Chapter 2 Erased From My Own Story

After Lawrence escorted Sienna to the lounge, I returned to the wedding prep room alone.

The hallway was lined with tomorrow's flowers. Bouquets of white roses were stacked neatly against the walls, their fragrance so heavy it was almost suffocating.

The staff smiled politely as they passed me.

Every one of them thought I was the happiest bride in the world.

Only I knew that just moments ago, outside the ballroom, I had watched my fiance carry another woman away in his arms.

The wedding planner spotted me and quickly turned his laptop toward me. "Ms. Lind, could you take a look? Should we still use these?"

On the screen were the wedding photos I had submitted the night before.

When Lawrence was nineteen, he had ridden an old bicycle with me on the back so we could watch fireworks by the river.

The wind had been fierce that night. He had draped his jacket over my shoulders and smiled. "One day I'll give you the biggest wedding you've ever seen."

When we were twenty-two, his startup failed, and I sat beside him in a basement apartment eating instant noodles.

There was only one cup, so we split it between us.

His eyes had turned red as he said, "Jas, just wait until I get back on my feet."

When he was twenty-five, he landed his first round of funding. He had wrapped me in his arms inside our tiny apartment and spun me around again and again.

He held me so tightly, as if he had finally grabbed hold of his future and of me.

I had spent an entire month organizing those photos.

Behind every one of them, I had added notes.

I was afraid the AI would not recognize when each picture had been taken. I was afraid the planner would not understand what those old photos meant.

So, I had explained every single one. But now, every photo had a new caption beside it.

"Sienna stood by Lawrence through his lowest point."

"Sienna witnessed Lawrence's first success."

"Sienna understood every side of Lawrence he never wanted anyone else to see."

I stared at those words, my fingers frozen on the mouse.

My youth. My tears. My loyalty. The years I spent waiting for him.

Someone had peeled my name off all of it and casually replaced it with Sienna's.

The planner lowered his voice. "Ms. Vane said she understood Mr. Croft's personal journey better, so she helped rewrite the copy. Mr. Croft already approved her version."

My heart sank.

I could not believe the man I had loved for ten years would betray me.

What was even crueler was how effortlessly he did it. As if he had only swapped out a narrator. As if he had only edited a few lines of copy.

Just then, Lawrence's voice came from the doorway. "Jas."

Without turning around, I pointed at the screen. "So this is the AI's fault too?"

Lawrence glanced at it, his tone calm. "It's just a presentation. Sienna has worked in branding for years. She knows how to tell a story."

I looked at him. "So my story has to be told by her?"

He frowned. "Why do you always make everything sound so ugly? The wedding is for the guests. This isn't the time to obsess over little details."

I let out a quiet laugh. So, ten years of standing by his side had become "little details."

Lawrence held out a document. "Sign it."

I looked down.

It was an authorization form allowing the wedding AI to use our materials.

The names listed as the rights holders were mine and Sienna's. And my three thousand journal entries had been categorized as "Shared Emotional Materials."

"Shared?" My grip tightened around the papers, my voice trembling. "Lawrence, when did the things I wrote for you become shared?"

A flicker of impatience crossed his face. "That's just how the software categorizes them. The wedding cannot have any more problems tomorrow. Once you sign it, the planners can keep working."

I didn't move.

Lawrence lowered his voice. "Jasmine, don't embarrass me in front of the staff."

Embarrass him. Again.

When Sienna cried in front of the guests, she was the one who had been wronged. When he abandoned me in front of everyone, it was understandable.

But when I wanted to reclaim my own memories, I was embarrassing him.

I had loved him for ten years.

In the end, even refusing to give away my own memories had become something that embarrassed him.

Lawrence placed the pen in my hand. "Jas, sign it. After the wedding, I'll make it up to you."

I looked at him.

A long time passed before I lowered my head and signed my name.

As the pen slid across the paper, I suddenly remembered the nineteen-year-old Lawrence.

Back then, he was too broke to buy me a decent ring. Yet he had held my hand and promised, "Every important moment in my life, you'll be the one standing beside me."

His important moments were still here. The only thing that had changed was the person standing beside him.

After I signed, I pushed the document back to him.

Not because I had accepted it. Because I wanted to see just how far he was willing to push me aside.

A few seconds later, the ballroom rehearsal began.

The giant screen lit up automatically. The lights dimmed, and the music slowly filled the room.

The AI read in a gentle voice, "Lawrence, thank goodness I've been by your side every step of the way."

But the screen showed a photo of Sienna.

She stood beside Lawrence, smiling so naturally, so tenderly, as if she had been the one who had stayed with him through every hardship all those years.