보관함
검색
홈 / Romance / Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone / Chapter 1

공유

Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone
Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone
작가: Smoky Locks

Chapter 1

작가: Smoky Locks
I forced myself to be calm. My eyes drifted to the wedding photo on the nightstand, and a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

"I just think the photo looks a little washed out. We should get it restored. Do you remember where we took it?"

"Honey, how could you forget where we took our wedding photos? You know what? I'll take it in for restoration."

My supposed husband, Brandon Moore, got up and took the framed wedding photo off the wall, turning it around to show me the watermark on the back—Genuinely Yours Studio.

I froze. That was exactly the studio where Jake Watson and I took our wedding photos. Even the wedding date was identical.

Seeing the confusion on Brandon's face, I waved dismissively and insisted on going myself.

With the wedding photo in hand, I headed to Genuinely Yours Studio and found a staff member. "Excuse me. Was this photo taken here? I'd like to know if it's been photoshopped in any way or if it's a deepfake."

The studio assistant took the photo from me, checked the watermark, and then pulled up the records on the computer. "Yes, this was taken here. As for the edits you mentioned, we'll need to run a check."

About 30 minutes later, he returned with the results. "There are signs it's been photoshopped. Most couples want their wedding photos to look nicer, so we did some standard touch-ups for both you and your husband.

"For example, we made your skin tone a little more even and enlarged your husband's eyes slightly."

"I-Is that all?" I asked shakily. "You didn't edit my husband into someone else? It's not a deepfake?"

The studio assistant looked at me, bewildered. "What kind of business would edit another man's face onto the groom's body?"

I opened my mouth to press him further, but decided against it and changed the subject instead. "Well, in that case, how many couples came here for wedding photos on this date?"

"Just you and your husband, ma'am."

The doubts and questions in my mind only grew. After leaving the photo with the staff for restoration, I walked out of the studio in a daze.

It didn't make sense. I would get it if the people around me were lying to me, but why would the staff at the studio also do that?

After mulling over it for a while, I decided to start with the person closest to Brandon. I pulled out my phone and called Rachel Schneider.

"Hey, Rachel. Are you free? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"What's wrong? Did your husband give you a hard time again?" she asked. "Give me a minute. I'll meet you right after I put the baby to sleep."

I hadn't expected Brandon's words from my previous life to be true. Rachel had actually become a mother.

When we met at the cafe, I pulled out my chair and sat across from her. Her face glowed with happiness.

"Erica, it's been forever!" she greeted me. "Ever since I had the baby, I barely get any time to myself anymore."

"Sorry. I know this will sound weird, but… who's your husband?"

Rachel was visibly taken aback. "What's going on with you? Erica, you were my bridesmaid. It's Alex Cooper, the guy next door."

She showed me the wallpaper on her phone's lock screen. It was a wedding photo of her and Alex.

My grip loosened around the coffee cup, and the brown liquid spilled onto the table. "Wait… I mean, weren't you in love with Brandon before?"

"Brandon? That boring blockhead? I couldn't stand him. I don't know what you see in him. Sure, Alex isn't exactly handsome, but he spoils me. He's willing to spend money on me too."

How could this be? Rachel used to despise Alex. The one she loved was Brandon.

Now, everything had completely reversed.

Faced with my silence, Rachel reached over worriedly and grabbed my hand. "Brandon's not actually mistreating you, is he? He used to love you like crazy. He even spent a fortune engraving both your initials on the wedding rings."

I looked at the band on my finger and hurriedly took it off to check the inside. Sure enough, it had Brandon's initials and mine.

But I clearly remembered that the man who slipped the ring onto my finger was Jake, and that ring had our initials engraved on it too.

Was I really losing my mind? Had Jake never existed at all?

이 작품을 무료로 읽으실 수 있습니다
QR 코드를 스캔하여 앱을 다운로드하세요
이전 챕터 다음 챕터

최신 챕터

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 9

    Three months later, two red lines appeared on the pregnancy test. Jake was so happy that he reacted like a child, spinning me around the living room, only to remember that I was pregnant and carefully set me down."You're not dizzy, right?" he asked anxiously. "The baby's okay?"I laughed and nodded, warmth filling my chest.After the pregnancy, subtle changes began happening around me. The first change was my parents.Back when Jake and I insisted on staying childfree, they had been disappointed but helpless about it. Now, they were overjoyed. Mom had already started knitting tiny socks, while Dad became obsessed with researching baby stroller brands.Then came the changes among our friends.Rachel, the woman who had married Alex and had a child in my "nightmare", was still single in this reality. Apparently, she was now in an ambiguous romantic situation with Brandon.When she heard about my pregnancy, she dragged Brandon over to visit us. She handed me a beautifully wrapped g

