At the bachelor party hosted for Louis right before our wedding, he drew a punishment from the mystery box game. “List a photo of an opposite-sex guest in this room on a resale app under the second-hand section.” The room fell quiet. Glances flickered back and forth between me, sitting quietly in the corner of the VIP lounge, and Kinsley, his business partner. Louis pulled out his phone and casually snapped a candid profile shot of me sitting in the shadow of the leather couch. “Kinsley’s an influencer and a public brand figure,” he reasoned, his voice smooth and dismissive. “If her photo gets leaked on a resale app, it could damage her career. Just take one for the team, babe.” Kinsley slid her arm through his, playfully snatching the phone right out of his hand. “Thanks, Lou. Reselling is practically my day job—let me post it for you!” Thirty seconds later, every phone in the lounge buzzed with a shared link. “Gently used, cooks, cleans, low-maintenance budget fiancée. $9.99 with free shipping.” Kinsley pressed a delicate hand to her mouth, her eyes wide with exaggerated dismay. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, Kallie! I completely forgot to add the word ‘photo’ to the title!” A chorus of stifled chuckles and outright laughter erupted across the room. I stared dead at Louis. He merely waved his hand, entirely unbothered. “It’s just a dumb party game, Kallie. Kinsley’s just being goofy. Don’t be such a buzzkill, okay?” As he spoke, he reached over to tap the delete button on his phone, but his thumb froze mid-air. A system notification popped up on the screen: “Item purchased by an anonymous buyer. Payment confirmed.” Kinsley giggled softly into her manicured fingers. “Wow, Kallie, you’re quite a hot commodity! Sold out in under a minute.” Louis’s eyebrows knit together as he finally looked at me. “It’s just a system glitch. I’ll refund the buyer and pull down the listing. Stop scowling like that.” “Don’t bother.” I reached down and slowly pulled the engagement ring off my left hand. “Take your ring back,” I said, placing the diamond on the low glass table. “The wedding is off.” … I turned and walked out of the VIP lounge. Louis sprinted after me, his fingers clamping tightly around my wrist at the threshold of the hallway. “Kallie, where the hell do you think you’re going?” I yanked my arm back with everything I had. “I’m not your property. I go wherever I want.” “It was a harmless joke!” His breath was heavy, tinged with expensive scotch. “Do you really have to humiliate me in front of everyone like this?” My throat felt like it was closing up. Seven years ago, I attended the very first party Louis hosted as his official girlfriend. During dinner, one of his wealthy friends made a spiteful joke, implying a quiet girl like me didn’t belong in their circle. Back then, Louis slammed his glass onto the table so hard the champagne spilled. “There’s a line, and you just crossed it!” he had barked at the room. “She’s my girlfriend. Anyone who doesn’t respect her can get the hell out!” Nobody dared utter another word that night. He spent the rest of the evening shielding me from shots, putting food on my plate, and later, sitting on the curb outside, cupping my face in his warm hands while slurring softly, “Don’t be scared… I’ll never let anyone embarrass you again. I swear…” I clung to that promise for seven long years. I genuinely believed I had found the love of my life. And yet here we were, in a hallway smelling of faint stale smoke, with him not even bothering to pretend anymore. “The mystery box was their idea. I admit it went a little too far,” Louis sighed, casting a glance back toward the lounge doors. “Kinsley had too much to drink and lost her filter. I’ll make her apologize to you, okay?” “You were standing right beside her when she typed it.” “I didn’t think she’d write something like that!” “And after she posted it, everyone laughed.” I paused, meeting his gaze head-on. “Including you.” His jaw rigidified. It wasn’t until he noticed the gloss of unshed tears in my eyes that his expression softened, his thumb reaching out to brush a stray tear from my cheek. “Don’t cry. Look, I’m deleting it right now.” Under his thumb, the listing screen refreshed to “Deleted Successfully”. “Are you happy now?” I didn’t take the phone he held out to me. “Take me home.” Louis frowned, casting another quick glance toward the lounge. But looking at my reddened eyes, he finally gave in. “Fine.” His face was a storm of conflicting emotions, but he pressed the elevator button anyway. I retreated to the corner of the metal cab, the fragile string holding my composure together finally snapping. He stepped inside, opening his palm to reveal the diamond ring. “We’ve worked way too hard to get to where we are today. Don’t throw off the ring over something this petty. Kinsley was just drunk and acting stupid.” I stared down at my bare ring finger. “It’s not because of her.” He didn’t reply. Just as the elevator