At the wedding rehearsal, the emcee smiled and asked Ethan Shaw: “If the bride got lost, where would you go first to find her?” He answered without thinking, “The café.” I was allergic to coffee, and the one who liked drinking coffee was my best friend. The second question was, “Do you remember the bride’s period?” He answered without thinking again, “The seventh of every month.” The seventh was my best friend’s, and my period was on the fifteenth. The third question was, “Please describe your bride in five words.” Ethan Shaw answered without hesitation, “Clingy, beautiful, sexy, great body, amazing in bed.” My best friend, Nina Wells, punched him in the chest. “WTF! Why are you describing me!? Sophie is your wife!” Ethan Shaw and I had never make love before. Seeing my expression change sharply, Ethan Shaw brushed it off without caring. “Don’t take it to heart. Nina and I only had a one-night stand.” He looked at my flat chest and frowned. “But honestly, you really should learn some bedroom skills from your best friend. Sex with her was insanely good.” Ethan Shaw and I had been together for five years, and our official wedding was next week. Watching him and my best friend banter back and forth, I suddenly did not want to marry him anymore.
I lifted the hem of my wedding dress and was just about to leave. Nina Wells grabbed my wrist. “Don’t go. The rehearsal isn’t over yet.” The emcee was Ethan Shaw’s friend, and even he tried to persuade me. “Don’t ruin the mood.” “Let’s continue! Next, we’ll play the wedding VCR the bride and groom recorded in advance!” Nina Wells smiled and pressed the remote control button. The big screen slowly lit up. But the person who appeared on the screen was not me. It was Nina Wells. She wore a white wedding dress and stood by the sea, smiling brightly at the camera. The camera shifted. Ethan Shaw walked over from behind her, skillfully tucked her windblown hair behind her ear, then hugged her. The two of them looked at each other and smiled, so in sync it looked like they had filmed it countless times. As I watched, my eyes slowly began to sting. Ethan Shaw smiled faintly and pulled Nina Wells closer. “I told you this wedding dress looks better on you than it does on Sophie.” Nina Wells punched him again. “Shut up! What are you saying in front of my best friend?” She broke free from his arms and ran over to shake my arm. “Sophie, don’t overthink it! I’ve never worn a wedding dress before, so I was just trying it on!” I looked at Nina Wells’s hand on my arm. On her ring finger was a diamond ring the size of a pigeon egg. That was the ring Ethan Shaw had first used to propose to me. Only later, he had suddenly told me with a hint of apology that there was something wrong with the ring, and he would get me a different one. I never expected this. It turned out my best friend had taken a liking to that ring. How ironic that the ring used to propose to me had ended up on my best friend’s hand. I slowly pulled my hand back. Nina Wells’s eyes immediately reddened. “Sophie, do you not even trust me anymore?” Ethan Shaw finally frowned. “Sophie.” “Everyone is just joking, so don’t be so sensitive.” Nina Wells took out her phone and said, “Sophie, I’ll delete Ethan Shaw right now!” “We’re best friends, and I swear I only wanted to help you keep an eye on him!” “Since you mind, I won’t bother with him anymore, okay?” Nina Wells unlocked her phone and opened her chat history with Ethan Shaw. Their chat history was very long. I had never known that Ethan Shaw could have so much to say. I sent him thirty messages every day, and he only replied to me once. “Oops, where’s the delete button?” I did not know if it was on purpose, but Nina Wells fumbled around in a panic, failed to find the delete button, and instead let me see a lot of their chat history. “Sophie is asking again if the wedding date can be moved up.” “Is she that desperate to get married?” Nina Wells replied to him, “Forgive her. She’s already thirty, unlike me. I’m only twenty-six.” Ethan Shaw sent back a smile. “That’s why I said talking to younger you is easier than talking to her.” My fingertips tightened little by little. Soon, another section of the chat slid into view. It included a photo of me wearing only half of my wedding dress, my upper body still bare. Ethan Shaw said: “Sophie chose a mermaid-style wedding dress.” “She has no ass, so how does she have the nerve to choose a mermaid style?” Nina Wells sent a laughing-crying emoji. “Don’t say that about her.” “But she really isn’t suited for it. Her figure is too lacking.” Ethan Shaw replied: “Yeah, you have a great body. You’d look better in it.” I stood where I was, as if I had suddenly lost my voice. My chest sank little by little, and even breathing came with a dull ache. It turned out every single thing I had taken seriously. Every moment of joy when I looked forward to the wedding. Every bit of happiness I had hidden in my heart. In Ethan Shaw’s eyes, it was nothing more than a private joke for him and Nina Wells. I suddenly felt that there was really no need to get married.
