Helena was so mad that she kept texting me non–stop.
“Grace, don’t think that pretending to be sick will keep Antonio with you! He doesn’t love you anymore!”
“You’ve had him all to yourself for years. It’s time to let go!”
“How long has it been since he last slept with you? He only loves me now! With me, he’s full of energy!”
I never texted Helena back. I just read the messages sometimes and thought they were funny.
Helena sure knew why Antonio was into her.
She was nothing but a poor substitute for me.
The Kaufman Group had nearly a hundred artists, and plenty of them were looking for shortcuts. But Helena was the only one who tried to use me as her shortcut.
She joined the company two years ago and last year, she got involved with Antonio.
He kept it so quiet that I only found out this year.
Once I knew, I had to dig a little deeper.
When Helena first started, she didn’t look like this. She spent a whole year gradually changing her appearance until she looked about halfway like me. With the right makeup and similar clothes, she managed to bear a close resemblance to
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Chapter 4 Kiss
my younger self.
That was all it was.
She must have read too many substitute stories and actually thought she could replace me!
Antonio’s phone rang again.
He hung up once, twice, three times… His forehead got more and more wrinkled.
I looked at him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He held my hand and explained, “It’s some company stuff. No big deal. Those guys are useless. They can’t handle a minor issue. Why even have them?”
I knew what was going on but didn’t say anything.
Antonio seemed distracted. He looked annoyed, but he kept sneaking glances at his phone.
Half an hour later, his phone screen lit up with a text.
He frowned at it and finally couldn’t stay seated anymore.
He said to me apologetically, “I need to go out for a bit. Something came up.”
“Alright.”
After Antonio left, my phone screen lit up too.
It was a message from Helena, with just one word: “Window.”
I dragged myself over to the window in my slippers.
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Chapter 4 Kiss
From far away, I saw Antonio walking toward Helena.
He was in a bad mood and kept roughly pushing away the girl who wanted to hug him until she started crying, tears falling
fast.
She grabbed onto Antonio’s waist, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him like she didn’t care about anything else.
After a bit, he started kissing her back, even harder.
The two were locked in an embrace.
People around them glanced over, but no one stared too long because it was polite not to.
Antonio had his back to me, and Helena gave me a victory gesture.
I grabbed my phone, opened the camera, and zoomed in.
Click, click.
Nice! Helena’s face was clear, and her pose went perfectly with her smug smile.
Right on cue, a text came in from her.
“Your hubby is mine now! (toothy grin.jpg)”
I checked myself out of the hospital and went to the Kaufman’s place.
My two kids were there. A few days ago, their grandparents missed them and had them over, so I went to bring them back.
10
Antonio brought Helena back to the villa where he kept her.
How did I know?
Helena didn’t just dream of marrying Antonio. She also wanted to be a director.
She had filmed a bunch of videos and kept sending them to me, asking what I thought.
In those videos, she and Antonio were all over each other in the living room, the bathroom, and the bedroom.
Ugh, really cringey.
They were like dogs in heat in the neighborhood.
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.