1 For 365 days a year, my girlfriend would hire 365 different gig workers to go on dates with me in her place. All because of her insufferable ex, a man still playing his tragic game of winning her back, always using self-harm as his trump card. I suggested we move to a different city. But my girlfriend, Serena, just screamed at me. "If he dies, you'll be a murderer!" "Why can't you just tolerate him? You're so petty!" It all came to a head on the day of our engagement party. She sent another proxy to stand in for her. This time, I slid the ring directly onto the proxy’s finger. "Fine," I said. "New bride it is." … I was just about to take off my suit jacket when Serena came through the door. She was propping up a man who was swaying, drunk off his feet. Her small frame strained under his weight, terrified he might fall. My hands froze on my jacket. "Go make Damian a hangover cure, and then cook me dinner," she ordered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if I were her servant. Damian, his face flushed with alcohol, glared at me from Serena's shoulder. "I'm not eating anything he makes. It's disgusting." "If Daddy's not eating, I'm not eating either!" Ella, their daughter, shot out like a tiny cannonball, planting her hands on her hips and looking up at me with pure defiance. "Fine," I said quietly. I had no intention of cooking for them anyway. Ella was Serena and Damian's daughter, but I had been the one raising her since she was born. Five years of being the dependable man, the steady hand for this mother and daughter, yet in their eyes, I was still an outsider. Their world revolved around Damian. I turned and walked back to my bedroom. A few minutes later, Serena followed me in, holding a steaming mug. "Martin, I made you some coffee." This was her pattern. She’d issue a command, then follow it with a small, placating gesture to soothe my feelings. It was our unspoken signal to move on. But this time, I just glanced at it. "Just put it down." My flat reaction must have thrown her. Her expression grew complicated. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek. "Today was our engagement party. Aren't you forgetting something?" "What?" I asked, genuinely confused. She held out her left hand, fingers spread. "You need to put the ring on me." My gaze followed hers to her ring finger, and a sharp sting went through me. There was already a ring there. Her eyes darted away, and she quickly pulled it off. "Damian forced me to wear this. He said he wouldn't leave the bar unless I put it on." She held her bare hand out to me again. I ignored it, walking right past her to hang up my suit. "Don't bother. The proxy is already wearing it for you." Serena's voice instantly became shrill. "You gave my ring to a gig worker?!" "Weren't we celebrating my engagement to her today?" I replied calmly. "What's the problem with her wearing the ring?" I don't know which part of that set her off, but she suddenly hurled her handbag at me. It wasn't enough. She grabbed a vase from the entryway and threw that too. I instinctively raised my arm to block it. Ella appeared from nowhere, slapping at my legs, her little face a mask of fury. "Bad man! Bad man! Don't you hit my mommy!" Seeing her, I worried she'd get hurt. I quickly wrestled the vase from Serena's hands, but Ella sank her teeth into my calf, hard. She clung to my leg, screaming toward the living room. "Daddy, come quick! Mommy's being attacked!" A drunk man has little self-control, and I was already the person he hated most in the world. The next thing I knew, there was a sharp pain, and warmth trickled down the side of my head. Serena froze, her hands tightening into fists. Only Ella was clapping. "Yay! The bad man is down! The bad man is bleeding!" Serena rushed to get a first-aid kit, pressing a piece of gauze to my wound. "I'll take you to the hospital." She held the gauze firmly against my head. I tried to push her away, but she just kept pressing, guiding me out the door. A flicker of warmth touched my cold, numb heart. "Martin," she said as she started the car. "I want to talk to you about something." "I want to change Ella's last name back to Vance." My breath caught in my throat. That fleeting moment of gratitude, of feeling cared for, felt like a cruel joke. I looked at her and laughed, my voice devoid of any emotion. "Ella is your child. She should have your name. You don't need my permission." A flicker of surprise crossed her face. "You agree?" Before today, I would have fought for them, cherished them as my own, tried to tuck them away from the world and protect them. But now, I was just tired. I was done fighting. "She's