In the hospital room, Lanny hurried in, only to find Bethany crying, looking pitiful and upset.
The moment she saw him, she hastily wiped her tears and stubbornly turned her head away.
"Bethany, what's wrong?" Lanny asked, reaching for a tissue to wipe her face, but she dodged him.
"The groom… shouldn't you be at your wedding right now? Why are you here?" Bethany mumbled, head bowed.
Lanny froze for a moment.
This was the first time Bethany had thrown a little tantrum in front of him.
Before he could respond, she looked up at him with big, teary eyes. "Lanny, I already told you, you don't have to sacrifice your feelings for me."
Lanny was momentarily speechless.
After a pause, Bethany asked softly, "Or have you already fallen for Verena, and that's why you're going through with the wedding?"
"No," Lanny denied immediately. "I don't like Verena."
"Then why are you marrying her?"
Bethany wrapped her arms around his waist and begged in a soft, pleading voice, "Don't go to the wedding, please. I'm sorry I realized I liked you so late. I should have noticed sooner…"
Lanny straightened his back, his mind a tangle of conflicting emotions.
He could never forget the day, five years ago, when his mother suffered a sudden heart attack in a mall. It was Bethany who performed CPR for twenty minutes until the ambulance arrived.
The doctors later said that without her quick thinking, the outcome would have been disastrous.
When Lanny rushed back from overseas, the first thing he saw was Bethany feeding his mother, carefully tending to her.
She was barely in her early twenties, yet already so capable and caring.
From that day, Lanny got to know Bethany.
She might come from a wealthy family, but she was sensible and kind, never spoiled.
She often visited his mother and would even share her university life frustrations with him, loving to listen to him explain quantum entanglement or black holes.
Over time, Lanny began to look forward to each encounter.
Perhaps it was the way she focused so intently when learning about physics, or how she could always make his mother laugh.
Then one day, she shyly confessed she had a crush on someone.
It was Vernon, the heir of the Blair family in Northvale.
At that moment, Lanny felt an inexplicable unease.
Maybe it was jealousy, maybe just a desire to protect her.
Either way, hearing she liked another man made him unsettled.
But her secret crush didn't last long. The accident left her in a vegetative state.
Later, Lanny met Verena and learned of her engagement to Vernon. Immediately, he thought of Bethany.
If she woke up and found out the man she liked was marrying someone else, how devastated would she be?
Without hesitation, he made a choice.
He decided to be with a woman who had been pursuing him relentlessly for months, just to protect Bethany's happiness.
For the past two years, Verena had kept her word, never pressing for the arranged marriage.
And now, Bethany was awake.
But Lanny didn't expect that she would confess her feelings to him.
It was a moment he had only vaguely dreamed of, now coming to life.
"Bethany... "
Lanny drew in a deep breath, glancing at his watch. He couldn't delay any longer.
Verena was already waiting in the banquet hall.
She had anticipated this wedding for so long, picking out the ring, trying on the dress, even preparing the favors herself.
If he told her now that the wedding was off, she would be furious.
Lanny could already picture her face red with anger.
"Don't go, don't…" Bethany cried, clinging to him. "I don't want to see you with Verena. I don't want anyone but you."
In that instant, Lanny felt as if his heart had been struck, his thoughts in chaos.
"Alright, I won't marry her," Lanny said, closing his eyes, then added, "But Bethany, no matter what, I need to go to the wedding hall to tell Verena in person."
At the very least, he couldn't let Verena wait anxiously, becoming a laughingstock among the guests.
"Okay," Bethany said, still clinging to him. "You'll come back, right?"
"Of course," Lanny said, patting her head before leaving.
Outside the hospital, he checked his phone. Surprisingly, Verena hadn't sent a single reminder message.
Maybe she was still getting ready?
Thinking about how he would tell her the wedding was canceled made him uneasy.
Verena's love was passionate and fierce, and she showed it without restraint.
Lanny could already imagine how heartbroken and angry she would be.
But it was time to end it.
He didn't love Verena, and there was no reason to continue.
Arriving at the banquet hall, Lanny paused at the entrance, hearing the lively chatter of the guests.
On stage, the bride and groom were exchanging rings.
He glanced at the address Verena had sent him, confirming he was in the right place, and approached a staff member.
"Excuse me, aren't Lanny and Verena the bride and groom here?"
The staff member's eyes widened. "Oh! That wedding was canceled about ten days ago."
Lanny's pupils constricted sharply, "Canceled?!"
"Yes," the staff member nodded. "The bride called and canceled the wedding originally set for the 28th."
