Chapter 2 The Confession
636 Words
My hands wouldn't stop shaking. How could she do this? How could she stand there as my wife and confess her love to another man without the slightest hesitation? Did she ever think about me at all?
And more importantly, weren't they supposed to be brother and sister?
Then Finn spoke, his voice low and strained. "Ivy... I've always treated you like my sister."
"Stop hiding behind that excuse." Ivy's tone sharpened immediately. "We're not related by blood, and you know perfectly well you feel the same way about me."
She took another step closer to him.
"Or is it because I'm married now?" Her laugh sounded bitter. "You know I've only ever loved you. The marriage was impulsive. I was angry at you, so I made a stupid decision."
People nearby had already started noticing the tension between them. Curious glances drifted over one after another, though everyone pretended not to stare too openly.
Strangely, I felt relieved.
Tonight, I had deliberately dressed differently from usual. I wore a hat and a mask because I wanted the surprise to last until the very end. At least now, no one would recognize me. No one would know the man being humiliated was Ivy's husband.
I slipped quietly out of the theater before anyone noticed me. The cold night wind hit my face the moment I stepped outside, scattering my thoughts completely.
I met Ivy in college. She was famous from the moment she arrived on campus. She was beautiful, wealthy, and untouchable, the kind of girl everyone noticed but few dared approach.
I was one of the people who stayed silent. I fell for her during freshman year, but I knew too well how far apart our worlds were. So I buried those feelings deep inside me.
After graduation, things finally began changing.
A mentor took notice of me and gave me opportunities I never would've reached on my own. Within two years, my company finally stabilized, and I slowly found my footing among people who once felt completely out of reach.
Then I saw Ivy again at a banquet. The feelings I thought I had buried came rushing back all at once. I gathered every ounce of courage I had just to ask for her number.
At first, she was distant. Sometimes she wouldn't reply for days. That went on for more than a month.
I was already preparing to give up when she suddenly changed. She started texting me goodnight, started asking me out first.
Not long after that, we got together.
A year later, I proposed. And Ivy became my wife.
As for Finn, I had never questioned their relationship. Not once.
Whenever she held onto his arm or leaned against him, I convinced myself it was nothing more than sibling closeness. Looking back now, I felt ridiculous.
My thoughts snapped back abruptly. In the reflection of a glass door, I finally noticed what I was wearing: a high-neck sweater layered under a white shirt, paired with a gray coat. It was an outfit Ivy once said she liked.
But now, staring at my reflection, I realized something that made my chest tighten painfully. It was almost identical to Finn's usual style. Even the way I dressed had unknowingly become an imitation of him.
A suffocating bitterness lodged in my throat. I couldn't swallow it down. And I couldn't spit it out either.
Still, I wasn't ready to give up. I pulled off the coat and threw it into a nearby trash can.
Then I called Ivy. The automated message played immediately. I had forgotten she still had me blocked.
So I stayed there outside the theater, waiting alone in the cold. I couldn't pretend tonight never happened.
Before I walked away from this marriage, I needed the truth with my own eyes.
- Writer