doors began to slide shut, his phone burst into a loud, frantic ringtone. It was Kinsley. “Lou… where are you? I feel so sick… Can you please come back and stay with me?” Her voice trembled through the speaker, punctuated by a wet, muffled gag. Louis went rigid. Just before the doors sealed, he jammed his hand into the sensor gap with a sharp “bang”. The doors shuddered and slid back open. I looked at him. “You said you were taking me home.” “She’s in there by herself, and I organized the party. I’m responsible for her.” “Are you responsible for the party, or responsible for “her”?” “Kallie, please don’t start a fight right now.” The tears I had just managed to wipe away overflowed once more. “I just wanted you to take me home.” He looked away, avoiding my eyes. “Go home first. I’ll come back the second I clean up this mess.” The elevator doors began to close again. He took a fast step backward onto the polished floor of the venue hallway. “Don’t overthink it. She’s really sick.” With that, he turned and jogged back toward the VIP room. I stood alone in the elevator, watching his back disappear around the corner. The doors closed completely. This time, no hand reached out to stop them. The floor indicators ticked down, one by one. I pressed my back against the mirrored wall, desperately trying to hold in the sobs tearing through my chest. But the sudden weightlessness of the dropping elevator made the hollowness in my chest expand until I could barely breathe. Then, my phone vibrated in my hand. A contact profile picture I hadn’t seen in years suddenly popped to the top of my text messages. “Zoe: I saw the listing. Where are you? I’m coming to get you.” …… It wasn’t until I reached the courtyard of our apartment building that I texted her back. Ten minutes later, a sleek dark sedan pulled up to the curb. The driver’s window rolled down. Zoe didn’t look at me; her hands were locked at ten and two on the steering wheel. “Get in.” Throughout our four years of college, Zoe and I had been practically joined at the hip. If it hadn’t been for the capstone defense three years ago, we would still be best friends. The car heater was blowing warm air, but I couldn’t stop shivering. “Nine dollars and ninety-nine cents with free shipping?” Zoe tossed her phone onto the center console. Displayed on the illuminated screen was a crisp screenshot of the resale page. “You really outdid yourself this time, Kallie.” I stared at the image. I wanted to laugh, but tears spilled onto the back of my hand first. “So… the buyer was you?” “Someone dumped the link into the alumni group chat. I was terrified they’d keep turning you into a joke, so I bought it instantly.” Her tone was clipped and offhand, but the knuckles gripping the leather wheel were ghostly white. “Three years ago…” She paused, her voice dropping an octave. “On the day of our capstone defense… did you really think ditching our presentation to help Louis chase after Kinsley was more important than our project?” My head snapped around. “Help Louis? My grandmother was rushed into emergency surgery that morning! I gave Louis our entire presentation folder and asked him to deliver it to you and explain why I couldn’t be there!” Zoe went rigid. She pulled the car over to the shoulder, swiped open her photo gallery, and pulled up an archived screenshot, shoving it toward me. It was a direct message sent from Louis’s account three years ago: “Kinsley had an emergency, so Kallie came with me to the hospital. Forget about the defense.” My vision blurred instantly. Three years ago, he never delivered our project files. He never mentioned my grandmother fighting for her life in the ICU. Instead, he casually forfeited our years of hard work on my behalf—just to cover up his own departure with Kinsley. No wonder Zoe had spent the last three years believing I was a girl so blinded by love that I would throw away my best friend and my career without a second thought. She pulled a tissue from the box on the dashboard and shoved it awkwardly into my hands. “I’m keeping this damn screenshot,” she muttered, her voice tight. “If you ever soften your heart and take that bastard back, I’m going to slap this right across your face.” Silence settled over the warm car. After a long moment, she spoke again. “Oakridge High has an open position in their English department.” She kept her eyes fixed straight ahead. “You turned down their offer back then because you were preparing for the wedding. Do you still want it?” I squeezed the crumpled tissue in my fist until my knuckles hurt. “Yes.” …… Zoe and I stayed up all night talking in her living room. It wasn’t until ten o’clock the next morning that Louis finally sent a text with the address of the wedding venue. “Lou: Come over to try on the gown at ten. Don’t be late.” Zoe dropped me off at the grand entrance of the hotel. She unbuckled her seatbelt, intending to walk in with me, but I shook my head softly. “I’ll go in myself.” “Kallie—” “There are