I took a fatal knife blow for Gu Huaian and spent three days and nights in the ICU. When I woke, the hospital room was so empty I could hear my own heartbeat. On my phone was a news story about him attending a fashion show in Paris with his one true love, Lin Wanwan. In the photo, he smiled at her with tender affection. I forced a smile. So my life wasn’t even worth as much as one of her fashion shows. That made sense. I was only a stand-in, after all. On the day I was discharged, I removed every tracking device that could locate me and set fire to the wedding dress I had designed with my own hands. As the ashes scattered, I vanished from the world for good.
