Chapter 3

After finally calming her down, Nathaniel, as he always did, leaned in to kiss the corner of Sylvia’s lips.

This time, she pushed him away.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and released her. Then, as if nothing had happened, he reached out with a grin. “By the way, where’s my gift? You promised me something.”

“Wait here,” Sylvia said, heading upstairs.

In her room, she retrieved the wedding invitations they had picked out together and pulled out a pen.

She crossed out the original names of the bride and groom and wrote in her own name alongside Bennett Cooper’s. Then, she carefully placed the altered invitations back into the box and sealed it with tape.

When she came back downstairs, she handed the box to Nathaniel.

“What’s this?” he asked curiously, reaching to open it, but Sylvia stopped him.

“Don’t open it until the first of next month.”

Hearing that date, Nathaniel’s hands froze for a moment. Wasn’t that the day he was supposed to marry Vivian?

“Why?”

“Because the first of next month was supposed to be our big day,” she replied with a smile, sealing the box with tape. “Now that the wedding is postponed, I wanted to give you something special. It’ll be a big surprise.”

“Great, you know I love surprises,” Nathaniel said, tapping her nose playfully before pulling her into his arms.

“Sylvia, you’ve made me so happy today.”

Happy?

The light in Sylvia’s eyes dimmed, fading like the withering roses on the windowsill.

But Nathaniel didn’t notice.

What exactly made him so happy? Probably the thought of proposing to another woman while believing Sylvia was blissfully ignorant.

Later that night, as Nathaniel headed to the shower, Sylvia sat on the couch scrolling through her phone.

By chance, she stumbled upon a post from one of Nathaniel’s friends.

The video in the post showed Nathaniel on one knee, proposing to Vivian.

The caption on the post read: "A love I once envied has finally found its happy ending. Let’s celebrate tonight at the usual spot."

Sylvia froze, her finger hovering over the video, ready to click, when a comment popped up below.

"Are you crazy for posting this? Did you block Sylvia from seeing it?"

The reply came quickly: "Do you think I’m that stupid? Of course, I blocked her."

Sylvia stared at the comments, her lips curling into a cold, mocking smile.

She thought back to when she and Nathaniel had first started dating. He had proudly introduced her to his closest friends.

Back then, they had called her "the future Mrs. Sinclair" with unwavering enthusiasm.

One of them had said, “If Nathaniel ever bullies you, just let me know. I’ll make sure he pays for it!”

Another chimed in, “That’s right, Mrs. Sinclair. Don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on him. He won’t dare mess around behind your back. And if he ever does, we’ll be the first to tell you.”

And yet now?

Every single one of them was helping Nathaniel cover up the fact that he was about to marry someone else.

The post disappeared within seconds, quickly deleted.

Moments later, Nathaniel came rushing out of the bathroom. His hair was still dripping wet, and he looked flustered.

“Sylvia, you—”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her face expressionless as she glanced up at him, pretending not to have seen anything.

Seeing her lack of reaction, Nathaniel breathed a sigh of relief. “Nothing, I just wanted to let you know I’m done showering.”

“Okay.”

Sylvia stood, walked to the doorway, and paused when she heard Nathaniel on the phone with one of his friends.

“Are you out of your mind? Delete that post right now! What if Sylvia saw it? I’ve told you, under no circumstances can she find out about this. Are you trying to ruin everything?”

“It’s already deleted,” the friend replied. “There’s no way she saw it. By the way, shouldn’t you be here by now? Vivian’s already arrived.”