In the video, Hendrick was busy arranging flowers and balloons across the lush lawn of Sinclair Garden.
A voice off-camera asked, “Hendrick, Ravenna is getting married today. Tell me, are you really setting up a wedding venue for her?”
Hendrick, without missing a beat, rolled his eyes. “Her? Worthy of this? No, I’m setting up a surprise for Viella. I’m proposing to her today and making her my fiancée!”
“But isn’t she the bridesmaid at Ravenna’s wedding? Will she even make it here in time?”
Hendrick’s eyes glinted with mischief, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“So, Ravenna’s getting married today, huh? I’ll bet you anything. With just one phone call, I can make her abandon her wedding and rush right over here.”
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a teasing whisper. “Who wants to see a clown bride in a wedding dress?”
The group erupted in laughter and cheers. “We do!”
One person, eyes wide in disbelief, asked, “Hey, Hendrick, are all these flowers fresh? This has to be costing a fortune!”
Another voice chimed in, “Not just fresh flowers; these came all the way from France! And this lawn? People would fight to book this spot, but Hendrick not only spent a small fortune but also worked some magic to get it. All for Viella, of course.”
Hendrick’s smile grew, his eyes softening. “For Viella, only the best.”
Suddenly, a memory flashed in my mind, and the wedding gift Hendrick had prepared for me was still unopened.
Curious, I lifted the lid of the box and found it brimming with delicate paper stars and origami cranes, their edges crisp and precise.
A card rested on top, and I picked it up. In his familiar scrawl, it read, "Ravenna, I folded all of these myself!"
My fingers trembled as I picked up one of the stars and carefully unfolded it. Inside, my own handwriting greeted me, "Hendrick, I wish you health and happiness forever!"
I froze. Back in high school, Hendrick had fallen gravely ill, and I had folded 999 paper stars and 1,000 origami cranes, convinced that the act would bring him good fortune and health.
Every single one of those stars, every crane, had been folded by my hands, each one a prayer for his recovery.
Yet now, he had casually gathered them up and handed them to me as a wedding gift while he spared no expense flying in flowers from France for Viella.
The video ended abruptly, leaving my heart splintered into countless jagged pieces.
What should have been a moment of excitement had turned into a pit of cold despair.
I repeated Hendrick’s name over and over in my mind, my emotions twisting from heartbreak to seething hatred.
He knew, he had always known, how I felt about him. And yet, knowing I was on the brink of marriage, he still chose to humiliate me like this.
In the silence, the image of my childhood friend, the one who had once cherished me, who made wishes with me under shooting stars, who promised we would always be together, seemed to vanish, leaving behind only the shadow of what he had become.
“Hendrick, you once said I hadn’t given you a wedding gift, right? Well, here it is.”
I slipped the bracelet from my wrist and handed it back to him, the cool metal feeling foreign in my palm.
Hendrick stared at it, his eyes distant, as if the meaning of the moment was slipping through his fingers.
I remembered when his mother had given it to me just before she left.
She had said that, after her remarriage, I would likely be the one who cared the most about Hendrick in the world.
That’s why she entrusted me with this heirloom bracelet.
Back then, I had been over the moon, imagining it was a sign that Hendrick and I were destined to be together, forever.
But today, the day he was to propose to another woman, everything felt different.
Viella stepped forward, her fingers seizing the bracelet with barely a pause.
"Thank you, Ravenna. Hendrick and I will be so happy together."
Her words, sweet as poison, were followed by a cold appraisal of me; her eyes lingered on my veil.
"Your wedding dress is stunning," Viella said, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. "Since you're not getting married anymore, why not take it off and let me try it on?"
The audacity of her request took my breath away. I instinctively took a step back, shock freezing me.
"Viella, you're still wearing the bridesmaid dress I paid for, and now you want my wedding dress too?"
Viella’s gaze flicked down to her dress, a slight frown creasing her brow, but there was no shame in her eyes, only calculated indifference.
