Bruce ran out on our wedding—again—for his childhood friend, Claire. It was the seventh time. Grandpa Sterling handed me ten million dollars as an apology. But Bruce just sneered, “Grandpa, she’s not worth that much. You should invest that money in Claire’s gallery instead.” Grandpa Sterling looked at me, an awkward apology in his eyes. I wasn’t angry, though. Not one bit. I’d accepted that kind of compensation six times already. This time, I wanted something new. I pointed to Kevin, Bruce’s half-brother, the one Bruce hated most. “Give him to me instead. I’ll marry him!” Bruce probably forgot. Only the man married to me has the right to become the heir of the Sterling Group. Everyone was stunned, seeing I wasn’t joking. After all, this wasn’t Bruce’s first time ditching the wedding. Before, headlines screaming “Heiress Abandons Groom at Altar” had swept the trending topics, making my family, the Chengs, a laughingstock for half a year. Even then, I never suggested calling off the engagement. Grandpa Sterling rushed to soothe me. “Bruce is just confused right now. Please, just wait a little longer…” He called Bruce again. But before he could say much, Bruce cut him off. “Come on, Grandpa, stop trying to trick me. Aurora wouldn’t say she won’t marry me, no matter how angry she gets. Besides, I’m not breaking up with her. I’m just taking Claire out to relax, then I’ll be back.” Claire’s sugary voice chirped from nearby. “Bruce, I’m just helping you test her! If she’s willing to marry you after being ditched so many times, *that* will prove her love for you is real!” Listening to their blatant flirting, I forced a smile. “Are you really that confident I’ll wait forever?” Bruce seemed surprised to hear my voice. His tone faltered. When he spoke again, his voice softened. “Aurora, you know how Claire is. She’s always depended on me since childhood. She just can’t accept me getting married right now. Can we postpone the wedding again? Please? Once I’ve smoothed things over with her, we’ll reschedule.” Postponed six times. Wasn’t that enough? When Claire found out about Bruce and me, she immediately flew back and caused a huge scene. Bruce, stone-faced, told me right to my face that he only saw her as a sister. But later, for this “sister,” he turned me into the laughingstock of the entire city. Grandpa Sterling was furious. “The wedding starts in three hours! I’ve booked your flight; get your butt back here now! There are so many reporters outside, waiting for a show. Have you even considered Aurora’s situation?!” “I…” Bruce’s voice held obvious hesitation. My heart involuntarily trembled. But the next second, Claire clung to him, whining. “Bruce, the movie tickets are already bought! If you leave, I’ll just have some other guy watch it with me. After all, so many guys are chasing me!” “No way!” Bruce’s voice was laced with an angry impatience. When he spoke to me again, his words were full of helplessness. “Aurora, I really can’t get away right now. You’ve handled this kind of thing many times before, it’s nothing you can’t manage.” He said it so casually, as if the humiliation and mockery I suffered in front of the cameras were trivial, insignificant matters. A suffocating, dull ache pulsed in my chest, and I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh. “Whatever.” Whether he came back or not, it no longer mattered. In his rush to be with Claire, Bruce didn’t catch the shift in my mood. “Good girl, don’t be mad. I even brought you a gift.” A photo popped up on my phone. A necklace, dangling from his fingers. Another one Claire had worn. My place, it seemed, had become her trash bin. I remembered the first gift Bruce ever gave me: a red ladies’ watch. Even though red was my least favorite color, I treasured it because it came from him. Until one day, I took it for repair and, through its serial number, discovered its previous owner was Claire. When I confronted him, Bruce showed no hint of guilt. “I’m terrible at picking gifts. Claire just helped me out. Don’t be so petty.” He claimed he couldn’t pick gifts, but everyone in the city knew. Every year on Claire’s birthday, Bruce would reserve the most expensive viewpoint, setting off magnificent fireworks visible across the entire city just for her. Jewelry typically found only in auction houses would flow like water before Claire, for her to pick and choose. The effort he put into me was less than one ten-thousandth of what he spent on Claire. Even now, he couldn’t be bothered to buy something new just to placate me. Claire, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm in my voice, giggled. “Bruce’s gift to you? I picked it out, you know. Do you like it?”
Claire smiled triumphantly, urging Bruce to hang up. Grandpa Sterling looked ashamed. He couldn’t bring himself to persuade me to keep waiting for Bruce to come around. “Are you sure you want Kevin? His background…” I cut him off, looking directly into the intense, unspoken depths of Kevin’s eyes. Taking a deep breath. “I choose him.” My mom once mentioned she’d seen Kevin at an exclusive private auction. This illegitimate son was far more complex than Grandpa Sterling imagined. Love and leverage. I had to secure at least one. A new groom’s suit needed to be made, so Kevin and my wedding was set for a week later. Grandpa Sterling looked at me with complex emotions, letting out a long sigh. “On your wedding day, I’ll announce the change of the Sterling family heir.” With a new groom, other things naturally needed changing too. When I went to the jewelry store to pick new wedding rings, I unexpectedly ran into Bruce and Claire, who had just returned. Our eyes met, and the expression on Bruce’s face grew cold. “Aurora Cheng, you’ve really got guts. You actually managed to convince Grandpa to cut off my cards.” “I hate being forced to do things. Don’t think that just because I’m back, I’ll marry you.” A flicker of annoyance crossed his eyes. “Did you intentionally track my movements and come here to corner me?” Claire nudged him, pouting playfully. “She’s completely infatuated with you, Bruce! What kind of attitude is that?!” Claire, making no effort to hide their closeness, linked her arm through his and smirked at me, raising an eyebrow. “He’s just like that, don’t take it personally. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to train Bruce well before I hand him over to you.” Bruce allowed her to cling tightly to him, his expression full of indulgence. But in the past, when I walked with him, if I so much as tried to hold his hand, he would subtly pull away. “So many people watching. It feels… uncomfortable.” It turns out, he was only uncomfortable with *my* closeness. I took a deep breath, pushing down the swirling emotions in my chest. “Don’t worry, I won’t force you to marry me.” Bruce froze, a frown just starting to form, when the sales assistant walked over. “Miss Cheng, the wedding rings you selected are all wrapped up.” Bruce scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve already picked out wedding rings, and you’re still saying you don’t want to marry me?” He grabbed my hand. “Put it on. Let me see if it fits.” His voice suddenly stopped. His gaze fell on the faint ring mark still visible on my finger. His voice caught. “Where’s the ring I gave you before?” “Threw it away.” My tone was flat. The day I decided to cancel the wedding, I tossed it. It was the first gift Bruce ever gave me, with our initials engraved on the inside. He, usually so rebellious, had a rare blush on his ears as he fiercely pressed it into my hand. “I carved it myself. If you lose it, I’ll never forgive you.” But later, he was the one who lost it first. When I found his shattered ring in the trash, Bruce awkwardly rubbed his nose. “Claire was drunk and insisted on taking it off to look. I don’t know how it ended up like that. Just toss it. I’ll get a new one made.” But I waited and waited, and he never got a new one made.
