I was born with the ability to smell others' desires. To avoid those foul scents, I married Alistair, the cleanest man I could find. His scent was like cool pine, and it hadn't changed in three years. Until my birthday. He brought home a girl, claiming she was his long-lost sister. The pine scent on Alistair began to spoil, ferment, growing stronger day by day. Finally, when I pushed open the study door and was assaulted by a sickening, decaying stench that filled the room, I broke. I pulled out the pregnancy test results I'd prepared, calmly handing them to him. "Alistair, let's get a divorce. The child isn't yours." ... I clutched the thin paper, my fingertips icy. Alistair's pine scent, for the first time, was tainted by another fragrance. A sickly sweet gardenia scent subtly entwined with his clean aura. It was the scent of Sera Hadley. I smiled at him, hiding the pregnancy test behind my back. During dinner, I sat beside Alistair, quietly observing Sera across from him. She wore a white dress, looking pure and harmless. She always found the perfect moment to say the most suggestive things in the most innocent tone. "Brother, do you remember? You always used to say when we were little that you'd marry a girl just like me." Alistair's movements paused, then he looked at her gently. "Of course, I remember." My heart sank. The gardenia scent, mixed with the pine, grew denser, almost overpowering the aroma of the food. Sera suddenly gasped, her soup bowl tilting. The scalding broth spilled completely onto the back of her hand. "Ah!" Tears welled in her eyes from the pain, her skin instantly turning red. I was about to get up to grab the burn cream. Alistair had already leaped up like lightning, sweeping Sera into his arms. He didn't even spare me a glance as he rushed upstairs to the bathroom, carrying her. "Don't be scared, Sera, big brother will take care of it right away." His voice was filled with urgency and concern. I stood alone by the messy dining table, looking at the spilled soup and broken crockery, feeling like an outsider. I silently cleaned up the mess, but faintly heard the sound of water from the upstairs bathroom. And Sera's whimpering cries. The sounds were intermittent, ambiguous, making my stomach churn. A long time passed, long enough for me to clean the dining room spotless, before Alistair came downstairs, holding Sera. Her hand was bandaged, and her eyes were red as she leaned against him. "Eleanor, I'm sorry, I've caused trouble again." I ignored her, looking only at Alistair. "Is her injury serious? Should I call the family doctor?" "No need, it's just a minor burn. I've taken care of it." Alistair's tone was flat. I stared into his eyes. "You personally tended to her? In the bathroom?" Alistair's brows furrowed, and the pine scent on him instantly grew several degrees colder. "Eleanor James, what are you implying?" "She's my sister. She burned her hand. I helped her rinse it and apply medicine. Is there a problem?" "Can you not be so dirty-minded?" His words left me speechless. Yes, they were siblings. What exactly was I suspecting? But the intermingled scents, the ambiguous sounds of water, left me deeply unsettled. In the middle of the night, a nightmare woke me. Feeling the cold sheets beside me, I abruptly got up and walked to the guest room door. The guest room door was ajar. I pushed it open. Sera, wearing my pajamas, was curled up like a cat in Alistair's arms. My husband, who should have been sleeping beside me, was gently holding her, stroking her back. Hearing the movement, Alistair slowly opened his eyes. Seeing me at the door, he showed no panic; instead, he frowned. "Why are you here?" His voice carried a hint of reproach. I pointed at Sera in his arms, my voice trembling. "Shouldn't you explain yourself first?" "Why is she wearing my pajamas, sleeping in my husband's arms?" Alistair sighed, his tone full of helplessness. "Sera had a nightmare tonight. I just came to comfort her." "Eleanor, can't you be a little kinder, show some understanding for a young girl like her?" "Be a little kinder" again. I almost didn't recognize those words anymore! I closed my eyes, trying to calm my breathing. "Make her move out!" "I'll find her the best apartment, hire the best nanny." Alistair's face instantly turned cold. "Impossible!" "This is Sera's home too. She's not going anywhere." After saying that, he didn't look at me again, re-closed his eyes, and hugged Sera in his arms even tighter. I stood at the doorway like an idiot, watching their intimate posture, feeling like I was suffocating. Back in the bedroom, I lay awake all night. It wasn't until three in the morning that I was startled awake by a strange scent. I abruptly opened my eyes and saw a shadowy figure standing by my bed, silently staring at me. It was Sera. She was still