Who Dared Steal My Wife"

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I time-traveled three years into the past with my new husband.

Back then, my boyfriend was his best friend.

He looked at me, his expression cold as stone. Break up with him. I won't be the other man.

I just laughed, a little recklessly.

You're being optimistic. The other man? Please, you wouldn't even make the top five.

1.

It happened without any warning.

I time-traveled with my new husband, Alexander.

The timing, however, couldn't have been worse.

We landed at the exact moment my then-boyfriend was introducing me to his circle of friends.

The second the door to the private booth swung open, my boyfriend, Noah, had his arm draped over my shoulder, and my new husband, Alexander, was sitting on the sofa, his eyes cold as ice, staring at us.

"..."

One look was all it took.

I knew, with absolute certainty, that he had traveled back with me.

After all, the Alexander of the past would never have looked at me like that.

His default setting was a cool, detached arrogance.

An arrogance so profound he could ignore everything and everyone around him, including me, his best friend's girlfriend at the time. If it weren't for his ironclad friendship with Noah, he wouldn't have even shown up to this gathering.

But this new situation was complicated.

On the surface, I was Noah's girlfriend. In reality, I was Alexander's wife from three years in the future.

What was I supposed to do?

Before I could come up with a plan, the booth erupted in cheers and jeers.

Someone excitedly clapped Noah on the shoulder.

"You sly dog, you finally brought her out!"

"No wonder you kept her hidden away! Your girlfriend is gorgeous."

"Nope, you're buying drinks tonight! From now on, you're always buying. A single guy like me can't stand seeing you two so disgustingly happy."

Noah just grinned, taking all the teasing in stride.

The hand on my shoulder tightened in a comforting squeeze. "Don't mind them, they're just idiots. Come on, I want you to meet my best friend"

My feet felt like they were encased in lead.

I was dragged in front of Alexander.

Noah's face was beaming.

"Alex, I told you about her. This is my girlfriend, Stella."

I was so mortified I couldn't even look at Alexander. I just stared at the floor and mumbled, extending a hand. "Hi."

For a long, agonizing moment, there was nothing. Then, his hand finally closed around mine.

It was a light squeeze.

It was over in a second, but the pressure of it, the weight of it, felt immense.

Noah settled me onto the sofa right next to Alexander, leaning in to whisper, "You sit here. I've gotta go say hi to the others. Don't worry, if you need anything, just ask Alex. He'll take care of you for me."

With a final, "Thanks, man," thrown over his shoulder, Noah was gone.

Suddenly, the long sofa felt very empty, occupied by just the two of us.

The air turned frigid.

I tried to give myself a mental pep talk.

There's no need to be scared. He probably doesn't know I traveled back too. Just act normal, go with the flow. Right now, I'm Noah's girlfriend. My marriage to Alexander is three years away. There's no reason to...

"That silk tie you used to blindfold me last night," Alexander's low voice cut through my thoughts. "Where did you put it? I couldn't find it this morning."

I froze, then answered on instinct.

"On the sofa, I think."

A low, humorless chuckle escaped him. "Got it."

"..."

It dawned on me, a second too late, that I had just been played.

2.

The situation just got infinitely more complicated.

Now that we both knew wed been in bed together just last night, how was I supposed to keep pretending to be Noah's loving girlfriend?

Alexander's suggestion was simple: "Break up with him."

I protested in a whisper, "We're in the honeymoon phase! He'd never accept me breaking up with him out of the blue!"

If I remembered correctly, this party was about six months into my relationship with Noah.

His birthday had been just a few weeks ago.

That day, he'd held me close and whispered, "Babe, will you come meet my friends? Everyone knows I have a girlfriend, but no one knows who she is, not even my best friend. I want to show you off. Will you do that for me?"

I'd been charmed, and I'd finally agreed.

"You'll have to break up with him eventually anyway," Alexander stated flatly.

He was right.

My relationship with Noah did end in a breakup.

But does a bad ending mean you can't enjoy the journey?

I shook my head. "Not yet."

"Then what about me?" he asked.

Honestly, I hadn't thought that far ahead.

If Alexander and I were a deeply in love, inseparable newlywed couple, then dropping Noah for him would be the obvious choice.

The problem was, we weren't.

Ours was a marriage of convenience. Each of us got something out of it.

Surely, I wasn't responsible for him now, three years in the past, when we had no official relationship, right?

A cold smirk touched Alexander's lips. "Stella. You're really something else."

"Wait, wait!"

I instinctively grabbed his arm, my voice pleading. "Just give me some time to think."

The me of three years ago owed Alexander nothing.

But what if we traveled back to the future?

If we could jump back in time without warning, we could just as easily jump forward... and I'd have to face my brand-new husband, Alexander. I'd be toast.

