Chapter 3: Ghosts and Golden Boys

I didn’t do anything!

The idea made my skin crawl.

So, the next morning, Caleb woke up on the floor.

At breakfast, Caleb rubbed his temples. "From now on, I’ll give you the respect you deserve. Don’t expect anything else."

He didn’t even look at me, just stared into his black coffee like it might bite him. The toast sat untouched, the eggs had gone cold.

The day I visited my parents—

That so-called respect vanished with a single request from Natalie, who wanted to see the cherry blossoms at Riverside Park.

I came home alone. My dad’s face was red, veins bulging at his temple. He gripped the old leather belt—cracked from years of use—but this time, he just let it drop to the floor. My stepmom tried to console me, but her words only made it worse.

"Having a daughter like you is a disgrace to the Mitchell family."

My dad told the housekeeper to drag me to the living room, but I was already used to kneeling. I dropped to my knees with practiced ease.

In the end, he stormed off.

From where I stood, this marriage wasn’t so bad.

Besides, Caleb York was the kind of guy everyone watched from afar—the golden boy, the one with the keys to the kingdom, like the star quarterback at homecoming.

People gossiped about me for marrying him, but honestly? Managing a house full of staff and a husband who was basically a ghost wasn’t the worst life.

Still, every now and then, I got annoyed—especially when Natalie decided to stir the pot.

I woke up early. I’d always known I was just a supporting character—a small-town councilman’s daughter, raised to be proper, existing mostly to make the heroine shine.

But I never imagined that after the main story ended, the heroine would give me such a dramatic gift.

Once, I gave the broke Natalie a box of cookies. To her, those cookies were a treat she’d never tasted. To me, they were leftovers I was tired of.

But cookies didn’t change her fate; it was the male leads and supporting guys who did.

People said I was fake nice.

The real heroine, Natalie, fought for the underdog and stood up for what was right! But doing that meant ticking off the powerful.

Luckily, Natalie had even more powerful people in her corner.

Those who cleaned up her messes weren’t just Grant Evans, but also Caleb.

Natalie carried the York family’s heirloom watch—flashing it was as good as having Caleb show up himself.

The money that left the York house to pay off others was way more than anything Natalie ever gave out.

All her big promises—helping the sick, finding lost relatives—were ultimately made real by Caleb!

And most of the time, Caleb was busy chasing after Natalie.

So all the little stuff fell to me.

This wasn’t my job; I could have just handed over some cash and sent people away. But when a husband carrying his sick wife, or a mother searching for her missing daughter, looked at me with hope—I couldn’t just turn them down.

I guess I really am fake nice.

So, when I saw that little girl begging with a broken leg, I secretly tossed her a box of cookies meant for the mayor’s wife—right out the car window behind my dad’s back.

Which led me here!

I accept my bad luck.

I was busy running around, rarely at the York house.

One night, the moon was high when I came home. Caleb was drying his hair with a towel, reading a travel magazine. By the lamplight, his eyes looked especially deep.

He glanced up at me, saying nothing.

We didn’t sleep in separate rooms—more like strangers, sleeping side by side, worlds apart.

Sometimes, lying there listening to the hum of the A/C and the distant whistle of freight trains on the old tracks behind the house, I wondered how long we could keep up the charade. But habit is a powerful thing, and neither of us seemed ready to break it.