4: 4
4
When I got home, Cedric wasn't back yet.
My phone suddenly buzzed like mad. A notification from the security app.
That camera had been left behind by the previous owner, running on its own, completely separate from the smart-home system.
On the feed, Lucille Fox came out of the bathroom wearing my pajamas.
She looped her arms around Cedric's neck.
"Mr. Harding, do you really feel nothing for me at all?"
Cedric stood there rigid, the hand at his side clenched into a tight fist, like he was holding something back.
"Mr. Harding, my only regret is bad timing. I met you too late."
"In three days you'll have your wedding, and there will never be anything between us."
"I just wanted to ask, could you grant me one last wish, and be my first man?"
"That way I'd never forget you for the rest of my life."
Lucille talked and talked until she was sobbing.
Cedric carefully wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
Then he stood up and rushed to the door, about to leave.
"Lucille, Ella and I have seven years together. I promised I wouldn't betray her."
"You, you'll meet someone better later on."
Lucille wrapped her arms around him from behind, crying.
"There won't be. There'll never be anyone better than you."
"Back when my dad had cancer, you didn't say a word, you took back the bride price and the deposit on the house and gave it all to me. Can you honestly say I'm not in your heart?"
I froze where I stood, my nails nearly gouging through my palms.
So it wasn't his father who'd had cancer. It was Lucille's.
And I was the fool who'd been worrying he didn't have enough money.
"If you won't agree, I'll jump off this balcony tonight."
She ran to the balcony, teetering on the edge in the storm.
Cedric panicked.
He rushed over and pulled her into his arms.
Then he lowered his head and kissed her hard on the mouth.
The two of them kissed frantically, tearing at each other's clothes, and fell together onto my wedding bed.
I grabbed my phone and called like a woman gone mad.
Again and again.
On the feed, Cedric glanced at his phone, then held down the power button with no expression at all.
Listening to the cold shutdown tone in my ear, my heart died completely too.
That bed was one we'd picked out together.
The sheets on it were ones I'd chosen so carefully.
In the wedding photo on the wall, I was laughing so happily, like an idiot.
Watching Cedric lose himself on that screen,
I crouched on the floor as my stomach heaved.
I rushed to the toilet and threw up until the world spun.
But nothing came out.
Only tears, falling one by one into the toilet.
Disgusting. So disgusting.
For the next three days, they stayed in my wedding house and never went out.
Going at it day and night.
The camera faithfully recorded everything.
During that time, Cedric sent me one message.
"I'm away on a business trip these few days. Keep an eye on the wedding arrangements."
"The wedding in three days, I'll be there on time."
"Ella, I love you."
I don't know what he was feeling when he sent that I love you.
Guilt trying to make up for it, or the thrill of pulling one over on me.
I didn't care anymore.
Those three days, I wasn't idle either.
I handed all the property documents to the agent and signed the contract face to face with the buyer.
"All the smart-home devices in the house, I'll throw in for free."
"I only have one request."
The buyer was a media reporter, and she talked straight.
"I'm getting such a good deal here, whatever you want, I'll agree to it."
I leaned in close to her ear and murmured.
She said through her teeth, "Ella, don't you worry. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's cheating men and their mistresses."
"I'll get it done for you, clean and neat."
Day four, my wedding day.
I put on the wedding dress I'd prepared long ago.
The woman in the mirror was beautiful, her makeup flawless, her eyes hollow.
My mother pushed the door open, a bowl of dumplings in her hands.
"Ella, eat something."
I looked at the dumplings in the bowl, each one plump and round, made by my mother through the night.
"Mom, aren't you angry with me?"
She paused, then smiled.
"Angry about what? Angry that you've finally learned to care about yourself?"
She reached out and smoothed the loose hair at my forehead.
"Ella, the thing I regret most in this life is teaching you to be the good girl. The good ones are always the ones who lose out."
The tears came all at once.
I found the wedding host.
"Change the order of things today. Once everyone's here, play the video first, then hold the ceremony."
When all of that was done, I walked out of the hotel and got into a taxi.
Mom and Dad sat quietly in the back seat in their clean clothes.
"Airport, please."
The car pulled away, and I watched the balloon arch with "Cedric & Ella, Happy Wedding" shrink and vanish in the rearview mirror.
Cedric, I hope you'll like the gift I've left you.
