Chapter 2

I read the text message thrice.

I might not be the brightest, but even I could tell that this woman was taunting me.

Even though I had already guessed why Nathan was late, Lucille Young's text still left me feeling suffocated.

Nathan and I had grown up together. We were childhood sweethearts, practically inseparable. When I was little, I had vowed to marry him and become his wife when I grew up.

I had just started elementary school when I made that declaration. It also made our parents elated.

Nathan had always been close to me, too.

That was until we went to college.

For the first time ever, he brought another woman home—Lucille Young. I realized from their interaction that Nathan's closeness to me wasn't love.

That realization made me panic.

After we graduated from college, I jokingly suggested that we officially get married.

Our parents agreed to the idea, but Nathan did not—he turned me down mercilessly.

For the next eight years, I had asked him to get married dozens of times.

He had only agreed to seven of them—and every one of those seven times, he stood me up.

Every time, Lucille would send me a perfectly-timed text to taunt me.

Just then, my phone buzzed again.

Thinking it was Lucille, I instinctively moved to reject the call, only to see that it was a friend, Julia Hart, calling.

I was apparently invited to a gathering that evening.

Without thinking, I asked Julia whether Nathan was going to be present.

"Don't worry, Yvonne. I know about your relationship with Nathan. I've already talked to him ahead of time—he'll be there!" she said happily.

"Never mind," I replied. "If he's there, I'll give it a miss. Maybe next time."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the line, as if Julia had been startled by what I said.

Everyone knew that I had been wooing Nathan for years.

I had shamelessly given him flowers at our graduation ceremony, did everything I could to get him a good job, and devoted my days to cleaning his house and cooking for him.

Once, at a friend's birthday party, someone said he was lucky to have found someone like me.

However, Nathan scoffed coldly at that. "She's annoying as hell. Who cares about what she does?"

Back then, I didn't care either. I thought he'd eventually change for me.

But now, I cared.

After ending the call, I sent a group message to our mutual friends. "From now on, don't bother inviting me to a gathering if Nathan is going to be there."

Then, I hailed a cab and went back to my rented apartment.

After taking a shower, I started sorting out Nathan's things. I packed them all into a suitcase and called a courier service to send them back to him.

My best friend, Anne Woodward, showed up at the same time as the courier, having heard what was going on.

When she saw the packed suitcase, she blurted out, "Yvonne, are you leaving?"

I laughed and opened the suitcase to show her what was inside. "What are you talking about? These are Nathan's things. I'm sending them back to him."

Anne stood there stunned for a while. After the courier took the suitcase away, she looked at me in disbelief. "Didn't you say you were going to register your marriage with Nathan today? Why the sudden change…"

Halfway through her sentence, she paused.

She knew about all the previous times that Nathan had stood me up, so it didn't take her long to put the pieces together. Practically vibrating with rage, she asked, "Did Nathan ditch you again? No wonder you sent that message to the group! Lucille must be behind him. Come on, let's confront her and get some answers!"