"This world in front of me is so scary, Jasper… Everyone has the same face. I can't tell them apart. I really can't…" she sobbed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, her voice growing quieter.

"You're the only one I can recognize. What am I supposed to do from now on?"

I stood at the entrance of the living room, like a useless piece of furniture. My mind went blank as I tried to figure out where everything had gone wrong.

In the beginning, Giselle's face blindness wasn't as severe as it was now.

Even when she couldn't recognize the person sleeping beside her, she was still beautiful and came from a wealthy family. Plenty of men would die to be with her.

So, I didn't think too much about it at first. I didn't dare to.

But every time I came home, Giselle would stand on her tiptoes and trace my face with her fingertips, trying to identify me. Then, she would lean closer, press the tip of her nose against my collar, and quietly sniff.

In almost a whisper, she would say, "It's you," before burying herself against my chest.

My heart melted at that exact moment.

However, things changed when Jasper returned to the country.

At that time, he gave us a new set of personal care products. Out of consideration for their longtime friendship, I couldn't bring myself to refuse and had only used them once.

Since that day, though, Giselle couldn't recognize me anymore. Even after I threw away the entire set and switched back to my old soap, she still avoided me like the plague.

Crying, she would say, "You're not him! Where's Leslie?"

So, what really happened?

My fists tightened and loosened as I locked eyes with Jasper. He looked at me provocatively, then intertwined his fingers with Giselle's. "I'm the only person you'll ever need to recognize, Giselle."

She sobbed softly without saying a word. Honestly, I was glad she didn't because I would've dreaded hearing her say "yes".

At that moment, my phone rang. It was my captain calling. There was an emergency, and I had to rush out. In the end, I fled like a coward, like a joke.

Once I left, Giselle stayed silent for a long time. She then shook her head through her tears and pulled her hand out of Jasper's palm.

"But you're not him. You smell like him, but you're not Leslie. You're not my husband," she said. "But where is he? Why hasn't he come home and seen me after so long?"

The sly smile on Jasper's face stiffened. His expression darkened for a brief second, only to be brightened with a fake, gentle facade. "You're so devoted to him, Giselle."

He sighed, saying casually, "But does he deserve it, though? I've noticed how he's always going to the hospital lately. He was with a young woman, looking very intimate. It's no wonder he's barely home nowadays."

Giselle froze, mumbling to herself, "Is that why I can't reach him lately?"

Her eyes reddened pitifully. "Didn't he promise me he'll take care of me forever? How could he abandon me to be with someone else?"

"I know, right? And he even hired someone to lie to you. He's a jerk," Jasper added, smiling discreetly. "Giselle, why don't you go see for yourself?"

With that, Giselle went to the hospital.

Winnie was staying in the oncology ward. Her hair had already fallen out completely. She had become so thin that she barely looked like the same person anymore. Her voice was hoarse, but her eyes were still bright.

"Les, the doctor said my numbers have improved a lot recently. Don't worry about me, okay? Now, why would you feel uneasy? Just focus on your work. And be careful out there, okay?"

After hanging up the phone, Winnie saw Giselle walk in. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Gigi! You came to visit me!"

She pulled two handmade yarn dolls from under her pillow, one blue and one pink. "These are for you and Les. I spent a long time making them."

She handed the pink one to Giselle with a smile, but the next second, a slap landed across her face. She clutched her cheek while the doll slipped onto the floor.

Tears brimmed in Giselle's eyes before they rolled down in beads. "Who are you to call me that, huh? Did you or did you not seduce my husband and get him so caught up that he wouldn't come home?"

Winnie was perplexed, but she quickly realized the situation and comforted Giselle instead. "Gigi, it's me. Don't you recognize me? I'm Winnie, Leslie's sister."

Giselle's eyes went blank for a moment.

Jasper chimed in timely with a tone full of certainty. "Don't believe her. They must've planned this. They're taking advantage of your condition and trying to fool you.

"Don't you remember, Giselle? Your family sent Winnie abroad to study a long time ago. Why would she be at the hospital?"

Winnie panicked. "No, Gigi. Listen to me—"

"That's enough!"

Giselle's expression turned cold again. She gestured for the nurse beside her to hold Winnie down.

"How long are you planning to lie to me? My sister-in-law and husband are both wonderful people. Who do you think you are, pretending to be her, you freak?"

