Chapter 2

Being the squeaky wheel had never worked in my favor.

Six months ago, a drunk man stalked me home, leaving me shaken with nightmares for days.

When I broke down crying to Elliot after a drink, he brushed it off, saying I was just oversensitive and paranoid.

Yet when Lexie panicked over a deliveryman's knock and sobbed uncontrollably on the phone, Elliot rushed straight to her side in the middle of the night. He completely ignored me despite my high fever. He spent the entire night comforting her.

Lexie gave him a light punch, pretending to be tough. "You dummy. Go comfort Scarlett. It's fine if I get hurt, but don't let this ruin six years of what you two have."

Smiling, Elliot took her hand. "It's precisely because we've been together for six years that a day or two doesn't matter. Besides, this house is packed with her friends and family. She doesn't need me to comfort her."

With that, he turned and left without a second thought.

He walked down the stairs, holding Lexie effortlessly. It was the exact way I had envisioned him carrying me away a thousand times before.

I was the first to break the heavy silence inside the room. "Thank you, everyone. The wedding is officially off. It won't be rescheduled."

Once the relatives had left, I glanced down at my phone.

Lexie had posted several photos on social media with the caption, "It feels so good to be cherished."

The first photo showed Elliot awkwardly adjusting camera angles to take pictures of her.

The second was Elliot with his head lowered, patiently shelling crab meat for her.

The third was Elliot crouching by her feet, gently massaging her ankle.

I flipped my phone face-down without scrolling any further. Yet the memories came flooding back anyway.

When Elliot went abroad on a business trip, he crossed five city blocks to buy her a giant bag of local treats.

For me, though, he brought back a cheap box of generic airport duty-free candy.

Elliot would text her three times a day to make sure she ate on time.

Yet when my irregular eating gave me stomach cramps, he didn't even bother handing me a cup of warm water.

I was zipping up my final piece of clothing into the suitcase when Elliot finally pushed the door open.

He sat down next to me, carrying a bowl of chicken soup.

Noticing my silence, he reflexively reached out to tickle me to break the ice.

That was our usual way of making peace.

However, I stepped back to dodge him and held the coin up right in front of his face. "She used a double-tailed coin just to mess with me. Do you find that funny?"

Elliot's gaze instantly turned cold. "I prepared that coin. I just didn't want Lexie to lose. It didn't mean anything else."

He didn't want her to lose, so he enabled her to humiliate me over and over again.

It was a stupid excuse, yet he didn't even notice.

He pulled me firmly into his arms and slid a ring onto my finger.

I had caught a glimpse of his order history once. This was a lovers' set. I got the ring, while the matching necklace and bracelet were with Lexie.

His heart had been split into three parts, and I got the smallest piece.

When I still said nothing, he let out a sigh. "You know Lexie's an orphan. She grew up without any family to care for her. She just wanted to win a game. Can't we just let her have this?"

My voice trembled as I asked, "So, you just let her ruin our wedding?"

His frown deepened. "It's just a game. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? I told you, it's not like I'm not marrying you. Why do you have to pick a fight over such a small thing?"

Elliot glanced at the tears on my face but made no move to wipe them away. "Don't use tears to manipulate me. It makes you look pathetic."

His words felt like a heavy boulder crushing my chest.

He had long forgotten the day he asked me out. That day, he'd stared at me with reddened eyes as he promised he'd never let me suffer. He swore that from then on, the only tears I'd ever shed would be tears of joy.

Years had passed, and the weight of a single tear no longer touched his heart.

I threw off his hand, grabbed my luggage, and headed straight for the door.

Elliot's expression darkened. "You're always so emotionally unstable, throwing a fit the moment someone calls you out. I'm only nice to her because she's your best friend, and I don't want her to feel like she has no one to rely on."

I finally understood that the cost of him shielding Lexie from the storm was leaving me to stand in the rain alone.

I unhooked the house key from my key ring and cut him off. "Then, go ahead and be her pillar for the rest of your life. We're done."