My twin brother Steven’s wife, Clara Hayes, had just given birth to their daughter when he ran off with my girlfriend. Furious, I used our identical faces and claimed Clara. Ten years later, Steven returned. By then, his daughter was healthy and beautiful. Clara’s company was on the brink of an IPO. My once-wealthy ex-girlfriend, however, was bankrupt. Steven sneered. “I’ve returned your girlfriend. Now return the family you stole from me.” I gritted my teeth and agreed. That night, I booked a flight to leave. But on the way to the airport, Clara slid into my lap and whispered, “You’d really leave? Tell me, is she better than I am?” When my brother eloped with my wealthy girlfriend, Mia Winters, he even had the audacity to send me a photo of them together. His message read: “Goodbye. You couldn’t beat me growing up. You never will.” Rage coursed through me. I stared into the mirror at the face I shared with my twin, and a plan crystallized. That same night, I stood at Clara’s door, ready to become Steven If he could abandon his wife and newborn daughter in my city, then he had no right to complain about how I chose to… care for them! Clara seemed uncomfortable with her husband’s sudden change in behavior. But at that time, her business was struggling. She naturally assumed I was angry because she wasn’t making money, dragging me down and burdening our daughter. She thought my temper was justified. So she became even more submissive toward me. Every time I criticized her harshly, she would just silently lower her head and promise she would soon give us a better life. I knew Clara was docile, but I hadn’t expected this level of submission. So I turned my focus to his daughter, Emma. I’d raised her since she was three. In her eyes, I was her father. But I was a strict one. The food I cooked was terrible, and my temper was worse. I scolded her constantly. Every time, she would press her lips tight, her small hands clutching her dress, looking up at me with eyes swimming in tears. “Daddy, please don’t be angry. I’ll go kneel outside. Please don’t hurt yourself being upset.” Mother and daughter were cut from the same spineless cloth. That was my conviction, right up until the day I went to pick her up from kindergarten and saw a circle of children kicking and punching her Something in me shattered. I had never laid a hand on her. I went straight to the principal. The ringleader bullying her was the heir to the city’s leading corporation. The principal advised me to drop it, implying I’d be ungrateful to cause trouble. So I walked out and punched the boy’s father-the CEO-right in the jaw. Clara spent the next hour apologizing profusely, bowing and scraping in a way that made my blood boil. After forcing them to cover the medical bills, I took the mother and daughter by the arm and led them out of there. On the way back, Clara seemed like she wanted to say something but hesitated. I shot her an irritated look. “What? You think I was too impulsive?” She coughed, awkward. “It’s not that…” “Then save it!” I cut her off, my voice sharp. “Either you find a backbone so your daughter never has to be bullied again, or you stay silent.” “Or let me handle it. That’s better than having the whole family be cowards!” I didn’t expect Clara to actually do it. Now, that CEO had to send me gifts through intermediaries just to get a meeting with Clara. The Hayes family had truly made a name for themselves in New York. No one dared to bully Emma anymore. After I stood up for her at the kindergarten that time, seeing her thin, bony frame, I gritted my teeth and spent my own money to buy lots of nutritional supplements, even though Clara was still in debt. “Look how skinny you are! No wonder people bully you! Don’t call me Dad until you’ve fattened yourself up!” Under the supervision of this stepfather, Emma not only gained weight, but also achieved a healthy body fat percentage. Whether in terms of strength or status, no peer dared to lay a hand on her anymore. Everything was good. Emma saw me as her father. She would brag to everyone about how I’d faced down the CEO in front of the principal. Clara also saw me as her husband. After her success, she kept pushing company shares into my hands, showering me with luxury cars and deeds to properties, never thinking of herself. Me, who’d never known money-I started to believe this life could last forever. Then my brother came back. And pulled me out of my beautiful dream with Clara.
