Chapter 2: The Man I Married Doesn't Exist

The car suddenly felt too small, too quiet, too cold, and I could barely hear anything except my own breathing. It came in short, painful heartburn as I stared at the man sitting in front of me.

I wiped at my tears with trembling fingers, but they kept falling, and my chest ached so badly I wondered if my heart was breaking apart inside me. Then his last words replayed in my head “My twin brother won’t be happy knowing that his bride is a pathetic weakling...”

Twin brothers Bride?? The words didn’t make any sense.

I slowly lifted my head. “What... Did you just say?”

He didn’t answer. He simply looked out of the windshield as though I wasn’t even there. My fingers curled into the fabric of my wedding dress. “I asked you a question,” I said, but he still remained silent.

I swallowed hard. “If you’re not my husband...” My voice shook. “...then who are you?” Still nothing.

I stared at his reflection in the rearview mirror. “You stood beside me at the altar. You exchanged vows with me. You put a ring on my finger. So who are you?”

The muscles in his jaw tightened, and for a second I thought he was finally going to answer. Instead, he said quietly, “You’re asking questions I can’t answer.”

My eyes widened. “Can’t?” I laughed bitterly. “Or won’t?” Nothing. He didn’t even look at me, and my hands began to shake all over again. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, you don’t get to do this. You don’t get to murder my parents and then sit there pretending nothing happened.” My voice grew louder with every word. “Look at me!”

He finally turned, and those strange gray eyes met mine cold, empty, impossible to read. “I said look at me!” I screamed, but he already was, and somehow that made me even angrier.

“Who was the man I married? Where is he? Why were you pretending to be him? Why did you kiss me? Why did everyone act like you were my husband? I deserve answers!”

His expression never changed. “You’ll have them.” “When?” I shouted.

“When you’re ready.” he replied calmly

“I am ready!” I screamed

“No,” he said immediately…. “You’re not.”

Something inside me snapped. A broken sob escaped my throat before I launched myself across the back seat.

“You murderer!” My fists crashed against his chest again and again. “You killed them! Take me back! Do you hear me?

Take me back!” I kept hitting him until my hands stung, but he didn’t even move. It was like punching a concrete wall. I grabbed the front of his black suit and pulled with everything I had. “You monster! I hate you! I hate you!”

Without warning, he caught both of my wrists not roughly, not violently, just effortlessly. His fingers wrapped around me with a grip that felt impossible to break. I struggled harder, but it was as if I was trying to move a mountain. His voice remained calm. “You’ll only hurt yourself.” “I’d rather hurt myself than stay with you!”

I twisted again, but his grip didn’t tighten. It didn’t need to. My breathing became ragged, and for the first time I realized how close we were. His skin was freezing not cool, not air-conditioned cold, but freezing. I stared at the hand holding my wrist. How could someone’s skin be this cold? A chill crawled down my spine. My gaze drifted to his face. He was impossibly pale, not sickly, just unnaturally white, and even under the afternoon sunlight spilling through the windshield, his skin almost seemed untouched by warmth. He hadn’t blinked in what felt like forever, and something about him felt wrong. I couldn’t explain it. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe it was the shock. Maybe I was losing my mind.

He released my wrists, and red marks immediately bloomed across my skin. I rubbed them, glaring at him. “I want to go home.” His voice was almost a whisper. “You don’t have one anymore.”

Those words hurt more than anything else he’d said. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. The car slowed, and outside, traffic came to a stop at a red light. People walked across the street laughing, a little girl held her father’s hand, life went on, like mine hadn’t just ended.

Then I noticed the door handle…. It wasn't locked. My heart pounded. If I could get out... I didn’t think. I just moved. My fingers grabbed the handle and yanked it, the door swung open, and before he could stop me, I threw myself out of the car and started running. Barefoot, my wedding dress tangling around my legs, I raced through the crowded street, ignoring the pain shooting through my feet. Someone shouted, a horn blared, brakes screeched, but I didn’t look back. I just kept running. I didn’t know where I was going. I only knew I had to get away from him, away from everything, away from the nightmare my life had become.

