My Fiancée Chose My Best Friend, So I Married Her Rival

The night before we were due to sign the marriage license, at a party with friends, someone suggested we play the room-key game.

"Whoever's key you draw, that's who you share a room with tonight."

I frowned without thinking.

But Cecily Henson leaned in close to my ear, her smile all certainty.

"What are you afraid of? I already had someone swap them."

"The one I draw is definitely going to be your key."

So I nodded and agreed.

Then, the very next second, Cecily flipped over the key in her hand.

Written right there on it was the name of my brother, Roy Weiss.

The private room erupted.

Someone whistled. Others started egging us on.

"You lose, you pay up. Ernest Harding wouldn't be a sore loser, would he?"

Roy looked at me, his face gone pale, and rested a light hand on my shoulder.

"Ernest, don't read too much into it."

"I'm just going to keep an eye on Cecily for you tonight."

"I'm your best friend. You still don't trust me?"

Cecily frowned at me too.

"It's just a game. Don't kill everyone's mood."

I caught the same woody cologne on the both of them, picked up somewhere I hadn't noticed, and suddenly I laughed.

"All right."

"Then I'll draw one too."

I reached out and picked up the last key on the table.

When I turned it over, the whole room went quiet.

Marina Gilbert.

Cecily's sworn enemy.

I held that key and curved my lips at Cecily.

"It's just a game."

"You wouldn't be a sore loser, would you?"

——

The smile on Cecily's face faded, bit by bit.

She reached out to snatch the key from my hand.

"Ernest, stop messing around."

I moved it out of her reach and smiled.

"Isn't it just a game?"

Someone nearby jumped in at once to smooth it over.

"Ernest, this is different."

"Roy's your brother. You think he'd do you wrong?"

Someone clicked their tongue.

"Right. Your brother's watching your fiancée for you and you still can't relax?"

"Ernest, you're a little too possessive, aren't you?"

Roy stood beside Cecily, his expression already sour.

"Ernest, maybe we should just drop it."

"I don't want to be the reason you and Cecily have any trouble signing tomorrow."

As he spoke, he nudged the key forward.

But the motion was slow, as if he couldn't bear to let it go.

Cecily frowned and blocked his hand.

Then she looked at me, her tone cool.

"Roy and I have always been perfectly clean."

"If we made a point of avoiding each other tonight, it'd only look like there really was something to hide."

"Since we've got nothing to feel guilty about, there's all the more reason not to dodge it."

Roy lowered his eyes, his voice dropping low, as if he were looking out for me.

"Ernest, I know it bothers you."

"But the more Cecily and I try to avoid suspicion, the more people will imagine things."

"If we're open about it, spend one night with nothing happening, that actually proves it to you."

When he finished, he gave a bitter little smile.

"I'm your best friend."

"Are you really telling me you don't even trust me?"

I looked at the key clenched in his hand, and all at once it struck me as absurd.

Someone beside him spoke up on his behalf.

"Roy, you're just too easygoing."

"You're clearly doing Ernest a favor by watching over Cecily, and here you are acting like you did something wrong."

"Ernest, Roy's already backed down this far. What more do you want?"

Cecily knitted her brows, as if displeased by the crowd's needling.

But she didn't deny any of it.

She only murmured to Roy: "Don't worry. No one blames you."

Roy said at once:

"Don't talk about Ernest that way."

"It wasn't easy for him to make it all the way to signing with Cecily."

"After all, the Harding family isn't what it used to be. It's only natural he feels insecure."

The private room went quiet for a moment.