Chapter 1

Mark's POV

The call had barely ended when my friend, Robert Decker, muttered a curse under his breath. "Look at this and tell me Nicholas Sampson isn't doing this on purpose!"

His phone screen showed a post Nicholas had made just two minutes ago.

"Lana brought over every suit and dress shirt in the store, but I'm terrible at making decisions. Why don't you guys pick which one looks the best?"

In the video, my fiancee, Lana Bowen, was standing off to the side as she had the staff bring over every single suit.

Nicholas laughed. "Isn't this a bit much?"

Lana wasn't looking at the camera, but the smile on her face was unmistakable. "You're doing me a favor by agreeing to be a groomsman, so the least I can do is make sure you look sharp."

My chest felt so tight I could barely breathe. Three months had passed between our engagement party and our wedding.

During those months, Lana kept saying she was too busy with the project, so she skipped out on choosing a wedding planner, food tastings, and pretty much everything we were supposed to do together.

I let all the other things slide, but I really wanted her to be there when we went to try on our wedding outfits.

Back then, she just shook her head helplessly. "Mark, once this gallery project wraps up, I'll get a promotion and a raise. I'm doing this for our future, aren't I?

"Besides, Nicholas already picked out my wedding dress for me, so only you would be trying on suits. Since I'm not trying anything on, whether I'm there or not doesn't matter."

At the time, I felt completely stuck, like I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I wanted to see her in her wedding dress. Didn't she want to see me in a suit as well?

But now, I finally got it.

It wasn't that preparing for the wedding with me didn't matter. It was just that I didn't matter to her.

I'd been standing outside the banquet hall for 20 minutes at that point, and I was starting to feel lightheaded from low blood sugar.

Robert brought over a chair and made me sit, cursing up a storm the whole time. "Does Lana not have a brain? A wedding is a huge deal, and yet she's off helping another man try on suits? A groomsman suit, of all things!

"You already chose your groomsmen three months ago. Who adds another one on the actual wedding day?"

The two bridesmaids on the other side caught wind of what was going on and awkwardly came over to explain. "Mark, don't be mad. Lana's just doing this for work."

I lowered my head and closed my eyes for a moment.

I'd only recently found out the client behind that gallery project was Nicholas himself.

We'd all gone to college together, so everyone knew Nicholas was Lana's unrequited first love back in college.

Just to cheer Nicholas up after his heartbreak, Lana had gone and pitched the gallery project to her company herself.

When the company said no, she poured more than a million dollars of her own money into it.

She wasn't getting a promotion or a raise out of it, but if the project failed, she'd lose her position as project director.

She'd spent every one of those early mornings and late nights over the past three months with Nicholas, too.

Just then, the phone in my hand buzzed.

It was a video call from Lana. The moment I answered, she pointed at a row of suits. "Mark, hurry, help me pick. Which one looks better? I think these look better, but Nick likes those patterned ones."