The day before my wedding, I was dropping off a friend at a hotel when I stumbled upon my fiancée and her ex checking into a room together. Just ten minutes earlier, she’d sent me a message: “Honey, waiting for you to pick me up tomorrow and take me home, your wife.” My blood ran cold, but I forced myself to capture the horrifying sight of them kissing on video. The next day, at the wedding, I played the video for everyone to see. The moment the cheating video began to play, the entire venue erupted. Celeste’s brother, Liam, was the first to react, yelling at the event staff. “What the hell is this?! Why would you put this on a wedding screen?!” “You want to disgrace the Zhou family? Your wedding planning company must have a death wish!” “Where’s the manager?! Get me—” But his voice died in his throat, and like the rest of the guests, he froze, staring at the screen. A grim satisfaction settled over me as I watched. “Everyone, consider this the farewell reception for Celeste and me. From this moment on, we have nothing to do with each other. Enjoy the food and drinks.” Celeste, realizing she was the subject of the video, desperately tried to grab me and explain. But I had already tossed the microphone aside and walked out. The moment I stepped out of the hotel, my dad’s call came in. I let my call assistant handle him. When I first told him I was marrying Celeste, he’d been so thrilled he drank heavily for three straight days. He’d gloated to everyone about how I was marrying into a prominent family, how I’d truly ‘made it’. Now that the wedding was off, my dad was the first to object. Back home, my dad kept calling me. The sight of his name infuriated me, so I pulled out my phone’s SIM card. After tossing my wedding suit into the trash, I found a bar to drown my sorrows. My SnapChat, and any other apps connected to Celeste, were already flooded with 99+ notifications. But I’d switched to a new phone. Whatever chaos they were in, I couldn’t see it. The bar owner, Mike, spotted me and came over with a grin, ready to tease. “Why are you alone tonight? Where’s your fiancée?” I glanced over my shoulder, a faint smile on my lips. “She’s coming soon.” The next second, a familiar figure appeared.
Celeste was anxiously pushing through the crowd. She kept checking her phone, slowly making her way towards me. The man who had been secretly observing me from behind moments before rushed to embrace her, but Celeste fought him off fiercely. I couldn’t hear what the man said, but it clearly angered her. She pushed him away with a look of resentment, continuing her search through the crowd. The man watched Celeste from a distance, his expression filled with sorrow and pain. The bar lights flickered, so I couldn’t make out his face, but he seemed oddly familiar. I initially thought he was a friend of Celeste’s, who’d stumbled upon me and was trying to tip her off. But no matter how hard I tried to recall, I couldn’t place him. Until Mike, the bar owner, called out to me. “Leo, your fiancée is calling my phone now.” “But your phone still has battery, I see. What’s wrong? Did you two have a fight?” I looked up, and Mike, assuming I wanted to answer, picked up the call. He even thoughtfully turned up the volume and put it on speaker. As soon as he connected, I heard Celeste shout from the other end. “Hello, honey, I know you’re at the bar. Can you tell me where you are? Please, just give me a chance to explain.” I snatched the phone and hung up. Mike stared, bewildered. “Aren’t you going to find your fiancée? Aren’t you worried about her, being a woman out alone?” I glanced at the man who had approached Celeste; he was already disappearing into the crowd. I whispered, utterly devastated, “She’s not my fiancée. She doesn’t need me.”