some things I need to finish on my own.” The rehearsal hadn’t started yet. At the far end of the carpeted hallway, the door to the bridal suite was ajar. As I approached, Kinsley’s playful laughter drifted out into the corridor. “Lou, is the veil crooked?” “A little to the left,” his voice replied. Kinsley was sitting in front of the vanity in a crisp white dress, wearing the custom hand-embroidered veil that had been tailored specifically for me. Louis was standing right behind her, leaning down to carefully adjust the hair comb tucked into her soft curls. His movements were slow, gentle, and infinitely patient. I remembered seeing that exact same patience when I applied for my very first teaching interview. I had panicked during the preliminary practice round, forgetting my entire lesson plan, and spent an hour crying in an empty classroom, declaring I wanted to quit. Louis had canceled an important business dinner just to stay up with me until three in the morning, sitting in the back row of that empty room, tracking every time I stumbled over a sentence. The next day, he stood outside the testing center in the freezing cold, holding a flask of warm tea and throat lozenges. “Ms. Sanders,” he had told me, looking into my eyes, “you belong on that stage. Don’t give up on what you love just because you got nervous once.” Later, I truly did become a teacher. And yet, he was the very person who had quietly sabotaged my capstone defense without a second thought. Catching my reflection in the vanity mirror, Louis’s hands froze. “Why are you just getting here?” Kinsley turned around, suddenly realizing how bad the scene looked. She hastily reached up to pull the veil off her head. “Kallie! Please don’t misunderstand! The bridal stylist hadn’t arrived yet, so I was just trying it on for fun—” The comb snagged sharply in her styled hair. She let out a soft gasp of pain, and Louis immediately pressed her hands down. “Don’t yank it,” he scolded softly. He leaned in, untangling the delicate lace from her strands bit by bit, without looking back at me once. I reached into my handbag, pulled out the diamond ring, and placed it quietly on the marble top of the vanity. “Keep the veil on,” I said quietly. “The wedding is canceled.” Louis finally looked up, his brow furrowing instantly. “Are you still hung up on what happened last night?” “It’s in the past.” Not because I forgave him. But because, as far as I was concerned, this entire relationship was in the past. I took out a printed breakdown of the wedding expenses and laid it right beside the ring. “I’ll wire my half of the non-refundable vendor costs to your account later today. You can notify your family and guests. Moving forward, there’s no need for us to contact each other.” Louis’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Kallie, stop making a joke out of a marriage.” “I’m not making a joke.” Kinsley finally freed the comb from her hair, her eyes brimming with tears. “Is this because of me, Kallie? Lou and I have been like brother and sister since we were kids. Please don’t take it the wrong way…” “This has nothing to do with you,” I said coldly. Louis stepped around the vanity, approaching me with a heavy sigh. “I apologized to you. The listing was taken down within minutes. Just because I didn’t walk home with you last night, you’re throwing away our entire wedding?” So, after staying by Kinsley’s side all night, he didn’t even realize that I hadn’t slept at home either. In the past, I would have broken down. I would have screamed, cried, and demanded answers. Now, I just felt a profound, exhausting emptiness. “Yes,” I said smoothly. “I’m calling off the wedding.” Louis’s expression went completely blank for a second, before turning utterly cold. “No. You’re just letting your emotions get the best of you. Go home and calm down. We can push back the rehearsal, but the wedding is happening.” He swept his hand across the table, sliding the ring back toward the edge. He refused to take it, entirely convinced that once my anger blew over, I would put it right back on. I didn’t touch it. I turned around and walked out of the suite. …… When I stepped out of the hotel lobby, Zoe’s car was still idling by the curb. She didn’t ask a single question about what had happened inside; she simply unlocked the passenger door. I slid into the seat, staring out at the glass facade of the hotel for a long moment before speaking. “Can you take me back to the apartment?” The apartment was a cozy two-bedroom unit that Louis and I had rented for two years before finally saving enough to buy and renovate it together. When we were deciding to buy, our combined savings were still short of the down payment. Louis had used his very first dividend check from his new tech startup, along with the proceeds from selling his beloved vintage camera collection, to make up the difference. When the escrow agent asked whose name should be on the title, Louis didn’t even hesitate. He wrote down both