Chapter 1

I stood beneath the old locust tree that hadn’t changed in ten years, five cold metal boxes cradled in my hands.

I felt like a complete joke.

A gust of wind swept past, stirring a few fallen leaves and chilling me to the bone.

Turns out, in some corner I knew nothing about, another woman’s turmoil had been buried all along.

And my fiancé’s unspoken regret.

His greatest regret was that he couldn’t give her a wedding.

What about me?

What does our wedding, set for the day after tomorrow, even mean now?

A grand lie? Or a belated offering to the woman he truly cared about?

I reburied the three boxes that had nothing to do with me and took only the two that belonged to Ethan and me.

By the time I got home, the sky was pitch-black.

The lights in the living room were on. Ethan sat on the sofa, and the moment I walked in, he shot to his feet.

“Why are you back so late? Where did you go?”

I changed my shoes and answered calmly, “I went back to our old school.”

“Our high school?”

He froze for a split second before forcing himself to appear composed.

“What were you doing there? You didn’t even ask me to come along.”

“Nothing much. I was just passing by, so I went in to see a teacher.”

Relief washed over his face. He walked up and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chin resting in the crook of my shoulder, his voice soft as water.

“You scared me. I thought you ran off. The wedding’s in two days. You can’t just disappear like that.”

I let him hold me.

Silence spread through the room, thick and suffocating.

After a long moment, I asked quietly,

“Ethan, do you really want to marry me?”

His body stiffened for a moment before his arms tightened around me.

“Of course. It’s been ten years. Who else could I marry but you?

“Autumn, what are you even thinking about?”

Right. Ten years.

Yet the words on the metal box kept appearing in my mind, uncontrollably.

“The greatest regret of my life is that I can’t give you a wedding.”

He let go of me, brimming with excitement as he discussed the details of tomorrow’s wedding rehearsal.

He mimicked the priest reciting the vows.

“For richer or poorer… in sickness and in health…

“To take Miss Autumn Taylor as your wife…

“To be married to…”

But every single word felt like a needle piercing my chest.

“Do you like this bouquet? Or would you prefer white roses instead?”

He held up his phone, eyes full of anticipation as he looked at me.

A surge of unnamed anger flared up from deep within me, scorching all sense of reason.

“Whatever.”

I turned my head away, my tone icy.

“Do whatever you want. I don’t care.”

The smile on Ethan’s face froze.

“Autumn, what do you mean? How can you say you don’t care? This is our wedding!”

“Our wedding?”

I let out a bitter laugh and couldn’t help but look back at him.

“Is it really ours?”

He froze at my question for a moment, then furrowed his brows.

“What is wrong with you today? You’ve been acting weird ever since you got back.

“I’ve been running around taking care of everything for our wedding, and this is the attitude?”

“My attitude?” I felt a tightness in my chest.

“And you? Is that your attitude…?”

I stopped mid-sentence, almost spilling everything. I was afraid I’d regret saying it.

Ethan’s eyes reddened as he snapped,

“What attitude? Haven’t I been busy preparing for our wedding all this time?

“Autumn, are you crazy? If you don’t want to get married, then just don’t!”

He spun around and slammed the door, the sound shaking the entire house.

I stood alone in the empty living room, tears falling from my eyes without warning.