Chapter 1
Alex Smith and I, May Shittu, had been in love for three years, and we began to talk about marriage.
Annoyed, Alex looked at me and said, "Your mom asked for 30 thousand dollars to hold a wedding. I can't afford that. May, what about 20 thousand dollars?"
After I said no, Alex got cranky.
In the next three days, he was barely home.
When I arrived at the bar to take him home, he had his first love, Grace Boleyn, in his arms.
He pinched her cheek and chuckled. "In the past three years, she volunteered to serve my parents. To me, she is nothing but a maid, a free labor. She can't get a penny away from me."
"Why haven't you dumped her yet?" Grace asked.
He raised his eyebrows as he toyed with a strand of her long hair. "With her around, my parents won't push me to get married. Besides, she is something of a punching bag for you. Don't you love this idea?"
Tears uncontrollably rolled down my cheeks and dripped down onto my collar. They were as cold as ice.
Right then, the phone in my pocket buzzed.
[May, marry me.]
It was a message from Alex's buddy, Danny Brown. Danny texted me at midnight, 999 days in a row.
I shifted my gaze to Alex inside the bar. This time, I didn't ignore the message from Danny.
I sent my reply, [Okay.]*****
The snow outside the bar was a bit heavy.
My feet crunched in the snow as I walked home three miles away. My clothes were soaked, and my whole body was as cold as ice.
Back at home, I staggered into my bathroom.
Before I regained my balance, my tears flooded down my face.
I turned on the shower, so the icy water chilled me the next second. Soon, my whole body trembled.
Biting my lips, I fought the urge to cry my heart out.
Suddenly, I heard the click of a key turning in a clock. Alex was back.
In a fit of panic, I tried to turn off the shower. All of a sudden, everything went dark, and I fell to the floor.
Hearing the thud, Alex dashed over to check up on me.
He picked me up though it was unavoidable for him to get soaked by the icy water from the shower. He carried me to the bed and tucked me in.
He then brought a hair dryer over, knelt by the bed, and helped me dry my hair as usual.
I jerked backward and shouted, "Don't touch me!"
Alex's hand froze in the air, and its fingertips gradually turned pale.
After a long silence, he took a bank card out of his pocket and handed it to me. "May, there is 20 thousand dollars..."
"Alex, you are clear why my parents ask for 30 thousand dollars. They don't want your money at all. They want to be convinced that you care about me," I interrupted him with clenched fists.
I caught the flicker of impatience in his eyes, so my heart sank.
"What's wrong with 20 thousand dollars?" Alex knitted his eyebrows, and his voice turned cold. "Come on! Is an expensive wedding necessary? Why are you so stubborn and unreasonable?"
Hearing this, I chuckled. Once again, tears rolled down my cheeks.
"I have been with you for three years. When we lived on a very low budget, when I begged my parents to invest in you, why didn't you call me stubborn or unreasonable?" I asked.
He casually tossed the bank card aside and said, "If you are unhappy with this sum of money, go find a man who can afford the wedding your parents want."
I forced a smile and said, "As you wish."
My reactions took Alex by surprise.
He sneered, picked up his coat from the sofa, and walked away without sparing me another glance.
Then, he slammed the door and disappeared.
Silence pervaded the room.
I sank to the floor, and my tears hit it drop by drop.
Three years were so vulnerable before money.
My phone buzzed. I ignored the message because I thought it might be spam.
However, my phone kept buzzing. Frowning, I checked it.
Those messages turned out to be billing information.
With shaking hands, I carefully checked those bills one by one.
All the items bought were for women, and their total cost was 30 thousand dollars, not 20 thousand dollars, not 25, but 30 precisely.
It took me quite a long time to recover from shock. I gave a bitter smile. Tears started to well in my eyes, and they landed on my phone screen in the end.
The next day, I went to the bridal shop with the contract.
The heat there failed to warm me because I saw Grace trying on wedding dresses with Alex by her side.
Instantly, I became breathless as if my heart were gripped by some big hand.
Then, I remembered that I had asked Alex to put his work aside and go pick my wedding dress last month.
In the end, he had stood me up, and I, alone and awkward, had a long wait in the bridal shop.