Bruce frowned deeply, his gaze resting irritably on my empty hand. “Can you stop with the drama? I said I’d marry you, and I will. There’s no need for these little games.” Claire tugged at his sleeve, pouting childishly. “Bruce, this is the newest limited edition! I tried so hard to get my hands on one!” Bruce’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and he handed the ring box to her. “Then why don’t you try it on?” Claire’s eyes lit up, and she moved to open it and put it on. I grabbed Claire’s wrist, my voice already cold. “Has no one ever told you not to touch other people’s things?” I hadn’t even used much force, but Claire suddenly cried out in pain, her eyes welling up. Bruce panicked, pushing me away with a shove. My lower back slammed into a sharp table corner, the searing pain making my vision black out for a second. Claire, eyes red, accused me. “I just wanted to look! Why did you use so much force?” Bruce’s face was filled with concern. He roared at me. “She’s crying in pain! Aurora Cheng, aren’t you going too far?!” He completely failed to notice my pale face, a result of the intense pain. It was always like this. As long as Claire frowned, or shed a single tear. He would always, unequivocally, stand by her side. Pushing down the bitterness in my heart, I reached out. “That’s my wedding ring. Give it back!” Bruce’s face was grim. He shoved the ring box into Claire’s hand. “This style isn’t suitable for a wedding ring. Pick another one.” “Unsuitable”? What a joke. It was just another excuse to make me give in to Claire. And besides, I wasn’t marrying him. Why should his opinion on what was suitable matter? Just as I was about to tell Bruce about the change in the marriage arrangement, he scooped Claire up, impatiently cutting me off. “I don’t want to hear your excuses! If you keep targeting Claire, I’ll have to seriously reconsider our relationship.” Watching his determined back as he walked away, I let out a self-deprecating laugh. Bruce, there’s no need. I’ve already made the decision for you. During the wedding preparations, rumors of Bruce and Claire traveling together were everywhere. Everyone was curious about my reaction. In our social circle, people had already placed bets, confident I would marry Bruce no matter how many times he left me. I heard that when Claire found out about the Sterling and Cheng families rescheduling the wedding, she bet all her savings, expecting to make a fortune. But this time, I feared she would lose everything. On the wedding day, I had just woken up when Bethany, my assistant, called in a panic. “Miss Cheng, it’s terrible! Bruce brought people to dismantle the wedding venue!” He could run out on our wedding, but he wouldn’t let me marry someone else? Suppressing my anger, I rushed to the hotel. Bruce was directing people to remove the flower archways. Before I could even speak, he launched into a furious interrogation. “Didn’t I say we weren’t getting married yet? What are you doing? Forcing a wedding like this? Claire was really upset about the ring incident last time. Until she gives her approval, this wedding isn’t happening.” I blocked a worker who was about to leave, my voice turning icy. “Put those things back.” Bruce’s face darkened. “Who dares?! Don’t forget, I’m the Sterling family heir! Even if she marries in, she’ll have to answer to me.” Heir? Ha. Bruce, you won’t be for long. Just as I was about to call the Sterling family to have them remove Bruce, Claire burst through the door, wearing a wedding dress. She twirled around, holding up the hem of her skirt, and whined to Bruce. “I just said it looked pretty, and you insisted I try it on. Now I have. If you dare say I look ugly, I’ll never forgive you!” Then, as if just noticing me, she said, surprised, “Aurora Cheng, what are you doing here?” I actually heard a hint of accusation in her voice. I scoffed. “Do I need to notify you to come to my own wedding venue? Are you going to take that dress off yourself, or should I get someone to help you?” Bruce’s face darkened. He pulled Claire behind him. “Aurora Cheng, don’t you dare go too far!” He destroyed my wedding venue, and she walked off with a wedding dress that took two years to make. And *I* was the one going too far? I looked at the security guards by the door and ordered directly. “Get them both out of here!” Bruce roughly grabbed my wrist, his eyes flaring with rage. “You haven’t even married into the family yet, and you’re already acting like a queen?” He violently waved his hand. “Take everything here, dismantle it, and burn it! Let her learn her lesson!” As an apology, the Sterling family had volunteered their staff to manage the wedding venue. These people didn’t know about the heir change and quickly moved to obey Bruce’s command. Seeing a worker carry a portrait out of the room, I shot up. “Put that painting down!”
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