After Liam and I got married, he treated me like a queen, envied by everyone.
Anything I wanted, he’d go to any lengths, even promise to pluck the stars from the sky for me.
But when my water broke, in my desperate scramble to dial 911, my shaking hands accidentally swiped away an incoming call. It was Chloe, Liam’s best friend since childhood, calling from the airport.
The slap cracked through the room. First time he’d ever hit me. His eyes held a rage I’d never seen.
“I’d give you my last breath,” he snarled, “so why can’t you give me a little trust?”
“Chloe is sensitive. I don’t want your selfish jealousy to embarrass her.”
With that, he grabbed my arm and forcibly shoved me into the trunk. His voice was chillingly cold.
“Calm down and reflect. Once I pick up Chloe, apologize to her, and I’ll let you out.”
I curled up in the cramped trunk, intense contractions racking my body until I was almost unconscious.
I hammered on the inside, screaming for help, but Liam didn’t even flinch. He just dialed his phone again.
“Chloe, I’m on my way. Stay right there. Just wait for me.”
The car sped onto the highway. Every sudden brake slammed me uncontrollably against the trunk door.
I shielded my pregnant belly, trying to let other parts of my body take the brutal impact.
My water had already soaked the entire trunk, and now, blood was mixing with it.
“Liam! Liam! Get me to the hospital, I’m bleeding!”
My voice was weak, and cold sweat drenched me.
But Liam wouldn’t even glance at me. He just pressed harder on the accelerator.
“Chloe landed half an hour ago! If you hadn’t hung up, would she have to wait this long for me at the airport? And now you expect me to take *you* to the hospital first?”
I painfully clawed at the back of the seat, struggling to lift myself enough to beg him to look at me.
“Liam, please, I’m dying. If we don’t go to the hospital now, both the baby and I will die.”
Liam slammed on the brakes, stopping the car abruptly on the emergency shoulder.
Ignoring the speeding traffic on the highway, he got out, walked to the back, and opened the trunk.
The moment it opened, a foul stench overwhelmed him. Liam frowned deeply and covered his nose.
“God, you’re disgusting! You’re a grown woman, can’t you control your bodily functions?”
Tears and sweat streamed down my face. I desperately crawled towards Liam, whispering my plea.
“Liam, I’m in labor, I’m in so much pain. Please, can you take me to the hospital?”
Liam looked down at me, a cold sneer on his face.
“You’re in labor, but you still have the energy to be jealous and hang up on Chloe? You seem perfectly fine to me. Stop putting on this pathetic act!”
Seeing him about to close the trunk again, I desperately grabbed his jacket, clutching onto one last sliver of hope.
“I really didn’t mean to. Please, it’s *your* baby in my belly. You can’t do this to me.”
My words made Liam hesitate for a moment, but then his phone rang again.
“Liam, what’s taking you so long? I’ve been freezing out here, I think I’m catching a cold.”
It was Chloe.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe. Ten more minutes, I’ll be there soon. Find somewhere warm, don’t catch a cold.”
With that, Liam ignored my pleas, slammed the trunk shut, and sped off towards the airport.
Pain and terror enveloped me, slowly suffocating me.
Soon after, the car stopped. Liam got out, and the door slammed shut.
He must have reached the airport.
Liam will pick up Chloe, then he’ll take me to the hospital, right?
I just have to get through this, make it to the hospital, and the baby and I will both survive.
I silently cheered myself on, completely unaware of the growing pool of blood beneath me.
I don’t know how much time passed. Then, footsteps approached, and the car door opened.
I opened my mouth to call out to Liam, but realized I was too weak, I couldn’t even speak.
All I could do was reach out, desperately grasping forward, but Liam didn’t see me.
He had only returned to the car to grab something. a large bouquet of pure white roses.
He said they represented his and Chloe’s twenty-five years of pure friendship.
He took the flowers, slammed the car door shut, locked it, and walked away without a backward glance.
“Liam, two years, and you look even better than before. Your wife must really take good care of you.”
I heard Chloe’s voice from outside the car. She even mentioned me.
