On my wedding day, my childhood friend, Finn Wheeler, kicked open the chapel doors with a whole crowd of his friends behind him. He announced that he wanted to take me away and marry me. However, we hadn’t even gone far when he suddenly let go of my hand.

Then, he laughed nonchalantly and said, “Guys, I won again for the one hundredth bet. You lost. Pay up.”

Only then did he turn back to look at me.

“I was just joking,” he added lightly. “You didn’t actually believe me, did you? You can go back in and finish the ceremony.”

Everyone laughed at how I’d pursued Finn for ten years and how I would do anything for him. However, neither Finn nor any of them knew that being taken from the altar was just one part of my wedding plan.

By the time Finn Wheeler explained that it was only a bet, the crowd had already been laughing for a while. The teasing was sharp, shrill enough to feel like it was piercing straight through my eardrums.

“Tsk, Ruth. Betting on you isn’t even worth the losses. Can you use that useless brain of yours for once?”

“This is hilarious. You actually fantasize about Finn marrying you?”

That sense of humiliation was far too familiar. Almost instinctively, I clenched the fabric of my wedding dress, my fingers digging in so hard it hurt.

Finn lit a cigarette, a trace of disdain surfacing in his eyes. “Ruth, if you’re thinking about clinging to me again, I suggest you give up now.”

The laughter followed, overlapping and spreading through the room.

In the past, this would have been the moment I collapsed, crying and demanding to know why he treated me this way. However, this time was different. The moment Finn finished speaking, I turned around.

A strong hand immediately clamped around my arm.

“What are you doing?”

“Going back to get married.”

Finn froze for a beat, then let out a mocking laugh. “Ruth, when it comes to degrading yourself, no one does it better than you.”

I closed my eyes. Even so, my heart ached when I heard those words.

Right. No matter what I did, in Finn’s eyes, it was always self-degradation.

Three days before the wedding, I had sent him an invitation. I had no idea who made the call afterward, but I heard the entire bet with my own ears.

“Interesting. This time, she’s really gone all out. She’s actually marrying someone.”

Someone asked Finn, “What if she’s serious this time?”

Another voice answered first. “No way. Everyone knows she won’t marry anyone but Finn. Obviously, he has a new girlfriend now, and she’s jealous. She’s just trying to get his attention.”

Finn’s new girlfriend was named Sophie Anderson. He liked her a lot and had pursued her for a long time.

She picked up the wedding invitation, glanced at it once, then casually tossed it onto the floor, giggling. “So this is the kind of woman she is? If I were a man, I wouldn’t want her either.”

The room erupted into laughter again.

Then, Finn set his glass down on the table and asked casually, “Want to make a bet?”

“Another one? Fine. If we win, you break up with Sophie.”

Finn’s voice turned cold instantly. “Who said you could use Soph as a bet?”

On the other end of the phone, I listened as he effortlessly reshaped the wager. The bet became whether I would run off with him at my wedding.

Sophie could not be used as a bargaining chip, but I could. He had used me as a setup, gambled on a hundred times already.

Almost everyone there got involved.

“That’s a huge bet. Running off from her wedding with you? No way. Count me in.”

“That’s right. Ruth might be a simp, but I don’t believe she’d stoop that low.”

My hand trembled as I held the phone. I pressed the screen to end the call repeatedly, but couldn’t hang up. A tear fell without warning, sliding off my chin and landing right on the speaker button. In a panic, I hurriedly shut the phone off.

I stared blankly ahead and then suddenly laughed. Ridiculous and pathetic was what my relationship with Finn had become.

Everyone knew I had feelings for him, but no one knew that Finn and I had once been together for a long time. Before Finn went abroad to study, he told me to wait for him for three years. He said once he was successful, he would come back and marry me. However, when I finally saw him again, he was surrounded by women.

With him having made it, I asked him if he still remembered what he had said to me back then. The look in his eyes felt completely unfamiliar.

“Haven’t you done such foolish things when you were young?” he said. “Are you trying to use that to threaten me now?”

After that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get close to him. So, I gave up.

Now, I was clearly about to get married. I had accepted defeat, willingly. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

“Ruth, you’re pathetic. If I were the guy marrying you, I’d slap you the moment you walked in. Do you have any idea how cheap you look right now?”

Finn grabbed me and cursed at me nonstop, but all I felt was exhaustion.

I shook off his hand and said calmly, “Is that so? Why don’t you just watch and see?”

I had barely walked a few steps when his impatient voice rang out behind me. “Fine. Don’t come crying to me later when you embarrass yourself.”

I didn’t look back. When I stepped back into the hall, the confetti cannons at the entrance went off. Paper petals rained down onto my head.

Inside, everyone was applauding.

“I didn’t believe it when they said there would be an opening number of someone crashing the wedding!”

“This is kind of exciting.”

“I think it’s supposed to symbolize something, right? About true lovers finally end up together after tons of hardship?”

I walked down the aisle without any expression on my face. The ceremony continued as scheduled. As someone closed the doors to the hall, Finn stood frozen outside, shock filling his eyes.

After that, the rings were exchanged, and both parties made their vows. When it was time to go around and toast the guests, I finally took out my phone and saw several messages from Finn.

“What was that just now supposed to mean? Ruth, were you playing me a fool?”

Yes. I did it on purpose. I was exhausted. I didn’t want to be the person who came running whenever he called anymore. I just hoped he’d have some sense and know when to stop.

I didn’t reply. Just as I was about to block him, his call came through. I hung up, but it rang again. With no other choice, I answered.

Finn’s voice was thick with anger. “Ruth, you have three minutes. Come out and explain yourself.”

I replied casually, “Finn, your bet is over now, isn’t it? And you seemed pretty satisfied with the result.”

There was a deep inhale on the other end, like he was holding something back. I was about to hang up when his tone suddenly shifted.

“Just to get a rise out of me, you really went all in, huh? Was it fun to have a fake wedding?”

“A fake wedding?”

“Ruth, let me be clear. After today, even if you want to see me, you won’t get the chance.”

Finn had always been arrogant and self-important. However, whether he believed it or not, it no longer mattered to me. After being tangled up with him for so long, I was honestly tired.

I pressed my fingers to my temple and said frankly, “That’s for the best.”

With that, I hung up.

Suddenly, a tall shadow fell over me. I turned my head and met Marcus Lindt’s striking face. He was leaning against the wall, slightly taller than Finn. Dressed in a black suit, he carried himself with an overwhelming presence.

“You’re on the phone?” he asked.

I paused. For some reason, the question carried a faint hint of displeasure. However, Marcus and I hadn’t known each other for long, and the decision to get married had been sudden.

Before I could say anything, he suddenly bent down. His breath drew close, and I instinctively held mine. I was going to ask if this was all going a little bit too fast, but he reached over, picked up a glass from the table beside me, and then smiled when he noticed my flushed ears.

“Let’s celebrate,” he said. “Drink with me?”