wearing my pajamas, her long hair loose, looking ghostly in the dark. My heart pounded with fright. "What do you want?" She slowly bent down, leaned close to my ear, and whispered in a voice only we two could hear. "He was always mine." "You're the outsider." With that, she straightened up, turned around, and calmly left my bedroom. I was cold all over, unable to sleep anymore. The next morning, when I used my face wash, my face suddenly stung. I quickly rinsed off the foam; my face in the mirror was already largely red and covered in tiny rashes. I picked up the bottle of face wash and sniffed it. Besides its original scent, there was a faint, irritating odor. My skincare products were all specially customized for my skin type; allergic ingredients were impossible. It had been swapped. I took the face wash downstairs and found Alistair eating breakfast. "Alistair, look at my face!" He looked up at my red and swollen face, his frown deepening. "What happened?" "It's Sera! She swapped my face wash!" Alistair put down his knife and fork, took the bottle from my hand, and looked at it. "Isn't this the brand you usually use?" "Eleanor James, are you becoming paranoid?" He put the bottle back on the table, a hint of impatience in his voice. "Maybe you just accidentally bought the wrong batch. Don't blame everything on Sera." Looking at this man who sided completely with someone else, confronting me, my thoughts drifted back to the past. Three years ago, I was an unknown perfumer. Alistair was a judge at that international perfume competition. He admired my talent; I fell in love with his purity. For him, I cut off all ties with my previous boyfriends. On our wedding night, he held me, and his pine scent was clearly intertwined with desire for me. I thought I had finally found the man I could entrust my life to. I thought our marriage, like his scent, would always remain pure. But a month ago, when Alistair excitedly told me he had found his long-lost sister, everything changed. Remembering Sera's declaration last night, were they truly siblings? I stopped confronting them, put the matter aside, and went back to my room. I opened my laptop and, for the first time, clicked on Sera's social media account. I scrolled back to three years ago. A photo popped up. It was a picture of her and a friend, the background being the venue of the perfume competition where Alistair and I first met. The caption read, "Met someone I really wanted to see, happy." My heart sank little by little. I continued scrolling back and found that she had been following Alistair's various activities for a long time. Every public event he attended, every post he made, she had liked. Even in the photos, the way she looked at him was filled with undisguised infatuation. This was not the look of a sister gazing at her brother. I closed the laptop, picked up my phone, and made a call. "Help me investigate Sera Hadley, and that paternity test between her and Alistair. I need to know the truth." After hanging up, I felt all my strength drain away. Our wedding anniversary trip, originally scheduled for next week, was canceled. "Sera just arrived at our home. She'll be scared alone. Let's go next year." I didn't argue with him. It was useless to argue. Now, in his heart, Sera's priority was always above mine. In the evening, I saw him return with a luxury brand bag. He casually placed the bag in the entryway, and Sera immediately rushed over like a little bird. "Wow! Brother, is this for me?" She pulled out a necklace from the bag, the pendant a uniquely designed star. It was a style I had casually mentioned I liked when shopping last month. At the time, Alistair had said it was too childish, not suitable for me. Now, this necklace was around Sera's neck. She ran to Alistair, stood on her tiptoes, and tilted her head for him to see. "Brother, does it look good?" "Beautiful." Alistair's eyes held a tenderness I had never seen before. My heart felt like it was pricked by needles, an intense, throbbing pain. During the weekend family dinner, my in-laws were also present. At the table, Sera smiled sweetly, constantly serving the elderly couple food, her words dripping with honey. She deliberately brought up Alistair's embarrassing childhood stories, describing them vividly, as if she had witnessed them firsthand. "Brother used to be so mischievous when he was little. Once he even broke the neighbor's window, and I was the one who apologized for him." I put down my chopsticks, looking at her coldly. "Didn't you say you were separated for many years and only recently reunited?" "How would you know about his childhood?" The atmosphere at the table instantly froze. Sera's face paled for a moment, then she tearfully reddened. "Eleanor, I... I just heard it from others."
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