swore he'd never marry anyone but Savannah."

Pool water flooded my eyes, and the cold cut straight to the bone.

Suddenly, I remembered the day Alex confessed to me. After scraping his knees raw, he'd gone through all that trouble just to get me a one-of-a-kind good luck charm.

He'd entered a marathon and given me the medal he'd won. He told me it was proof of his sincerity and that he would take care of me for the rest of my life and love me forever.

I knew all about his history with Savannah. I'd believed that if I loved him with everything I had, one day I would matter more to him than she did.

The truth was, some people win simply by existing.

Looking back now, it was painfully ironic.

By the time someone pulled me from the pool, I'd swallowed enough water to leave me coughing.

A jacket settled over my shoulders as the man stood against the light.

"You're going to catch a cold."

Even in the dim lighting, I recognized him immediately. It was Robbie Carpenter, my childhood friend. We promised to get into Northridge University together and become outstanding doctors.

Then we lost contact. I'd heard he had gone on to become an accomplished doctor. As for me, the accident three years ago had permanently taken away my ability to perform surgery.

Alex had already left.

For once, I found myself feeling awkward.

I was afraid Robbie would ask why I'd disappeared and why I'd given up the dream I'd spent years chasing.

I was even more afraid of my answer.

However, Robbie simply took me to the hospital. He stared at me for a long time.

"Autumn, you..."

Before he could finish, Alex interrupted him, "All she had to do was retrieve a necklace, and she still managed to make herself sick. Pathetic."

He took the medication from Robbie's hand and shoved it into his pocket.

Then he looked at Robbie with undisguised hostility. "My wife isn't your concern, Dr. Carpenter."

...

On the drive home, Alex seemed unusually irritable.

Savannah was asleep in the passenger seat. The blanket that belonged to me had been carefully draped over her.

Neither of us spoke, or perhaps there was simply nothing left to say.

When we got home, I finally learned the truth. Alex had given Mochi, my cat, away because Savannah was allergic to cats.

Every trace of Mochi had been erased from the house. I searched everywhere but couldn't find my cat.

Instead, I found the divorce papers Alex had torn to pieces and thrown into the trash. I'd left them on the table the day before, but the first thing he brought up wasn't the papers. It was my cat, or rather, our cat.

His tone was casual, as if it were completely insignificant. "Savvy's allergic to cats. I already gave Mochi away. Don't worry. She'll have an owner who's far more responsible than you."

I was stunned for a moment as my heart sank.

"What did you just say?"

I'd found Mochi as a stray three years ago. A violent storm had left her soaked through and barely clinging to life.

I took her to every veterinary clinic in Southport, but every vet told me she wouldn't survive the night. I had already started preparing to bury her.

Instead, she pulled through. Little by little, she grew into the round, affectionate cat I adored.

Alex lit a cigarette. Whatever he was feeling was impossible to read. Then he changed the subject as if the conversation had never happened.

Alex pointed at the shredded divorce papers in the trash and let out a mocking laugh.

"You want a divorce? Autumn, what the hell is wrong with you? How many times do I have to explain that there's nothing going on between Savvy and me—"

His phone rang at the worst possible moment.

Alex frowned as he glanced at the screen. When he looked back at me, his eyes shifted uneasily.

"Mochi's gone missing."

I searched every street in the neighborhood and checked every place she might have gone.

In the end, I found her at the end of an alley. It was the same place where I'd found her three years ago. Now, it had become the place where she would rest forever.

Numbly, I gathered her into my arms. She felt smaller somehow, smaller than the day I'd first brought her home.

There was almost no weight to her at all. It felt as though she were only sleeping.

The new ID tag I'd recently bought still hung around her neck. Now it was stained with blood, the lettering no longer visible.

My eyes stung, and tears spilled down my cheeks. All the grief and anger I'd been holding back finally broke free.

Alex's expression stiffened, and guilt flashed across his face.

Instinctively, he reached for my hand, but I pulled away.

"Alex, this is what you meant when you said she'd be fine? What gave you the right to give her away without asking me? If you didn't want her, I would've taken her and left.

"Alex, why won't you leave me alone? Do you enjoy playing with me? Or is this just another one of your twisted games?"

For the first time, Alex had no response as he looked at my red-rimmed eyes.

I looked down at Mochi's cold body and suddenly felt so exhausted. I sniffed back my tears and refused to look at him again.

"There's nothing left to discuss. Sign the divorce papers as soon as possible."

The moment the words left my mouth, all my strength vanished. Everything went black.

...

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a hospital bed.

Alex wasn't there. Only a young nurse sat beside me. When she saw I was awake, she handed me a medical report. There was sympathy in her eyes.

"Your family really should've been here after something this serious..."

I didn't hear the rest as my attention locked onto a few lines on the report.

My breathing turned ragged. Panic surged through me. I wanted to leave, but I stumbled out of bed, nearly falling as my legs gave out beneath me.

Every step felt like I was walking on cotton, weightless and unsteady.

Even my thoughts seemed to drift in and out of focus.

Outside the obstetrics department, Alex had an arm around Savannah as he carefully helped her onto a chair in the hallway. Joy practically radiated from his face.

Before I could stop myself, I dialed his number. I watched him walk to a quiet corner before answering.

"Alex, where are you?"

"Something came up at the firm today. Since you're awake, grab something to eat. I hired a caregiver to look after you."

Then he glanced back toward Savannah, as though he'd just made a decision. His voice softened. "Actually, never mind. Wait for me in your room. I'll come see you as soon as I'm done here."

"Okay," I murmured, clutching the medical record in my hand, looking at it repeatedly for a long time.

The words remained unchanged: "Late-stage cancer. Recommendation: terminate the pregnancy and begin treatment immediately."

Every word pierced straight through my heart.

I wandered the hallway in a daze until eventually, I walked straight into someone's chest.

The report slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. Robbie bent down and picked it up. He opened his mouth several times before finally speaking, "Are you really not going to tell Alex?"

I looked at him across the corridor and took a slow breath.

It wasn't that I hadn't considered telling him, but the truth was that none of this mattered to Alex anymore.

"Forget it. I just want to leave him as soon as possible. I want to spend whatever time I have left actually living."

"Dr. Carpenter, please keep this between us."

The words had barely left my mouth when a familiar voice sounded behind me.

"What are you asking him to keep secret?"