In the seventh year of her marriage, Amelia Stone finally learned the truth. This whole time, she had been nothing more than a stand-in for Jason Chapman's true love. And Jason's true love was actually Maria Ludwig, the woman who had almost become his sister-in-law. To make matters worse, Maria was even said to be preg-nant with Jason's child now. But what Jason didn't know was that it was incredibly hard for him to have kids. Amelia wasn't interested in staying with an unfaithful man, so she swiftly asked for a divorce. However, Jason refused. Frowning, he confronted her darkly, "You're divorcing me just because I hugged Maria? You're making a big dea1 out of something so trivial? What do you think marriage is? Who do you take me for? "Amelia, just because I love you, it doesn't mean you can take my love for granted and treat marriage like a game. Don't bring up divorce again. I won't agree to it." Amelia simply scoffed. Did he just claim that he loved her? What a joke. Sure enough, the words of a man could never be trusted. … It all started a few days ago. "Jason, Maria is coming back to the country. Why haven't you divorced Amelia yet? Don't tell me you've actually fallen for that stand-in?" Jason's office door wasn't fully closed. When Amelia heard her own name, her hand froze on the door. Divorce? Stand-in? Before she could process the words, Jason's scoff came from inside the office. "That'll never happen. Maria has been the only one I've loved all along." "I knew it." The other voice belonged to Howie Johnson, Jason's buddy. "Amelia is just a f*ck buddy to you anyway." She, Jason's legally wedded wife, was just a f*ck buddy, huh? Just last night, Jason had kept her up in bed, repeatedly using her to fulfill his desires. He'd murmured her nickname, Mia, over and over again, whispering tender words of love and devotion into her ear. Yet here he was, not only failing to deny those harsh words but even professing his love for another woman. In fact, Amelia realized that the Mia he called out for and yearned to be with was his true love, Maria, not her. In his eyes, she was merely the f*ck buddy he'd used for his own pleasure for the past seven years. An overwhelming sense of absurdity crashed over her. Her anger made her entire ch-est twist painfully, like a mix of needles and knives stabbing right into her. The pain made Amelia's face go pale. Inside the office, Jason felt a flicker of discomfort when he heard the words "f*ck buddy", but before he could say anything, Howie asked, "Then why haven't you divorced her?" "Grandpa hasn't given me his shares yet," Jason replied. "I thought he already did?" Howie asked curiously. Amelia dug her fingernails into her palm, forcing herself to stay calm as she strained to listen to their conversation. "He has given me a few percent here and there over the years. As for the rest, he says that he'll give it to me as my wedding gift once Amelia and I hold a proper wedding ceremony. It won't be long now. I only need three more months." There was an unmistakable urgency in Jason's voice, as though he could finally see the end of a long wait. Mixed into it was his excitement and anticipation for the future. Amelia's eyes slowly reddened. It felt like a hole had been carved into her heart. A frosty wi-nd seemed to rush straight to her, turning her limbs cold and making her body tremble. Before they started dating, Jason had pursued her most relentlessly. However, she'd heard about Maria, his childhood sweetheart. Maria was a famous golden girl. She came from a prestigious family, was beautiful, and exceptionally talented. Someone like her was certainly the girl of every guy's dreams. Amelia knew better than to date and marry a man who was pining over another woman. So, after Jason confessed his love to her relentlessly, she asked him outright, "Jason, is Maria your first love, the one you can never forget?" "Nope. We're just childhood friends. You're my first love," Jason declared. To this day, Amelia remembered how decisively Jason had denied it. His gaze had seemed so earnest and firm. It held such pa-ssion and devotion when he looked at her, as if he truly loved her more than anything else in the world. She believed him. She agreed to be with him. Never would it have ever occurred to her that the man who seemed to indulge her every whim and appeared nothing but loyal to her this whole time had been fooling her all along. He'd lied to her for seven whole years. Amelia couldn't suppress the anger that welled up inside her. It rushed straight to her head. She wanted to march right into Jason's office and give him a big, fat slap across the face. Just then, she heard Howie ask, "Doesn't your grandpa look down on Amelia? Why would he agree to let the two of you hold a wedding ceremony?" "Maria recently won another award called the Technology Rising Star. Grandpa knows perfectly well that Maria will come back to the country sooner or later. He's probably worried that I still have feelings