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?”

Marcus picked up a glass of punch.

We leaned quietly against the wall beside the stage, side by side. After a moment, he suddenly asked, “You still haven’t told me why you were at the city hall that day.”

I wasn’t great with alcohol. I could feel warmth slowly creeping up my face.

I narrowed my eyes and thought for a moment before replying, “It was just a coincidence, I guess.”

In truth, that day was my birthday. I hadn’t been in touch with Finn for a while when he suddenly contacted me, saying he had a birthday surprise for me. Even though I didn’t believe him, as I had been fooled by him more times than I could count, I still went, pathetically hoping to see it for myself.

When I was near the city hall, a loud rumbling sound suddenly thundered overhead. A helicopter scattering flower petals flew above me. Finn was sitting inside.

My heart skipped a beat. The petals were custom-made, each one unusually large, with words printed on them. I picked one up and unfolded it, my hands shaking.

“Be with me–”

At the same time, my phone rang. When I answered, it was Finn.

“I told you it was a surprise, didn’t I?”

Then, I froze because when I turned the petal over, I saw the name written on the back—Sophie.

Finn burst into laughter over the deafening roar of the helicopter.

“Ruth, she said yes! Shouldn’t you be congratulating me on finally getting a girlfriend?”

In that instant, my entire body went ice-cold. I couldn’t hear anything he said after that. I was suddenly taken back to the time when we were still in university, and Finn had confessed to me. He had lost a truth-or-dare game and picked me out of a group of girls.

It wasn’t a serious setting at all. I should’ve just laughed it off. However, at the time, I thought maybe he just needed the right moment and a little courage. So, I agreed, and just like that, we were together for four years, like any ordinary couple.

As I looked up at the sky filled with petals, I suddenly realized something. Between Finn and me, he had never once confessed his feelings to me sincerely. The thought of me made me feel exhausted, all at once. No matter how closely I followed behind him, there was never going to be an ending for us.

That was when Marcus walked toward me from a corner outside the city hall. His face was strikingly handsome, so much so that he was surrounded by people.

He pleaded with me, “Please. I’m really just passing by. Can you help me out and pretend to be my girlfriend?”

That same afternoon, we went straight inside and registered our marriage. It felt unreal. He said his family was pressuring him hard to get married, and I had been pursuing Finn for so many years—I was already twenty-eight. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but somehow, it didn’t seem like a bad one at all.