Upon my returning from the special ops mission I took on three years ago, I open the door to see my fiancee, Erica Lewis, pregnant and holding a child.

"This is your son," she declares as she passes the kid to me.

I freeze in shock.

My parents chuckle and explain, "You were gone for so long. Erica had to carry on the family name without you, so your older brother decided to help you with it. Isn't that great?"

Just like that, I'm forced to be the officiant at the wedding ceremony I spent the last three years eagerly anticipating. I'm expected to stand beside Erica and my brother, Alex Sherman, to watch them exchange wedding rings and to see them kiss each other passionately.

They have lied to all our friends and family, claiming that I couldn't have children. They humiliate me in public.

They've also spent all of my savings and moved into the villa I bought using the monetary reward I got from the army after completing a deadly mission. Erica and Alex even lie on the bed I'd picked out myself and take intimate photos of themselves to send to me.

"Don't be so sensitive. We're just helping you carry on the family name. Our kids are going to call you dad anyway."

I give up. "Don't bother. It's over between us, Erica."

After that, I call the army on the phone.

"Hi, Daddy Noah!"

The clear chime of a child's voice cut into my heart like a piercing dagger.

I stood in the doorway, suitcase still in hand, my whole body frozen as if I'd just been struck by lightning.

Before me was the home I'd been away from for three years.

Streamers and balloons hung all over the living room. The banner reading "Welcome Home" swayed overhead, the words stinging my eyes.

However, the most painful sight of all was my fiancee, Erica Lewis. She stood there with a pregnant belly, holding a boy who was a little over a year old in her arms.

My older brother, Alex Sherman, stood behind her. One hand rested intimately on her belly while the other kneaded her shoulder without the slightest restraint.

"You're finally back!" Erica was tearing up, but she didn't step forward to greet me.

It felt as if someone had stuffed a rag down my throat. I couldn't speak.

"Why are you just standing there? Come see your son!" Mom walked over and grabbed my hand. "Isn't he adorable? He'll call you Daddy Noah from now on."

"What's going on, Mom?" The hoarse voice that escaped my throat sounded completely unlike my own.

Patting my shoulder, Dad said, "Well, you were gone for three years. Your mom and I were eager to have a grandchild, so…"

I flicked Dad's hand off me. "So what?"

"So I helped you out." Alex sauntered over with an arrogant smile on his face. Right in front of me, he wrapped an arm around Erica's waist and kissed her on the cheek. "The kid's going to have the same last name as you anyway. You're not losing out on anything."

I stared at them, eyes wide, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Having spent the three years on a special ops mission, I fought my hardest to survive, just so I could come home, marry Erica, and start a family.

But now, I came back to find that she'd given birth to Alex's child, and the kid was going to treat me like his second father?

Erica finally moved. She handed the boy to Alex before walking toward me, her eyes teary. "I know you can't accept this right now. But I waited for you for three years. I had to have a child, right?"

She said that as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world, but all I felt was disgust.

"Why are you pulling a long face?" Mom abruptly snapped, her expression turning cold. "Do you have any idea that while you were gone the last three years, it was Alex who has been taking care of Erica and us?

"He has worked so hard to look after your parents and help you perform your duties as a husband. Now that the wedding is finally happening, you're just going to come back and put a damper on everything?"

Wedding? Who was Alex about to marry?

My mind went blank, but I soon caught on.

Alex slung an arm around my shoulders, and he deliberately raised his voice so that everyone could hear, "Noah, Erica and I will be getting married tomorrow. Guess what role we arranged for you?"

I didn't answer. Every muscle in my body was coiled tight, ready to snap.

"You'll be the officiant!" he announced loudly, as if bestowing the greatest honor upon me. "Doesn't that show how much we respect you?"

At my continued silence, Mom snapped impatiently, "Don't get upset about it. Alex and Erica had to carry on the family name for us, and it hasn't been easy for them. It's only right to let them have a wedding ceremony.

"Besides, it will still be your name on the marriage certificate with Erica. You're not suffering any loss."

Dad took out a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. "Just read this out loud. You should start practicing now so you don't embarrass yourself during the ceremony."

My hands trembled as I took the paper with the officiant's script printed on it.

