"Crystal, you should never have stopped me back there!"
"If you hadn't been propping him up behind the scenes, do you really think Xavier could've hit ten million followers off a few videos he thought were so clever?"
"You even pulled in your family's resources for him! And he actually treats you like you're nobody, like your family just sells seafood balls!"
Janice was so furious she looked ready to flip the table.
"My family does sell seafood balls."
We just kept selling them until we became the world's largest fish-paste supplier.
My father wanted me to come home and take over the seafood business. I didn't want it.
I liked the new culture industry far more.
So I started an influencer-incubator company of my own.
But my father wouldn't let me trade on the name of the fish-paste heiress.
So I hired Janice to be CEO.
And I stayed hidden at her side, just a lowly incubation handler.
Xavier was my first product.
He worked hard. He was willing to try any style.
He was good-looking, so I pushed him as a heartthrob lifestyle influencer and helped him shoot a few artsy little romance clips. But online, good-looking men are everywhere.
Xavier didn't break through.
I really did pour resources into him, handed him traffic that made every other influencer green with envy, and only then finally lifted him onto his throne as everyone's dream man.
I never imagined Xavier's love would be a tide.
At high tide, fierce and overwhelming.
At low tide, nothing but wreckage left behind.
I stood by the window, flowers in my arms.
I took in the gilded lights running from beneath my window all the way out to the sea.
This was the path of stars Xavier had paid a fortune to lay for me.
He'd built a giant wall of flowers down by the water. He'd planned to propose to me there, loud and grand, inside a heart ringed with romantic candlelight.
When the moment came, hundreds of little boats would sail in from offshore to wish me a happy marriage.
Since Xavier wasn't coming...
This million-dollar lantern ceremony he'd labored over, I would graciously accept.
"The lantern ceremony begins now."
The music started.
The young women danced and sang, and the older men and women lifted their voices in the wedding song for me.
The whole scene came alive.
But Xavier's crew of buddies panicked, and one after another they came to talk me down.
"Crystal, stop this nonsense. Xav said it'll be another hour before he gets here. Starting the music and the singing now isn't right, is it?"
"Exactly. The groom isn't even here. Who's going to light the lantern for you? When this falls apart, you're the one who'll be humiliated!"
"Xav said if you'd just be reasonable, he'll come as fast as he can. Hurry up and call the whole ceremony off!"
The buddies' shameless nerve came straight from Xavier.
Xavier was convinced he had me by the throat.
That was why he'd dared to admit the affair to my face, on the very night of the lantern lighting.
He was betting I didn't have the courage to walk away.
I was the one who'd walked beside him from nothing to everything.
He was certain I couldn't bear to lose what we had, certain I'd choose him over myself.
Even if he never showed, I'd put on the flower comb and stand at the window, waiting and waiting for him.
That was the only choice Xavier had left me.
And I refused to take it.
I lifted my eyes toward the edge of the village.
Rows of headlights flared on, like envoys from outer space, gliding in slowly along Oceanfront Boulevard.
"That's not right."
The crew was bewildered.
Robert had just called Xavier.
He'd told him the lantern ceremony had begun.
Xavier was still getting dressed, taking his sweet time getting over here.
Even if he hit the road and drove like a madman, it would still take him fifteen minutes.
There was no way he was here this fast.
And they hadn't even arranged a motorcade.
"The groom's here! Throw the petals!"
A car door swung slowly open, and a tall, striking man stepped into view.
The lively song and dance cut off all at once.
Every eye went wide.
Why was it him?
