The Stand-In Walks Away

I'm the most hot-tempered stand-in by Emily Kelley's side. When she smiled at another guy, I smashed her million-dollar car. When she had dinner with a man, I set her multi-million-dollar mansion on fire.

Everyone thought Emily would kick me out in anger, but instead, she fell even more in love with me. It turned out my arrogant, jealous attitude was exactly like the lost love she couldn't forget.

I spent eight years with her, turning a spoiled heiress into a devoted girlfriend who texts back instantly and apologizes at the first sign of trouble. We were about to get married.

My friends envied how well I had trained her and thought we would live happily ever after. But on the day we were supposed to get our license, I waited for her at the city hall for hours—only to find out she had married her first love instead.

When I arrived at the wedding, Emily looked at me with complicated eyes and apologized.

"You should know you were just a stand-in. I never loved you. Now that my one true love is back, it's time for you to go."

As I walked toward the altar, the guests backed away in fear, worried I might lose control.

I looked at my system screen, which showed they had already gotten married, and calmly handed her the bouquet.

"Got it. Wish you happiness. Have a good life."

No one knew that all my jealous tantrums and drama were just me completing missions assigned by the system.

Now that she and her first love are finally married, my mission is complete. I can finally go home. This game is over.

The moment I finished speaking, the atmosphere didn't ease up—it only got more tense.

The guests, who knew my personality well, huddled together anxiously, whispering among themselves.

"Chris loves Emily to death. He has a terrible temper and holds grudges. One time, just because I had a few extra work-related words with her, he threw a glass of cold water on me in public and warned me that if I ever did it again, he'd have me fired."

"In the past eight years, forget about other men around Emily—even the cat in her office got swapped for a female one."

"He's been a stand-in for so long that he's started seeing himself as the real thing. Now that someone has taken his place as her husband and is even having a wedding with her, there's no way he's just going to let it go."

"Just because he's not angry now doesn't mean anything. This is the calm before the storm."

Everyone was worried. Emily was no exception. In her wedding dress, she stepped protectively in front of her first love, Kyle Walter.

"Chris, I'll give you whatever compensation you deserve for what I owe you. But I won't let you hurt Kyle."

All eyes were on me.

But instead of losing my temper as they expected, I just calmly waved my hand.

"Forget it."

With that, I put down the bouquet, turned around, and left without a second's pause.

They didn't know that I was a traveler from another world. Getting close to Emily was just a mission the system assigned me so I could eventually go home.

Emily had loved Kyle since childhood and had chased him obsessively. Kyle couldn't stand her clingy, persistent ways, so he ran off abroad to study and work. He was gone for eight years.

Over that time, Emily went through countless Kyle stand-ins. I was the one who lasted the longest.

She wasn't bad to me. Aside from not loving me, she never mistreated or tortured me. I even started getting used to that life and thought I might have a future with her.

But today, after waiting for her at the city hall for most of the day with high hopes, all I got was the news that Kyle was back and they had reconciled and gotten married.