Then a hand closed gently around my arm, and I froze. My heart stopped. Slowly, I turned around, and he was standing there right in front of me. His breathing wasn’t heavy, he wasn’t even out of breath, it was as if he’d been waiting for me the whole time. I stared at him in disbelief. “How...?” I whispered. “You were still in the car...”

He said nothing. Before I could demand another answer, a sleek black car glided to a stop beside us, the tinted window rolled down, and I looked inside. The world tilted beneath my feet. The man sitting behind the wheel had the exact same face. A slow grin spread across his lips. “Took you long enough,” he said lazily, looking past me at the man beside me. “I leave you alone for five minutes, and your wife is already trying to escape.”

I stared from one face to the other, my mouth falling open. “There are...” My voice barely worked. “...two of you?”

The man in the car chuckled. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. I blinked once, twice, three times, but the man standing beside me didn’t disappear, and neither did the one sitting inside the car. They had the same face, the same dark hair, the same eyes, the same sharp jaw. Everything about them was identical. I stumbled backward. “No...” My voice barely came out. “No... that’s impossible.”

The man leaning against the car chuckled. “I’ve heard that one before.” I shook my head violently. “No.” I pointed at the one standing beside me. “You...” Then I pointed at the one inside the car. “And you...” My breathing became uneven. “There are two of you.”

The man inside the car flashed another lazy grin. “Congratulations. You’ve got excellent eyesight.” I glared at him. “This isn’t funny!” “No?” He raised an eyebrow. “I think it’s hilarious.”

I looked at the other man. Unlike the one in the car, his expression hadn’t changed once. He was still as cold as stone, still watching me with those unreadable gray eyes. I swallowed hard. “Who are you?”

The smiling one answered first. “I’m offended. I asked him.” “You’ll get used to that,” he said, climbing out of the driver’s seat and shutting the door behind him. Seeing them stand side by side made my stomach twist. They were identical. Absolutely identical. Only their expressions told them apart. One looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, the other looked like he was enjoying every second of my confusion.

The smiling one extended a hand. “I’m Draven.” He tilted his head toward the silent man beside me. “And Mr. Sunshine over there is Kai.” Kai didn’t react. Not even a blink. I didn’t take Draven’s hand. Instead, I stared at them. “You expect me to believe this?” Draven shrugged. “You’ve already seen it.” “I don’t understand.” “Obviously.”

I looked at Kai. “You...” My voice softened. “Were you the man standing at the altar?” Kai said nothing, and my frustration boiled over again. “Would somebody answer me?” “You ask too many questions.” “And you answer none!” Draven laughed. “I like her.” Kai finally spoke. “That’s enough.” Draven rolled his eyes dramatically. “Oh, don’t start acting like you’re the responsible one.” “I am.” “You’ve been saying that for eight lifetimes.” Kai shot him a warning look, and Draven immediately went quiet.

My heart skipped. Eight lifetimes? Did I hear that correctly? “What does that mean?” Neither of them answered. Instead, they exchanged a brief glance, not even a second long, but it said everything. They were hiding something. Something big.

I took another cautious step backward. “I don’t know who either of you are...” I looked down at the wedding ring on my finger. “...but I know one thing.” Both of them looked at me. “I married one of you today.” Silence. My eyes moved from Kai to Draven and back again. “So...” I whispered. “Which one of you is my husband?”

Neither answered. Kai folded his arms across his chest, Draven scratched the back of his neck, and for the first time since meeting him, his smile faded. They exchanged another look, almost like they were silently arguing, almost like they were deciding how much I should know. The silence stretched until I could barely breathe.

Finally, Draven sighed. He slipped one hand into his pocket and looked at me with something that almost resembled pity. “Technically...” He let the word hang between us, his crooked smile slowly returning. “You married neither of us.”