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 8

    Late at night, Brandon was fast asleep.I quietly got out of bed and went over to the restored wedding photo. In the picture, Brandon and I looked like the happiest couple, grinning from ear to ear.The background was the familiar studio setup of Genuinely Yours Studio—blue skies, white clouds, and rainbow balloons. It was the same backdrop I remembered from my wedding photos with Jake.I reached out and touched the glass of the frame. The surface was cold beneath my fingertips. If this photo were truly a connection point, what exactly should I do?Meditate? Make a wish? Wait for some specific condition to activate it?I slowly closed my eyes and began to picture Jake in my mind.The slight crease in his brow whenever he was deep in thought, those dark brown eyes that always looked so laser-focused whenever he stared at me…I remembered the warmth of his hands, the faint soap-like scent lingering on him, and the gentle way he called me "babe".I remembered his sweaty palms on o

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 7

    Once that thought formed, it wrapped itself around my mind like a creeping vine.Jake once joked that he was a time traveler. It was during a college astronomy club event. We were watching a rare phenomenon where seven planets aligned.He had pointed at the sky and said, "If I disappear out of the blue one day, don't be surprised. I might've gone back to become a king."I had laughed at him for reading too many sci-fi novels. But… what if it hadn't been a joke? What if he really was a time traveler, someone who had accidentally stumbled upon my timeline?I opened my laptop again and searched for the exact date when the seven planets aligned. The records showed the most recent one happened 23 years ago. The next one wouldn't occur for another few centuries.23 years ago, I was six.My hands began to tremble. When I was six, I had a high fever and fell unconscious. When I woke up, I was "a little different", according to Mom.Jake had once told me he also had a serious illness whe

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 6

    That single line of words cut through the fog clouding my mind. This world was truly never where I belonged.Everyone here—my parents, my friends, and even my husband—wasn't lying. Their memories, experiences, and emotions were real.It was just that all of this belonged to another Erica, another version of my life. And I had crossed over into this alternate reality, carrying memories from my original world.I needed proof—more of it. I grabbed a blank notebook and started writing down every inconsistency I could remember.For example, Brandon's allergy to mangoes in my world and his love for them in this one, and how Rachel used to love him, but now despised him and had married Alex instead.With every line I wrote, my heart sank a little deeper.If this were really an alternate reality, where was Jake? In my original world, he had been real. Here, he had been erased, his entire existence overwritten and replaced by Brandon. Unless…A terrifying thought surfaced—unless Jake nev

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 5

    Brandon walked into the bedroom while I was staring blankly at the wall where the newly restored wedding photo hung. "What's the matter, honey?"He came over and naturally put an arm around my shoulders. "The photo looks better after the restoration. Brighter, too."I didn't move away. I simply turned my head to look at him. "Brandon, do you know what my favorite foods are?"He froze momentarily, then smiled and pinched my cheek. "That's random. Well, for starters, you love blue cheese and clam chowder. Oh, and desserts too. Didn't you just ask me to bring home mango pudding yesterday?"My heart sank. None of the things he listed were what I liked. In fact, I hated them. The smell of blue cheese was nauseating. I avoided clam chowder at all costs. Meanwhile, desserts…Jake used to laugh at me for being a "sodium lover". I would only ever take a few bites of anything sweet. Yet, in this world, Brandon said it so naturally, as if it were common knowledge."What's the matter? Was I

  • Gaslit by Reality: My True Husband's Gone   Chapter 4

    A surge of excitement instantly overwhelmed me. I knew it! Jake really did exist!"Ma'am, is it him?"The elderly neighbor, Eloise Langley, looked at the photo in my phone and shook her head."No, not this young man. There's a boy in elementary school who has the same name, though. I have to say, he does look like the man next door… Oh, my. I'd be surprised if it's actually what I'm thinking of."I pulled my phone back, unwilling to give up. "Is it true that the family next door only ever had a daughter and not a son?""That's absolutely true," she said firmly. "Mrs. Watson went into labor early. I was the one who called the midwife to help with the delivery. It was a baby girl."Eloise thought for a moment, then went back inside her house to retrieve an old photograph. It showed a young, weak Mrs. Watson holding a newborn baby girl, smiling faintly with relief and happiness.The recorded birth time on the photo matched Jake's exactly, down to the minute."Could this timestamp

더보기

다른 추천

좋은 소설을 무료로 찾아 읽어보세요
GoodNovel 앱에서 수많은 인기 소설을 무료로 즐기세요! 마음에 드는 작품을 다운로드하고, 언제 어디서나 편하게 읽을 수 있습니다
앱에서 작품을 무료로 읽어보세요
앱에서 읽으려면 QR 코드를 스캔하세요.
DMCA.com Protection Status