Exit the Substitute: Walking Out of Her World

After five years of harboring an unrequited love for Lara Lawson, I am physically and emotionally exhausted. So, I marry my childhood friend, Celine Young, instead.

To the outside world, Celine and I are the perfect couple. We share a wonderful life together and eventually welcome an adorable baby boy.

I regard her as someone who has been by my side my entire life. But one day, I turn on her phone and discover two unsent messages.

"If you want, I can divorce him immediately."

"You're the only man I'll ever love."

As it turns out, what I thought was my salvation is nothing but a cruel joke. I am nothing but a convenient stand-in. And to make matters worse, even my own flesh and blood is on her side.

Heartbroken, I cut off contact and walk out of their lives without a trace of hesitation. After I leave them, they begin to panic.

"Can you please stay, honey?"

"Please don't go, Dad."

Chapter 1

After going through the unsent message drafts in my wife's old phone, I slumped listlessly to the floor. Her chat logs were full of romantic messages.

I should've been thrilled about itbut the messages weren't for me. Her texts were for her senior and my superior, Robert Lane.

A few days ago, I noticed that my wife, Celine Young, had been texting someone on her phone in a secretive manner. With Valentine's Day just three days away, I simply assumed that she was planning a surprise for me.

I tried to suppress my excitement, but my curiosity got the better of me. So, when Celine wasn't paying attention, I tried to unlock her phone.

I keyed in our birthdays, our son's birthday, and even our wedding anniversary. But unfortunately, none of the password combinations worked.

I told myself she was just trying to keep me from ruining the surprise. That would explain why she had been acting so mysteriously. To keep the surprise hidden, she even went as far as to change the password on her phone.

Ever since we got married, the password to her phoneand even her bank cardwere all connected to me. If I had failed to guess her password, she probably had a huge surprise planned out.

I didn't want to disappoint her. So, I feigned oblivion and waited excitedly for my gift. To my dismay, I discovered that she didn't love me, instead.

On Valentine's Day, I put on a suit that I hadn't worn in a very long time and applied some perfume. However, even after hours and hours of waiting, Celine never showed up.

On my way back home, I saw her steadying her drunken senior while she blushed profusely. In the end, I swallowed my impulses and watched them leave.

Once I returned home, I tried to unlock Celine's phone using Robert's birthday as the passcode. Just as I had expected, the phone unlocked. To make matters worse, she even had a photo of him as her wallpaper.

Just like that, years of what I thought was a blissful marriage came crashing down. Unknowing to everyone else, our seemingly perfect family was actually decaying on the inside.

I sat frozen in place.

When the morning came, and my alarm had started to ring, I dragged my numb body toward my son's room. To my surprise, my usually slow-to-rise son had woken up unusually early today. Once he saw me, he immediately asked about Robert Lane.

"How's Mr. Lane doing, Dad?" my son, Will Sawyer, asked.

I stared at his cute face and froze. Will and I had never been close. I told myself that it was only because he was more attached to his mother. So, why was he asking about Robert?

"I don't know," I replied with a frown.

As I was about to help him get dressed, he leaned away from me to avoid my touch.

"You're a man, Dad. You shouldn't be so petty," he said. "Mr. Lane was drunk, and Mommy simply looked after him for a while. Why are you being so narrow-minded?"

Upon hearing Will's solemn comments, my breathing started to grow heavy. Was I being petty? Was he expecting me to just hand my wife over to my drunken man?

I felt angry, but I suppressed my rage and continued to help him get dressed. To my dismay, he ducked away once again.

"Mr. Lane was supposed to bring me to the amusement park. Because of you, now I won't be able to go!" he exclaimed as he smacked my arm.

I frowned as my hand froze in midair. Based on my knowledge, Will had never met Robert before. Yet, he was claiming that the latter had made him a promise. This meant that the pair had met up last night. In fact, it seemed like Celine was the one who brought Will over to see him.

Chapter 2

Robert was Celine's senior in college. On top of that, he used to be my superior. However, after I married Celine, I stepped back from my career and no longer kept in contact with him.

Like me, he was also infatuated with Lara Lawson. However, he was the man that Lara was in love with.

I told myself that Robert might be unaware of Celine's feelings. But despite that, I couldn't stop my hands from trembling.

"Stay at home and get some rest, Will. I'm going to go look for your mom."

Once I had recomposed myself, I started up my car and had no idea where to go. Afterward, I somehow ended up at Robert's home.

To my surprise, I actually saw Celine outside of his home. I began to follow her discreetly.

Once I remembered that she didn't return home last night, my heart sank. My wife, whom I hadn't seen since the day before, had spent her Valentine's Day with another man.