"On this beautiful day, as the officiant, I bear witness to the union of my beloved brother and my fiancee…"

I gripped the paper so tightly that it started to tear with a crisp sound, and it felt as if my heart tore with it.

"That's settled then," Alex piped up. "I'm having a bachelor's party before the wedding. A bunch of my friends will be celebrating with me, and you're driving. Let's go. I don't want to be late."

As my parents urged me to hurry along, I took the car keys, my hands trembling.

The next day, at the wedding rehearsal, I sat alone in a corner of the hotel's dazzling ballroom. In my hand was the crumpled officiant's script. My eyes were so dry they felt like the desert.

I didn't sleep at all last night. The joy of coming home had turned into despair and rage.

What kept me awake most of all was yesterday's "bachelor party".

I had to drive Alex around like his personal chauffeur, watching as he and his friends drank themselves senseless. I also had to listen as he bragged right in front of me about how he'd "bagged" my fiancee.

"You guys have no idea how eager that woman is in bed," he'd proclaimed in a drunken stupor. "I'm way better than my loser brother!"

His friends roared with laughter. "Alex, you've got Noah driving you around while you sleep with his woman? You're a legend, man!"

As I listened to their jeers, my knuckles went white around the steering wheel, and my nails dug into my palms.

…

"What are you thinking about, Mr. Officiant?" Alex's voice rang out above me.

He was wearing my custom-made suit, the one I'd spent 30 thousand dollars to make before I left.

I looked up and forced a smile. "Nothing. I just haven't fully come to terms with everything yet."

"What's there to come to terms with?" He sat down beside me and handed me a glass of champagne. "You should be thanking me."

"Thank you for what?"

"For helping you continue the family line," he replied nonchalantly before lowering his voice. "But honestly, Erica's body? Damn. It's your loss, man."

My grip tightened around the champagne flute. "Do you even hear yourself? She's my fiancee. We've been engaged for three years."

"Is that so?" Alex snorted scornfully. "Because I'm the one who knocked her up. Oh, hang on."

He paused on purpose and smirked at me. "I guess it's also your baby. After all, you're going to be the second dad."

The second dad, huh?

The word stabbed me right in the heart, and I nearly crushed the champagne flute.

Just then, Erica walked over. She was wearing a beautiful white dress, the one I'd given her as a gift before I deployed.

She looked at me and said sweetly, "The rehearsal's about to start. Did you find the officiant's script?"

I lifted the wrinkled paper mechanically and replied in a hoarse voice, "Yes."

"That's good." Erica smiled before leaning in close and lowering her voice. "Actually, I think things are pretty good like this. While you were gone, your brother took very good care of me."

My fingers clenched, and the champagne flute shattered in my hand. Shards of glass pierced my palm, drawing blood.

"Hey! You shouldn't be so careless!" Erica exclaimed with fake concern, attracting everyone's attention. "Look at you! How are you going to take care of the children when you can't even hold a glass properly?"

"Noah!" Dad roared from behind me. "What are you doing? The rehearsal's about to start, and you're hanging around here daydreaming? You even got your clothes dirty! You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"I'll go change," I said quietly, wanting nothing more than to get out of this suffocating ballroom.

"There's no time for that!" Dad snapped. "Just leave it. You're just the officiant anyway, not the main stars of the event. Who's going to pay attention to you?"

"Right," I muttered through clenched teeth, my fists balled as I swallowed back all the rage and humiliation I felt.

The rehearsal began. As I stood on the podium, my bloodstained suit drew strange looks from the others in the ballroom.

When the emcee introduced me, he specifically added, "This is the groom's younger brother, and also the child's second dad."

Everyone burst into laughter and started whispering among themselves.

"Hahaha! Second dad? That's hilarious!"

"The groom looks pretty healthy to me. How'd his fiancee end up in his brother's bed?"

"I heard he got injured working out of town, so he can't get it up anymore."

"Oh, well. A guy like him can only let someone else's children call him dad then."

Up on the podium, I read out the officiant's script like a robot, my heart as cold and dead as it could be.

That night, my parents hosted a pre-wedding dinner and invited some of our relatives.

Everyone gathered around the dining table, and the atmosphere was lively. I was the only one who sat in the corner, drinking in silence. After several rounds of booze, the topic inevitably turned to tomorrow's wedding.