I thought for a long moment, then made my decision.

"I will break up with him. But you have to give me some time."

Alexander just scoffed.

Just then, the man of the hour, Noah, returned.

He didn't squeeze in between us. Instead, he leaned over me, his arm resting on my shoulder, to talk to Alexander.

The posture, however, pulled me even closer to him.

And Noah couldn't keep still, occasionally winking at me, his face lit up with a ridiculously happy smile.

Alexander's gaze flickered over to us several times.

Clearly annoyed, he finally stood up, his voice clipped. "Let's switch seats."

So we rearranged ourselves.

Now Alexander was in the middle.

Noah didn't seem to mind, immediately launching into some juicy gossip he'd just heard about a rival family.

I was bored out of my mind, so I started peeling the lychees from the fruit platter.

One after another.

The flesh was plump and sweet, and I couldn't stop.

Suddenly, I felt a light touch on the skin of my outer thigh.

My dress was on the shorter side.

The cool touch of his fingertips sent a slow, tingling sensation all the way to my heart.

I looked up and met Alexander's gaze.

While Noah was taking a sip of his drink, Alexander mouthed silently, Eating so many? Forgotten who was crying with a stomach ache last time?

I froze.

I finished peeling the one in my hand but didn't dare eat it.

Noah, who had appeared out of nowhere, leaned in and bit the lychee right from my fingertips, then plopped down beside me.

"Anything my girl peels is sweeter!" he mumbled, his mouth full.

The air solidified.

For some reason, I didn't dare look at Alexander.

...Why did this feel like I was cheating on two people at once?

This whole situation was a nightmare. I wracked my brain, desperate for a way out.

Before I could think of anything, Alexander spoke first, his voice dangerously cold.

"Who's your girl?"

3.

Noah froze, a dumbfounded look on his face.

He swallowed the lychee whole and opened his mouth as if to explain, but nothing came out.

I quickly jumped in to do damage control.

"Me! I'm his girl, he was talking about me!"

Both Alexander and Noah looked at me.

Alexander's gaze, in particular, was so glacial it could have skinned me alive.

I clenched my fists, meeting his stare head-on. "Is there a problem?"

Noah chuckled. "No problem at all, babe."

He even had the mind to explain to me, "Alex is a bit old-fashioned. He probably thinks it's inappropriate for me to call you that before we're married. He doesn't mean anything by it."

Then, he shot a teasing look at Alexander.

"Alright, man, calm down. Since when are you the relationship police?"

Alexander's expression darkened even further.

Fearing he was about to say something truly catastrophic, I shot to my feet.

"Something just came up. I think I have to go."

Noah grabbed my hand. "What is it?"

I tried to recall what my life was like three years ago and blurted out the first excuse I could think of. "My professor said there's a problem with my thesis!"

"I'll take you," Noah said, standing up immediately.

Panic seized me. "Oh, you don't have to do that."

"Silly," Noah pinched my cheek affectionately. "Your laptop is still at my apartment. Of course I have to."

Now I was the one who was truly dumbfounded.

I had absolutely no memory of today's events from three years ago, let alone my laptop being at his place.

I had no choice but to play along.

"Haha, look at me, my brain is total mush, hahaha..."

"You goofball."

Noah said his goodbyes, paid the bill, and led me by the hand to the parking garage.

My phone buzzed.

A message from an unknown number.

It was short and to the point:

?

A wave of guilt washed over me. It was obviously from Alexander.

As I was trying to figure out how to respond, Noah handed me a bottle of water he'd just opened. "You okay? Are you tired?"

Physically, I wasn't. Mentally, I was exhausted.

Just thinking about the last hour gave me a headache.

I forced a smile. "I'm fine."

"Well, I guess we'll have to postpone you meeting my parents then," Noah said with a smile. "They've been asking to meet you for a while. I've already put them off a few times."

I looked at Noah's profile and was suddenly reminded of the real reason we broke up.

That meeting with his parents had been the catalyst.

His parents were perfectly nice. There was no awkwardness or intentional grilling at the dinner table.

But they had told Noah he needed to spend a few years abroad after graduationpartly for a master's degree, partly to help expand his family's company into the European market.

They wanted me to go with him.

They offered to pay for my tuition, my living expenses, everything. The only condition was that I had to go with Noah.

Even back then, I suspected Noah had made some kind of deal with them.

He had probably told them he didn't want to go abroad because of me, and this was their compromise: he could take his girlfriend with him.

But I didn't want to go.

Especially not as someone's accessory.

I had just received an offer from a top firm in the country. My career was about to take off, my future looked bright, and I wasn't about to throw it all away.

So I refused.

And that's when the cracks in our relationship started to show.

We never fought. Noah wasn't the type to argue with me.

He just begged, pleaded, hoped I would change my mind for him, for our relationship.