for Maria. "Compared to Maria, he'd rather have Amelia as his granddaughter-in-law. Besides, Amelia and I have Ryan. That's why he wants me to hold a wedding with Amelia and put her in the public eye. That way, even if I still love Maria, once the wedding is held, it won't be so easy for me to be with Maria anymore," Jason explained. Howie's voice rose in shock. "You're really going to hold a wedding with Amelia? No wonder Maria is in such a rush to come back!" "Of course not. Why would you even think that? That's impossible!" Jason's tone was flat-out disdainful. "Maria's the only one who can be my bride. Since the two of them are so alike, after a bit of makeup, and with the veil on, who's going to know which one of them is standing next to me?" "As expected of you, Jason. You really are something." Howie laughed heartily, clapping his hands in approval. Meanwhile, Amelia's heart couldn't get any colder. In fact, she could scarcely breathe. This explained why Jason had insisted on handling all the wedding arrangements himself, despite how busy he was. He had even personally participated in designing the wedding gown and wedding rings, refusing to let her have any say in them. He'd claimed he wanted to surprise her. Well, it was certainly a surprise, alright. The surprise was that the wedding wasn't even for her. Thinking of how she had eagerly looked forward to the wedding ceremony this whole time, Amelia felt like the biggest joke in the world. After snickering for a while, Howie suddenly remembered something and asked, "Then why is Maria coming back early? If she comes back now, your family will certainly make life hel1 for her." Amelia didn't understand that. Why would Jason's family, the Chapmans, make Maria's life hel1? There seemed to be something else going on that she didn't know about. But the next words out of Jason's mouth struck Amelia's heart like a sledgehammer, leaving her breathless from the pain. The agony made it impossible for her to even think straight. "Maria's preg-nant. I'm too worried about her to let her remain abroad alone with no one to take care of her." Maria was preg-nant? Amelia caught the joyful lilt in Jason's voice. His tone and exuberant mood made it clear who the child's father was. "Aren't you afraid Amelia will find out and make a scene, and then you won't be able to hold the wedding? If that happens, your grandpa won't give you the shares," Howie pointed out. "She won't find out about it," Jason declared with absolute certainty. "We've been married for seven years now, and this whole time, she genuinely believes that I love her." Outside the office, Amelia swayed on her feet. She looked as pale as a ghost, and the docu-ment she was holding was almost crumpled from how tightly she was clutching it. Then she thought of something and snorted in silence, her smile bitter and mocking. What Jason didn't know was that he suffered from severe asthenozoosper-mia. He was essentially incapable of having children. After a year into their marriage, when she showed no signs of conceiving, the Chapmans started to get antsy. They urged her to get herself tested, fearing that she had some kind of condition that would prevent her from giving the family the heirs they needed. On the surface, Amelia dutifully agreed to their demands, but she thought it was unfair, so she dragged Jason to the hospital for testing as well. Since it was a private matter, she asked her best friend, Tiana Thompson, a doctor, to help with the tests. When the results came back, Tiana reached out to her first. Men were proud creatures. Afraid Jason would be devastated if he found out the truth, Amelia decided to keep the results a secret from him. At the time, Tiana had comforted her by saying that it wasn't entirely impossible for men with severe asthenozoosper-mia to have children. What Tiana hadn't said was that the odds were practically as low as wi-nning the lottery. After that, Amelia started learning how to make healthy, nutritious food that supported men's reproductive health. She sought out the best speci1ists in the world and found a traditional medicine practi-tioner who prescribed some herbal medication for Jason, and she drank it with him. She also exercised with him, helped him maintain a regular sleep schedule, and made him eat well. Most importantly, she made him quit sm0king, cut back on a1cohol, and stop staying up late. Fate seemed to have taken pity on her, for she did end up getting preg-nant. In the years that followed, work at the company got increasingly busy. Jason frequently traveled for work, worked overtime, and stayed up late. He drank copiously at business functions and was constantly exposed to secondhand sm0ke. Every single one of those bad habits worsened the condition of his sp-erm. Furthermore, Maria lived abroad, and Jason only managed to visit her a few times a year. It remained to be seen whether he was truly the father of the baby she was carrying.
Not enough history yet to show a trend.