Chapter 2

When I got home, the house was dark; my parents still weren't back.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

I glanced down; it was a message from Ryan. [Julia, there's something else I want to talk to you about.]

[You said before you wanted your parents to walk you up to the stage and hand you over to me, right? Ethan and I were thinking, maybe you could just walk by yourself, or maybe let Claire walk you down the aisle instead?]

I asked: [Why?]

The "typing" indicator stayed on for a long time before a message finally popped up.

[Claire's dad passed away when she was little. We're worried that seeing your parents walk you up might hit her hard and make her feel really sad. She never talks about it, but deep down, it really matters to her.]

I stared at those lines, and couldn't help but give a wry smile.

I had lost track of how many times he was scrapped my plans and started over, all for Claire.

She'd casually mention wanting sushi, and he'd change my birthday dinner plans in a heartbeat.

She'd say she wanted to watch a movie with us, and he'd ditch the showtime I picked for whatever she wanted to see.

And now, even for something as huge as our wedding, he was willing to rewrite the schedule we'd already set in stone, just to keep her happy.

We'd been together for over three years. He used to remember what I liked, care about how I felt, and actually listen to what I said.

But somewhere along the way, I ended up always being second best to him.

Everything he did was for her. Did he ever stop to think about me?

I had confronted him about it before, but he always had some excuse ready, acting like he was totally in the right. "People say a wife's best friend is basically the real boss; she calls all the shots. I have to stay on her good side.

"Claire's your best friend. I'm only nice to her because of you."

It was always 'for me'.

What a perfect excuse.

He'd say, "See? I'm doing all this for you. Why can't you be grateful?"

I'd heard it so many times that I actually started to think maybe I was the one being unreasonable.

But today, when she was standing there in a white wedding dress, with him holding her close and everyone calling her the bride; was that really for me too?

He was hiding behind those words, 'for you', using them as a perfect excuse to shower her with all his favoritism, as if it were perfectly justified.

The glow from my phone screen made my eyes burn.

I blinked a few times, fighting back the tears.

I typed out the message slowly and then set my phone aside. [Fine. I'll tell them not to go up on stage.]

Rest assured, they won't be up there.

And it was not just them. I wouldn't be on that stage either.