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The wedding had reached the ring exchange when my best friend, Saul Stephens, suddenly walked up onto the platform in the groom's tuxedo, smiling.
And my fiancée, Rowena Chase, in front of every guest in the room, slid the ring that should have been mine onto his ring finger.
I demanded an answer right there.
The two of them exchanged a look and, somehow, burst out laughing at the same time.
Saul laughed until he could barely stand up straight.
"Charles Harding, last night Rowena and I made a bet."
"She said you'd definitely notice before the ceremony that the photo on the welcome board had been swapped for one of me and Rowena."
"I said you trust us so much you'd never check."
He lifted his hand and waggled the man's ring on his finger.
"Now Rowena's lost the bet."
"So according to the deal, this wedding goes to me."
Rowena stood beside him, her tone easy.
"It's just Saul playing groom for a day."
"The tux, the venue, the whole program are all ready anyway. It'd be a waste not to use them."
"We'll just hold another one next month. Don't be such a sore loser."
They always loved betting with me on the table.
At our engagement, she lost a bet, so she put the man's ring from our engagement set on Saul's hand first.
At our wedding shoot, she lost a bet, so she took the snowscape series I loved most with Saul instead.
Even the study in our new home got remodeled to Saul's taste, all because of some wager.
Every time I was hurt, they'd smile and say, "It's just a bet. Why take it so seriously?"
But it wasn't until today that I understood.
In their eyes, my wedding, my love, my whole life were nothing but chips they could toss onto the table whenever they felt like it.
I looked at Rowena, and something in me finally let go. My voice came out perfectly calm.
"You gave him the wedding. Go ahead and give yourself to him too."
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I turned to leave the moment I finished.
But Rowena grabbed my wrist.
"Charles, that's enough."
"With all these relatives and friends here, you're really going to make a scene and leave everyone with nowhere to hide?"
I shook her hand off.
"I'm the one making a scene?"
"This was supposed to be my wedding!"
Rowena frowned, her voice thick with impatience.
"I already told you. It's just Saul getting to experience it for one day."
"After the wedding, nothing between us changes."
"You're going to throw a fit and break up with me over a formality?"
She paused, as if something had just come back to her, and let out a scornful little laugh.
"Last month you said you'd stop dealing with us too."
"And didn't you end up buying Saul a birthday cake yourself?"
Saul laughed too.
"Charles, every time you can't take losing, you say you're done with us."
"Three days, tops, and you always come crawling back."
He gave the ring on his hand a little shake, smiling in a way that carried more than the words.
"This time I'll bet two days."
"Rowena, you dare to bet with me?"
Rowena looked up at him.
"Bet what?"
"On how long it takes Charles to come back to us."
"If he begs you to make up within two days, you give me the gaming chair from the new place."
Rowena barely hesitated.
"Fine."
"He'll last one day, tops."
Right in front of me, the two of them started betting on me again.
As if the breakup I'd just said was only a new game to keep them entertained.
I looked at Rowena.
"You're that certain I'll come back?"
Her tone was level.
"We've been together six years."
"You spent a whole year preparing this wedding just to marry me."
"The hotel, the tux, the guests, you arranged every bit of it yourself."
"Charles, could you really walk away from me?"
She knew the old me too well.
That was why she dared to keep betting on my limits, over and over.
Because win or lose, I was always the one left cleaning up the mess.
When Saul ruined my engagement suit, I was the one who reordered it.
When he tore up the photo of Rowena and me, I was the one who said it was fine.
Even when he redid our new home in his own style.
In the end I was the one who apologized to Rowena, saying I shouldn't have fought with them over the renovation.
It wasn't that they didn't know they were hurting me.
They just knew I wouldn't leave.
Down below, someone laughed and tried to talk me around.
"Charles, don't get worked up over them."
"Rowena and Saul have similar temperaments. They've always messed around like this."
"And Saul's a lifelong bachelor. He's never going to actually get married."
"Letting him experience a wedding once is basically making up for that regret."
"Calling off your engagement over something this small, that's just petty."
One line after another.
Everyone was telling me to be gracious.
Not a single one of them ever asked whether I was willing to hand over my own wedding.
Mrs. Chase came up onto the platform from the head table too.
She patted Saul on the shoulder, her eyes full of approval.
"You know what, that ring actually suits Saul's hand better than it ever suited Charles's."
Saul spoke up, smiling.
"Mrs. Chase, don't say that."
"Charles will be upset if he hears it."
Mrs. Chase shot me a glance.
"If he can't even stand a comment like that, how is he going to make a proper son-in-law for this family?"
Then she patted Saul's shoulder again.
"Honestly, I've always liked you better."
"You're lively, you know how to make people feel good."
"Not like some people, who have to argue right and wrong over everything, who turn even the smallest thing into something that leaves everyone unhappy."
Gerald Chase came over too, wine glass in hand.
"Since Rowena lost the bet, she should honor it. A loss is a loss."
"You promise something, you follow through."
"We'll throw Charles another wedding next month. It's no big deal."
I looked at him.
"In your eyes, a wedding is something you can just redo whenever?"
Gerald's face soured.
"It's only a ceremony."
"As long as Rowena's willing to marry you in the end, what more could you want?"
"And I'll be honest with you."
"If Saul weren't a lifelong bachelor, we really would have preferred Rowena marry him."
