Chapter 1

As Claire Bennett’s manager, I watched her transform from an unknown extra into a superstar.

But Claire never gave me a title. She even made a point of telling the public she was single.

Then one day, I saw her kissing another man passionately in her dressing room.

Curled up in his arms, she threw the plain wedding band I had given her into the burning fireplace.

“Ethan, your cheap ring was never enough to hold me.”

Seven years together had lost to a diamond-studded ring.

Later, when I saw Claire again, she raised her scarred hand and held that same plain band out to me, begging for forgiveness.

I simply tossed it back into the fireplace.

“Ms. Bennett, that ring expired a long time ago.”

By the time I reached the dressing room, my stomach was already churning painfully.

The two full bottles of red wine I had just drunk made my entire body feel as if it were burning.

I had a fever and a terrible cold, but I couldn’t miss the event. I had fought hard to get Claire the female lead’s understudy role in Director Hayes’s newest film.

The contract was still in my hand when I heard Claire’s breathless moans from inside.

“Ryan, you’ll give me the lead role in that movie, right?”

“With you being this enthusiastic, aren’t you worried your manager boyfriend will get jealous?”

“What’s there to worry about? He isn’t my boyfriend. He’s only my manager.”

As the bed creaked rhythmically inside, my hand froze on the doorknob.

I knew the man in that room.

He was Claire’s first love, Ryan Carter.

I had never met him before, but I knew everything about their past.

Ryan had been the one to dump Claire.

Yet now, all he had to do was crook a finger, and Claire forgave him without hesitation.

The seven years Claire and I had struggled together meant nothing to her.

Once, while packing Claire’s luggage, I had found her diary.

It was filled with all the secret crushes and romantic fantasies of her youth.

Ryan was the only leading man in every entry.

Our seven years together had never appeared in those pages—not even once.

I rubbed the watch on my wrist. It was the only gift Claire had ever given me.

I had always treasured it, wearing it only to important events.

But now, it was obvious the watch had stopped keeping time.

A watch that no longer told time was no different from a piece of scrap metal.

I knew that when a watch was wrong, every second it showed was wrong too.

The moans inside gradually faded, but I still didn’t have the right to open the door and walk in.

Claire and I had been together for seven years, yet she had never given our relationship a name.

Everyone close to us knew we were a couple, but she had never once acknowledged it publicly.

After the sounds inside finally quieted, the door suddenly opened.

I stood there frozen as Ryan stepped out, his clothes rumpled and half-buttoned.

“Well, well. I didn’t know they kept a guard dog here.”

I barely heard him.

All my attention was fixed on his face.

He looked remarkably similar to me.

I stared at Ryan in disbelief. The shock in my chest nearly overwhelmed the pain.

Ryan, however, seemed completely used to the reaction. He gave me a contemptuous glance and walked away.

I turned toward Claire, who was awkwardly straightening her clothes inside the room.

My voice came out hoarse.

“Why… does he look so much like me?”

Claire didn’t need to answer.

I already knew.

The kind of substitute-lover plot that only existed in romance novels had happened to me.

For years, I had wondered why Claire—who was always distant and guarded with everyone else—had accepted my advances the very first time I showed interest.

Our friends used to joke that I had won the ice queen over with my face.

Now I understood.

They had been right.

It was because of my face.

Claire had always treated me as Ryan’s replacement.

I pulled my lips into a bitter smile and laughed. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes.

Claire paused, then got up and walked over after smoothing down her wrinkled dress.

“Don’t misunderstand. Ryan and I were only discussing business.”

I looked at her flushed face and sneered.

“Did business require both of you to take off your clothes?”

I didn’t want to speak to her anymore. I turned to leave.

Claire stopped me with one hand. Her cheeks were still flushed, but her eyes were filled with irritation.

“What do you mean? You doubt me? If that’s how you feel, then let’s break up!”

Whenever Claire and I argued, she used breaking up as a weapon.

And every time, I immediately surrendered and begged her to make up.

But not this time.

I stared at her without expression as my heart slowly tightened.

“Whatever you want.”