of our names. “This isn’t a house I’m buying “for” you,” he had said, pressing his forehead against mine as we signed the papers. “This is “our” home.” Back then, I truly believed that no matter how much hurt or chaos I faced in the outside world, that apartment would always be my sanctuary. Now, wedding albums, custom sample invitations, and half-finished decorative banners were piled high in a corner of the living room. Zoe unfolded a cardboard moving box for me. I knelt in front of the master closet, pulling my clothes off the hangers one by one and packing them away. I was halfway through the closet when the doorbell rang loudly. I thought it was Louis. When I pulled open the door, my parents were standing in the hallway, their faces pale and furious. The moment my mother saw the open suitcases cluttering the hardwood floor, her face turned bright red. “Kallie! What on earth are you doing?! The invitations are already sent out! Calling off the wedding now—do you want both of our families to be the laughingstock of the city?!” My father stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind him. “Put those clothes back right now.” I stood still, holding a sweater in my hands. “Kinsley has a massive social media following, and Louis working with her brings in millions for his firm,” my mother snapped, grabbing my arm. “Once you two are married, isn’t that money going to be spent on you anyway? Every couple has to make sacrifices! Can’t you just swallow a little pride for once?!” The fabric in my hands crumpled under the force of my grip. “Did Louis tell you to come here?” “He’s worried you’re making an impulsive mistake!” He hadn’t come here to respect my decision. He had simply dispatched two diplomats to handle me first. “Why is it always “me” who has to swallow my pride?” The sudden sharpness in my own voice startled even me. “Three years ago, he lied using Kinsley as an excuse, costing me my capstone project and my best friend—and I swallowed it! Now he lists me on a public app like garbage for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, and you’re still standing here telling me to swallow it!” My mother opened her mouth, stunned into silence. My father’s expression darkened into a scowl. “It was an online joke! Nobody was actually selling you! You holding onto this just shows how petty and narrow-minded you are!” Tears burst from my eyes before I could stop them. “I’m your daughter!” My mother looked away first, her eyes flickering with discomfort. “Precisely because you are our daughter, we can’t stand by and watch you destroy such a wonderful marriage over nothing.” The electronic lock on the front door beeped loudly. Louis stepped into the entryway. His eyes swept over the cardboard boxes cluttering the floor, finally coming to rest on my red, tear-streaked face. He walked over in quick, firm strides, stepping directly between my parents and me. “Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, please don’t speak to Kallie like that,” he said, his voice soft and defensive. “Last night was my fault. I handled things poorly and failed to consider her feelings.” My mother’s tense posture softened instantly. “Kallie, look at him! Louis knows he was wrong!” Louis reached down, gently closing the lid of my open suitcase. “Moving forward, outside of essential business meetings, I won’t meet with Kinsley alone anymore,” he said, looking straight into my eyes. “The invitations are out, and relatives are already traveling here from out of state. I made a mistake, but I don’t want everyone we love to suffer humiliation because of my blunder.” He looked at me with deep, pleading eyes. “Give me one more chance, please?” My father immediately chimed in. “Louis, don’t you worry about a thing. She’s going through with this wedding.” My mother reached out, clutching my hand with tearful urgency. “Kallie, I’m begging you… don’t cause a scene and ruin everyone’s peace right at the finish line.” Louis didn’t press me any further. He simply reached into his jacket pocket, took out the velvet ring box, and set it on the box beside me. “You can punish me however you want,” he whispered softly. “I truly want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Everyone in the room was staring at me, waiting for my head to nod. I glanced over at Zoe, standing near the kitchen counter. She met my eyes, giving me a very subtle, almost imperceptible shake of her head. She was silently pleading with me not to back down. But I knew my parents. I knew Louis. They wouldn’t let me leave quietly today. As long as I kept saying “no,” my parents would physically guard that front door, and Louis would show up again and again, dragging out the agony. I didn’t need another screaming match. What I needed was for all of them to believe that I had finally surrendered. Only then would I have the uninterrupted time I needed to handle my job resignation, secure a new apartment, settle the property division, and systematically