Preston stayed at the hospital with Polly for three days.
In all three days he didn't call me once. Not a single message.
I welcomed the quiet. I packed the apartment during the day and handled my resignation paperwork at night.
Three days was more than enough to scrub every trace of myself out of that place.
The day Polly was discharged, Preston came home alone.
He walked in just as I was zipping the last suitcase shut.
He glanced at me, then at the case by my feet, and for some reason something in his chest went tight.
"Where are you going?"
My expression didn't change. "Too much old stuff. Just clearing it out."
Preston nodded and didn't press.
"Good timing, then. Polly's been shaken up these past few days, it isn't safe for her to stay alone. Let her move in here for a while. You go ahead and move out first. When she sees you right now, it still brings back that night."
He said it so naturally, as if asking his fiancee to clear the place out for her best friend was the most ordinary request in the world.
"Fine."
I agreed without hesitation.
Having some time to myself before I left was, if anything, a relief.
Preston froze, as if he hadn't expected me to agree so easily.
He'd rehearsed the question he wanted to ask a thousand times, but all that reached his mouth was: "The wedding's in three days. I'll come pick you up when the time comes."
I didn't say anything else. I dragged my suitcase out of that home.
For three days, the two of them lived very comfortably in my wedding home.
At least, from the posts Polly put up, you could tell Preston really did like her.
Preston would soothe her back to sleep when she had nightmares at night, and when she got picky and wanted some little cake from a shop six miles away, he'd drive out in the middle of the night to buy it.
None of that was anything Preston had ever done for me, even when we were falling in love.
On the last day, Polly's post had no photo. Just one line.
【Such comfortable days are about to end. Kind of sad to let them go!】
Below it was Preston's reply: 【Whenever you want to come stay, you come stay, all right?】
【There'll always be a place for you in Milly's and my wedding home.】
Reading that, I only felt lucky that I could cut off both of these twisted relationships before the wedding.
At least I wouldn't end up living as the extra third person in my own marriage.
Three days later, on the wedding day, Preston sent a message.
【I've brought Polly to the venue first. Oh, and she says she wants to walk in with you and hand you over to me herself. I think it's nice, just treat it as one more part of the ceremony.】
【Come a little later. The makeup artist and stylist are getting Polly ready right now.】
I didn't reply.
Just how absurd and out of line that request was, Preston could no longer see at all.
This wedding didn't need two brides either.
Since Polly was already there, there was no need for me to show up.
I blocked Preston and took a cab to the airport.
Right before I boarded, I called the wedding planner.
"I won't be coming to the wedding today, but I've sent a wedding gift over. Please keep an eye out for it."
"Wish the two of them a long and happy life together for me."
