For the past eight years, I had been in a secret relationship with my best friend's sister. In public, Crystal Lancaster threatened me as her dutiful personal assistant, but behind the closed door, she would shower me with affection and whispered words of love every single night.

One day, I accidentally discovered she had purchased a DR engagement ring. A ring that could only ever be customized once in a lifetime. My heart raced with excitement as I secretly followed her to the beautifully arranged venue.

However, what I saw shattered me because I saw her kneeling on one knee in front of a man who bore an uncanny resemblance to me. Tears streamed down her face as she declared, “You’re the only one I’ll ever marry in this life.”

When he accepted, her friends congratulated and teased her, "Finally, the real man came back. It was not easy to wait for the one who got away to come back. So tell us, when are you going to let your stand-in toy boy go?"

Crystal exhaled a ring of smoke and with a distant gaze she said, "The boy love me to death. He can’t live without me. I’ll deal with it later.”

I swallowed hard, fighting back the sting in my eyes and turned away to type a message to my family, "Mom, I agree to go back to the arranged marriage."

Ironically, the date Crystal had her wedding was the same date as the day I chose to register my marriage.

When she saw the photo of me announcing my engagement, the color drained from her face.

——

After finalizing the details with my mother, I immediately booked a flight. I forced myself to block out the earlier scene, returned home and started packing my bags as quickly as possible.

As I was entering the living room to grab my thing, Crystal returned. She immediately wrapped her hands around me. Her face glowed with happiness.

"Tom," she said. "I love you so much. Let’s stay together forever, okay?"

She leaned in to kiss me. There was a smell of alcohol on her breath and an overwhelming scent of cologne clung to her body. The smell was so strong that I choked.

It was the same classic cologne she had always insisted on giving me as a gift, even though I repeatedly told her I preferred the woody scent of cedar and she kept sending me one. Sometimes, when I forgot to wear it, she would get furious and make a big deal out of it.

Only now I realized that the one who liked the perfume was the one Cristal loved. I was just his substitute. A wave of nausea rose within me and I dodged her touch.

The desire in her expression did not disappear. Instead, she pinned me against the door and her cold hand slipped beneath my shirt.

"Crystal! Release me!"

Her eyes widened with shock because I had never threatened her this way.

Before she could not say anything, the doorbell rang.

When I opened the door, a man burst in and wrapped his arms around Crystal. He then planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

Then he turned around and gave a bright and almost blinding smile.

"You must be Crystal's male assistant, Tom Davis, who has been serving her for the past eight years, right?" he asked.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Thomas Gordon, Crystal's fiancé. Thank you for taking care of her all this time!” he added.

The aroma of the cologne entered my nose as he moved. It was the same aroma that was on Crystal's body.

I stood still but my eyes locked on Crystal.

She hesitated for only a moment then she avoided my eyes and nodded. "That's right. He is the assistant I told you about."

“He doesn’t make much, so I let him stay in the guest room. It’s more convenient for him to handle small errands for me," Crystal stated.

Thomas waved it off casually, "Crystal, why are you explaining this to me again? I’m not some jealous guy who can’t tell business from personal matters.”

"In addition, Mr. Davis and I have similar look. It's no wonder you'd feel comfortable and familiar with him around. It’s natural. Honestly, I owe him a thank-you for being there for you," he said.

“Oh, by the way,” he added and clapped his hands together, “Since Mr. Davis knows the place so well, why don’t you help me move my stuff into Crystal's room? We’re getting married soon, so it’s time we start living together!”

Thomas enthusiastically ordered me around and Crystal did nothing to stop him.

I couldn’t help but recall how, on several occasions, I’d asked to move into the master bedroom. Crystal always refused, she said couples needed their own space.

Only during moments of passion, did she occasionally let me stay next to her. If I accidentally left something behind, she would coldly remind me to respect boundaries.

I used to think it was just her disciplined and reserved nature. However, I had seen the truth that she had never considered me the master of this home.

Crystal suddenly motioned her phone at me. Then I looked down to see a text she had just sent. When I looked down, I saw a message on the chat box.

It said, "Baby, Thomas and I are only getting married in name. It’s just for the sake of the company’s partnership. Don’t misunderstand.”

I couldn’t hold back a bitter laugh. Crystal still thought I was naïve enough to fall for her lies.

It was fine by me. If she says her marriage was fake, so be it.

I turned to the guest room to finish packing my things, only to see Thomas headed quickly to the guest room.

"Mr. Davis, Crystal is clinging so much to me. So, I think it's not right for you to stay here from now on. You should move out and find another place to stay," he advised.

“Oh? You’ve already started packing? And wow, your style is so similar to mine! What a coincidence!”

A cold chill crept through my heart.

Crystal's favorite activity was buying me clothes and watches on weekdays. I used to think it was proof of her affection and love for me. Even, then, as I looked at the closet full of clothing and accessories that were completely different from my taste, I could see that those clothes were perfectly suitable for Thomas who was standing in front of me.

