Chapter 5

The camera flash jolted them out of their little world. Lily shrieked and immediately ducked behind Ryan, while Ryan shot me a glare. "Sienna, what the hell are you doing sneaking around taking pictures?"

I ignored his anger, sent the photos I'd just taken straight to our friends' group chat, and then turned to Lily with an innocent smile. "Ms. Morgan, you just turned 28 and finally got your first kiss. I took a few pictures to commemorate the occasion and share the joy. You're not mad about that, are you?"

Lily hurriedly pulled out her phone and opened the group chat. As she scrolled through the flood of comments, her expression grew darker and darker.

A flicker of guilt crossed Ryan's face.

"I was just teaching Lily how to kiss. I even told you about it in the car, remember? That counts as a heads-up, doesn't it?"

He frowned at me like I was the unreasonable one. "You didn't object then, so don't stand there making a scene now, okay?"

I turned and headed toward the parking lot.

"I'm not mad. You two can keep going. I'm just grabbing my bag and leaving."

Ryan suddenly caught me by the arm, looking genuinely unconvinced. "You're really not mad?"

I looked at him calmly. "Of course not. You two grew up together. What's so strange about you kissing each other?"

He stared at me suspiciously, his grip tightening around my arm. "Sienna, since when have you been this understanding? That's not like you."

Before I could say anything, Lily suddenly burst into tears.

"Ryan… everyone in the group chat is calling me a slut. They're saying I was all over you right in front of your fiancee."

She wiped at her tears, and her voice was trembling. "I joke around sometimes, but I'm actually pretty conservative at heart. How can they say things like that about me? What did I even do wrong?"

Ryan's expression softened immediately, his heart clearly breaking for her. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I just couldn't control myself."

Then, he turned his anger on me. "Sienna, delete those pictures. Now!"

I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. "Sorry. Too late. The time limit to unsend them has already passed."

A vein throbbed in Ryan's temple. "Apologize to Lily now!"

Instead of getting angry, I laughed. "Why should I?"

Ryan lifted his chin, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Because I'm your fiance. Because you've always said you'd never marry anyone but me. And because I can call off this wedding whenever I want!"

For a moment, I was taken back to the first time I met Ryan. He had stood there proudly with a trophy in his hand, declaring that he understood women better than women understood themselves and swearing that he would one day become one of the top lingerie designers in the industry.

Maybe he really could understand every woman in the world. He just never understood me.

I could never marry a man whose heart and soul belonged to someone else. However, after everything he'd done for me over the past three years, after all the times he'd stayed by my side and never given up on me, I decided to indulge him one last time.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Morgan."

Ryan immediately gave me a smug look, as if to say, "See? You can't live without me."

Lily wore a triumphant smile of her own.

I smiled slightly and pointed to the pajamas Lily was wearing.

"Ms. Morgan, I noticed how much you like my pajamas. In that case, I'll sell them to you at a discount—38 bucks. Just remember to transfer the money to me."

"Sienna!"

Ignoring Ryan's furious shout behind me, I walked straight out the door.

…

For the next three days, Ryan didn't contact me once. Instead, he shamelessly documented every moment he spent with Lily on social media, as if he wanted the whole world to know how much fun they were having together.

They went back to their old school, put on school uniforms, and even sneaked into a classroom to sit in on a lesson. When the teacher caught them, they ran out laughing, looking like a couple of teenagers reliving their youth.

He took Lily wedding-dress shopping and arranged for professional photos to be taken, giving her the chance to live out her dream of being a bride. His caption read: "Making up for the regret of someone who's been single since birth."

On the final evening before our supposed wedding, they walked hand in hand along the beach, then held each other as they watched the sunset before reluctantly saying goodbye.

Lily left a heart emoji under every single post, and I liked every one of them.

…

On the morning of the wedding, Ryan finally called. "Sienna, why is your front door still locked? I'm already here."

I tightened my grip around the bouquet in my hands and looked out the window.

"I'm already in the wedding car."