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The whole hall had gone silent.
Rowena finally noticed something was wrong with my face.
She cut her father off with a frown.
"Dad, why bring all this up today?"
Then she turned to me.
"My parents just like how easygoing Saul is."
"Don't take everything to heart."
I found myself smiling.
As long as it hurt me, it could all be filed away as a joke.
Saul edged another step closer to her.
"Enough. Don't fight over me."
"Charles, you already said you were giving me the wedding, so let me finish the rest of it."
He glanced at the groom's tuxedo I was wearing and smiled.
"You can always hold your own wedding again next month anyway."
I didn't argue anymore.
I only took out my phone and called the hotel manager.
"There's been a last-minute change of groom for today's wedding."
"I refuse to pay the remaining balance."
There were a few seconds of silence on the other end.
The manager asked hesitantly,
"Mr. Harding, you don't know?"
"A month ago, Ms. Chase brought Mr. Stephens in and changed the contract."
"The groom on the contract was switched to Mr. Stephens a long time ago."
My hand tightened hard around the phone.
"A month ago?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Stephens even re-confirmed the reception menu and the stage setup."
"Ms. Chase said all the changes had your approval."
I looked up at the two of them on the stage.
So this so-called bet, supposedly settled just last night.
They had been getting ready for it a month ago.
I forced down the tremor in my voice and kept going.
"And the balance?"
The manager answered,
"It was paid in full last night."
"Ms. Chase paid six hundred and eighty thousand out of your joint wedding account."
I yanked open my banking app.
The account balance was three dollars and seventy cents.
That six hundred and eighty thousand was every cent I'd saved in five years of work.
I'd planned to use what was left after the wedding to open a studio of my own.
Rowena saw the screen on my phone and finally came over.
"The money's already paid. Canceling now won't get any of it back."
I stared at her, hard.
"What gives you the right to touch my money without my say-so?"
Rowena answered as if it were obvious.
"That money was always meant for the wedding."
"The wedding's going ahead as usual, so the money wasn't wasted."
Saul, standing beside her, lifted the hand with the men's ring on it again.
"Charles, didn't you just say you were giving me the wedding?"
"Since you gave it away, the cost naturally comes with it."
Watching them play off each other, I suddenly found I didn't even have anger left.
They hadn't just made my wedding the stake in a bet.
They'd drained my savings too.
And made Saul the groom, in style, at the wedding.
