Chapter 2

2.

The next day, when Julian arrived at the FBI's forensic lab, he saw the body Ian had asked him to reconstruct.

Ian's medical examiner was sweating over it. Julian paused at the doorway as he passed.

His eyes lingered on the corpse.

It was the most severely damaged body he had ever seen, clearly the result of a mob-style execution.

There was barely an intact piece of skin on the entire body, making reconstruction incredibly difficult.

But there hadn't been any news of such a brutal gang war recently…

After a moment of thought, he clapped the other ME on the shoulder.

"Tell your team leader I'll take this case."

I lay on his examination table, watching him change into scrubs and put on latex gloves, all of his past inexperience gone.

As I watched, a smile tugged at my lips.

This was the real him.

But the more he worked, the graver his expression became.

I didn't know if he had noticed.

The body's height, arm span, and other physical data were identical to mine.

My hand had been partially repaired. He hesitated, then took my wrist.

A hand he had held countless times. He only needed a gentle squeeze to feel the familiarity.

His brow furrowed even deeper.

But what did that prove?

He shook his head with a smile. "How could it be…"

I wasn't the only person in the world with the same wrist size, and this was a corpse, so there would naturally be some slight variations…

Just as he was about to let go, his fingers brushed against a hard, ring-like object.

He looked down. The wedding ring was still on my ring finger.

Julian gasped.

He recognized this ring.

Back when we were crammed into a drafty apartment, splitting a single takeout pizza over three meals, he had saved up to buy this tiny diamond ring.

The day he placed it on my finger, he watched me admire it happily, his smile tinged with a bit of pain.

"I know we don't have anything right now, but I promise I'll give you a good life someday."

Back then, I had thrown my arms around him and given him a hard kiss.

"I know, my future Chief Medical Examiner!"

I gave a bitter smile.

He probably never imagined that the woman who promised to stand by him through thick and thin would leave him with a newborn daughter and run away, forcing him to juggle work and childcare, even landing him in the ER from exhaustion several times.

But Julian, I had no other choice…

He carefully removed the ring, holding it between his thumb and forefinger, examining it under the surgical light.

The longer he looked, the more serious his face became.

He had spent six months picking out that design. How could he not remember it?

He quickly stripped off his gloves, his hand trembling slightly as he pulled out his phone and opened his contacts.

But he had deleted my contact information long ago.

Taking a deep breath, he accurately typed my phone number on the keypad.

The call connected.

For a moment, there was silence on both ends.

Julian was waiting for me to speak first.

But I could never speak again.

"Julian."

My voice came through the phone.

I was stunned.

The tension in Julian's muscles seemed to relax a bit.

A self-deprecating smile crossed his lips.

"Julian, I'm not doing well without you."

The voice on the other end was filled with exhaustion.

I suddenly remembered.

It was a voicemail I had left during my darkest moment.

Even though he had already blocked me by then.

A cold laugh echoed, and Julian hung up the phone.

He glanced at the body on the table and shook his head.

"I must be going crazy, suspecting this body is her…"

He paused, looked at the ring in his hand, and his smile became even more sarcastic.

This ring wasn't a custom design. How could he have such a ridiculous idea just because of a matching ring?

"It would be better if you were really dead."

That way, he wouldn't keep having these crazy thoughts.

He placed the ring in a nearby evidence bag and ignored it.