I picked up my clutch and turned to leave. “There’s something at the company. I’m leaving first.” I went to the fitting room, took off the wedding dress, and changed back into my own clothes. When I passed through the front hall again, familiar voices came from inside. Someone inside lowered their voice and urged him. “Ethan Shaw, are you really not going after her? What if she refuses to marry you?” “Sophie looked like she was about to cry just now.” Ethan Shaw was silent for a few seconds, but his tone was very certain. “She won’t.” “Sophie is already thirty. She’s the most desperate to get married.” My heart sank hard. Thirty, desperate to get married… Those two phrases were like a blunt knife, cutting into my chest little by little. The next second, he said again: “But Nina just got teased by you guys so much that her face turned red.” “I need to go comfort her.” His friends started teasing him again. “How are you going to comfort her, in bed?” “You just said Nina was good in bed!” … My heart was already so numb that it could no longer ache. At that moment, my phone vibrated. It was a message from my mother. “Honey, how is the wedding rehearsal going?” “I can’t wait to see you in your wedding dress.” “For this wedding, from the venue to the flowers to the lighting, you confirmed everything bit by bit, and I’m so excited too.” “My daughter is going to marry happiness at her favorite venue!” Favorite? I suddenly remembered that at the very beginning, I had wanted a wedding themed around white lily of the valley. But Ethan Shaw only took one look at it and said: “Nina said lily of the valley is too plain.” “A wedding should be more vibrant.” So the lily of the valley was replaced with the red roses Nina Wells liked. I wanted pale silver lighting. Ethan Shaw said, “Nina said warm tones look better in photos.” I wanted pale pink embossed invitations. Ethan Shaw said, “Let’s listen to Nina. She’s young and has good taste.” Only later did I realize. The wedding I had seriously prepared for nearly a year. Bit by bit, it had been changed into something Nina Wells liked. And I, the bride, had only one thing left on it—my name. I looked at the wedding rehearsal site that had already become unrecognizable and suddenly smiled. Then I sent my mother a message: “Mom, I’m not going to marry Ethan Shaw.”
I sent the news that I was canceling the wedding to the wedding planner. She tried to persuade me for a long time. Seeing that I insisted, she finally sent one sentence. “Ms. Collins, I hope you meet someone who truly cherishes you in the future.” I replied with a “Thank you.” Then I went back to the home Ethan Shaw and I shared. This apartment was bought by Ethan Shaw and me together. The renovations were done by the two of us together. Only, I did not know when it had started. The living room was filled with the diffuser Nina Wells had sent over. The dining table held the mug she liked. Even the recliner on the balcony was something Ethan Shaw bought the next day after she said, “It’s comfortable to sit in.” I stood in the living room. Suddenly, I realized. This place had stopped feeling like my home a long time ago. Just like Ethan Shaw’s heart had long since been occupied by Nina Wells. I only took my documents, passport, and a few pieces of clothing. Halfway through packing, the door lock sounded. Ethan Shaw came back. He was carrying a jewelry bag in his hand, and his tone carried a hint of coaxing. “Babe, don’t be mad.” “This is for you. I remember you like this brand of perfume.” He opened the box, and inside was Tom Ford perfume. I did like this brand. Back then, I had passed by the display window and looked at it for a long time, but I did not buy it because it was too expensive. At the time, Ethan Shaw had held my hand and smiled as he said: “When we get married, I’ll buy you something even better.” Now he really had bought it. But what he bought was a berry rose scent. What I liked was woody fragrance. Nina Wells liked berry rose scents. Ethan Shaw used to remember that. But now. He had even forgotten what I liked. There was only Nina Wells in his heart. Ethan Shaw walked closer and pulled me into his arms. “Can we let what happened today pass?” I lowered my head and looked at that bottle of perfume. I gently closed the box and said without much emotion: “Thank you.” He seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief. “I knew you were the easiest to coax.” After saying that, he turned and went into the study. His backup phone on the side table rang with message notifications. It was a message from Nina Wells. “Did you give her the gift?” Ethan Shaw replied. “Yeah.” “Almost gave the wrong one.” Nina Wells sent a snickering emoji. “Wasn’t that bottle originally bought for me?” After a few seconds. Ethan Shaw replied. “I’ll just buy another bottle.” “She’s older and doesn’t understand this stuff. It’s all the same to her.” I stood where I was. Suddenly, I found it very laughable. It turned out even the gift he used to comfort me. Was a spare item he had casually grabbed. I silently turned off the screen. I gently took off my wedding ring. And placed it together with the perfume on the entryway cabinet. At that exact moment, a notification popped up on my phone. Your booked flight has been ticketed. Three in the morning. Destination, Alaska, United States. This time. I would not look back again.