"How meaningful it will be for Noah to be the officiant tomorrow!" Aunt Gina, my father's sister, said with a smile, though her eyes kept darting between Erica and me. "Erica's such a wonderful young woman. She spent all this time waiting for you to come back."

Waiting for me?

I looked at Erica, who immediately got startled and lowered her head.

"Yes, Erica really is such a lovely young woman," Mom chimed in.

Out of nowhere, she lowered her voice and said to me, "Noah, we all know you can't get it up anymore. You should be grateful that Alex stepped up to help you with something this important."

The table fell silent, and everyone's gazes fell on me—some sympathetic, some awkward, but most simply hungry for gossip.

"What do you mean by that, Mom?" I put down my cutlery, my voice calmer than I'd expected. "I don't understand what you just said."

"Come now." Mom sighed, as if irritated that I was playing dumb. "You got injured working on that project, remember? The doctor said you can't get it up anymore. Well, since you can't get a woman pregnant now, someone has to step in so that we can have grandchildren."

Due to the nature of my work, I had to keep my special ops missions a secret. My family believed I was just an ordinary engineer.

"Who said I got injured and can't have children anymore?" I questioned, my expression dark.

Dad slammed his hand on the table. "Why are you still playing dumb? Go get his medical report, Alex!"

Alex got up and made a show of trying to smooth things over. "We're family, Dad. This is already a sore spot for Noah. Let's not keep harping on it."

He picked up his wine glass and walked over to me with a victorious smile. "Don't worry, Noah. The children I have with Erica are your children, too. They'll call you Daddy Noah, and when they grow up, they'll also take care of you."

The nerve of them to humiliate like that!

Was a highly decorated special operations officer like me supposed to live with being forced into such an arrangement the moment I got home?

"Oh, right." Remembering something, Alex pulled a debit card from his pocket and slid it toward me. "This is the money you've been sending back to the family. I've been keeping it safe for you. Money's been a little tight for my business lately, so I used some of it. You don't mind, right?"

Taking the debit card, I asked grimly, "How much did you use?"

"Not much," Alex replied nonchalantly. "About a million dollars or so."

A million dollars?

Keeping my anger in check, I pulled out my phone to check the balance in my account. The amount written on the screen, 28.46 dollars, nearly made me see red.

"W-Why is this all that's left…" My voice was shaking.

"Like I said, my business is having cash flow issues, so I borrowed the money for a bit," Alex said indifferently. "You don't even know how to manage your money anyway. It's a waste to just let it sit in a bank account."

"What gives you the right to spend all my savings?" I finally couldn't help raising my voice.

"Noah!" Dad roared. "What kind of attitude is that? Your brother worked so hard to help you manage your money. Instead of thanking him, you're raising your voice at him?"

"That's right!" Mom joined in to reprimand me. "Do you know how much money it takes to run a business? So what if he took a million dollars from you? Your brother has been working hard for the family, but you kick up a fuss the moment you come back? What's wrong with you?"

My fists clenched and unclenched. I wanted to turn around and punch every single one of them.

"Oh, and there's this." Alex handed me a document envelope. "I need your signature for this."

I pulled out the document and saw that it was a property transfer agreement.

I was stupefied. The agreement was for the villa I'd bought before coming home, with the monetary reward I'd just received for completing the mission. It was meant to be the marital home for Erica and me.

But now, I was expected to just hand the property over to Alex?

"I bought this villa. Why should I give it to you?" I questioned.

Thoroughly displeased with my attitude, Dad bellowed, "Why are you causing so much trouble? Your brother is about to get married, so he needs a new home for himself and his wife. Besides, we're family anyway. Why are you being so petty?"

The envelope slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. I stood up, shoved my chair back, and said icily, "I'm done eating."

As I walked away, I heard the people behind me making comments about me.

"He got quite a nasty temper. Why is he being so cocky when he can't even get it up anymore?"

"It's embarrassing, really. Someone has willingly stepped up to help an impotent man like him carry on the family name, but he doesn't even show any gratitude for that."

"If I were Alex, I wouldn't have bothered at all. That's the thanks I'd get for doing him a favor?"