On the seventh anniversary of my marriage, I received a pregnancy test report.
Just as I was about to share the joy with my husband, I was involved in a car accident.
The doctor called my husband more than twenty times, but he never answered a single call. In the end, I had no choice but to endure the pain and sign the surgical consent form myself.
When I woke up again, the doctor looked at me with undisguised displeasure.
"Ms. Mcallister, our system shows that you're single. Why did you lie about having a husband?"
"Do you know that because the rescue was delayed, the child in your womb has already..."
I sat frozen on the hospital bed, unable to decide which piece of news hurt more.
Trembling, I placed a hand over my abdomen. The child who had just reached ten weeks was gone—silently, completely.
My eyes burned red as I stared at the doctor in disbelief.
"I've been married for seven years. How could I possibly be single? Your hospital system must be wrong."
My protest came to an abrupt halt when the hospital produced its official records.
Staring at the stamped seal on the documents, my vision shook.
I walked out of the hospital stiffly, holding both a miscarriage report and a certificate proving I was single.
The very next second, I saw my husband stepping out of the Civil Affairs Bureau—arm in arm with my younger sister, who had been missing for seven years.
He had his arm around her shoulders, their intimacy unmistakable. The red marriage certificate in their hands stabbed painfully into my eyes.
At that moment, my heart sank to the very bottom.
The wind carried their conversation to my ears.
"Emmett, if Camille finds out that we registered our marriage, she'll probably blame us. After all, she's been your wife for the past seven years."
Emmett replied without hesitation, "I've never considered her my wife. In my eyes, you're the only one who truly matters. What we're holding is the real marriage certificate."
"If you want, I can get rid of her."
As the truth laid itself bare, a deafening roar filled my ears.
Seven years of devotion wasted... It was time for me to leave.
——
I stood frozen in place as the documents slipped from my hands and scattered across the ground.
At some point, Leanne and I met eyes. There was unmistakable pride in hers—as if she had noticed my presence long ago.
"Emmett, I really didn't expect you to say something like that," she said softly. "I thought you no longer cared about me. Seven years ago, at the wedding, I wasn't ready, so I chose to run away. I never imagined that you would still love me so deeply."
Overwhelmed with emotion, Leanne began to cry. Emmett gently wiped the tears from her cheeks, his eyes filled with a tenderness I had never once seen directed at me.
"My wife was always meant to be you," he said solemnly. "Even when you left me seven years ago, I never blamed you—not for a single moment."
After saying that, Emmett lowered his head and kissed Leanne deeply.
My breathing turned ragged as a sour, suffocating pain spread through my entire body.
But Leanne was still not satisfied. She narrowed her eyes and glanced in my direction before lowering her voice.
"Emmett, you don't have to say this just because of my illness. After all, you and my sister have been together for seven years. You must love her. I'll be fine on my own..."
Emmett immediately grabbed her hand, his expression earnest.
"I've never loved her," he said without the slightest hesitation. "It was only because her face resembles yours. I kept her by my side so I could look at her and miss you."
At an instant, the world spun before my eyes. The overwhelming dizziness forced me to stagger backward.
In a daze, I seemed to see Emmett smiling at me gently—just like he used to.
We had grown up together, childhood sweethearts in name.
But in his eyes, there had only ever been one person—my younger sister, Leanne.
He and my brothers all adored the coquettish, lovable Leanne. I was forever the silent shadow standing behind them.
No one knew that even a shadow longs for sunlight.
Or that I had secretly loved Emmett for years.
Emmett was originally my fiancé.
But as we grew older, his bond with my sister only deepened, and no one ever brought up our engagement again.
Naturally, my engagement to him became hers instead.
I thought my life would simply continue like that—until the day of their wedding.
The venue was extravagantly decorated. Everything was tailored to my sister's tastes: the most luxurious, the most expensive, the very best.
Yet that day, Emmett waited from dawn until nightfall.
Leanne never appeared.
Even after the officiant left the venue, she still did not come.
Only then did Emmett finally break down.
That night, he drank himself senseless at a bar.
When I found him, he looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time.
He told me everything.
He said he had long known that Leanne might flee the wedding. But he believed that if he treated her well enough, she would eventually understand his sincerity.
It wasn't until he was abandoned at the altar that he finally realized—her heart was never something he could warm.
I stayed with him and listened the entire night.
The next morning, when Emmett woke up, he proposed to me.
I knew that perhaps he was only wounded, desperately searching for a harbor to shelter in.
But I wanted his love far too badly.
So I blindfolded myself—and accepted his proposal.
Over the course of seven years, Emmett's attitude toward me changed. From distant and indifferent, to attentive and gentle.
I thought my sincerity had finally moved him.
But now I understood.
I was nothing more than Leanne's substitute.
Every gentle touch, every tender word, every whispered declaration of love—he had been thinking of Leanne all along.
And I was still that same shadow in the darkness.
Nothing had ever changed.
I thought this was already the deepest pain imaginable.
But the next moment, my brothers' voices pierced my ears.
"Congratulations. You've finally waited long enough to see the light."
My eldest brother, Jace, smiled broadly as he lightly shoved Emmett's shoulder, amusement dancing in his eyes.
My second brother, Antonio, laughed even harder. "I'll definitely prepare a big gift for the wedding. But first, we need to deal with Camille."
"She's not the obedient type. If she finds out Emmett and Leanne are getting married, she'll definitely show up and make a scene. That would be ugly. You know how she is—sometimes she's just like a shrew."
The irritation in Antonio's voice was unmistakable.
In an instant, everyone burst into laughter.
The brothers who once cursed Leanne in rage for fleeing the wedding had once again become her devoted protectors.
They had forgotten everything I had done for them since childhood. Forgotten that after Leanne left, it was I who stayed by their side.
In their eyes, as long as Leanne returned, I was nothing more than a disposable substitute—a toy that could be thrown away at any time.
I existed only to fill their boredom.
After realizing this, I numbly crouched down, just as I had every time I was hurt as a child, wrapping my arms tightly around myself.
Before long, a familiar hand reached out in front of me—and picked up the scattered reports from the ground.
