Chapter 3

On Andrew's birthday, a message popped up on his phone. I saw the contact name was "Charlotte." He said it was a quick hello from an old classmate group chat.

When Charlotte returned to the country, he suddenly canceled dinner with my parents, saying he had to work overtime. Later, I saw Charlotte post an airport pickup photo on her feed. In the corner of the shot, I caught a glimpse of his shirt cuff.

I stared at my phone for a long time, but I never asked him about it.

It wasn't that I didn't notice.

I kept coming up with reasons for him, convincing myself that all those things that felt off could still be brushed aside.

Until today, he stood in the bridal shop, helping Charlotte with the back chain of my main wedding dress.

It was in that moment that I finally understood that some relationships didn't rot all at once.

It was just that I never wanted to admit they'd been broken for a long time.

Emily finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Should we head home first?"

"Let's go to my place," I said. "I need to settle the finances."

She paused, looking surprised. "Are you seriously sorting out the money right now?"

"If I don't do it now, should I wait for Andrew to strike first?" I unlocked my phone and pulled up the wedding budget spreadsheet.

I made it myself. Everything was neatly organized by date and payment account: wedding dress, hotel deposit, wedding planner's down payment, wedding favors, home decor for the new place, extra wedding rings, invitations, and photography.

After years of managing projects, my specialty was untangling chaos and turning it into a checklist.

I used to rely on that skill to survive.

Now, I had to use it to cut my losses.

I highlighted all the expenses I'd covered from my account in red, then pulled up the transfer records and digital contracts one by one.

The final payment for the wedding dress was 8,400 dollars.

The rush fee for alterations was 1,000 dollars.

The hotel party deposit was 15,000 dollars.

The wedding planner's down payment was 5,400 dollars.

The wedding favors and sweets came to 3,000 dollars.

The balance for the new place's decor was 3,600 dollars.

All those little expenses added up to way more than Andrew could wave off with a "don't be dramatic."

Emily stared at the numbers and took a sharp breath. "You never went over all this with him before?"

"Yeah, I did," I said. "He told me to front the money for now, and he'd pay me back once his quarterly bonus came in.

"And we both figured I'd cover some stuff, since I knew how things worked and paid quicker. We'd sort it all out later."

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh at myself as I said that.

Turned out, in his eyes, I was the ideal partner for marriage, not just because I was reliable, sensible, and knew how to keep life running smoothly.

It was also because I could pay for everything, cover any shortfalls, and deal with all the hassles.

All he had to do was show up when needed and keep up appearances as the respectable groom-to-be.

My phone screen suddenly lit up.

It was a message from Andrew: [Calm down first.]

Then another message popped up right after: [It's not as bad as you think.]

The third message came in fast: [Charlotte just broke up. She's feeling down. I was trying to comfort her. Don't make a big deal out of it.]

I stared at that line, [Don't make a big deal out of it,] and my fingers went cold.

Even now, all he cared about was whether it was a big deal or not, not whether it was right or wrong.

Emily leaned over to take a look, so pissed she nearly burst out laughing. "He's got some nerve."

I didn't reply.

The next second, my phone buzzed again.

This time, it wasn't a private message. It was the wedding prep group chat.

The group included both sets of parents, the groomsmen and bridesmaids, the wedding planner, the hotel contact, and a few close relatives and friends.

Andrew sent a message in the group chat: [There was a bit of a misunderstanding at the dress fitting today. Natalie got a little emotional, but the wedding is going ahead as scheduled. No need to stress about it, everyone.]

I stared at that message for a few seconds.

Emily blurted out, "He's jumping in to control the narrative."

I said, "Yeah."

That was no surprise.

Andrew was always best at turning awkward messes into something that looked respectable, a simple misunderstanding.

Hurting me was never what Andrew worried about.

What really mattered to him was making sure no one found out that, ten days before our wedding, he was using my wedding dress to comfort Charlotte.