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홈 / Mafia / The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband / Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

작가: Unknown Heart
I snapped back from the memory.

The Matteo in front of me looked just like Number 23 from my memories.

I could not help myself. I reached out and touched his face.

“Am I dreaming?”

I stood on my tiptoes, wanting to kiss him. Then, he blocked me with his hand.

“Lina.”

I froze in place, still on my tiptoes. However, my body had stopped leaning forward.

He smiled roguishly again.

“If you actually kissed me, Matteo would still kill me even though he’s my twin brother.”

I turned and saw Matteo standing about seven meters away from us.

So, I almost kissed Nicola?

Before I could think it through carefully, I heard Matteo say, “When did you get back, Nicola?”

Nicola put away that casual and unruly demeanor.

He walked past me and said, “Yeah, I’ll tell you later.”

I saw the scar on his arm as he pulled up his sleeve. It was the scar I could never forget.

He was Number 23.

I had the urge to grab Nicola, but Matteo squeezed my hand tightly. He looked at me, offended.

“You can’t even recognize me? What’s going on in your head? Or are you drunk? Is that why you can’t recognize me?”

I shook off his hand and did not respond. I was thinking about Number 23.

Matteo was surprised to see me lose my temper at him. I had always been gentle and obedient.

He only assumed I was tired from socializing. So, he ended the social event and led me back to my room to rest.

After washing up, I suppressed my pounding heart and pretended to be calm as I asked Matteo deliberately, “Was that guy just now your twin brother? Why wasn’t he at our wedding?”

He looked unbothered.

“Nicola? He’s been traveling all over the world these past few years. He couldn’t make it back for our wedding. Dad only called him back recently because of the arranged marriage.”

I continued asking, “So, he was never in Vitalia before?”

“No idea. I heard he went to Liberta first.”

“Oh, then—”

“Lina, why do you have so many questions today?”

Matteo frowned. He turned his head to look at me.

“Are you interested in my brother?”

His question caught me off guard. I felt guilty for a moment. I had no choice but to hide my emotions and smile plainly.

“Don’t just come at me. You’re the one who’s always asking about my sister.”

He was picking up his lighter when he paused at my remark.

After a while, he replied indifferently, “Fair enough. Anyone would be curious about someone who looks exactly like their partner. But Lina, no more questions after this. Let’s just focus on us.”

I nodded to appease him. I could not help but make fun of him inwardly.

He had been saying these strange things lately. Was he trying to give me a sense of security?

I felt like he was actually trying desperately to convince himself.

When Matteo went to take a shower, I received a call from my sister.

“Hey, Elena.”

Her voice sounded helpless as she said, “Lina, I just agreed to the new arranged marriage the family set up for me. It’s with your husband’s twin brother. I can’t believe how much of a coincidence this is. Dad wants me to meet with him sometime next week.”

I was still struggling with how to tell my sister about Number Twenty-three. However, Elena had already seen right through me.

“I know he’s the guy you like. He and I will maintain a marriage on paper only. But Lina, if he makes a move on me… then you need to think about whether he’s still worth your feelings.”

Hearing how much Elena considered my feelings ultimately made me tell her about Matteo’s plan to swap identities.

She cursed under her breath and demanded to know why I did not stop him.

“What if the family elders find out? What are we supposed to do then? How can you just let Matteo walk all over you like this?”

Of course, I was not doing this for Matteo.

“Elena, it’s because I have my own selfish reasons too.”

She was silent for a moment.

“Okay. I’ll pretend I don’t know anything.”

The sound of a lighter came through the phone. She rarely smoked.

“Honestly, this whole messed-up marriage you have with Matteo is kind of my fault, too.”

I gripped my phone tightly and listened as she continued.

She said, “I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I just didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t think I needed to mention it.”

Her voice sounded hoarse after exhaling a puff of smoke.

“That year, he and I handled some family business together. He heard someone call me Miss Moretti.”

She paused there for a moment.

“Later, when the families arranged the marriage, he agreed because he thought he was marrying me. In the end, he found out that the Moretti family actually has two daughters. He mistook you for me.”

Only a faint buzzing of static remained on the phone.

“I’m sorry, Lina. Before this, I actually thought he was Number 23. I thought my mistake had accidentally done something good. I never thought you’d end up getting hurt because of me again.”

I switched my phone from my left hand to my right hand.

“It’s okay, Elena. Thank you for helping me this time.”

After the call ended, I sat on the windowsill for a very long time.

