The Fake Wedding Was For Me, The Real One For Her Chapter 01

The Fake Wedding Was For Me, The Real One For Her Chapter 01

For years. That’s how long I’d shared my body with another soul. She was everything I wasn’t—quick-witted, magnetic, the kind of person who could have a room laughing before she’d even finished her first sentence.

I couldn’t even get a word out.

We switched places every other week. And every time, my parents made it clear which version of their daughter they wanted back.

An entire childhood of that—a lifetime of being the one they kept wishing would disappear. Julian Vance was the only person who never made me feel that way.

He swore he could always tell us apart. No matter who was wearing my face, I was the only one he wanted.

The night before our engagement, I woke up in my own body earlier than expected.

“She’s coming back in the morning. Stay with me tonight—all night, okay?”

He was naked, his weight pressing me into the mattress, his breath ragged against my skin.

“Our time together is never enough, Chloe. I wish you didn’t have to go…”

Chloe Thorne. The other girl’s name.

I shoved him off and lunged for the edge of the bed. My stomach heaved—and somewhere between the retching, a laugh crawled out of me. Bitter, airless, nowhere near funny.

So he was just like the rest of them. Every last person in my life wanted me gone.

Fine.

Lucky for them, I’d already found a way to make that happen.

***

“Chloe!” He pulled my hair back as I heaved, his voice cracking. “Hey — what’s wrong? What hurts?”

I clenched my jaw and forced the nausea back down.

“Wait — are you… pregnant?”

He had no idea I’d woken up. His mind was already doing the math.

“Was it from that weekend at the mountain lodge recently?”

“Or that hotel by the amusement park—we stayed up all night…”

Everything inside me went still.

He’d sworn to me he’d never touched Chloe during the swaps. Not once.

“It’s your soul I love,” he’d told me once, his voice so steady it felt like a vow. “The body doesn’t matter if you aren’t the one inside.”

And now here he was. Bare skin pressed to mine — except he thought I was her.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk. Let’s just sleep.”

He pulled me against his chest, suspecting nothing. “Clara comes back tomorrow,” he murmured. “I’ll go through with the engagement with her at some hotel — just for show.”

“Next time you’re back, we’ll go to that island you love. Throw a real engagement party — just for us, okay?”

My nails dug into my palms until my hands shook.

“Oh—we should get a real marriage license, too.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “The engagement party I put together for Clara? Completely fake. I hired people, set up the whole venue—staged everything.”

“She doesn’t suspect a thing…” His voice trailed off, sinking toward sleep.

Every drop of blood in me went cold.

I waited until his breathing leveled out. Then I slid out from under his arm and reached for his phone.

He hadn’t bothered to delete the messages. Everything was right there.

A family group chat. My family. I wasn’t in it.

Recently, he’d given Chloe a whole diamond set for her birthday—necklace, earrings, the works.

My engagement gift was a flimsy gold pendant. It weighed next to nothing.

[Chloe has been through so much. Of course she deserves to be spoiled.]

“Clara, the startup is eating up all my funds. I don’t have a lot of cash right now—I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Then the photos. Hundreds of them — vacations abroad, Julian and Chloe and my family, all together, all smiling.

[This is our new family photo! Get it printed and hang it in the living room!]

A decade, and not once had anyone taken a photo like that with me.

They’d already built a new family without me. Every time I disappeared, they filled the space like I’d never been there.

I slid back under the covers. Lying there beside the man I’d built my whole life around, a laugh worked its way up my throat — soundless, gutted — and the tears came with it.

He slipped out before dawn, before the sun was up.

Later that morning, his face filled my phone screen—smiling, not a hair out of place. “Clara, you’re back?”

“Get ready—I’ll swing by and pick you up for the party—”

“Julian.” I lifted the earbud into the camera—the one I’d palmed the night before. “You left this on my nightstand.”

“Wait—you were awake last night?”

Something flickered behind his eyes — just for a second — before the mask slid back into place.

“Your body was burning up last night. I came over to take care of you.”

“I knew it wasn’t you in there, but I couldn’t just let your body suffer.” His smile was soft. Tender. Perfectly performed. “It’s our engagement day — you’d never let me live it down if you woke up sick.”

Lies. Straight to my face, without blinking.

“Julian.” I steadied myself. One last question. “If I found a way for only one of us to stay — would you want that?”

He went still. “What do you mean?”

“Which one? Me — or her?”

Whatever was left inside me just — emptied out.

“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”

I ended the call and pulled up my messages.

[Madam, I’ve made my decision.]

[Are you available today?]