This is my 18th time coming to City Hall, yet Tessa's still nowhere to be seen.

Right as I'm about to call and ask her how much longer she'll be, her childhood friend's post popped up on my screen.

"Celebrating 1000 days of marriage with my wife. May we always be this happy."

The photo highlights a marriage certificate, and Tessa Cross' name is right there under "wife".

As for the license date, it shows February 14th, three years ago.

So this is why she hasn't shown up the last eighteen times.

It turns out that she's already somebody else's wife.

When I saw the name on that marriage certificate, my first thought was whether it was just someone with the same name.

However, the face in the picture shown in the video was the same one I'd woken up to for the past five years.

I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

My girlfriend of five years, Tessa Cross, was already married to someone else. Her legal husband was none other than her childhood friend, Kevin Miller.

What really knocked the air out of my lungs was the date they registered their marriage, February 14th, three years ago.

So she had lied to me for three whole years.

In those three years, she had wrapped her arms around my neck every morning before giving me a good-morning kiss.

Then, she would help me straighten my tie, smiling gently as she sent me out the door.

That was why I never suspected her, even though she couldn't make any of the last seventeen marriage registration appointments.

I had been so confident in what we had that I thought tying the knot was inevitable, so I hadn't felt any need to push for it.

I never imagined that the woman I'd been so affectionate with had long become someone else's wife.

Forcing myself to ignore the bitter feeling in my chest, I continued watching the video.

It went on for a full seven minutes.

Photo after photo showed Tessa and Kevin as kids, how reluctant she looked when he left the country at 18 years old, and how they had rekindled things when he came back three years ago.

Kevin's video painted him and Tessa as childhood sweethearts who had finally found their happy ending.

The video had gone viral, and the comment section was full of messages.

"My faith in love has been restored."

"Childhood sweethearts make the best couples."

"A long-time friend beats a perfect stranger any day."

"What a heartfelt story of a couple reuniting! I wish them the best!"

As I read all the comments filled with blessings and admiration, I couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

Yeah. If I weren't Tessa's boyfriend, if I weren't that "perfect stranger", I'd probably be touched by their story too.

As if I were torturing myself, I paused on every single photo shown and read every caption.

"The first thing I did after coming back home on February 14th in 2021 was make my girl my wife."

In the photo, Tessa and Kevin were cheek-to-cheek, holding up their marriage certificates with bright, blissful smiles.

I could still remember waiting for Tessa at the restaurant for three whole hours that day, only to get a message that she had to work overtime.

When she came home past midnight that night, I even hugged her like an idiot, telling her how bad I felt that she had to work so late.

Looking back now, I realized the one I should've felt bad for was myself.

"On 31 December 2021, we went up north to see the aurora borealis."

The two of them were kissing under the aurora, making the picture look straight out of a dream.

So the one-week business trip abroad that Tessa told me about was actually a trip she'd taken with Kevin to see the aurora.

Yet, every time I suggested traveling abroad together, she always said it was too far and tiring.

Maybe I just wasn't worth the effort.

…

"Celebrating 1000 days of marriage with Tess. May we always be this happy."

By the time I got to the last picture, I found myself pulling my stiff lips into a smirk.

No wonder Tessa bailed on me again.

She was probably busy celebrating her 1000-day anniversary with her real husband. Why would she remember me, her "secret boyfriend" who she had been with for five years?

Actually, that wasn't quite right. Even if today wasn't their anniversary, even if she had absolutely nothing else going on, she still wouldn't have shown up at City Hall.

After all, she was already someone else's wife. Marrying me was never an option.

Now that the harsh reality was right in front of me, I felt light-headed. I could barely think.

All around me were couples with bright, happy smiles. I was the only one sitting there alone.

On my phone, Kevin's video about their beautiful love story kept looping over and over.

The background music was Tessa's favorite song. She used to wrap her arms around my neck and say she wanted this song to be played at our wedding.

She even told me with a smile to learn it so I could sing it to her someday. As such, it became a song I listened to all the time.

However, now the song I'd heard countless times suddenly sounded unbearably harsh.

The staff called my number three times, but I didn't hear anything at all.

A staff member walked over and tapped my shoulder.

"Sir, is your fiancee still not here?"

I nodded mechanically.

Pointing at the ticket in my hand, she kindly said, "You've already missed your turn. You'll need to take a new number if you still want to get married."

Looking down at the ticket I'd been holding so carefully, I abruptly snapped out of my daze. As bitterness spread from my heart to every corner of my body, I clenched my fingers hard, crumpling the ticket into a ball.

"There's no need. Given that she's already someone else's wife, she's not coming."

After saying that, I stood up and tossed the crumpled ticket into the trash.

As I walked out of City Hall, I was met with couples coming and going.

