Chapter 3

My phone lit up with Dad’s reply.

Just as I was about to open it, Candace seized my phone.

“Jocelyn, why are you always checking your phone when you’re out with us? How are you ever going to fit in if you keep doing that?”

As we struggled over the phone, my bag fell to the floor, and my wedding vows spilled out.

I had stayed up all night two days ago, carefully writing every word.

Hunter bent down to help me pick them up, but his friends snatched them away.

“What’s this cheesy, sappy stuff? Let’s have a look.”

I scrambled to get the vows back, but they just grinned and started reading them aloud.

“I got lost in the mountains because of my night blindness. You searched for me for an entire day and night.”

The private room fell silent for a moment, then erupted in laughter.

“She actually believed it!

“During that hiking trip, Candace suggested we leave Jocelyn behind to see if she could keep up, but she actually got lost.

“Hunter spent the whole day and night having fun with us at the foot of the mountain. It wasn’t until he woke up and started worrying that something might actually have happened to her that he went looking for her.”

Someone flipped to the next page and read aloud, “Remember Islewood Lake? When you risked your life to jump in and save me, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.

“Wasn’t that the time we bet on whether she could swim and pushed her into the water?

“She actually thought he’d saved her life and remembered it all these years?”

A chill swept through me.

All those moments I kept replaying in my head, the ones I held onto as proof that our seven-year relationship meant something, turned out to be nothing more than cruel games they were playing at my expense.

The last flicker of hope that there might still be a chance for us went out completely.

Candace grabbed my vows and playfully chided the others.

“What do you know? You’re a bunch of clueless guys! This is so romantic!”

She held up one of the pages and met Hunter’s gaze.

“Tell me, Hunter. Will you?”

Everyone chanted in unison, “Say yes! Say yes!”

Hunter finally glanced at me.

“Cut it out. My fiancee is still here.”

I chuckled.

“Don’t bother. You two can get married instead. I’m not going through with this wedding.”

Candace’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Jocelyn, have you gotten the wrong idea? Don’t be mad. I’m sorry—”

“What are you apologizing for?”

Hunter pulled her behind him protectively, his expression turning cold.

“Jocelyn, cut the snark.”

Someone deliberately kicked over the glass in front of me, and the shards cut into my shin.

Hunter saw what happened, but his instinct was to pull Candace a step farther away from me.

“Candace and I have done nothing wrong. You have no right to slander us!”

Their friends also stood up and rushed to Candace’s defense.

“If Candace hadn’t introduced you to us, someone who can’t take a joke like you wouldn’t even end up in our circle!”

“Do you really think seven years of dating him can compare to the bond we’ve shared since childhood?”

“If you can’t take a joke, get lost. Stop ruining the fun.”

Candace was about to play mediator when Hunter took her hand.

“Candace, you’re just too kind for your own good. That’s why people keep taking advantage of you.”

Then, he shifted his gaze to me.

“If you don’t apologize to Candace today, we’re breaking up.”

As I looked at the man who had once held my hand in the dark and vowed he would always come to get me, I suddenly found myself unable to cry.

Dad’s call came through, and I got up to leave.

Hunter shouted after me, “Jocelyn Stroud, if you walk out of here today, I don’t mind switching fiancees!”

“Suit yourself,” I said without looking back.

The moment I stepped out of the private room, I heard Hunter proposing to Candace behind me, and the cheers grew louder and louder.

Only after I got into Dad’s car did I realize I was trembling.

After a long silence, Dad finally said softly, “Sweetheart, a woman blessed with good fortune shouldn’t marry into a family that brings her nothing but misery. Finding out who someone really is before you get married isn’t a bad thing.”

I leaned against the car window and closed my eyes.

“I understand, Dad.”