Chapter 5

I didn't go straight home. Instead, I went to Alex's laboratory.

I wanted to see with my own eyes what this AI robot that had captivated him, that he'd abandoned five years of marriage for, actually looked like.

The lab door wasn't locked. I gently pushed it open and walked in.

The lighting inside was soft, warm yellow light spilling across the center of the room where a girl in a white dress stood.

It was STAR, identical to the photo, identical to me at twenty-two.

Her features were gentle, her skin pale, even the curve of her hair replicated with perfect precision.

And Alex was standing in front of her.

The way he looked at STAR—with tenderness, obsession, adoration—was something I'd never seen before. That was a look he'd never given me in five years of marriage.

He reached out, gently caressing STAR's face, his fingertips as tender as if touching a priceless treasure.

"STAR," he called her softly, his voice low and tender. "You're so beautiful, so much more beautiful than her."

The "her" he referred to was me.

STAR's system simulated a gentle smile, her voice sweet, indistinguishable from my younger voice: "Alex, I'm glad you're pleased."

Alex—that nickname was mine alone.

It was what I'd called him throughout our eight years together.

Now an AI robot casually spoke it.

Alex's expression grew even softer. He slowly lowered his head and kissed STAR's lips.

Gentle, lingering, filled with utter devotion.

He kissed an AI robot's lips.

On the second week after our fifth wedding anniversary.

After abandoning me, neglecting me, ignoring me.

He kissed that AI modeled after me, his eyes full of love.

I stood in the doorway, my entire body ice-cold, my blood seemingly frozen in an instant.

I watched this scene unfold before me—him pouring all his tenderness into a machine without a heartbeat, without warmth, without a soul.

Watching him kiss her, watching him hold her, watching him whisper in her ear words that completely shattered me:

"STAR, you're the one who truly understands me. You're perfect. You're more worthy of being my wife than Alice."

More worthy, more worthy of being his wife.

Those words were like a red-hot knife, viciously piercing my heart, burning away my last trace of attachment until nothing remained.

Alex, how cruel you are.

Five years of marriage, eight years of love, couldn't compare to one kiss with an AI robot.

Couldn't compare to one sentence: "You're more worthy than her."

I didn't rush in, didn't cry or make a scene, didn't demand answers.

I just stood quietly at the door, watching everything, swallowing all the pain, all the hatred, all the love.

Then I gently closed the laboratory door.

Inside the door were him and his perfect AI.

Outside the door were my shattered marriage and my completely broken heart.

Alex, we're finished.

This time, I won't look back.

I'll draft the divorce papers immediately.

You want your perfect AI? I'll set you free.

And I'm leaving you completely, never to see you again.