Celine was holding a bouquet of flowers. When I saw how ecstatic she looked, I clenched my fists and felt extremely dejected. We had been married for seven years, yet she had never once bought me flowers. Now, she was buying them for another man

She suddenly stopped as if something had just occurred to her. When she turned around and saw me, she jumped in surprise.

Looking slightly anxious, she asked in an accusatory voice, "What are you doing here?"

I didn't respond, but the look on my face told her everything she needed to know.

A flicker of guilt flashed across her face. She instinctively reached for my hand. But before she could say anything, someone appeared behind her.

"James? What are you doing here?" Robert's voice rang out.

He made his way over to us and stood next to Celine. The pair looked like a great match.

I stared at them with a complicated expression. I wanted to respond, but I ultimately chose to stay quiet.

When I didn't reply, Robert laughed and took the bouquet of flowers from Celine. "I hope you don't get the wrong idea. I actually asked Celine to get me these flowers. She didn't buy them for me as a gift."

He sounded apologetic, but I could tell that he was actively trying to hide something from me. I frowned. But before I could say something else, I was interrupted once again.

"What are you doing here?" This marked the third time I had been asked that question since I had stepped out of my car.

When I heard my mother-in-law's voice, I turned around in disbelief. Subsequently, I found that she was now walking up from behind me.

"My back was acting up again last night, so I asked my daughter to come over and take care of me. Do you have any problems with that?" asked my mother-in-law, Elizabeth.

Upon hearing this, I had no choice but to suppress my frustration and force a smile onto my face as I answered, "Not at all."

"Robert and I are neighbors. I happened to run into him on my way out. So, I asked Celine to help me deliver something to him. Do you have any issues with that?"

"Not at all"

I couldn't quite put a finger on it, but the entire exchange felt odd. As far as I could recall, Elizabeth lived in this neighborhood. However, it didn't seem like she stayed in this exact building.

Then again, I seldom visited her after Celine and I got married. So, I could've been mistaken. More importantly, I needed to resolve the current situation between Celine and me.

I didn't want to air out our dirty laundry in public. Hence, I looked toward my wife and said, "Let's go home, Celine."

To my dismay, Elizabeth stepped in.

"You should head back first, James. I need to speak with Celine alone," she claimed.

My instincts told me to say no. However, when I met Elizabeth's firm gaze, I still turned around and left.

After ten minutes of waiting, Celine hurriedly made her way to the parking garage.

"I genuinely couldn't make it yesterday, James. My mother's back injury acted up again," she explained, "But you don't have to worry about it. She's okay now. She"

Celine abruptly stopped talking. When she saw the look on my face, she fell silent.

"You know that's not what I'm upset about."

Chapter 3

"You promised you'd spend Valentine's Day with me," I said. Celine didn't respond, but I saw her fingers curl up subconsciously. I could tell that she felt guilty.

After some time, I broke the silence once again, saying, "Let's just head home."

"I'm sorry," she whispered as the car began to move.

I rolled down the window and pretended like I didn't hear her. Then, I let the wind mess up my hair and brush the tears from my face. Fortunately for me, Celine couldn't see any of it.

The two of us stayed silent as the car sped down the road. As we were nearing home, I took a deep breath and composed myself. Subsequently, I opened the door and exited the vehicle.

Before I could even unlock the front door, I heard Will crying out from the inside of the house. Once I opened the door, he immediately threw himself into Celine's arms and exclaimed, "Mommy! You're finally home!"

He continued, "Dad locked me inside and wouldn't let me out. But I want to go to the amusement park!"

Upon hearing this, I froze. I didn't think that my child would be able to lie through his teeth like this. Celine paused and instinctively glanced toward me.

"He just didn't want to bring you there on his own. He didn't think that he'd be able to keep you safe. How about we both bring you to the amusement park today?"

She caressed Will's hair and explained on my behalf.

"I don't want him to go with me!" Will declared decisively. He turned away from me and rolled his eyes at me with obvious disdain.

I stared at this side profile and felt frozen in place. I had been trying to balance my work and my family, but it seemed like I had failed. As a result, my son was distant, and my wife didn't seem to love me.

I crouched down and reached forward to hold Will's hand. Then, I asked in a gentle voice, "You asked me to help you assemble a toy some time ago. Do you want to play with it together after I finish building it?"

Will finally turned his head over to look at me. Blinking at me, he nodded his head and replied, "Okay. But we can only do that after I get back from the amusement park."

His small promise warmed my heart. When I heard the door close, I glanced around the empty house and picked up Celine's phone once again.

"As long as you'll have me, my heart will always belong to you." I read the message out loud. The unsent message drafts contained Celine's feelings as a teenager.

