Chapter 4

Over the next three mornings, I tested myself with the familiar faces in my therapy kit.

I covered the names with my palm, identifying them purely by their features.

Luke, Mr. Vance, Mrs. Vance, the lead doctor, the primary nurse...

And the final card: Ian.

Three days in a row, my score was a flawless one hundred percent.

Later, I watched the neighbors from the balcony and recognized the ones I'd met, even before they spoke.

I wanted to finish the program with an honest assessment. But I no longer doubted that I could tell the twins apart.

At seven on Friday morning, my parents were already dressed up. My mother had even taken the rare step of applying full makeup.

When I walked down from the third floor, she was adjusting a diamond earring in the foyer mirror.

"Stay home and relax today, sweetie. Your father and I are heading out to help Nina run some personal errands."

My father urged her from the doorway. "Hurry it up, the car is waiting."

Before stepping out, my mother turned back to give a final instruction.

"When the doctor comes by today, make sure you take your exercises seriously. Don't slack off."

"I won't."

Once the front door clicked shut, the massive villa plunged into total silence.

I began tucking my final few essentials into my suitcase.

There wasn't much to take, honestly.

The luxury handbags, diamond jewelry, and designer coats Ian had gifted me over the years were left untouched in the closets.

At the very bottom of the wardrobe, I uncovered a pair of hand-embroidered red pillowcases.

My mother had stitched them by hand years ago, back when our family was dirt-poor.

She had sat by the window, stitching every thread while telling me, "When you get married one day, take these with you. Whenever you look at them, you'll know your mama loves you."

I had laughed back then. "I don't even have a boyfriend yet, Mom. What's the rush?"

My dad had chimed in from the kitchen, "Every daughter spreads her wings eventually. Your mom and I just want to know you'll be safe and cherished."

Later, when I brought Ian home, they had been over the moon.

After a few beers, my father had even pulled Ian aside, his voice cracking with emotion:

"My little girl has a hard time with faces. You can never take advantage of her, you hear me?"

I stared at the intricate red stitching for a long moment, then quietly laid them back inside the wooden drawer.

I wouldn't be needing them anymore.

Just before calling an Uber to the train station, my mother initiated a FaceTime call.

"Jade, look! Nina and her fiancé got married today!"

On the screen, Nina stood beside a clerk's desk at City Hall, holding a pale envelope and smiling.

My mother turned her camera toward Nina's phone, where someone had just sent a photograph of the couple signing the register.

Nina tried to crop the groom out of the frame, but she was too late.

I had already recognized him standing beside her.

Ian Vance.

"Look at that, don't Nina and her new husband make a breathtaking pair?"

"Ah, if only you could see faces properly, you'd see how radiant she looks..."

I remembered my mother telling me that a man's honesty mattered more than his looks.

"When the time comes, your father and I will stand right beside you at City Hall. We'll make sure you marry an honorable man who has eyes only for you."

They hadn't forgotten that promise.

They simply reasoned that Nina only had three months left on this earth.

Ian and I were engaged. We'd never held a wedding or filed any marriage paperwork.

Once she passed, that certificate would become a meaningless piece of paper.

They assumed Ian would have decades left to marry me and make up for this.

My wedding could be postponed. My fiancé could be loaned out.

And now they expected me to wait until his marriage to someone else ended.

"Have a wonderful time celebrating," I said calmly. "Be sure to wish Nina a happy marriage on my behalf."

I hung up the call.

The Uber pulled up to the curb. I loaded my suitcase and climbed into the back seat.

Ian assumed that once he fulfilled Nina's dying wish, he would still have all the time in the world to smooth things over with me.

My parents assumed I would obediently sit in the villa, waiting like a loyal pet for them to return.

Yet while they were celebrating his legal marriage to Nina at City Hall, I was already settling into my seat on the high-speed rail heading south.

The train slowly began to roll forward.

And this time, the real Ian never showed up.

Right before the train pulled away from the platform, I caught a glimpse of Luke sprinting desperately through the terminal gates, his face pale with panic.

Whatever frantic words he shouted were swallowed entirely by the roaring wind of the departing train.