The Mafia Fiancé Chose His First Love over Me

"Every time we make love, I make Sera turn around. From behind, she looks the most like Luna ."

My hand froze on the door handle. Through the small glass window, I stared at the face of the man I had loved for three years.

He had only ever seen me as a substitute for someone else.

In that moment, I felt something inside me shatter.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I didn't burst through the door and demand an explanation.

I just turned around and walked back downstairs. My legs felt strange, as if they belonged to someone else.

I called Professor Lumiere and accepted her invitation to go abroad. My voice was steady. She couldn't tell that I was dying inside.

Later, when Felix chased me all the way to Europe and stood in front of me with red-rimmed eyes, telling me he truly loved me—

I gently pushed his hand away.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't love you anymore."

The professor on the other end of the line was even more excited than I was.

"Sera, I am so thrilled you're joining our team. Five days from now, I will pick you up at the airport myself!"

I murmured a few words of thanks and hung up the phone.

Only then did I realize my face was already covered in tears. They had fallen silently while I was talking. I hadn't even noticed.

Sera, what are you going to do?

The man you love only ever saw you as a replacement.

I curled up in the corner of the fire escape, hidden from view. I cried until I had nothing left. Until my hands and feet went numb from the cold concrete floor. Until my throat was raw and my eyes were swollen shut.

I forced myself to accept the truth. He didn't love me. He never had. He loved the ghost of another woman, and I just happened to look like her from behind.

When I finally tried to stand, someone caught my arm. A firm, steady grip.

Otherwise, I would have tumbled down the stairs. I didn't even have the strength to stay on my feet.

I lifted my head to thank the stranger, but they were already gone. Just a retreating shadow at the end of the corridor.

I didn't think much of it at the time. I had bigger wounds to tend to.

When I returned to the private room, Felix was already drunk.

He was slumped over the table, surrounded by cigarette smoke and the heavy smell of whiskey. His tie was loose. His perfect hair was falling across his forehead. He looked nothing like the powerful Don who commanded respect from every family in the city.

When his friends saw me, they stammered an explanation.

"We're sorry, Miss Sera. You took a little long, so Felix had a few too many. Don't be angry."

"It's his bachelor party before the engagement, so we just—"

I nodded calmly. I wasn't