It was two or three in the morning when I got back from the bar. Looking up, I saw Celeste crouching by my front door. She always did this when she messed up. “Honey, I couldn’t find you at the bar, and your phone was off.” “How much did you drink? You look like you can barely stand.” “Come on, let’s get you inside and cleaned up.” Celeste greeted me with a look of relief, then acted as if nothing had happened, showering me with concern. I pushed her away. “Get lost! Don’t touch me!” Celeste froze, her eyes welling up with hurt. “Sweetheart, it’s just the wedding company messing with us,” Celeste insisted. “The video, it’s a deepfake. I’ve already hired a lawyer to sue them. I’m sure I can find proof…” “I took the video.” I stared at her coldly. “You were so desperate to kiss before you even got inside, so engrossed, it’s no surprise you didn’t notice me nearby.” Celeste’s face went white, and she stood there, rigid and helpless. My stomach was churning with alcohol, and the slightest irritation sent waves of nausea through me. I pushed Celeste aside, who was blocking my way, and stumbled into the bathroom, clinging to the toilet, retching until tears streamed involuntarily from my eyes. Celeste followed me, standing silently. She handed me tissues, searched for a hangover cure, and cooked some noodles. She took care of me without a word. But every single second, my mind replayed the scene of her and her ex, impatiently kissing before entering the hotel room. Now, seeing her meticulous care, it felt jarring and utterly ridiculous. “Celeste, I don’t want to see you anymore. Get out of my house, now.” Suddenly, the sound of a bowl shattering echoed from the kitchen. She didn’t speak for a long moment. A few moments later, she placed the cooked noodles and hangover medicine in front of me, then quietly cleaned up the broken shards herself. “Leo, you need to calm down. I’ll come back in a few days so we can talk properly.” I leaned back on the couch, my hand weakly covering my eyes. “Get out.”
I slept on the couch all night, arms crossed, the food on the table untouched. Early in the morning, the front door rattled violently. The moment I opened it, my dad burst in, not caring if he bumped into me. “Leo! What the hell were you thinking?! Are you out of your mind?!” “Celeste is from an incredibly wealthy family! Having an ex-boyfriend is normal! Once you’re married, you’ll have everything you could ever want. Are you really going to ruin the wedding over something so trivial?!” “All our relatives and friends were there! Where am I supposed to put my face?!” My dad’s incessant nagging made my head pound. I said weakly, “Dad, didn’t you see the video at the wedding?” “She was checking into a hotel with her ex-boyfriend right before our wedding…” My dad waved his hand dismissively, refusing to listen. “Don’t tell me all that!! Celeste is a fourth-generation heiress; plenty of men would jump at the chance to marry her. This only happened because you couldn’t keep her. If you were capable enough to keep her devoted to you, none of this would have happened. You’re on the verge of rising to the next social tier! You’re just going to call it off? You’re 30, where are you going to find another woman who can help you as much as Celeste?” These words coming from my dad didn’t surprise me at all. He had no bottom line when it came to money, especially when it involved wealthy women. But I couldn’t do it. “Dad, if you love Celeste so much, why don’t you marry her yourself?” My dad’s face turned beet red with fury, and he raised his hand, ready to strike me. I’d drunk too much last night and hadn’t eaten a thing. This provocation made my stomach clench with pain, and I felt something rising. I pushed my dad away and rushed to the toilet, throwing up wildly. My dad’s mouth wouldn’t stop, lecturing me about being inflexible, having irregular eating habits, and drinking too much. But every sentence ended with Celeste. “Celeste is beautiful and well-behaved, from a top-tier family. If you can’t hold onto her, she’ll easily find someone more handsome, more capable, and more understanding than you. Then you’ll have nothing but regrets.” His words echoed through the hallway, piercing my ears. I remembered the sorrowful man from the bar last night. The belated realization hit me like a sledgehammer, pounding against my heart. “You’re a grown man, can’t even clean up after yourself. And why are there drops of blood on the floor?!” “Only Celeste would put up with you. Any other woman would have torn the house down by now.” I slammed the door shut and buried myself under my duvet. I curled up, wrapped tightly in the blanket, and wept silently.
The beginning of my relationship with Celeste wasn’t what my dad described. It wasn’t about me climbing the social ladder, and she just happened to be an unassertive rich girl. We’d been together for ten years. We fell in love during the most frantic period of my life, when my dad was trying to control me the most. In our tenth year, through my own hard work, I managed to buy a house and a car in her city. I teased her, “The house and car are paid off, the dowry’s ready, and I’ve even bought the diamond ring you love most. How long do we have to date before you’ll marry me?” She cupped my face and kissed me, her affection overflowing. After we pulled apart, her eyes sparkled as she looked at me. “This year, let’s get married.” “Leo, do you still want to marry me?” I don’t. I should have said no earlier. Celeste, you said that now, and in the future, only I would have your love. That I was the one who smoothed over your past. That I was the one who brought peace to your life. That I was the one you would walk down the aisle with. So why, when I was closest to happiness, did you cling to your ex-boyfriend? My dad badgered me, alternating between threats and pleas. All of them were about getting me to reconcile with Celeste.
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