Some were entering with looks of anticipation, while others were leaving with marriage certificates and smiles of joy.

I couldn't help thinking about the previous 17 attempts at tying the knot as I watched them.

Every time, it was always me walking in full of hope before walking out alone with disappointment.

It was as if a place that should have been all joy and smiles had only brought me endless negative feelings.

First was the disappointment of not being able to get married before. Now, it was anger and hurt from being betrayed.

For the past three years, all 17 attempts had ended in failure, but I stayed optimistic. I always believed that Tessa and I had plenty of time ahead of us, and that it was only a matter of time before we got married.

But when I saw Kevin's video today, I felt something inside me break.

As my heart shattered and ached, I knew then that Tessa and I no longer had a future together.

Tessa and I met in college.

Back then, I was waking up at dawn every day to prepare for an interview.

I'd show up at the track before sunrise and practice my interview lines out loud.

One day, I heard a chuckle. Tessa stepped out from behind the bleachers with a playful, teasing look.

"I've heard you introduce yourself a few times over the past few days. Why don't you treat me as the interviewer and practice with me? It'll feel more real that way."

Her eyes were incredibly clear. There wasn't a hint of ridicule in sight, only genuine kindness.

Blushing, I stammered in agreement.

From then on, the track became an unspoken meeting place for us in the morning.

We got closer over time, and after graduation, we naturally got together.

On our second anniversary, I proposed to her.

She tearfully said yes, hugging me like she never wanted to let go.

We agreed to register our marriage on Valentine's Day that year, and after waiting for her at City Hall for the entire day, she never showed up.

That night, she hugged me apologetically.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. Something urgent came up at work. Let's go next time, okay?"

And I believed her.

Each time after that, she missed our appointment because of a sudden incident.

I never complained, choosing to continue to love and trust her completely.

I never thought that instead of becoming her husband, I'd end up being the "other man" instead.

As I looked at their marriage certificate photo on my phone, it felt like my heart was being ripped open.

I had genuinely loved her for five years. I needed an explanation, no matter what.

When I got home, Tessa wasn't back yet.

I called her, but she rejected my call almost instantly.

A second later, she texted, "Honey, I'm in a meeting."

I stared at those words in silence.

If I hadn't happened to see Kevin's video, I might have fallen for it again.

Honestly, I did have doubts the first few times she bailed on me.

However, nothing about her reliance on me or the love she showed over the past five years ever felt fake, so any suspicion I had just faded before it could grow.

It was said that once trust was broken, there was no fixing it. Now, I couldn't stop wondering what else she had lied about if she had deceived me all 18 times I waited for her at City Hall.

Was all her love and care just an act too?

When she told me she loved me, was that just a lie?

And when she called me her "honey", was she actually calling me that, or was she thinking about Kevin?

I shuddered, too scared to think past that point. All I felt was a tight, choking pressure around my throat. It was hard to breathe.

After I texted Tessa and told her to come home immediately, she replied within seconds, "I'll be back right away, honey."

The steady ticking of the wall clock went on, and it wasn't until two hours later that Tessa came rushing through the door.

"Something urgent at the company kept me. What's wrong, honey? Was there some kind of emergency?"

As soon as she came in, she tried to throw herself in my arms like she always did.

She'd been this gentle and sweet for five years.

I didn't ask why she was two hours late, even though she had said she'd be back right away.

That was because I already knew that she and Kevin had gone for a walk by a river from reading the comments under that video.

I seamlessly avoided her touch, staring at her calmly. "Tessa, today was the 18th time we scheduled to register our marriage."

Tessa's expression went stiff for a second before a frustrated look replaced it.

"This is all my manager's fault for dumping last-minute work on me. I swear he's out to get me.

"Every time we try to register our marriage, he makes sure I'm busy. Once I get promoted, I'll totally get back at him."

I stared into Tessa's eyes, trying to find even a flicker of guilt in her.

Yet, there was nothing. Her gaze was just as clear as it had been five years ago, with only annoyance toward her so-called manager.

Only I knew that the woman I met on the track was long gone.

Seeing that I did not react, Tessa tugged my arm gently.

"Honey, we've been together so long that we're basically an old married couple now. There's no rush to get married, right? You'll always be my husband anyway."

She said the same sweet lines every time she missed an appointment.

I once thought she had a point. We acted no differently from real married couples. The marriage certificate was just a thin piece of paper to us.

However, today it dawned on me that what separated us wasn't the absence of that piece of paper, but an unbridgeable divide.

After all, her lawful husband wasn't me.

I looked at her expressionlessly and asked, "When you call me 'honey,' are you really calling me that, or are you thinking about Kevin the whole time, the man who's actually on your marriage certificate?"