I Quit Being His Replacement Girlfriend, Then He Finally Panicked Chapter 01

I Quit Being His Replacement Girlfriend, Then He Finally Panicked Chapter 01

After finally meeting my online boyfriend in person, I stumbled across a post online.

[If you could go back in time with everything you know now, what would you change?]

Most of the comments were about failed marriages, dead-end jobs, or loved ones they wished they could save.

Then one comment stood out.

[I’d ask for her number myself.]

[Then I wouldn’t have spent six months texting the wrong girl because my friend mixed up the contact.]

[We’ve already met in person now, so I guess I’ll just live with it.]

I left a snarky reply and was about to scroll away.

Then I noticed the avatar, the handle, even the bio.

They were identical to Dashiell Kincaid’s.

My boyfriend.

The man I had just met in person for the first time.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

Why he had never asked to FaceTime.

Why his smile had looked strained when he saw me.

The love he had given me was never meant for me.

It had belonged to someone else.

***

I lifted my head.

Across the restaurant, Dashiell sat at our table, tearing into someone over the phone.

He was probably ripping into the friend who had given him the wrong number.

When I walked back over, he ended the call before I could sit down and slid the menu toward me.

“Back?”

“I ordered a few things you like. See if you want to add anything.”

Dash had always been thoughtful.

Even before we met, he never missed a holiday gift or birthday surprise.

He knew I got so busy at work I forgot dinner, so he had meals delivered outside my office every night for a week, never repeating the same place twice.

My preferences, my allergies, my period.

He remembered all of it better than I did.

My friends and coworkers used to say I had hit the jackpot.

That even online dating had landed me a rich boyfriend who worshipped me.

But now I knew.

None of it had ever been mine.

Dash waved a hand in front of my face and laughed lightly.

“What, stunned by your boyfriend?”

“You’ll have plenty of time to stare later. Eat first.”

“If you skip dinner, you’ll be complaining about your stomach again.”

Under the table, my hands curled tighter and tighter.

Finally, I forced myself to speak.

“You didn’t have to pretend once you realized I was the wrong person. You could’ve just told me.”

The smile disappeared from his face.

“Where did you hear that?”

I avoided his eyes and gave him an answer that wasn’t quite an answer.

“The day your friend asked for my number, my coworker was there too.”

“He probably mixed us up by accident.”

I pulled out my phone and sent him Elodie Trask’s Instagram handle.

“This is hers.”

“If you still want it, I can introduce you.”

“As for us…”

I swallowed.

“Let’s stop here.”