A long while later, I finally sighed.
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  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 10

    In the third year of my separation from Matteo, Nicola performed several key operations overseas. He rendered great service to the family.After Don Castellanov passed away, Nicola became the youngest Don in the family’s history.Matteo and I also got divorced by then.The family was unhappy about it, but they did not pursue the matter further. Nicola was already the new Don of the Castellano family after all.Later, Elena married the eldest son of another family in Sicellia. Rumor had it that she was doing fairly well.On the day we finalized the divorce, the weather was clear.I saw Nicola across the street.He took off his sunglasses and waved at me. I ran to him and threw myself into his arms. He held me for a while. Then, he took my hand.“Come on, let’s go buy new wedding rings.”The sun shone on our faces. Two people who had been through so much had finally found each other.I looked down at his hand that was holding mine. I rubbed my fingertip against the shallow sc

  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 9

    Nicola hit much harder than Matteo did.Matteo suffered two cracked ribs, multiple contusions, soft tissue injuries, and a mild concussion.He was sent to the family’s private hospital and stayed there for two days before he finally woke up.This incident alarmed both families’ Dons.In the end, both of them were punished equally.Nicola was sent to Sicellia for a month to cool off. Matteo was disciplined by the council.The head nurse reported to me that Matteo’s vital signs had returned to normal. He could be discharged after resting for a period of time. However, he refused to speak.I stood outside his hospital room. After a long silence, I pushed open the door.Matteo lay on the hospital bed with an IV line still threaded into the back of his hand. His breathing was steady.I pulled a chair over and sat down beside the bed. I noticed that he had blinked.“Matteo, wake up and face reality. Running away isn’t going to fix anything.”After a few seconds, he slowly opened h

  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 8

    When Matteo pushed open the master bedroom door, he saw Nicola and me sleeping in each other’s arms.That made him furious.He did not care that we were still asleep, or that Nicola was his older brother. He strode to the bed, grabbed Nicola by the collar, and dragged him out from under the covers.Before Nicola could react, Matteo punched him in the face. Nicola’s back hit the wardrobe. A dull, heavy thud echoed through the room.I jolted awake instantly. I shouted for Matteo to stop.Yet, Matteo kept throwing punches one after another like a madman.Nicola did not fight back.He slid down the wardrobe and sat on the floor. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.When Matteo finally stopped, Nicola looked at him as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Then, he smiled, looking completely unbothered.“Weren’t you the one who begged me to pretend to be you, my dear brother?”Matteo grabbed Nicola by the collar and yanked him up from the floor. He t

  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 7

    [Lina’s perspective.]That same night, after Nicola got ready for bed, he lifted the blanket and lay down beside me.Then, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his embrace.He rested his chin on top of my head. His breath wafted through my hair.He held me gently and let out a contented sigh. “Honey, it feels so good to hold you.”I blushed from his embrace, and my heart pounded rapidly.I never felt that way with Matteo before. That must be what natural chemistry felt like.I turned to bury my face in his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist.“Babe, you smell really nice,” I said.I never thought I would meet Number 23 again, let alone get to call him “Babe.”I tried hard to hold back my tears.Nicola then called out my name softly in the dark, “Lina.”Then, he paused for a long time.“Do you like me like this?”I did not hesitate.“Yes, I do.”He chuckled, then said, “Then... what if this version of me disappears tomorrow? Would you be sad?”

  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 6

    [Matteo’s perspective.]After hanging up, I got the sense that I should not have asked Nicola to pretend to be me.I followed Elena home after dinner.Elena took a bottle of whiskey from the liquor cabinet and poured herself a glass. Then, as if she suddenly remembered that someone else was in the house, she raised the bottle toward me.“Want a drink?” she said.I said yes.Just when I thought we could finally drink and talk, Elena drank by herself without paying me any attention.I was about to speak when she turned and walked to the couch. She sat down and started scrolling through her phone. She clearly had no intention of looking at me.After Elena took several phone calls, she noticed that I was still standing there. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Have a seat. Make yourself at home.”I sat down on the couch and tried to get closer to her.Every time I brought up personal things in our lives, the conversation would always end with family business. Then, the topic woul

  • The Week He Pretended To Be The Husband   Chapter 5

    I held his hand and walked into the restaurant with him.The waiter took us up to the third floor.Nicola did not reserve a private room for us. Our seats were on the small terrace that was only open to premium members.Beyond the French windows, the night skyline and the distant harbor lights stretched into view.When we were seated, I heard a familiar voice coming from the stairwell.“Oh? Lina. You two are here too?”It was Elena. She was wearing a red dress today. She looked amazing in it. Every move she made was elegant.She walked over and sat down next to me.Then, she said to Nicola, who was sitting across from me, “Since we happened to run into each other like this, why don’t you pick up the tab, Nicola?”After saying that, she nudged me with her leg under the table.I felt a little embarrassed and gave an awkward smile.Nicola clearly had not expected this situation either.I was at a loss for words. Then, I saw Matteo walking over slowly.He was frowning, and his

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