Reborn to Replace My Cheating Husband

Diana adjusted the hem of her wedding dress for what felt like the hundredth time that night, even though nothing about it actually needed fixing, she simply needed something to do with her shaking hands while her reflection stared back at her from the hotel mirror with soft makeup, tired eyes, and a forced smile she had been wearing since morning. For a moment she let herself breathe in the fact that this was supposed to be her wedding day, the beginning of something permanent, the day she finally became Mrs. Thompson, the day she stopped being alone. “Finally,” she whispered under her breath as her hand pressed lightly against her chest, almost as if she could steady her heartbeat through sheer will alone, “it’s just you and me now, Thompson.” After months of planning, endless calls, and a ceremony that had drained every last bit of her energy while still somehow feeling like it passed in a blur, the only thing she wanted now was her husband beside her, the first night of their marriage, and the illusion that everything in her life had finally fallen into place. She reached for her phone after a moment of hesitation and typed a message she thought was harmless enough. “Are you coming up soon?” The reply never came immediately, and the silence stretched just long enough for doubt to begin creeping into her thoughts before her phone suddenly rang instead. It was an unknown number. She frowned slightly before answering. “Hello?” A man’s voice came through, calm but detached, as though he were reading something that had been repeated too many times already. “Is this Mrs. Thompson?” The name still felt unfamiliar on her tongue when she replied, “Yes, this is her.” There was a brief pause before he continued, “Your husband asked me to inform you that he has urgent business to attend to, and unfortunately, he won’t be returning tonight.” Diana blinked slowly, as if the words needed time to arrange themselves into something that made sense, before she finally asked, quieter now, “Tonight…? It’s our wedding night.” “I understand, ma’am,” the man replied, though his tone didn’t change, “but that was his instruction.” And then the line went dead. For several seconds she remained completely still, staring at her phone as though it had suddenly become foreign in her hands, while the room around her seemed to grow too large and too silent. “Business…” she repeated faintly, letting out a short breath that almost resembled a laugh but didn’t carry any warmth at all, “on our wedding night?” Yet even as she tried to dismiss it, Thompson had always been driven, constantly working, always chasing the bag and she had convinced herself that this was part of who he was. After a long pause, she moved away from the window where she had been standing and picked up her phone again, her fingers hovering over one name longer than she intended, before she finally tapped it. Nora, her younger sister. The only family she had left after her parents died, the girl she had raised with patience and sacrifice, the one who had cried at her engagement and insisted that Thompson was a good man, someone worthy of trust. A small, tired smile formed on Diana’s lips as she typed. “Are you home? I got your favorite wine.” Nora’s reply came almost instantly. “Come over!! I miss you already “ That should have made her feel lighter, and for a brief moment it did, because at least there was someone waiting for her, someone familiar, someone who still felt like family. “If he’s busy…” she murmured to herself as she grabbed the bottle she had carefully chosen for her sister, “then I might as well not spend the night alone.” The drive to Nora’s apartment was quiet, almost unnaturally. She tried not to think about the phone call, or the way Thompson’s voice had sounded earlier when he kissed her forehead like it was routine rather than affection, or even the strange emptiness that had followed her all evening like a shadow she couldn’t shake. “It’s just work,” she told herself again under her breath, gripping the wheel a little tighter, “that’s all it is.” But her chest still felt tight, as though her body understood something her mind was refusing to accept. When she finally arrived at Nora’s apartment, she stepped out with the bottle in hand and let the night air brush against her skin before walking up to the door she knew so well, the place where her sister had grown up, cried, laughed, and lived under her care. Nora had once given her a spare key years ago “just in case,” and Diana still carried it out of habit more than necessity, so she used it now without hesitation, telling herself this would be nothing more than a surprise visit, a small distraction, a way to end a strangely empty wedding night. She pushed the door open gently. “Nor…” But the sound never finished forming in her throat, because the moment she stepped inside, something inside her stopped. There was laughter and moans. Diana froze in place, her fingers tightening around the bottle so hard she almost lost her grip, while a slow, sinking feeling spread through her chest that she immediately tried to deny. “Nora?” she called carefully, forcing her voice to remain steady even though her instincts were already screaming. There was no answer, only the faint creak of a bed somewhere deeper inside the apartment. Her heartbeat slowed in refusal, as though her body was trying to protect her from understanding what her mind was already piecing together, and yet she still moved forward anyway, one step at a time, until she reached the hallway. The bedroom door was slightly open and light spilled through the gap like a wound. Diana stopped in front of it, her hand trembling as she whispered, “No… this isn’t real.” But her body betrayed her, she pushed the door open and in that instant, her entire world shattered without sound. Her husband…Thompson….in bed…fucking her younger sister. Everything inside her went completely still, as though even her breath had been stolen from her lungs, while Nora turned her head first, not startled in the way Diana expected, but simply aware, like she had been waiting for this moment to arrive. “Oh,” Nora said softly, pulling the sheet slightly around her as if nothing about the scene was unusual, “you’re here.” Diana’s voice broke immediately. “What… what is this?” Thompson didn’t rush to cover himself or react with panic; instead, he sat up slowly and exhaled as though she had interrupted something inconvenient rather than caught something unforgivable. “Diana,” he said calmly, “you’re not supposed to see this yet. You’re supposed to be in the hotel room.” Her lips parted slightly, but no sound came out at first, because the words didn’t make sense in the order they were given. Not supposed to? On her wedding night?Nora adjusted her posture, looking almost bored as she said, “We were going to tell you.” “Tell me what exactly?” Diana asked, her voice trembling now as she looked between them, searching desperately for any sign that this was some kind of misunderstanding. “That my husband is in bed with my sister on the same day I married him?” Thompson stood, pulling on his shirt with slow, deliberate movements, his expression unchanged as he finally answered. “You are only seeing things, Diana. I asked you not to skip your therapist visits." And somehow, that line hurt more than anything else. Diana let out a shaky breath. “Then explain it to me.” He sighed, as though she were making things unnecessarily complicated, before finally saying it without hesitation. “Fine, I married you for stability,” he said. Diana shook her head slowly, refusing to accept it even as her voice weakened. “No… you’re lying.” Nora finally scoffed softly. “He isn’t.” That single sentence made everything inside Diana collapse at once. Her gaze shifted to Nora, the only family she had left, the girl she had protected, raised, loved more than herself. “Nora…” she whispered, her voice breaking completely. “After everything I did for you…” Nora’s expression didn’t soften. “You were never the one,” she said simply. And in that moment, Diana understood something she never wanted to understand. She had never been loved here, only used. She backed away slowly, her breathing uneven, her mind refusing to stay still as she turned toward the door, because staying in that room felt like dying twice. No one stopped her. Her wedding dress dragged behind her like a memory she could no longer carry, while behind her, the apartment stayed warm, alive, and completely unaffected. Diana ran not knowing where she was going, only knowing she could not stay in a world where she had been chosen last in her own life. As she reached the edge of the road, blinded by tears and shock, headlights appeared out of nowhere, growing larger.