"What about me?" I asked.

My fingers were trembling, but I still felt somewhat hopeful. Celine was 18 back then. Now, she was an adult with a family. She wouldn't have had a child with me if she didn't actually love me.

"I don't love him, so I had a child with him. I hoped that the child could love him for me, but the child takes after me, and he only loves you."

I felt my breath hitch in my throat. My vision became blurred, and my breathing began to grow heavy. Was this what she meant when she drunkenly claimed that the child was her gift to me?

Initially, I thought that she wanted us to have a child together. I assumed that our son was the proof of our love. But now, I could understand everything.

If I were still 18, I'd choose to walk away without a single shred of hesitation. But now, I had an adorable son and a family everyone envied.

I clenched my fists and returned to my room. As I stared up at the ceiling, tears began to stream down my face.

"You're a coward, James Sawyer!" I couldn't help but mock. Then, I eventually drifted off to sleep.

In my dream, I saw a young girl smiling at me as she stood in the sunlight. She waved at me before handing me a sketch that she had drawn just for me.

The girl only had eyes for me.

Once I woke up from my dream, I stared at the dark room around me and tried to locate the light switch. Crap! I hadn't assembled Will's toy!

I hurried downstairs, expecting to see my angry son. But to my surprise, the house was completely empty.

My vision blurred, and I slowed down. It was already 10:00 pmwhy weren't they back yet?

Chapter 4

"Maybe Will wanted to play for a while longer and refused to head home," I thought.

As I comforted myself, I shook my throbbing head and made my way toward the playroom. Then, I took out the parts of Will's new toy and started assembling them.

Time slowly passed by. When I rubbed my aching neck and got to my feet, I realized that it was already 1:00 am.

Despite how late it already was, Celine and Will still hadn't come home. I frowned and gripped my phone.

"I've finished assembling your toy for you, Will. When are you coming home?" I muttered as I glanced at the toy next to me. "Do you think that I did a bad job?"

Eventually, Celine called me before I could contact her. I let out a breath of relief. But once I picked up the phone, I immediately froze.

"Hey, James. Will has a terrible stomachache. My place is relatively close to the amusement park, so the two of them decided to drop by. Don't worry too much about it."

Robert's gentle voice and the warm laughter in the background rang out from the other end of the phone. The noises felt painful to listen to, and I instinctively hung up the call.

Once I realized what I had done, I couldn't comprehend why I had behaved so anxiously. I was Celine's husband and Will's father.

Had Celine's unsent message been right all along? Was Robert the only man she'd ever love?

I couldn't accept this. I needed to get my family to come home!

Once I had made up my mind, I opened the door and dashed out of the house. But once I got to Robert's place, my vision went dark, and I collapsed right in front of his home.

By the time I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an unfamiliar and rundown house. I cautiously lifted my head. Nearby, a stranger was carefully tending to something on the stove.

"Oh, you're awake."

The bright-eyed figure turned around and brought me a glass of water.

"I found you in the neighborhood," she said. "I asked the security guard about you, but he said he didn't know who you were. So, I had no choice but to bring you to my home."

Her small frame seemed surprisingly strong. She stared at me with big, wide eyes and flashed me a kind smile.

"Thank you," I said sincerely.

I was touched by her actions. She was a relatively small girl. It must've been incredibly difficult for her to move someone of my stature all the way here.

"I'm just glad that you're okay," she replied with a smile.

The sight of her dimples seemed to brighten my mood.

Afterward, I bid her goodbye and hastily returned home. Upon checking the time, I realized that I had been unconscious for two whole days. Celine and Will must've been worried sick.

To my dismay, the house was empty when I returned. In fact, even the slippers I tossed beside the shoe rack were still exactly where I had left them.

Had my family been away from home for the last two days as well?

I took a seat on the sofa and leaned against the backrest. Then, I took out my phone. I wanted to make a phone call, but I found myself navigating to Robert's social media page instead.

I stared at his most recent post and instinctively clenched my fists. In the photo he had posted, Celine was beaming as Robert and Will leaned against her.

"Gorgeous company, great food, beautiful sights, and good vibes!" Robert's caption read.

As it turned out, the two of them had been spending the last two days with Robert. In comparison, Celine had never celebrated my birthday with me before.

At this point, everything became perfectly clear. Celine was never too busy with workshe just didn't love me.

My wife didn't love me, and my son didn't love me either. Memories of our past flashed through my mind before they faded away.

I felt heartbroken. Despite the smile on my face, my eyes had already welled up with tears.

"It's time to let go of this ridiculous farce, James Sawyer," I said inwardly.