your daughter, Serena. It's your decision." A joyful light filled her eyes. "I knew you'd think of what's best for Ella! This way, she'll have two daddies." My head was pounding. I didn't reply. She chattered on for a while before focusing on the road. We were halfway down the winding mountain road when her phone rang, playing a custom ringtone I knew was for Ella. The moment she answered, Ella's panicked voice filled the quiet car. "Mommy, Daddy's cutting his wrist with a knife again! You have to come back!" Serena immediately slammed on the brakes and spun the car around. "Serena," I said, my voice low. She shot me an irritated look. "This is a matter of life and death! Can you not be so dramatic right now? Have some compassion, for God's sake! Don't be so cold-blooded!" I shook my head, my own voice eerily calm. "Just do me a favor and call me a car." Only then did she seem to remember the blood matting my hair. A sliver of guilt appeared on her face. She quickly made a call. "I'll just go check on him, and I'll come right back for you. Wait for me at the hospital." I watched her car disappear into the darkness, a single thought echoing in my mind. I won't be waiting for you anymore. 2 I met Serena five years ago. It was on a desolate stretch of highway, just like this one. She had collapsed on the side of the road. I took her to the hospital, where the doctor told me she was pregnant. For two whole days, I couldn't reach any of her family. Finally, a man claiming to be her fiancé showed up, but he only accused her of faking the pregnancy and called me an actor she'd hired. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity. In the weeks that followed, I watched as Damian’s first love, a woman named Victoria, tormented Serena, framing her for things she never did. Eventually, Serena’s spirit broke. She begged me to take her away. Damian, of course, tried to win her back. But Serena, her heart shattered, refused him. I remember her saying that a broken mirror can't be put back together. Once it's cracked, the pieces will never fit the same way again. Naturally, after that, Serena and I fell together. And I came to love Ella as my own daughter. I woke up with a pounding headache, pressing my hands to my forehead as if trying to hold the pieces of a bad dream together. A man with a grim face was standing by my bed. "You're awake? Good. Pay your fare." "If I'd known you were a hospital case, I never would've picked you up. What a waste of my damn time." I looked at him, finally recognizing the rideshare driver Serena had called for me last night. I opened my banking app, but all I had was the small amount of grocery money Serena had transferred to me. It wasn't nearly enough. I had no choice but to call her. The driver's impatient stare was burning a hole in me. I called twice. No answer. "Come on, kid, hurry it up," he grumbled. "I've got other fares to pick up. Stop wasting my time." Desperate, I called my daughter. The second I spoke, Ella’s voice, sharp with scorn, shot through the phone. "You're pathetic! So pathetic you have to call a kid for money. You might as well just go die!" She was shouting so loudly that the quiet hospital hallway went silent. Patients passing by shot me strange, pitying looks. Just then, a nurse walked up to my bed. "Bed 102? You need to go down and settle your bill. The total is four thousand, three hundred and sixty-two dollars." My face fell. That was it. The driver was now certain I was broke. He grabbed the front of my shirt, the flesh on his face jiggling with anger. "You piece of crap! You take a private car with no money? I'll beat the hell out of you!" Seeing the commotion, the nurse's tone hardened. "Sir, please pay your bill immediately. You're disturbing the other patients." Everyone was staring, whispering. I felt completely cornered, helpless. Suddenly, a young woman appeared, pulling the driver's hand off my shirt and stepping in front of me. "I'm so sorry, honey," she said, looking at me with feigned exasperation. "It's my fault for letting you spoil me so much. You never leave any spending money for yourself." She then turned, all business. "Sir, you can scan my QR code right here. And Nurse, I'll be down to pay the bill as soon as I'm done here." "Oh, so he's just one of those guys, wrapped around his wife's finger," someone muttered. "Hey, kid, sorry about that. We misunderstood." The crowd, suddenly enlightened, dispersed, their judgment turning into murmurs of approval. Later, in the hospital cafeteria, I looked at the woman with the chic, chin-length bob and it finally clicked. "You were the proxy from the engagement party." She