On the day of the wedding, Ayden Scott discovered that Valerie Stewart and I were getting married.
He had a heart attack on the spot, and Valerie immediately announced the wedding's cancellation.
The bride left the groom at the altar and ran off with another man.
At that moment, I became the laughingstock of everyone.
The guests pointed fingers at me, accusing me of being cruel and calling me a murderer. Despite that, I couldn't care less about their opinion. However, even Valerie lashed out in anger. "Why couldn’t it be you who got sick?"
Deeply hurt, I threw my wedding outfit into the trash and made a phone call. "I'll accept the transfer to headquarters."
After Valerie left, the guests I had graciously invited gathered around me.
Their tone was mocking. "If you’ve done wrong, you should admit it. Apologize to Ayden, or I won’t recognize you as a friend anymore."
"Since the wedding didn’t happen, return all the gifts I brought."
"This is such bad luck."
...
Their malice was unmasked, yet I didn’t feel an ounce of pain.
Ignoring them, I walked straight out of the wedding venue and tossed my tuxedo into the trash.
The wedding was held on a mountainside, where few cars passed by. I walked barefoot on the road.
Suddenly, Valerie called.
As soon as I picked up, she began to berate me.
"I kept Ayden in the dark so well. Why did you let it slip and let him find out?"
She was right; she had hidden it perfectly.
The wedding location was a desolate mountainside. Everything was kept simple. She didn’t invite her friends or family, only mine.
Even so, the venue felt empty.
Not hearing me respond, her tone grew sharp. "Ayden didn’t even approve of this wedding to begin with, and now it’s all ruined. It’s your own doing. After finding out, there’s no way we can get married!"
Hearing this, I let out a sneer. "What is he to you? Your mother or your father? Do you need his permission to get married?"
Her voice faltered at my retort.
After a long pause, she spoke again, feigning generosity. "Fine. Just apologize to Ayden. If he forgives you, maybe we can still go through with the wedding."
"No need." I intoned coldly.
She was taken aback by my words.
"What do you mean, no need?" Valerie scoffed, incredulous. "Are you saying you don’t want to get married? Don’t be ridiculous!"
I couldn’t blame her disbelief. After all, we had been together for seven years, and I had been proposing to her six times until she agreed.
Marriage had seemed like my obsession.
I opened my mouth to say something more, but before I could, I heard Ayden's voice on the other end of the call.
"Valerie, did you tell him you wanted to get married?"
Valerie quickly denied it.
"No, no! I’d never marry him."
The next moment, the call ended, leaving me cast aside like nothing.
Suddenly, rain poured down, drenching me completely.
The cold water snapped me awake.
My obsession with marriage had finally turned to nothingness.
When I returned home, I found myself feverish, with my throat burning as if on fire.
I took some medicine and fell into a hazy sleep.
In my daze, I seemed to see Valerie.
She gently touched my cheek, her expression completely different from the anger she had shown at the wedding.
When I sat up, she handed me a bag of luxury goods.
"Even though the wedding didn’t happen, you should still have a ring."
I opened the bag to find the receipt still inside—it was newly purchased.
So, she had never planned anything for the wedding beforehand.
I took the ring and slid it onto my finger.
Then, I raised my hand in front of her.
With a slight tilt, the ring slipped off my finger and fell lightly to the ground.
