Canceled at the Altar for the 100th Time

I put Ivan Gerber's phone back exactly where I'd found it and pretended nothing had happened.

Three days later, we were at the altar for the hundredth attempt at our wedding.

Just as we were exchanging rings, the doors to the hall were suddenly thrown open.

Kaia Siegel stood in the doorway, holding up a marriage certificate.

"Olivia Hansley, Ivan and I are already married," she said. "Do you really enjoy being the other woman that much?"

The accusation landed like a guillotine, and the guests erupted into a frenzy.

"I can't believe Olivia is that kind of person. She looks so respectable, she's beautiful, and she's highly educated."

"You don't know people at all. Sometimes the ones who look the most proper are the wildest behind closed doors. Look at her—she's practically throwing herself at someone else's husband."

Kaia walked slowly toward the altar and took the microphone from the officiant.

"Olivia, don't you have any shame? If you're that desperate for a man, why don't you go work the streets instead of trying to steal someone else's husband?"

Whispers spread through the crowd, and my ears began ringing.

I opened my mouth to explain, but before I could say a word, Mom stormed onto the stage and slapped me across the face.

"Olivia, is this how I raised you? How am I supposed to face your father now?"

Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth, and I tasted iron.

I stood there in shock, completely at a loss. I looked at Ivan, silently hoping he'd explain the truth.

Instead, he delivered the final blow.

"Olivia, I honestly never thought you'd ask me to help you with something like this…"

A flicker of satisfaction crossed Mom's face beneath her tears.

I looked at Ivan and Kaia embracing each other, and only then did I finally understand. So this was how they'd planned to ruin the hundredth wedding.

The carefully arranged ceremony ended in a complete spectacle.

Once the guests had gone, I changed out of my heavy wedding dress and went home.

I sat on the living-room floor for a long time, trying to make sense of everything, until Mom returned with Ivan and Kaia.

I watched Ivan gently remove Kaia's scarf and coat, his every movement careful and tender. The affection in his eyes was impossible to miss.

Mom walked straight past me into the kitchen, poured Kaia a glass of warm water, and brought it over.

"Kaia, have some warm water first," she said. "It'll warm you up. I'll make you your favorite ginger ale in a minute."

She gently patted Kaia's head. "You must be exhausted after such a long day. Go sit on the couch and rest."

Only when Mom gestured toward the couch did they finally notice me sitting on the floor.

Ivan's expression changed immediately. He hurried over without even taking off his shoes and scooped me into his arms.

"Your feet must be freezing. How could you sit on the floor like this?" he chided. "You need to take better care of yourself."

He frowned as he rubbed my feet between his hands, just as he'd done countless times before. He treated me as though I were still the most precious thing in his world.

Just then, Mom came out of the kitchen with the ginger ale.

"Here. One for each of you. It'll warm you up."

Ivan scooped some up with a spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and held it to my lips.

"You've had a rough day. Drink some and warm up."

I looked at Ivan through the steam rising from the drink.

"Did you forget that I hate ginger?"

Tension hung thick in the air.

"Sorry, Olivia," he finally said, lowering the spoon into the glass. "Too much happened today. I wasn't thinking straight."

Just like his heart, his mind could only make room for one person. When all his thoughts were occupied by one person, of course someone else would be forgotten.

Unfortunately, that someone was me.

"Fine. If you don't like ginger, you don't have to drink it," Mom said, stepping in to smooth things over.

"Kaia just came back from abroad," Ivan quickly explained. "What she did today was a punishment for losing a game.

"Don't be angry. We can talk about the wedding later."

"You think that excuse is enough to justify her destroying my reputation?"

That made Mom lose it.

"If you care so much about your reputation, then why did you sleep with another woman's husband?" she demanded, shooting to her feet. "Your reputation is ruined because you were in the wrong first. Do you really think the person you hurt isn't allowed to expose what you did?"

"I already told you I'm not the other woman!" I screamed.

I'd been forced to spend the entire day being branded a homewrecker, and the weight of it had been eating away at me.

Now Mom was rubbing salt in the wound. I finally snapped.

"What happened to you?" Mom said coldly, looking at me with disappointment. "You used to be such a sweet, well-behaved child. Now you've done something wrong, and instead of apologizing, you refuse to admit it and keep lying. What do you think your father would say if he could see you now?"

The whole ordeal ended when I signed a written agreement promising never to pursue the matter further.

A satisfied smile spread across Kaia's face.

Then I picked up my phone and accepted my professor's offer to spend a year studying in Valenne.