“Oh, don’t even bring her up. Alice? That woman can’t take care of anyone! Not like you, Chloe. You’ve always understood me, ever since we were kids. Do you remember when we were little…”
Their voices faded into the distance, and my own consciousness began to blur.
In a haze, memories of Liam and I flashed before my eyes like a carousel.
He put a ring on my finger, vowing to love me for all eternity.
On my birthday, he held a cake he’d baked himself, his eyes seeing only me.
When we got that ultrasound, his eyes were red as he touched my belly, promising he’d never let our child or me suffer a single hardship.
But when I accidentally hung up the phone, he slapped me, his face twisted in fury.
“How dare you hang up on Chloe? I’ve spoiled you too much, made you forget your place!”
I felt the other little life inside me slipping away. Everything around me began to spin, to blur.
I wanted to lift my hand, to touch that once vibrant bump one last time, but my fingers only twitched weakly.
Endless darkness gathered from all directions, like a gentle shroud, or a cold tomb.
Then the car door opened again. Liam got in, and Chloe sat in the passenger seat.
I instinctively tried to reach for Liam, but I couldn’t touch him.
I was in the same space as them, yet I was like a ghost, able only to observe, without form.
Chloe frowned as she got in, fanning her hand under her nose.
“What’s that smell? It’s so stale and foul. Liam, how long has it been since you washed this car?”
Liam looked a bit awkward and brushed it off quickly.
“Oh, probably just a rodent that died in the engine a few days ago. The smell hasn’t completely gone away yet.”
Chloe nodded, no longer complaining. She simply flipped open the vanity mirror above her head and started fixing her hair, quite at ease.
Liam watched her as he drove, unconsciously chuckling.
“You’re still the same, you never get carsick in my car.”
Chloe smiled sweetly, playfully patting Liam’s hand on the gear shift.
“Yes, it’s always been you, Liam. All these years abroad, every time I took a car, I wished you were driving. It’s been so long, hasn’t it?”
They chatted away, oblivious to the other presence in the car.
I stared at them, my heart slowly cracking. It hurt, yet I felt numb.
“I heard your wife was pregnant. Did she give birth yet? Boy or girl?”
Chloe suddenly asked.
At the mention of me, Liam glanced in the rearview mirror, then snorted coldly.
“Don’t know, don’t care. She’s throwing a fit today, just because I said I was coming to pick you up. Who raised her to be so spoiled!”
“She’s still lying in the trunk, no need to bother with her.”
Chloe gasped, covering her mouth in surprise, then straightened up to look behind her.
“No one’s there… Besides, your wife is pregnant. Isn’t it bad to lock her in the trunk?”
“Alice? Alice?”
Liam called a few times. When there was no answer, he grew angry.
He pushed Chloe back into her seat, then glared into the rearview mirror, as if I could see him.
“Forget her. Let her play dead if she wants. Better yet, if she really died, I’d be glad to pick up her corpse!”
My eyes felt hot, but no tears would fall.
Chloe looked at Liam with a troubled expression, pursed her lips, but said nothing more.
The car continued driving, stopping in front of a French restaurant.
This was the restaurant where Liam proposed to me.
He had told me he’d researched for ages, that the view from the window seat at 10 PM was the most beautiful.
I was so touched, I put on that heavy shackles without a second thought.
Before getting out of the car, Chloe glanced back at the trunk again. It was pitch black inside without the light.
“Liam, is your wife really in the trunk? Do you want to check on her?”
Liam pulled her hand, giving her an impatient look, then quickly averted his gaze.
“That’s just how she is. She thinks if she gives me the silent treatment, I’ll always cave. I can’t be bothered! Come on, let’s go eat! Do you remember this restaurant? We used to come here for milkshakes after high school.”
I froze as if struck by lightning.
All that talk about “romantic spots” and “best night views” – it was just a trick he used to string me along.
It was all his and Chloe’s shared memories. I was the interloper.
Chloe waved her hand and smiled. In a daze, I saw a reflection of someone in her.
My reflection.
Or rather, I had Chloe’s reflection.
We were similar in height and build, even the dimples that appeared when we smiled were so similar.
I heard she went to Canada for college after graduating, and that was the year I happened to meet Liam.