The next day, when I dragged my suitcase past the study, the door was not fully closed. Ethan Shaw’s low laughter came from inside. Nina Wells was actually there too. She wore a deep V camisole and sat on Ethan Shaw’s lap, as if she had long been used to this kind of closeness. A stack of wedding materials was spread across the desk. “Ethan, I went through the schedule again.” “The photo wall still feels a little empty.” Ethan Shaw raised his eyes. “Where is it empty?” Nina Wells flipped through the design draft, and her fingertip landed on one page. “There are too many photos from your seven years together.” “When you first met, your first trip, New Year’s Eve together… It’s an entire wall.” She laughed softly. “Guests don’t have the patience to look at all that.” Ethan Shaw was silent for a few seconds. “Then delete half of them.” “Just keep a few for the gesture.” My footsteps stopped. That photo wall. I had stayed up for three whole nights picking each photo one by one. Behind every photo, I had written one sentence about its story. Our first time holding hands. Our first time seeing the ocean. Our first birthday together. I thought those were the most precious memories of our seven years. But in his mouth, they were only “keep a few for the gesture.” Nina Wells continued flipping down. “And the vows.” “This line of yours is too ordinary.” She slowly read it aloud. “Thank you for walking with me through seven years, and please keep guiding me through every day from now on.” After reading it, she was the first to laugh. “It sounds like a company year-end speech.” Ethan Shaw also smiled. “I don’t know how to write them.” “You help me change it.” Nina Wells picked up the pen and wrote a few lines on the paper. “Meeting you was luck, staying with you is the answer.” “Isn’t this a little better?” Ethan Shaw lowered his head and glanced at it. “Yeah.” “I’ll listen to you.” I suddenly remembered. Half a month ago. I had handed him the vows I had written. I asked. “Should we write them together?” He did not even look at them. “We just need to read a couple of lines at the wedding.” “There’s no need to be so serious.” It turned out. It was not that the vows were unnecessary. It was just unnecessary to prepare them with me. Nina Wells flipped to the guest seating chart again. “Can the bridesmaids’ and groomsmen’s table be a little closer to the main table?” “I’m afraid I won’t be able to take care of you then.” Ethan Shaw barely hesitated. “Sure, I’ll tell the hotel.” She smiled. “Will Sophie mind?” Ethan Shaw lowered his head and continued changing the document. His voice was flat. “She won’t.” “Sophie has always been sensible.” Nina Wells suddenly lifted her head and kissed the corner of Ethan Shaw’s mouth. “Will she mind if I do this?” Ethan Shaw paused for a long time before saying, “She’s sensible. She won’t mind.” “It’s just that I’m about to marry Sophie, so we can’t do this anymore in the future.” Nina Wells’s eyes were red. “One last time.” I did not keep listening. Dragging my suitcase, I walked step by step toward the door. My phone suddenly vibrated. The wedding planner sent me a message. “Ms. Collins, Mr. Shaw just confirmed the latest plan.” “The photo wall has been reduced, the vows have been rewritten, and the bridesmaid seating has been adjusted.” “Please confirm one final time.” I lowered my head and looked at my phone. Suddenly, I found it somewhat laughable. Every change to the entire wedding. Had been personally confirmed by Ethan Shaw. But the real bride had become the last person to know. The planner quickly sent another message. “Also, the hotel needs final confirmation this morning.” “If you cancel now, there’s still time.” I did not hesitate. I replied with one sentence. “Cancel it.” Immediately after, I sent another sentence. “I will cover all breach-of-contract fees.” The other party was silent for a few seconds. In the end, she only replied with one sentence. “Ms. Collins, I wish you happiness in the future.” I put away my phone. I did not look back. After I boarded the plane, the text notification that the wedding was canceled was finally sent to Ethan Shaw’s phone. He immediately called the wedding planner, his voice sinking. “What happened?” The planner was even more shocked than Ethan Shaw. “The wedding was canceled by Ms. Collins herself. She said she was going to Alaska in the United States for work, and she probably won’t come back in the future.” “Mr. Shaw, you didn’t know?”
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