Chapter 3

Everyone froze at my sudden move.

Yvonne let out a scream, instinctively trying to cover herself with her dress.

Jason reacted instantly and shoved me away.

"Wendy, are you crazy?" Jason yelled.

I stumbled from his shove and slammed into the display rack behind me, a jolt of pain shooting through my lower back.

But the pain didn't even register.

My eyes were glued to the wedding dress, to the huge rip I'd just torn in it.

That rip was just like the rift between Jason and me, something that could never be mended.

"Am I crazy?" I steadied myself against the rack, staring at him as he stood protectively in front of Yvonne. My smile was more of a grimace. "Jason, who's the real crazy one here?"

"It's just a wedding dress! Do you have to go this far?" he roared, his eyes bloodshot.

"Just a wedding dress?" I echoed, my heart drowning in grief. "Jason, that's not just any dress. That's my wedding dress, the symbol of all my dreams for our future. Now it's on someone else, and you tell me it's just a wedding dress?"

My voice grew louder, quivering with emotion I couldn't control.

I said, "So, to you, does our marriage mean nothing, too?"

Jason was struck dumb, his face ashen, caught between pale and livid.

Yvonne clung to his back, her tears falling like rain as she sobbed.

She said, "Wendy, please don't blame Jason. It's all my fault. I'll pay for the wedding dress. Just don't be mad at him, okay? Your wedding is tomorrow..."

She shouldn't have mentioned the wedding. The second those words left her mouth, my anger shot through the roof.

"Shut up!" I barked. "Who are you to talk about our wedding? Wearing someone else's wedding dress and crying. Who's this performance for? Yvonne, are you really that naive, or just playing dumb?

"Do you honestly think you look like a bridesmaid right now, or more like a homewrecker trying to steal someone else's man?"

"I don't!" Yvonne flinched at my words, sinking even deeper into tears. "Jason and I are just friends, we-"

"Friends?" I scoffed, glancing at how they were practically glued together. "Oh, you mean friends who hold hands at the mall, drink from the same cup, chat all night, and go behind my back to order a matching wedding dress?"

It was not like I never noticed those little things before.

But every single time, Jason would just make excuses to wave it all away, saying they were childhood friends and family.

And I kept convincing myself it was nothing, choosing to trust him again and again.

Looking back now, I was such a fool.

My words were like daggers, ripping straight through the facade of their so-called "pure friendship".

Jason's expression darkened.

He probably never imagined that I actually remembered all those trivial things he thought I'd missed or ignored.

"Wendy, have you been spying on me?" Jason's voice was sharp with suspicion and anger.

"Spying on you?" I let out a bitter laugh. "Jason, do I even have to? You two were so obvious, it's like you wanted the whole world to know just how 'close' you are."

I closed the distance between us and looked up at him.

This man I'd loved for three years looked like a stranger to me now.

I said, "I'm asking you one last time. What's the real relationship between you and her?"

Jason swallowed hard, glancing back at Yvonne, who was still sobbing. For a split second, I saw a flicker of conflict in his eyes.

But in the end, he just fell back on the same old excuse I'd heard a thousand times.

"I told you, we're just best friends. We're like family," he said.

Family. How ridiculous.

I nodded, feeling the last shred of hope inside me finally die for good.

"Alright," I said.

I turned around and didn't bother to look back at them.

I told the store manager, "Send the bill for the wedding dress and the bridesmaid's dress to Mr. Grant. And could you please wrap up the ripped wedding dress? I'm taking it with me."

The manager just nodded, still looking a bit stunned.

I headed to the fitting room and put my own clothes back on.

Jason didn't say a single word the whole time.

As I walked out of the bridal shop with that huge box in my hands, he finally ran after me and grabbed my arm.

"Wendy, where are you going? Stop it. Let's just go home and talk things through," he said.

His voice softened, a hint of pleading in his tone.

If this had been before, maybe I would've just let it go.

But now, all I felt was disgust.

I yanked my arm free so hard that it actually surprised him.

I said, "Go home? Which home do you mean? The one where you and your so-called 'family' hide all your secrets together?"

"Wendy!" Jason snapped, his patience clearly shot. "What do you want from me? I've told you everything. Why won't you just trust me?"

"Because not even you buy your own lies," I stared him down, every word cold and final. "Jason, the wedding's off."

With that, I ignored the shock on his face and walked away.

"Wendy, stop right there!" he yelled after me. "Don't you dare walk away! If you leave, don't you ever come back. You think you can just call off the wedding like that?

"The invitations are already out, and the hotel's booked. Do you have any idea how humiliating this will be for me? And for both our families?"

I stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Humiliating?" I let out a cold laugh. "Honestly, it's better than spending the rest of my life as some pathetic punchline."

I flagged down a cab and climbed in without a second glance.

In the mirror, I watched Jason still standing there, his figure fading until he was nothing but a blur in the distance.

Yvonne came running out after him, desperately trying to comfort him.

I turned my eyes away, slumped back into the seat, and shut my eyes.

The ripped wedding dress sat there, silent and still beside me.

It was as cold and lifeless as a corpse.