Chapter 1

Three months after my wife gave birth, I suddenly gained the ability to see the true owner of every object.

The sofa was mine. The TV was mine. Even the potted plants on the balcony were mine.

Excited, I looked at the baby crib my wife had just bought. There was a bold, floating label on it: "Owner: Xavier Vance."

Who the hell was Xavier Vance? I had never heard that name in my life.

I tried to comfort myself. Maybe it was a secondhand purchase, and the seller on eBay forgot to peel off the label.

But in the days that followed, more and more things belonging to Xavier Vance started showing up in my house.

The luxury perfume my wife brought home, the extra matching toothbrush in the bathroom.

Even the haute couture dress she wore to work every day had a label that read: "Owner: Xavier Vance."

That night, she came back from a business trip and leaned her exhausted head on my shoulder.

"Leo, there's really no place like home."

I stared at her. A massive, glowing label floated over her entire body: "Owner: Xavier Vance."

I gently patted her back. "Let's not keep Xavier Vance's things in this house anymore, okay?"