“Actually, these ten years of happiness were all stolen by you.” Steven sat across from me, blowing a smoke ring into the air. “Although I eloped with your girlfriend back then, my wife and daughter are still my wife and daughter. “That’s no reason for you to take over my family.” He flicked his cigarette ash. “I won’t pursue the matter of you usurping my place. Now, I’m returning Mia to you. “You return my wife and daughter to me.” I clenched my fists. Mia had gone bankrupt not long ago. Her financial situation was even more desperate than Clara’s had been back then. “You really know how to pick your timing. “Steal your brother’s girlfriend when your wife is struggling, then come back to be the good husband after you’ve had your fill?” Smack! The ashtray shattered at my feet. My brother looked down his nose at me. “Is that any way to speak to your own brother?” “And let’s be clear, Lucas Reed. So what if I had a fling with your girlfriend? You seduced my wife. You stole my daughter.” “That was my child, born to my wife. Who’s the real disgrace here? Think about it. Which one of us is truly despicable?” The air left my lungs in a sharp rush. He stood up, came to my side, and looked down at me. “If you dare to cling on shamelessly, I’ll expose everything you’ve done. “When that happens, we’ll see who gets cursed out more-you or me.” I didn’t really care about being cursed out. All my life, having enough to eat and drink had been my only desire. When I was dating Mia, didn’t plenty of people call me a gold digger? I just thought of Emma. The way she sweetly called me Daddy. If this matter were exposed, what would she think? What would Clara think? Taking a deep breath, I said, “Give me three days.” Steven frowned. “What for? Don’t I need to pack my things? “Shouldn’t I clean up the traces I’ve left behind? “Don’t I need to write you a memo about how the mother and daughter have changed over these ten years?” Steven’s expression improved slightly. He sneered. “If you dare to play any tricks, I guarantee you’ll be utterly disgraced!”
During dinner, both Clara and Emma noticed something was wrong with me. Right after we finished eating, she came to the bedroom, holding my arm and looking at me. “Is someone causing you trouble?” “Clara, what would you do if you had to change husbands one day?” The smile on that docile, honest face cracked inch by inch. “You want to divorce me?!” I cupped her face. “Why are you panicking? I’m just curious.” “Never!” She said through gritted teeth. It was rare for her to be this assertive with me. “If you leave, I’ll stay single with Emma for the rest of my life. “If you die, I’ll raise Emma until she’s eighteen and then come find you!” I quickly covered her mouth. I didn’t like hearing her say unlucky things. “What if-I’m saying what if. “What if one day, someone who looks exactly like me came to replace me? Would that be okay?” My brother and I had competed with each other since childhood, and we never made a point of introducing our partners to each other. Clara didn’t know he had a twin brother. “Honey.” She gripped my hand. “What kind of partner lives with someone for ten years and then doesn’t care when an identical face shows up? “That would only mean they don’t love enough. “And in this world, no one loves you more than I do.” I forced down the corners of my mouth that wanted to turn up. “You’re being cheesy.” She didn’t mind. She kissed my lips, then turned to heat up milk for me. This was how we had spent our days together over the years. Even in the beginning, when my mockery hurt her the most, she would endure the grievance and heat milk for me. I don’t know from which day I started hoping I could drink the milk she heated for me for the rest of my life. Maybe feeling guilty, Clara publicly gifted me an entire building the next day. The ribbon-cutting ceremony set New York abuzz. She publicly announced that I would be her only husband for life. That evening, I rushed to the banquet venue. But I found a familiar figure already there, wearing the exact same suit as me, chatting and laughing with the very elites who knew me.