When he finally realized I wouldn't budge, he relented, claiming a long-distance relationship would be fine, that he'd fly back to see me all the time.

But by then, the magic was gone.

After some rational thought, I realized I probably didn't love him as much as I thought I did. I broke up with him before he left the country.

Noah's finger suddenly poked my cheek.

"What are you thinking about? I called your name and you didn't even hear me."

I snapped out of it and said the first thing that came to mind. "I was thinking about meeting your parents."

A look of pure joy exploded in his eyes.

"Really? Babe, you really want to meet them? Oh my god, this is the best news!"

He pulled me into a fierce hug, stroking my hair. "You're the best, you know that?"

No, I'm really not, I thought.

I was about to push him away when someone knocked sharply on the car window.

Alexander's handsome, elegant face appeared outside.

He smiled, a perfect picture of politeness.

"Sorry to interrupt. Mind if I catch a ride?"

"..."

4.

Alexander claimed he'd left something at Noah's apartment, so he needed to come with us.

Noah, completely unsuspecting, immediately let him in.

In the car, the two of them chatted away amicably.

Meanwhile, my phone was blowing up with a constant stream of messages from Alexander.

So you're hugging now?

If I hadn't shown up, what else were you planning on doing?

Did I interrupt something?

Stella, this is cheating!

How could you cheat on me right in front of my face?

ANSWER ME!

A new message arrived every few minutes, like a scheduled attack.

I ignored them.

The tense silence on my end continued all the way to Noah's apartment.

My laptop was, indeed, there.

It was only then that I remembered: my computer had been acting up, and I was going to take it to a repair shop, but Noah had insisted he could fix it himself.

Alexander, however, had clearly jumped to a different conclusion.

He was now staring at his phone, typing another snide message: How sweet!

I couldn't take it anymore and typed back:

:)

Alexander went silent.

Once I had my laptop, there was no reason to stay. Besides, I couldn't handle another minute of this chaos. I stood up to say goodbye.

Noah immediately said, "I'll drive you back to campus."

"I can take her," Alexander interjected. "I'm heading to my place on the West Side, it's on the way."

I was so annoyed with Alexander at this point that I snapped, "You hitched a ride here. How are you going to drive me anywhere?"

Alexander smiled. "My driver has been following us the whole time."

"..."

Noah seemed to have absolute trust in Alexander because he didn't object at all.

Only as he was seeing us out the door did he seem to remember something. "Hey, you said you left something here. What was it?"

Alexander casually picked up a crystal figurine from the entryway table.

"You said you were going to give this to me, remember? I came to pick it up."

It wasn't until I was in Alexander's car that my frayed nerves finally started to settle.

But his behavior had been so outrageous that I couldn't help but scold him.

"Could you not exercise a little self-control? What if he finds out?"

"Finds out what? That you're my wife?"

Alexander scoffed. "I've only ever heard of the other man having to sneak around. This is the first time I've heard of the actual husband having to hide in the shadows."

"But this is three years in the past!"

I couldn't help but repeat myself. "Right now, in this relationship, you're the other man."

"Then break up with him," Alexander said coolly. "I won't be the other man."

"It's not about what you want," I muttered under my breath. "I want to travel back to the future. I want to be the only one who traveled back. Do you think what I want matters?"

Alexander shot me a sideways glance.

I shut up.

We lapsed into silence. I tried to pinpoint what triggered the time travel.

It had been completely random.

I was at the supermarket when I unexpectedly ran into Noah, who had just returned from abroad.

It was an awkward reunion. I managed a weak, "What a coincidence."

He stared intently at me. "You married Alexander?"

It wasn't a secret, so I nodded.

His face instantly darkened. He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the exit.

"Do you have any idea what kind of person Alexander is? How could you marry him? You don't know him at all! He's not the polite, gentle person you think he is. He's"

I struggled, focusing all my energy on freeing my arm.

I didn't register what he was saying, nor did I notice that the scene around us had changed.

It was no longer a crowded supermarket but the empty hallway of a lounge.

Noah wasn't angry anymore. He was smiling and coaxing me.

"Babe, you're about to meet my friends. Are you nervous? Don't worry, they're all great guys, especially Alex. He's always looked out for me. You'll love him."

I stared at my surroundings in disbelief, completely forgetting to pull my hand away.

It wasn't until the door to the booth swung open, and the cold, distant Alexander came into view, that it hit me.

I had time-traveled.

"Do you have a way to get us back?"

"Can you please keep your distance from Noah?"

Our voices overlapped.

I replayed what Alexander had just said in my head and felt a wave of despair.

Seriously?

At a time like this, my supposed teammate was still obsessed with that?

I said, exasperated, "If we don't get back soon, I swear I will cheat on you for real!"