Liam’s pursuit of me was relentless from the start. We only dated for six months before getting married.
I wasn’t unaware that he had a best friend studying abroad, but I never imagined I was a substitute for that person.
Inside the restaurant, Liam was engrossed in conversation and eating with Chloe. I floated by the door, silently watching.
He ordered Chloe a mango milkshake, and her face lit up with surprise.
I remembered the cake Liam made for my birthday last year, piled high with mangoes.
“I remember you love mangoes,” he’d said.
I shook my head then, telling him I was allergic to mangoes – something discovered during our premarital check-up.
Liam’s expression had been a little awkward. He scratched his head, saying he’d mixed it up, and I just smiled it off.
Now I knew. The one who loved mangoes was someone else entirely.
I touched my belly, still nine months pregnant.
Only, the little life inside me had already been buried with me, in that cramped trunk.
“Baby, I’m so sorry.”
I murmured, watching Liam toast with Chloe.
Chloe glanced at the ring on Liam’s ring finger and suddenly spoke.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t even met your wife. When are you going to introduce me?”
Liam paused, uncomfortably twisting the ring.
“What’s there to see? Two eyes, one nose, one mouth – she just looks like a person.”
I floated in front of him, reaching out to pinch and rub his face, but he couldn’t feel it.
“But I think your wife must be a really good person. You seem to have changed a lot.”
I looked at Chloe in surprise. Was she actually defending me?
She cupped her face, smiling as she looked at Liam.
“You used to hate wearing any jewelry, and you’d complain for ages about how suffocating a hat felt.”
“But from just now until this moment, you’ve touched your wedding ring at least ten times.”
Chloe pointed to Liam’s ring finger.
“You must really love your wife. It’s a subconscious reaction.”
Liam, loved me?
I tilted my head, staring at Liam. His eyes began to fluster.
“No way? It’s just a habit. Plus, my finger feels a bit itchy…”
Chloe smiled, then encouraged him to call me.
Liam couldn’t argue with her, so he pulled out his phone and dialed my number.
My heart jumped. I instinctively reached for the phone in my pocket, but found nothing.
Oh, I forgot I was already dead.
The phone vibrated in the trunk. Liam had silenced it earlier because he found my ringtone too noisy.
Several calls went unanswered, and Liam hung up.
“Just because I said a few harsh words, she has to give me the silent treatment for this long?”
He slammed his phone on the table in frustration.
Chloe’s smile faded. She looked out the window.
“You just told me you locked your wife in the trunk. That was a joke, right? The car doesn’t feel like there’s anyone in it.”
Liam felt an inexplicable panic. He glanced at the several unanswered calls on his phone, then took a deep breath.
“Maybe she opened the door and ran off. Ugh, what could possibly happen!”
Liam didn’t know if he was trying to reassure himself or what. He took off his ring directly, acting like “out of sight, out of mind.”
“Forget about that. You’re only back once in a blue moon. How about I show you around here? It’s changed so much in two years!”
I stood by the car, and suddenly felt a dampness on the back of my hand.
Was it raining?
I looked up, seeing the same boundless starry sky.
I wiped my face again, only to find tears streaming down like broken pearls.
It wasn’t the earth that was sad. It was me crying.
Because Liam really didn’t love me.
He didn’t care if I existed, or about his baby and me.
The two of them left the restaurant, walked past the car, and headed straight up the hill.
I wished he would glance at the trunk. Just one look, and I would forgive everything he had done to me.
But no, he had completely forgotten that I was lying alone in the trunk.
I wanted to curse him. “Liam! May you die a terrible death!”
But the words caught in my throat. I swallowed them back.
Liam was a heartless man, but I still wished him happiness, even if it wasn’t with me.
I rubbed my stinging nose, wiped away my tears, and shamelessly continued to follow behind them.
They walked and talked about old times, reaching the hilltop before they knew it.
The evening breeze rustled Chloe’s dress.
Liam thoughtfully took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, his eyes fixed on the distant city lights.
I wondered if, at any moment, he would remember that among those countless lights, there was a home for him and me.
Suddenly, a phone rang abruptly.
Liam answered, and his expression instantly changed.
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