If love is like a firefly, chasing it is in vain

Chapter 1

My husband, Mark Davis, is a robotics engineer specializing in androids.

Yesterday, he brought a female android home.

I slipped in the bathroom, bleeding heavily, but he completely ignored me.

Instead, he frantically picked up the android, who was also wet, and blurted out, “Androids can’t get wet, or they’ll short-circuit! I have to take her to the lab immediately!”

He left without looking back.

The next day, I found an old diary under our bed.

On the cover was a picture of Mark with a woman I didn’t recognize. The woman looked exactly like the android he’d brought home.

Turns out, she was his first love, Amy Parker.

I closed the diary and calmly dialed a number. “Professor Chen, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll be in Chicago in three days to officially join your team.”

“Sarah! That’s fantastic! I’m so excited to have you.”

As soon as I hung up, the door opened. Mark was back.

He frowned, his eyes glued to his phone.

He was wearing the same black shirt he’d left in yesterday. Clearly, he hadn’t been home all night.

He glanced at me.

“You look pale.” I said it was from a bad night’s sleep.

He just grunted, still staring at his phone.

I lowered my head, swallowing the lump in my throat.

I knew he wasn’t really listening, just like always.

I didn’t yell or ask where he’d been, like I would have before.

Instead, I went to the kitchen and made myself some ramen.

When it was ready, Mark came to the table out of habit, but noticed I hadn’t made him any.

He finally looked up from his phone.

“Sarah, I figured it out. That bleeding yesterday was just your period. You’ll be fine in a few days.” “But if an android gets soaked, it could be completely ruined. You wouldn’t want me to lose years of research, would you?”

My hand froze around my chopsticks. My heart ached.

Yesterday, I’d hit my stomach on the corner of the table when I fell. The bleeding wouldn’t stop.

At the hospital, I found out I was a month pregnant, and the fall had caused a miscarriage.

The doctor said if I hadn’t waited so long, the baby might have been saved.

But yesterday, I’d begged Mark to take me to the hospital, but he hadn’t even looked at me.

He’d just scooped up the android and left.

In all our years of marriage, I’d never seen him so panicked.

Too bad it wasn’t for me.

Mark frowned when he saw I wasn’t responding. He opened his mouth to speak.

Just then, his phone rang.

He answered it on video call, right in front of me. The android’s face popped up.

“Marky, I’m all better!” “You have to come get me right now, or I’ll be mad!”

She stuck her tongue out playfully.

Mark stared at the screen, his eyes ridiculously soft.

He patiently explained that one of her components was damaged and he couldn’t bring her home yet.

They finally hung up just as I finished my ramen.

He seemed embarrassed that I’d been there the whole time.

But only for a second. Then he was back to normal.

“The female androids are programmed like that,” he said casually. “They’re designed to appeal to men, since that’s our target market. Don’t take it personally.”

He picked up his phone and left, saying he needed to check on things at the lab.

As soon as he was gone, the tears came.

After a while, I laughed at myself.

What was I expecting from Mark?

Clearly, I wasn’t even as important to him as an android.

I booked a flight to Chicago for three days later.

A little while later, Mark came back.

He brought a cat.

He said the android wanted a pet, and it was a good opportunity for testing.

I stared at him. “Mark, we’ve been married for eight years. You know I’m allergic to cats, right?”

His face went cold.

“Sarah, don’t start.” “Are you seriously jealous of an android?”

I went into the bedroom and grabbed the diary.

“You said this android is years of your research. But why does she look exactly like your first love?” “Care to explain, Mark?”

He looked guilty.

He sighed. “So that’s what this is about.” “Amy’s dead. Making an android in her image was her dying wish. It’s not what you think.”

I stayed quiet, looking down. He offered to take me to see a movie.

He said there was a new comedy out I’d love.

I laughed internally.

I hated comedies. I never watched them.

Amy must have liked them.

The diary mentioned how they used to go to comedy movies together.

The thought made my chest ache.

When I looked up, Mark was gone.

“Something came up at work. I’ll take you tomorrow,” he called out as he shut the door.

An hour later, I took a thermos of soup to Mark’s office.

His mother had sent it with the housekeeper, asking me to make sure he ate.

He’d helped me once, a long time ago, so I agreed.

I gave the soup to the receptionist. As I was leaving, I heard some employees gossiping around the corner.

“Did you hear? The android Mr. Davis built looks exactly like his old girlfriend.” “No wonder he treats her like gold. Some guy tried to touch her face, and she ran straight to Mr. Davis. He fired the guy on the spot!” “And then he carried her into his office like she was royalty. It’s so creepy. He’s acting like she’s his dead girlfriend, you know?”

I froze. I picked up the soup again and walked straight to Mark’s office.

When I opened the door, the android was sitting on his lap, feeding him grapes.

Mark’s smile faltered.

“Sarah! You should have knocked.” “Don’t get the wrong idea, I was just…”

I set the soup on his desk and nodded.

“I know. You were just testing her functionality.”

He frowned, maybe because I was too calm.

He started to say something.

The android clung to his neck.

“Marky, you’re ignoring me now that your wife’s here! You’re mean!”

Mark turned his attention back to her, soothing her.