Catching sight of me from the corner of his eye, everyone’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh my God, Mr. Reed, you really do have a twin brother!” “Steven…” I looked at him in surprise. He raised an eyebrow, his gaze full of disdain. “Here’s the ‘good brother’ I mentioned-the one trying to crawl into his sister-in-law’s bed.” I clenched my fists. “No wonder Ms. Hayes handed you a whole building out of nowhere. Gotta prove her loyalty, right?” “Everyone knows how devoted Ms. Hayes is. Even if you two look the same, it doesn’t mean a thing.” “Honestly, real love can tell twins apart in a heartbeat. This homewrecker should quit his cheap tricks.” Those high-society types I used to laugh with couldn’t even tell us apart. Just because Steven showed up first, they accepted him as the “me” they once knew. Steven continued along with their narrative. “I was afraid you’d have those crooked thoughts again, which is why I never introduced you to your sister-in-law. “But all these years, I’ve never treated you unfairly. “Every time you said you had no money, didn’t I send you money? What, now you want to skip over me and ask your sister-in-law for money directly?” “You!” Rage surged through me. Just as I was about to step forward to argue, a look of panic suddenly flashed in my brother’s eyes. My hand hadn’t even touched him when he stumbled and crashed into the champagne tower. “Why are you pushing me!” The champagne tower toppled as he hit it. Countless glasses fell on him, drenching him. Everyone hurried to separate me from him. “You’re too ungrateful! You were the one who seduced your sister-in-law, and now you’re pushing your brother!” “Coming here dressed in the same clothes as your brother! Have you no shame!” “Don’t think being identical to your brother makes you special. Ms. Hayes wouldn’t want someone like you who sells himself!” Just as I was about to say something, a familiar voice came from behind me. “What are you all doing!” “Clara!” I turned around. But that figure walked right past me and helped Steven up. “Baby, are you hurt? Let me see.” Steven just kept biting his lip, his eyes rimmed red, shaking his head. He didn’t utter a word, yet his silence made everyone feel the overwhelming weight of his grievance. “Daddy!” A small figure rushed over and clung tightly to my brother. “Daddy! Are you okay?” Seeing the daughter I had raised, my brother first froze. Then he smiled with reddened eyes, touching her face and shaking his head. “Daddy…” Emma hugged my brother and cried her heart out. I suddenly realized that with my brother, she showed far more emotion than she ever did with me. They say blood ties are the hardest bonds to break. It turned out that even though Emma hadn’t seen her father in ten years, as long as that blood connection existed, Emma could still recognize her father at first glance in a sea of people. And then run to her father. “Sir.” Clara helped my brother stand up and looked at me coldly. “Although you’re my husband’s twin brother, that doesn’t mean you can bully my people. “He’s your brother, but more importantly, he’s my lover.” I clenched my fists. “For what you did today, I’ll contact a lawyer to pursue your legal responsibility.” I suddenly laughed. Yesterday she said that if an identical face didn’t matter, it was only because the love wasn’t deep enough. So Clara didn’t love me enough after all.
I promised Steven that the next day I would write a memo about the mother and daughter’s changes over the past ten years. Then pack up my things and leave. To prevent any mix-ups, after the banquet ended, it was still me who went home with Clara and her daughter. I leaned against the bed without saying a word. Clara carefully came to my side, gently holding my hand. “What’s wrong? Still angry at your brother?” I pulled my hand away without speaking. She shamelessly grabbed it again. “I told you, you’re the only man in my life. “He has the same face as you, but that’s not an advantage. “I just find it disgusting.” I suddenly looked up at her. “Don’t you believe me?” She clearly thought I was my brother. “Tomorrow, I’ll have someone send your brother abroad and never let him come back. “How about that?” I looked at her for a while before speaking. “No need.” Tomorrow, I would go abroad myself. After lying down, I turned my back to Clara. She continued talking, trying to get my attention. “I heard your brother caught feelings because his girlfriend hit rock bottom? That was Mia, right?” I frowned, impatient. This was the story my brother had spun about me. He painted me as a pathetic man who first leeched onto a rich girl. Then, when she fell from grace and his sister-in-law rose to power, he tried to move on to her instead. “Mia’s trash. If he was into her, that says enough about him.” The words sat like a weight in my chest. To claw back a shred of dignity, I muttered, “She was alright. Knew her way around a bed.” Then, a pair of warm hands gently circled me from behind. My back sank into a soft embrace. “Nothing in this world could ever come between us, love.” “Mm.” I closed my eyes. After I leave tomorrow, you can have your great romance with him for all I care. While Clara was at work and Emma was at school the next day, I handed over the past ten years’ work to Steven. Then, taking the check he gave me, I wheeled my suitcase out the door. I didn’t plan to go back to Mia. The plane ticket was for Paris. With this money in hand, I didn’t need to worry about the future. The car I’d booked arrived at the hotel after dark. I got in and closed my eyes to rest. But not long after we started moving, the driver pulled over. I opened my eyes. “Why are you picking up someone else?” Instead of answering, the driver got out. I was about to call him back when my door opened. The person stepping in stole my breath. “Mia is good in bed?” Clara’s voice came from above me. The next second, her weight settled in my lap. She cupped my face, looking down. “I’m so much better. Care to find out?”
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