Chapter 2

After sending the message, I paid the bill and took a cab home alone.

Levi didn't return until four in the morning.

When he saw me curled up on the couch, he glanced in my direction before turning his attention back to his phone.

"You looked pale during dinner. Are your stomach cramps acting up again?"

His unexpected concern caught me off guard. For a moment, the anger I'd been holding on to softened, and I remembered a time when I had never doubted how much he cared about me.

When I first moved to Skyonaiburg to be with him, the sudden change in environment had left me suffering from severe stomach cramps.

During one particularly bad episode, I'd been admitted to the hospital. Levi had set up a makeshift workstation beside my bed, working on his laptop while keeping an eye on my IV drip.

But as the years passed, I grew increasingly reluctant to interrupt his work. Whenever the pain flared up, I began slipping away to the hospital on my own.

"Levi, about getting our marriage license..." I said, staring at him.

"Emilie, there's a limit to how far you can take this jealousy," he interrupted, his brow furrowing with familiar impatience.

"If you're trying to force me to rush to City Hall just because Lucy and I have a fake marriage certificate, then you're letting pointless emotional drama take over your life."

Before I could explain myself, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, then walked into the bedroom to answer it.

Through the partially open door, I heard Lucy's anxious voice. "Levi, the promotion review committee is meeting tomorrow, and all the top executives will be there. I'm so nervous."

His tone changed almost instantly. "Don't worry. I'll stay on the phone with you and go over your presentation one more time."

As I stood outside the bedroom, the words I'd been about to say suddenly seemed pointless. Then the bedroom door closed, cutting off the conversation.

The last flicker of hope I'd been holding on to finally went out. I could no longer convince myself that he was simply too busy to make time for me.

...

The following evening, just as I was leaving work, my phone rang with a call from Lucy.

"Emilie! My promotion presentation went amazingly today!" she exclaimed. "As a reward, I managed to get Levi to buy me a new designer dress. He said we might as well take care of those things while we're out."

I frowned, unsure what she meant. "What things?"

Levi's dry chuckle came through the phone. "Aren't you in such a hurry to get married? We need to order a wedding dress eventually."

I stared at the screen, struggling to believe what I'd just heard. "So, you're going to help me choose a wedding dress because you happen to be out shopping with Lucy?"

"Batching similar errands together is the most efficient way to get things done," he replied smoothly, as though the logic were self-evident.

A bitter taste rose in my mouth. "So, to you, getting married and taking Lucy shopping are just two errands to check off the same list?"

"Stop obsessing over useless details," he said dismissively.

Not long afterward, he drove over to pick me up. However, by the time he'd finished paying for Lucy's new dress, I was already questioning why I'd agreed to go along at all.

When we finally stepped into the bridal boutique, the excitement I'd once associated with wedding preparations had completely disappeared. All I felt was exhaustion.

"Forget it," I said, turning toward the exit.

Lucy immediately caught my arm and pulled me back. "Oh, come on! Don't leave. I want to try on some dresses, too."

She picked out three elaborate gowns and disappeared into the fitting room.

Reluctantly, I chose one for myself and began changing, still clinging to the faint, foolish hope that had somehow survived everything.

I kept thinking about the day we graduated from college, when Levi had dropped to one knee in the middle of the campus quad and begged me to marry him.

But when I finally stepped out of the fitting room, Levi was busy holding up his phone and taking pictures at Lucy's direction.

One dress became two, then three. Two hours passed, and he took more than 300 photos of her without showing the slightest sign of impatience.

For a man who claimed to value every second, he seemed to have an endless supply of time when it came to Lucy.

By the time he finally turned around and noticed me standing there, I had already lost what little enthusiasm I'd managed to muster. And I had already changed back into my own clothes.

"Why haven't you changed into a dress yet?" he asked.

I shook my head. "It's not like I'm going to need one anytime soon."

He frowned, clearly irritated that I was making things difficult.

"Look, I don't have time to waste coming back here a second time."

Before I could answer, Lucy hugged one of the wedding dresses to her chest and looked at me with wide, pleading eyes. "Emilie, can I wear a real wedding dress instead of an ordinary bridesmaid dress?"

He walked straight to the register and paid for it.

I watched them for a moment before answering in a flat voice, "Whatever you like."

When we were on the drive back, My mom, Natalya, called me.

She had boarded a train alone from our small hometown and traveled hundreds of miles to see me. Once she'd heard that I wanted to cancel the wedding, she'd panicked and decided to come speak to Levi in person.

"My mom is at the train station," I said, looking up at Levi. "Can we swing by and pick her up?"

Natalya wasn't familiar with the city, and I worried that a taxi driver might take advantage of her by driving around unnecessarily and charging her extra.

Levi slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the curb.

"We agreed to keep our parents out of our personal lives," he said sternly. "Dealing with the older generation is too complicated, and most of it is just a waste of time and energy."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he had already unlocked the doors.

"Go by yourself."

I stared at him, momentarily unable to speak.

Natalya had traveled hundreds of miles because she was worried about me, yet he couldn't spare a few minutes to help me pick her up.

The realization hurt more than I expected, but I stepped out of the car without a word.

Although the summer heat still hung heavily in the air, a chill settled deep in my bones. Through the partially lowered passenger window, I heard Lucy turn to comfort him.

"Emilie's always been high-maintenance. You just have to be patient with her. Hey, I heard late-night snacks can fix a bad mood. Want to go?"

The irritation vanished from Levi's voice as quickly as it had appeared.

"If you're craving late-night food, all you have to do is say so."

The car pulled away, leaving me alone on the curb.

I watched it disappear into the distance before pulling out my phone and arranging a ride to the train station. After we reunited, I booked a hotel room for her.

I went home to fetch some clothes, then headed to the hotel with her.

That night, as I lay beside Natalya in the hotel bed, the emotions I'd been suppressing all day finally broke through.

The tears came before I could stop them, and once they started, I couldn't hold them back. Natalya gently patted my back. She didn't press me for explanations or tell me to be more understanding.

Instead, she waited until I had calmed down before asking in a soft, cautious voice, "Sweetheart, do you want to come back home?"