"After the first time she brought up divorce, I never filed the marriage certificate..."
"Really? Then let's go get ours tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
A buzzing filled my ears.
Everything went white with static.
I thought I was hearing things.
Then I finally saw what they were doing.
Julia looked down and spotted me too.
She moaned louder.
"Cathy, are you watching? Your husband is so good."
"What a shame there's no audience for today's new setting..."
I looked down at my phone screen, the video call still connected.
They were moving lower down the stairwell.
And I scurried downward like a rat fleeing into the dark.
Then my foot slipped.
"Ah—!"
Julia and I screamed at the same time.
James looked down and frowned.
"I think someone's there."
Julia hooked her arms around his neck, triumphant.
"Even better."
A pool of blood spread beneath my legs.
I couldn't tell which part of my body wasn't in pain.
"Mrs. Sanchez?"
It was James's female assistant.
She glanced upward in horror.
"You..."
A bone-deep, ice-cold agony radiated through every limb.
I felt like I was dying.
"Call... call 911..."
When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital.
The smell of antiseptic flooded my nostrils.
"Mrs. Sanchez..."
The assistant trailed off, unable to finish.
I tugged at the corner of my mouth.
"I know. The baby didn't make it."
I should have known all along.
That baby was something I'd forced into existence.
James had always been so restrained with me. I thought it was respect.
It was never respect. It was indifference.
Of course.
The second male lead was always supposed to belong to the heroine too.
Never to a side character like me.
The truth was, I hadn't come to find James today to fight with him. I wanted to beg him to leave with me. Maybe if we got far enough away from Julia, he'd still be mine. Just mine.
When did I fall in love with James?
It was back when the whole world revolved around Julia.
James had said:
"What's wrong with your best friend? Does she have some kind of princess complex?"
"She goes around telling everyone she's the heroine and I'm the second male lead, like I'm supposed to serve her."
"Please. Did she escape from a psych ward or something?"
I'd laughed without meaning to.
He froze for a second.
The tips of his ears went red.
"Catherine Simmons, you're really beautiful."
That very night, Julia shoved open my bedroom door and snarled at me.
"If you ever try to seduce James again, I'll kill you."
For the first time in my life, I talked back to her.
"But don't you already have a fiance?"
"You already have your own male lead."
That earned me the beating of a lifetime from both my parents.
"Have you no shame? Going after your own best friend's man."
"We should've strangled you in your crib..."
They always said things like that.
That they regretted having me.
Well, I regretted it too.
Then James came.
When he saw me, there wasn't a clean patch of skin left on my face. My lips, my fingers, my back, all bleeding.
It was the first time I ever saw James lose his temper.
He took me away.
And asked me:
"Catherine Simmons, will you marry me?"
"Everyone who's ever hurt you, I'll make them pay. I promise."
Those whispered words felt like they'd been spoken only yesterday.
I held the miscarriage report the doctor had handed me, and for the first time, I felt an eerie calm settle over me.
Right. None of it was ever really mine.
"Can I ask you for a favor?"
I turned to James's assistant again. This time, there was a quiet plea in my eyes.