extended a hand. "Let's start over. My name is Claire. I'm a lawyer with the Sterling Firm." I let out a dry laugh. "A lawyer who does proxy work?" "A side hustle," she said with a shrug. "Don't judge. Since we ran into each other, I wanted to give this back to you." She held out the ring. "No, thank you," I said, the words tasting like ash. "It's not mine." Even the engagement ring had been bought with Serena's money. I felt like a complete clown. "I don't like owing people favors," Claire said. "So, how about this? In return, I'll help you get your job back at Apex Airlines." I looked up, shocked. "You know who I am?" "The legend of Captain Jiang," she replied with a small smile. "The man who saved an entire plane. Of course, I know you. I just never understood why you quit at the peak of your career." The world thought it was psychological trauma. No one knew that Damian had systematically destroyed my career, pressuring every airline until none of them would dare hire me, all as part of his twisted campaign to win Serena back. I gave a bitter laugh. "Tell me how." I didn't believe for a second she could change anything. She crossed her arms. "The person who created the problem is also the key to solving it." Before she left, Claire gave me her card and told me to think about her offer. I went back to the villa. For the next two weeks, I didn't see Serena at all. Then, one night, I got a call from her best friend. "Serena's drunk. She needs someone to take care of her." "Let her sleep it off at your place," I said calmly. "Or call Damian." God is my witness, I was genuinely thinking of what was best for her. But Serena, who was supposed to be dead drunk, came home and threw herself at me, sobbing. She buried her face in my chest, her nose red. "Why didn't you come get me?" "That bastard Damian... his precious Victoria is coming back, and he still won't let me go. What does he think I am? A dog he can just summon whenever he feels like it?" I looked down at her. This time, I didn't offer my usual comfort. I just said, softly, "Serena, you still have feelings for him. Maybe you should give each other a real chance." Her face changed instantly. "What are you trying to say? You're pushing me away? You're pushing me onto someone else? I'm with you now! Are you trying to dump me and be the bad guy?" "I've already booked the wedding venue! Besides, where would you go without me? Begging on the streets? Don't be ridiculous!" I checked the message on my phone. She was serious. She'd booked a venue for three weeks from now. I was stunned. Could she actually want to marry me? That very night, that foolish hope was brutally crushed. I was staring, numb, at the pregnancy test I found in her drawer. In the five years we were together, I had respected her boundaries. I had waited, never once touching her. She had told me she wanted to have a daughter with me, one just like Ella. She'd said her biggest regret was getting pregnant out of wedlock, letting Ella suffer the judgment of others. My head started to buzz, my breathing grew ragged. It was all a one-sided fantasy. She would rather have child after child with Damian than let me, her supposed partner, even touch her. My years of devotion felt like one long, sick joke. After that day, Serena threw herself into wedding planning with a manic energy. I felt nothing. No one could have guessed that I had also hired a proxy for the wedding day. On the day of the wedding, I sat in the audience, a baseball cap pulled low over my eyes, and watched Serena walk down the aisle in a flowing white gown. I had picked it out for her myself, ensuring it would be comfortable and place no pressure on her belly. The time for the ceremony drew near, and I still hadn't appeared. Serena called my phone several times. I didn't answer. She walked over to my best friend, Marco. "Marco, can you get ahold of Martin?" Marco shook his head, hiding his phone behind his back. "Serena, maybe you should just call it off. Everyone in the city knows Martin's a player. Who knows what kind of diseases he might have? I don't think you should marry him." "Yeah, Serena, listen to us," others chimed in, rallying around her. Just then, a voice called out from the entrance. "The groom has arrived!" Serena's head snapped up. She lifted her dress to run toward the door, then froze. "Damian?" I took off my cap and walked onto the stage. "Congratulations to you both," I said, my voice ringing through the silent hall. "Serena, this is the exclusive proxy I hired just for you. How does he compare to the 365 you hired for me? Are you satisfied?"
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