**Chapter 11**
Julian was completely stunned.
So, that day, she was holding Chloe’s student ID to ask if the pet clinic offered a discount?
He still couldn’t believe it and opened the video on his phone again.
“Chloe” was hit by his car, protecting the kitten as she rolled several times on the ground, then struggled to her feet.
He zoomed in on the video, meticulously examining “Chloe’s” facial features-
There was a tear mole under her left eye!
This tear mole was only on Riley, not on Chloe. This was the biggest difference between the twin sisters…
9:22 AM
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This meant he had been mistaken about the person all along?
Julian couldn’t accept this fact.
He stumbled backward several steps until his back hit the wall with a heavy thud.
The vet immediately asked, “Sir, are you alright?”
Julian’s eyes were bloodshot, and his breathing became ragged. “When… when was she here last?”
“I think it was three days ago,” the female vet said. “She also mentioned that her husband’s birthday was coming up, and she wanted to bring
sir, where are you going?!”
the kitten home after his birthday, to surprise him… Heys
Julian couldn’t wait any longer.
Although the pet clinic’s words had already pieced together most of the truth, he had one last thing to confirm.
He sped back to the “home” he shared with Riley, rushing straight
to
the wardrobe.
He reached inside and first felt a marriage certificate.
Then-
A small, hard gift box.
A small sticky note was attached to the box, with “To Julian” written on it.
He trembled as he opened the small gift box. A light smoke–gray tie came into view.
Inside, there was also a small card.
{Julian:
This is your first birthday since we got married. You work so hard, leaving early and coming home late, all for our little home.
i know you’re sometimes impatient with me, but i understand it’s just because of immense work pressure.
This tie, I bought it with the money I saved from three months of delivering food.
Please don’t be reluctant to wear it. A man needs these things to make an impression outside.
Julian, I was never loved by my parents since childhood, and my twin sister wasn’t very kind to me either.
You are the first person who ever loved me.
I’m truly so happy that in this world, I’m no longer a pitiful person no one loves.
I hope we can continue like this, living a simple, warm life together forever.
I will love you well, and I will work hard to ease your burden, making our lives better and better,
Julian, I love you.
-Riley!
Clang! The gift box fell to the floor,
Julian felt as if his entire being was adrift in a vast emptiness.
There was a small line of text on the back of the card.
He turned it over to read.
9:22 AM D
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[Julian, I have a small request. I rescued a very pitiful stray kitten. Like me, it was abandoned by its family; no one loves it. Can I bring it home and raise it?]
[It and I are kindred spirits. I really want to keep it. Please, I’m begging you just this once.]
It really was her…
So, the one who rescued the kitten, the one he fell in love with at first sight, was really Riley?
But why was he only discovering this now?!
He had already married the girl he loved. He had countless opportunities to love her well, to tell her that she wasn’t unloved in this world, that he would give her all his affection.
But why did he only learn the truth after she was dead?
Julian dropped to his knees, clutching his chest desperately, unable to breathe for a long moment.
He pressed the card to his heart, his knuckles white from the force. His heart felt as if a chunk had been violently torn out, the pain nearly
suffocating him.
Riley was still dreaming of simple happiness.
She never cared that Julian was just a corporate drone who didn’t earn much. She gave a hundred percent of her love to this ordinary,
unremarkable man.
All she wished for was someone to love her.
Yet even this small wish, he had cruelly stripped away from her.
He brought the tie to his lips, kissed it, and then tucked it into his innermost, closest pocket. Then, he opened the marriage certificate.
In the photo, he was frowning, his face cold and indifferent.
And Riley, she wore her only white dress, smiling so brightly.
Julian finally couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into desperate sobs.
