Chapter 2 He Won, I Lost

"Do you even have a heart? He's your brother! How could you hit him?" Bianca reprimanded me harshly.

Her words made me laugh in disbelief. I stared coldly at the woman I had loved for ten years and intoned solemnly, "Bianca, if you defend him one more time, then you can get the hell out with him."

It was the first time in her memory that I had ever lost my temper with her. She stared at me in stunned disbelief, frozen between the two of us, unable to react for a long moment.

Eugene covered his bleeding mouth and forced a bitter smile before turning to Bianca with a lingering, sorrowful gaze. "It's okay, Bianca. I just wanted to see you in your wedding dress one last time. You look beautiful. I'll remember you for the rest of my life."

He turned to leave after that. However, Bianca reached out and grabbed his arm. "I'll go with you."

I watched the two of them walk away together, tightening my grip on the bridal veil in my hand as a bitter smile tugged at my lips.

The guests all looked at me with sympathy. I had become the butt of the joke on what should have been the happiest day of my life.

An endless ache gnawed at my heart while the wedding symphony echoed through the valley, transforming into a curse that only amplified my suffering. What should have been a melody celebrating my future happiness battered every part of me until I felt completely shattered.

All I could see was the smug mockery that was badly hidden in Eugene's eyes as he repeatedly glanced back at me as he left.

He had won again.

He had started out as an illegitimate son. Yet, he had stolen our father's favor from me. Now, he had taken my fiancée as well.

I had lost everything to him.

"Poor thing. His brother stole his bride on his wedding day."

"Let's go. There's nothing left to see. This wedding's obviously over."

The guests gradually filed out.

I clutched my chest; the pain was so intense it was almost unbearable.

Then, I smashed the wedding venue to bits.

The place I had personally spent half a month preparing was reduced to ruins. Flowers were trampled into pulp, and even the expensive diamond ring ended up buried beneath the mud under my feet.

Bianca had always dreamed of a wedding in a mountain valley. I had even asked a designer friend to create the perfect venue for her. I personally arranged every single detail just so it would be up to her standards.

Now, it had turned into a blade aimed at my heart, each decoration another slap across my face.

I roared in frustration, destroying everything I had painstakingly built to vent the fury consuming my heart.

Ten years. There were only so many decades a person could have in their lifetime.

The girl who had once smiled at me, who had always run toward me without hesitation, who had promised to hold my hand for the rest of our lives… She had chosen someone else in the end.

She'd blown me off at the altar, telling me she didn't want to marry me.

Then, she turned to the man I detested the most and said, "I'll go with you."

I eventually collapsed onto the grassy hillside, drinking one bottle after another until I was hopelessly drunk.

Somewhere in my haze, a gentle piano melody drifted through the air. I instinctively raised my head and saw a woman in a wedding gown walking toward me from the distance.

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was hallucinating.

She had a warm smile on her lips, just as beautiful as the girl I remembered.

Her movements were elegant and graceful as she bent down to pick up the diamond ring I had stomped into the grass before approaching me. "I do, Jace. I'll spend the rest of my life with you. Let's register our marriage."

I couldn't hold back my torrent of emotions after that. My eyes burned with tears as the overwhelming pain surged through my heart, unheeding of my brain's call to let it go. I said nothing, biting down on my lip to silence the anguished cries that threatened to escape my throat.

Yet, she simply crouched in front of me and wrapped her arms around my battered, humiliated self. There was nothing but compassion in her beautiful eyes as she gently kissed away my tears.

She was like a ray of light… shining into the deepest abyss of my life.

…

When my father called and told me to come home because he had something to discuss, I already had a pretty good idea what it was about. I took some time to compose myself before returning to the house I hated going back to the most.

I saw Bianca the moment I stepped through the front door; the same bride who had abandoned me at the altar was smiling shyly as she nestled comfortably in my dear brother's arms.

My mother sat nearby peeling fruit for them while my father called guests one after another to apologize. "I'm terribly sorry. The wedding has been canceled. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. I'll have that unruly brat personally visit and apologize for his behavior."

The whole family looked warm, harmonious, and happy. I was the only one feeling cold down to my very bones.

Weren't I the one they owed the biggest apology to?

My precious younger brother made a phone call that summoned both my father and stepmother away when the ceremony began. I had looked at them hopefully, silently wishing they would at least stay until the ceremony was over.