I studied the android.

The more I watched, the more shocked I became. Her movements, her speech, her facial expressions – they were all too human.

When Mark brought her home, she hadn’t been activated yet, so I hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

And Mark had named her Amy.

I didn’t want to watch their little love fest, so I turned to leave.

Before I reached the door, someone grabbed my wrist.

I turned around. Mark was holding out a tube of lipstick.

“This is for you.”

I was stunned. Last year, I’d asked him for a lipstick I’d seen advertised everywhere.

He’d refused.

“Sarah, look at yourself,” he’d said. “You’re practically an old lady. You’re too old for lipstick.”

Mark frowned when I didn’t take the lipstick.

“I thought you said you liked this brand.”

“I do,” I said flatly. “But not this shade.”

He put it away, looking annoyed.

“Fine. I have some work to do. We’ll go home later.”

After he left, the android walked over to me.

She crossed her arms and looked down at me.

“You didn’t actually think he bought that lipstick for you, did you?” She pulled a bag out of a cabinet and dangled it in front of me. “I told him I wanted that brand, so he bought me every single shade.” “That one he offered you? It’s the only one I didn’t like.”

I went home.

Without Mark.

I was packing my things when he called.

“You left? Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Something came up,” I said vaguely.

He was silent for a second, then snapped, “You’re seriously throwing a fit because I brought a cat home?”

I started to explain.

He scoffed. “Fine, be that way. I’m not putting up with this, Sarah.”

He hung up. I felt strangely calm.

Nine years ago, I’d fallen into a river.

Mark happened to be passing by. He jumped in and saved me.

I remembered his gentle voice.

“Stay awake. The ambulance is coming.”

I survived, but Mark spent two weeks in the hospital.

I fell hopelessly in love with him.

I pursued him for a year, but he didn’t respond.

Just when I was about to give up, he showed up with a diamond ring.

He said he didn’t love me, but he needed someone to marry. If I was willing, we could get married the next day.

How could I refuse?

I thought it didn’t matter if he didn’t love me now. We’d have the rest of our lives.

So after we got married, I devoted myself to him completely.

For eight years, every time we fought, I was the one who apologized.

I was always so pathetic around him.

I thought I could eventually win his love.

Whether it took five years, ten, or twenty.

But I didn’t want to wait anymore.

That night, Mark came home.

He looked at me, still calm and not apologizing like usual. His expression grew colder.

I’d just showered and was about to go to bed.

He stopped me.

“Sarah, pack your things and move to the guest room. Amy’s coming over, and I’m sleeping with her tonight.” “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just testing her, observing her functions.”

I didn’t say anything. He seemed to realize how unreasonable he sounded.

He frowned, about to speak, but I was already packing.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll move.”

It didn’t matter where I slept. I was leaving anyway.

I might as well do this one last thing for him.

As I was leaving the room with my suitcase, he grabbed my wrist.

He looked at me, his expression unreadable.

“Sarah, are you really that eager to leave?”

I thought it was funny.

He was the one who wanted me to move.

And now he was upset.

Was he bipolar?

I pulled my hand away.

“I just don’t want to interrupt your work,” I said calmly.

He watched me walk to the guest room, his fists clenched.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang.

I knew it was Amy.

I heard her high-pitched voice from the living room.

“Oh, Marky! Is this the kitty you got me? It’s so cute!”

“Let’s name her Puff, okay?”

“Marky, you’re the best! You’re the best husband ever!”

She was loud, clearly trying to make sure I heard her.

I put on a face mask and played a game on my phone.

After a while, I was about to go to sleep when I got a text from an unknown number.

“Sarah, I know you’re not asleep. Come to the bedroom.”

It was Amy.

I don’t know why, but I went.

At the bedroom door, I heard strange noises.

I peered through the crack in the door and saw something I never expected.

The android was on top of Mark.

They were kissing passionately.

And her hands were… busy.

Amy saw me in the doorway. She turned and smirked.

I ran to the bathroom and threw up.

Mark was… with an android.

After a while, the bathroom door opened.

It was the android.

I stared at her.

“What are you? Androids can’t do that.”

She laughed and told me the truth.

She was Amy.

She’d been in a car accident and was dying.

Mark had arrived just in time, taken her to his lab, and extracted her memories onto a chip. He’d implanted the chip into an android body.

That’s how she became what I was seeing now.

Amy leaned closer. “You might have had him for eight years, but I’m the one he really loves.”

She left.

I went back to the bedroom and ran into Mark, who was on his way to the bathroom.

He looked uncomfortable.

“Why are you still up?”

I thought about what I’d just seen and swallowed my nausea.

“I was just going to bed.”

He nodded. Then, in a surprisingly gentle voice, he said, “Tomorrow’s our anniversary. I made reservations at that French restaurant you love. And I got you a present.”

I mumbled something in response.

It was the first time in eight years he’d acknowledged our anniversary.

I used to dream about this.

But now, I felt nothing but disgust for him.

The next morning, before dawn, I left a signed divorce agreement on the table and walked out with my suitcase.

Before boarding my flight, I texted Mark.

[Let’s get divorced.]

Then I blocked him on everything.