The Heart Rate Monitor Unveils My Ex's Stand-In Chapter 2

A hot spring resort.

Two rooms, separated by a single wall.

The show was broadcast live.

There was an observation room on set and live comments from the audience online.

[Ethan Vance and Chloe Sterling on a divorce show, sharing a room? They're playing hard!!!]

[Their chemistry is insane! So perfect together.]

[Told you Ethan and his wife had no feelings left. No one likes the one holding them back.]

[I've been waiting for them to divorce for so long!]

[Was he blind? He loved her so much back then...]

The staff strapped heart rate monitors on Ethan and Chloe.

"If your heart rate reaches 70, you can leave the room."

[They'll break that in seconds, right?]

To everyone's surprise, both of their heart rates stalled at 68.

They had done everything together off-camera.

They were too familiar with each other, afraid of slipping up and showing it.

So they ended up acting overly cautious on the show.

[Chloe is so polite, she doesn't even dare get too close.]

[Ethan, stop holding back! We support you!]

Chloe sat by the door.

Ethan stood on the balcony for some fresh air. From a certain angle, he could see into my room.

Carter hadn't arrived yet.

I was sitting alone on the edge of the bed, wearing my heart rate monitor.

Someone knocked on the door.

It was a tall, slender man.

A baseball cap hid half his face, and his damp bangs were dusted with mist from the hot springs.

It was drizzling outside.

He carried the crisp, cold scent of a foggy midnight.

[MY FIRST LOVE IS BACK!!!]

[How should I put this, Ethan... comparison is the thief of joy.]

[Let's not pit them against each other.]

"You have to put this on."

I handed the other heart rate monitor to Carter.

Ethan always hated it when people said he looked like Carter.

In our first year of marriage, we were taking a walk on the street late at night. I froze, staring at a massive luxury billboard featuring Carter. Ethan pulled a beanie over my head, blocking my view, and muttered sourly:

"I knew you liked this type of face."

And now.

In the other room, Ethan was on the balcony.

Watching clearly.

Watching Carter walk into the room and close the door behind him.

Putting on the monitor.

Ethan didn't care.

He had known since that night that the man he could never catch up to, the man he was insanely jealous of—Carter—was only married to Chloe out of a contractual obligation.

Carter didn't even like Chloe.

Naturally, it was even more impossible for him to like someone as incredibly ordinary and divorced as me, someone Ethan himself looked down on.

Ethan scoffed lightly, completely unbothered.

Yet, he scrutinized my reaction without missing a single detail.

"Hello, I'm Audrey Miller."

My heart rate was resting at 50 as I held out my hand to Carter.

"Hello, I'm Carter Hayes."

He took my hand.

A few seconds later, a sharp, piercing beep came from the monitor.

Carter's heart rate had skyrocketed, breaking the limit.

But the man himself was calmer than anyone else.

He said, "The monitor is broken."

I said, "Oh."