One slap after another landed on Winnie's face. Her IV was ripped out, and blood oozed from the puncture wound, flowing down her wrist. She didn't fight back.

Instead, she held onto the two dolls she had spent forever making, protecting them desperately as she pleaded, "Gigi, please…"

"Shut up! A homewrecker like you doesn't deserve to stay in my family's hospital!" Giselle shrieked. "Throw her out right now!"

When a pair of nurses dragged Winnie out of the hospital, I happened to witness this horrifying scene after finishing work. "Winnie!"

Ever since I went out on the emergency call, I had an uneasy, gnawing feeling. I thought Giselle would, at most, throw a tantrum at me, but I never expected her to kick Winnie out onto the street.

Not to mention, her face was covered in slap marks, while blood still dripped from the back of her hand.

When Winnie saw me, she didn't cry. She simply smiled a little, raised the two wrinkled dolls in her hands, and took big, shaky breaths.

"Les, Gigi has done our family… a great favor. Please be more… understanding of her."

My foolish little sister. Even after all this, she was still worried about someone else.

"What the hell did Giselle do to you?" I asked, my voice trembling.

"Please, I'm begging you, stop defending her. I-I just got my bonus from the team. I-I'll transfer you to another hospital. We'll pay for your treatment ourselves. You don't have to put up with this anymore…"

I forced myself to hold it together several times before I finally stopped my voice from shaking. Then, I crouched down and carried her onto my back.

Winnie was frighteningly light. She rested against my back, her thin frame stabbing painfully against my shoulders. I transferred her to another hospital, got her IV started again, and stayed by her side until she fell asleep.

Only then did I return home. I didn't bother to be polite and kicked the door open.

"That was my sister, Giselle! Her name is Winnie! She has bone cancer, and your family promised to pay for her treatment!"

Giselle was sitting on the couch, drinking water, when I barged in. She frowned. "Nonsense. My parents sent her abroad to study a long time ago. And who are you? Why did you dig into my family's affairs?"

When I made the deal with the Stones back then, they said they would pay for Winnie's treatment, provided we kept Giselle out of the loop. They didn't want them to think this marriage was just a transaction.

So, this was how they explained it to her.

I smiled bitterly, ready to explain it all to Giselle, but she stared at me, irritation burning in her eyes, her brows knitted tightly. "Stand there and stay away from me! You're trespassing! Leave, or I'll call the police!"

She took a few steps back and even pulled out her phone to type a message. "A man came, claiming to be my husband again. Can you come over, Jasper?"

Jasper immediately replied. Before long, he arrived at our doorstep.

When he entered, he patted my shoulder and stood before Giselle, his face full of contempt. "Stop scaring her. You know she can't recognize you."

He then turned around and put on a drastically different expression, saying gently, "He's really your husband, Giselle. He won't hurt you."

Yet Giselle shook her head. She moved her nose slightly, as if trying to identify something.

Then, she stepped back and pointed at me. "He smells bad. He doesn't have Leslie's scent. But yours is the only one that hasn't changed, Jasper. Tell me, is that man threatening you? You can tell me!

"If he's trying to trick me, I'll call the police right now!"

Giselle might not be able to see people's faces, but because her sense of smell was sharper than anyone else's, she relied on that instead.

I lowered my head and looked at myself. There was half-dried blood on me. My firefighter uniform was covered in ash, sweat, dirt, and the smell of hospital disinfectant.

I believed those things had affected her judgment.

Just as I was about to explain, my phone rang with a call from the hospital. I answered, listened for more than ten seconds, and didn't say a word.

For some reason, Giselle panicked a little, seeing how I was standing still. Her voice was soft, carrying a nervousness even she hadn't noticed. "W-What's wrong with you?"

I slowly raised my head and looked at her face, the same one I had looked at for three years. Every time she failed to recognize me, I would patiently reintroduce myself.

Whether it was the first, 100th, or the 677th time, I had never grown tired of it because I knew she was sick. But now…

"She's dead, Giselle. My sister's dead. The innocent woman you'd dragged out of the hospital today is dead," I said slowly, each word felt like it was being carved out of my chest.

"She had late-stage bone cancer. It was under control, but because she was dragged out of her ward and had to transfer, she started bleeding heavily. She didn't make it. She's gone."

Giselle's lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something.

It didn't matter anymore.

"Let's get a divorce."