I was never the owner of these things. I was just the cuckoo occupying the magpie's nest.

I didn’t bother asking any more questions, but Crystal pulled my hand with a sullen face and asked anxiously, "Why are you packing up without any reason? Answer me!”

I averted my face, unwilling to reply. Just then, Thomas extended his hand to grab my music box.

“Don’t touch that!”

With a loud crash, the music box fell to the floor, its lid and tiny figurines scatted into pieces on the floor.

“Oh … I’m so sorry, Mr. Davis. I didn’t mean to.…” Thomas held up his hand. It had scratched on it and he cried out, “Crystal, my hand … it hurts so much…”

Crystal immediately rushed to check his injury. Then, with a dark expression, she stomped on the broken remains of my music box.

She glared viciously at me, her voice filled with venom, “It’s just a stupid trinket! Tom, was it really necessary to make a scene?”

“Clean up this junk and get rid of this pile of shit away. I don’t want to see it in this house again!

After she said that sentence, she ground the fragments beneath her heel to emphasize her words before helping Thomas out of the room without a backward glance.

Tears fell onto the shattered remnants of the music box as sharp edges cut into my fingers, but I felt no pain.

I was sixteen when my parents were going through a messy divorce.

Lost and overwhelmed, I ran to my best friend Rick Lancaster’s house. He wasn’t home, but I ran into his sister, Crystal, who had just returned from shopping with her friends.

“Kid, you’re Rick's friend, right? Why are you crying? Tell me what’s wrong," she said.

I tried to leave, my eyes red and swollen, but Crystal stopped me. She shooed away her friends who were pestering her to play video games and made me sit down.

She asked me to wait there and disappeared into the pouring rain. She came back soaked but she was holding the best desserts from the city and piled them in front of me.

As she gently ruffled my hair, she comforted me. Then, with a mysterious smile, she pulled out a music box from behind her back.

The soft melody played as the tiny figurines of a prince and princess twirled in slow circles.

"Don't be afraid, Kid. No matter how others treat you, I, your wild older sister, will always protect you. Let this music box be the proof," she stated.

Her way of comforting me was so pure and straightforward that it shattered my helplessness. At that moment, I fell for Crystal completely for the whole ten years.

I still remember the promise she made at that time, but the person who swore it has long forgotten.

I held the broken pieces of the music box in my palms, stared at them one last time and tossed them into the trash.

If that was how it was, then the promise that I had with Crystal, I did not need it anymore. Never again.

Crystal did not come home that night.

The next morning, after shipping my belongings back to my family’s house, I went to the office to print my resignation letter and planned to deliver it to her personally.

On my way there, Crystal sent me a message. It said, "Baby, I spoke too harshly yesterday. I went back to the company to work until late so I crashed in the office. I just woke up and I'll be home soon."

I looked at her empty office and placed my resignation letter on her desk. I did not reply to her messages. Instead, I exited the chat box and removed her from my favorite contacts.

Moments later, a friend request popped up. It was from Thomas. As soon as I accepted, a message appeared in my dialog box.

“Crystal, don’t forget to grab more condoms when you’re back from the convenience store! We ran out of it last night. You were just too wild.…”

The text ended with a string of suggestive emojis.

Two minutes later, he retracted the message and wrote a message inside, "Ahh … Mr. Davis … I had accidentally sent the wrong messages. You didn’t see anything, right?”

A wave of bitterness washed over me. I did not bother playing along with his act, but instinctively clicked into his social media profile.

Photo after photo scrolled past, each post played out like a film before my eyes.

Turned out, he had been back in the city for a month. In that month, Crystal had taken the opportunity to accompany him to various destinations.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, Mount Fuji in Tokyo.…

All the places I had begged her to visit with me over the years.

She would always hug me and promise, “Sure, sure, once work calms down, I’ll take you there.”

I had waited for eight years for her to make time but she never got free time for me.

However, in just one month Thomas came back here and she suddenly was not busy anymore.

Every place the two of them visited, she would pose for countless photos with him.

In all our years together, she had never once allowed me to point my camera at her.

“If my brother finds out I stole his best friend, that brat will probably curse me to death.”

“Baby, you’re my secretary. Office romances attract gossip and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

But when you truly love someone, how could you hide it?

I was a fool. For eight years, Crystal had kept our relationship a secret. I should have known a long time ago that she never loved me at all!

I was about to exit the app when Thomas’s latest post popped up.

It was a photo. Its background was a large bed. Thomas was topless. He was pinning a woman beneath him and their fingers intertwined.

It was a short video and when I clicked on it, a familiar voice filled the room.

"Thom …."

The same breathy sound that Crystal had whipped countless times in my ears, "Tom."

Tom and Thom sounded the same.