Chapter 5

Joseph's POV

Whitney gave a half-hearted explanation. "You know how younger guys are. They see trends on social media and just want to hop on the bandwagon."

I remembered how I had once begged her to do a wedding photoshoot with me, only for her to tell me the internet had brainwashed me. She had said a tuxedo was just a piece of clothing and that I was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Yet here she was, willing to set aside time to help Kaiden pick out a tuxedo.

I didn't bother arguing with her anymore and turned to leave.

But Kaiden quickly stepped forward and grabbed my wrist.

"Joseph, everything Ms. Pearson said is true. If you're still mad, just hit me!"

Before I could even react, he let himself fall sideways and crumpled to the floor with a sharp gasp.

"Ah!"

He pressed a hand to his ankle, his face turning pale—the perfect picture of someone in real pain.

"Whitney, I think I sprained my ankle. It hurts so bad."

The moment Whitney saw it, she immediately shoved me aside. She rushed over to support him, glaring up at me with absolute fury.

"Joseph Gibson, you've gone way too far!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she helped Kaiden up and walked him out of the store.

Watching her hurried departure, I found the whole thing absurd.

This wasn't the first time Kaiden had pulled a stunt like this to frame me. In the past, I used to think Whitney was just being manipulated, but now I realized she wasn't blind to his antics at all—she chose to be.

I had never truly mattered to her. That was why she always blindly took Kaiden's side without ever asking for my version of the story.

When I got back to my temporary apartment, my phone was buzzing incessantly with texts, all coming from Whitney's work number.

"Joseph, get over to the hospital right now and apologize to Kaiden, or I'm postponing our wedding indefinitely.

"Even if your dad doesn't pull through this time, I won't cave again!"

Text after text, every single word reeked of her selfishness and arrogance.

She had even dragged my dad into it, throwing his impending death in my face. Sick to my stomach with rage, I blocked and deleted her work number too, without a second thought.

With that done, I logged into the company's HR portal and officially submitted my resignation.

The moment the email went through, every last shadow hanging over my heart vanished completely.

…

Whitney's POV

Just as I sent off the string of texts with a dark look on my face, Kaiden spoke up in a weak voice. "Whitney, is Joseph really mad at me? It's all my fault. If I hadn't been so clumsy, none of this would have happened."

"It's not your fault. Joseph is just throwing a temper tantrum. Don't worry, I'll get you the apology you deserve," I reassured him, my tone leaving no room for doubt.

In the past, whenever I threatened to postpone the wedding, Joseph would always swallow his pride and come crawling back to apologize. I was completely confident this time would be no different.

But early the next morning, I received a call from HR.

"Ms. Pearson, Mr. Gibson has submitted his formal resignation. His decision is final, and we couldn't convince him to stay."

The news hit me out of nowhere, and I felt my blood boil. Incensed, I drove straight to our apartment.

But when I opened the door, I found that every single trace of Joseph was gone.

I pulled out my phone to text him with my work number, only to find that he had blocked it too.

An unfamiliar panic began to gnaw at me.

That dread reached a fever pitch the moment I caught sight of a pristine white wedding invitation resting on the table.

Printed clearly in the space for the groom was Joseph's name. But in the space for the bride, the name wasn't mine.

In an instant, the color drained from my face, leaving me deathly pale. The invitation slipped from my fingers and fell onto the floor.