Chapter 2

The day I was discharged, Adrian came to pick me up himself.

He didn’t take me home. He took me to see the wedding venue.

Neither of us said a word the whole way.

The car finally stopped near an estate by the sea.

A long time ago, I’d said offhandedly that if I ever got married, I’d want the wedding by the ocean.

I hadn’t expected him to remember.

Too bad I didn’t want to marry him anymore.

When we arrived, I’d barely followed him into the hall before I froze.

Nina was standing in the middle of the wedding team, a run sheet in her hands, like she’d been waiting for us all along.

Adrian explained,

“Nina studied event planning years ago. She’ll handle the flow of the wedding for you.”

“You two are best friends. Having her plan your wedding should make you happy.”

I looked at Nina, and she was looking at me too. I didn’t miss the flash of provocation in her eyes.

I swallowed the disgust rising in me and let Adrian’s decision stand.

For everything that followed, I offered almost no opinions.

Nina said which song to use for the entrance, and I nodded.

She said how to seat the guests, and I said anything was fine.

It wasn’t until three days before the wedding, when I went for a final walk-through, that I pushed open the doors of the hall and a thick wave of floral scent hit me in the face.

The entire wedding hall was practically buried in flowers.

Before I could even speak, my throat had already started to close.

My chest felt like a hand had clamped around it. My airway squeezed tighter and tighter, and even my fingertips began to go numb.

Adrian was quick to realize something was wrong and caught me.

Nina’s face went white in an instant, and the next second her tears fell.

“I’m sorry, Claire. I really didn’t know.”

“I just wanted to give you the most beautiful wedding. You never even told me you were allergic to pollen!”

She cried so convincingly.

But we’d been to the flower market together before, and I’d broken out in a rash after just a few minutes.

That day, she was the one who took me to the hospital for the medicine.

My face flushed red, and I glared at her.

“You... you’re lying...”

But before I could finish, Adrian pressed my hand back down.

He turned and looked at me, impatience already in his eyes.

“That’s enough.”

“She didn’t do it on purpose.”

My breathing came faster and faster, and the world kept flickering black at the edges.

Adrian only frowned. “If you’d been clear about this sooner, it wouldn’t have blown up like this.”

In that instant, I didn’t even have the strength left to struggle.

The paramedics arrived quickly and lifted me onto a stretcher.

Adrian started to follow.

But Nina cried so hard she could barely stand, and she clung to his sleeve.

In the last second before the ambulance doors shut, I saw him stop where he was.

He held Nina and comforted her in a low voice.

And I lay on the stretcher, my throat sealed shut, able to hear nothing but my own thin, ragged breathing.

In that moment I didn’t cry, and I didn’t make a scene.

I just wished time would move faster.

Faster still.

Fast enough to reach the wedding day.

Fast enough that I could finally vanish from Adrian’s world for good.