Chapter 3

After that night, it was like Brandon suddenly stopped loving me.

We started giving each other the silent treatment. He didn't explain, and he didn't try to sweet-talk me into making up.

For a whole month, we didn't speak.

Then, on the last day of filming, during a live interview on set.

A reporter asked him, "Work's done, what do you want to do most right now?"

He pulled out his phone, showing a photo of me wearing an apron, flirting with him. He smiled gently and said, "Right now, I miss my wife the most. I want to eat her home-cooked meal."

In some ways, Brandon was my financial backer.

If he didn't love me anymore, I could just hide my true feelings, follow his lead, and make some good money.

That night, I cooked a feast.

But Brandon never came home.

I didn’t wait up for him; I went to bed early.

Then, in the middle of the night, he called me.

He sounded drunk, mumbling and whining.

"Wife, my sweet wife, I miss you so much. Come pick me up, please."

He hadn't called me 'wife' in ages.

My eyes stung, and I didn't say a word.

His buddies were hyping him up in the background: "Who's the big star calling? Is that Willow?"

They kept shouting into the phone, "Sister-in-law! Brandon wished tonight that he'd be with you forever, always..."

So, Brandon had called Willow.

He called her his "good wife," and his friends called her "sister-in-law."

He had already brought Willow into his life.

A sharp headache flared, and I quickly hung up, burying myself deep in my covers, pulling them tight around me.

It's fine.

I could pretend not to care. My acting was always top-notch.