untangle myself from this life. Slowly, my fingers uncurled from the handle of the suitcase. “Okay.” The tension instantly drained from Louis’s shoulders. I picked up the ring box, though I didn’t put the diamond on my finger. “The wedding goes on.” The moment those words left my mouth, a collective exhale swept through the room. My mother wiped her tears and immediately pulled Louis toward the dining table to discuss the final seating chart. My father sat down on the sofa, opening his news app as if nothing had ever transpired. Louis looked back at me, a warm, triumphant smile returning to his eyes. “I knew it,” he murmured, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind. “I knew you couldn’t throw us away.” I didn’t pull away from his touch, nor did I hug him back. He took my stillness as residual anger, leaning down to whisper softly against my neck, “It’s okay if you don’t want to wear the ring right now. I’ll place it on your finger myself at the altar.” I nodded faintly. …… That evening, my parents left the apartment in high spirits. The moment the front door clicked shut, Louis brought over the final wedding decor binder and laid it open before me. “The florist still hasn’t finalized the backdrop for the welcome area,” he said smoothly. “Kinsley offered to come over and help set it up as a way of apologizing to you.” I flipped to the next page of the binder. “Whatever.” He blinked, caught off guard. “You’re okay with her coming?” “Isn’t the goal to make sure the wedding goes smoothly?” The last trace of anxiety completely vanished from his face. He reached out, affectionately ruffling my hair. “Kallie, I’ve always known you were the most sensible woman in the world.” “Sensible.” It was just another word for someone who had stopped caring entirely. Believing I had finally accepted the situation, Louis threw himself back into the wedding arrangements with renewed enthusiasm. Over the next few days, he and Kinsley were constantly together at the venue. Kinsley sent me draft photos of the floral backdrops, followed by a voice memo: “Kallie, please don’t be mad. Lou has just been turning to me for advice his whole life, and I felt bad turning him down. Once the wedding is over, I’ll definitely keep my distance!” I didn’t even play the voice note a second time. When Louis came home that evening, he was holding a box of the chestnut cake I used to love from a bakery across town. Seeing me sitting at the desk organizing paperwork, he leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Once the wedding is over, I’m taking you on a proper tropical honeymoon,” he murmured. “We’ll turn off our phones and ignore the rest of the world.” I stared at him. Seven years ago, he had said almost those exact same words to me. Back then, he had postponed a trip he promised me because Kinsley needed him to drive her to a regional talent competition. Year after year, that trip was pushed back, never to happen. “Okay,” I said quietly. He never noticed that the documents spread out across the desk weren’t wedding vendor contracts. They were my formal resignation letter, the official employment offer from Oakridge High, and an irrevocable power of attorney granted to my lawyer to liquidate my share of our shared property. Over the next three days, I submitted my resignation and completed the handover at my school. My principal asked me warmly if I was leaving to finally focus on my upcoming marriage. I simply smiled. “No. I’m just ready to start fresh somewhere else.” I turned over my half of the apartment title and the wedding expense receipts to my lawyer, instructing her to handle everything according to the letter of the law. Zoe arranged for a discreet moving company. I took only my personal clothing, legal documents, and the old photo album my grandmother had left me. The custom wedding dress hanging in the spare room, the stacks of glossy invitations, and the boxes of party favors piled high in the living room—I didn’t touch a single one. On my final morning, Louis added me to a group chat for the venue setup, posting a photo. In the picture, Kinsley was standing on a stepladder arranging hanging white wisteria, while Louis stood below, holding the ladder securely with both hands to keep her steady. Below the photo, his text popped up: “Lou: Decor is almost done! Rehearsal is this afternoon, I’ll come pick you up at two.” I typed back a single word: “Okay.” In reality, I was already sitting in the passenger seat of Zoe’s car. As we drove past the luxury hotel hosting the venue, I didn’t cast a single glance at the glass towers. “To the train station,” I told Zoe. The scenery blurred outside the window as the car accelerated, leaving the city behind. Louis was probably still standing at the venue, waiting for me to show up for the rehearsal. What he didn’t realize was that the grand, elaborate wedding he was so excitedly piecing together… Would never have a bride.
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