On the day I was supposed to marry Cyrus Lloyd, his crush returned from abroad.

She held a notice which said she did not have long to live and smiled sadly. “Cyrus, I thought you’d let me wear a wedding dress one last time.”

To grant her wish, Cyrus gave her my wedding dress. He even made her as the bride instead of me.

He locked me inside the dressing room. Through the door, he said in annoyance, “We still have a future together. What’s wrong with letting her have this?”

Later, a rich guy who secretly had a crush on me proposed to me.

With teary eyes, Cyrus begged, “Do you really not care about me anymore because of him?”

I took a step back. “We don’t have a future anymore. Why should I care about you?”

It was my wedding day, and the makeup artist kept opening and closing her makeup kit.

“Ms. Jagger, should we go ahead and start your makeup?”

I kept looking anxiously at the door. Cyrus Lloyd had rushed out after getting a phone call and had not come back.

“Let’s just start the makeup.”

There were only 30 minutes left until the ceremony. My phone on the table lit up.

[Your man is great. He’s mine now.]

[Oh, and your wedding too.]

There was a photo with the messages. A woman smiled and held her phone while a man hugged her tightly.

I could only see the back of the man’s head, but I knew it was Cyrus.

I also knew the woman. She was Cyrus’s crush, Yara Clarkson.

She was wearing the wedding dress I had designed myself. There was only one like it in the world.

I remember Cyrus taking away the wedding dress. He said he needed to make some changes.

I took a screenshot and sent it to Cyrus.

[Is this the change you were talking about? Cyrus, I need an explanation. Is the wedding still on?]

Cyrus replied quickly. [Wait for me. We’ll still have the wedding.]

We had been together for seven years. I did not want to give up so easily.

The wedding was going to start in ten minutes.

Cyrus rushed back in with sweat on his forehead.

Maybe because I was used to taking care of him, I kept all my questions to myself.

“Ruby, the wedding is still on.”

Cyrus looked at me with eyes full of guilt and affection.

I did not think much about it and continued to put on my makeup. “You’re back so late. I don’t even have time to change into my wedding dress now.”

“You don’t need to change.”

Cyrus put his hand on my shoulder. “You don’t need to be at the wedding. Ruby, I’ll make it up to you.”

I stopped what I was doing.

I was so angry that I could do nothing but smile bitterly.

“What do you mean?” I looked him up and down. He was not wearing the suit I had carefully picked out for him. It looked similar, but the cuffs and the tie were a little different.

Cyrus instinctively looked away from me. “The hospital issued a notice that Yara was in critical condition. Her last wish was to wear a wedding dress. I couldn’t let her die with regrets.”

Yara was Cyrus’s crush.

Back in school, everyone thought they would make a perfect couple. They looked great together.

But when Cyrus’s family lost everything and he was at his lowest, Yara left the country.

A month before our wedding, she came back.

After she returned, she did not reach out to Cyrus. The hospital called him when they could not reach her family.

At first, I respected her for keeping her distance. I felt sorry for her too. She was sick and alone in this country.

Cyrus told me repeatedly that he was only helping her out of sympathy.

But when Yara cried and begged Cyrus to be with her at her home, I realized she was not as naive as she looked.

Still, Cyrus did not act out of place.

He always talked to me about it first and stayed away from Yara when he could.

So, I kept quiet and endured it.

I wondered when they had decided to replace me at my own wedding.

Cyrus avoided my eyes.

I felt a cold ache in my chest, like a chill was sinking into my bones.

“Cyrus, what about me?” I asked with teary eyes.

“She gets to have her wish at my wedding, but what about everything I planned? Does it mean nothing now?”

I spent more than two weeks planning everything for the wedding. I even wrote the invitations by hand and barely slept.

Just last night, I stayed up with Cyrus talking about how perfect today would be.

I thought I would be the happiest bride. I thought our seven years together meant something.

But none of it seemed to matter anymore.

I waited for his answer.

Cyrus sounded annoyed. “You’re being unreasonable. We still have a future together. She’s dying. What’s wrong with letting her have this?”

I knew Cyrus. He was always calm and polite.

This was the first time he had raised his voice at me in seven years, and it was for another woman.

“I’m sorry.” Cyrus grabbed his hair in frustration.

“The wedding’s about to start. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Cyrus!” I chased after him.

But the only response I got was the door closing in my face.

He was gone.

On the other side of the door, the wedding music began to play.

I stood there in the inner garments of my wedding dress and felt like an idiot.

Just because his crush was dying, I had to lose everything?

The wedding had already started.

A staff member suddenly walked into the dressing room and turned on the big screen.

“Ms. Jagger, Ms. Clarkson asked us to do this.”

After that, he left.

My phone lit up. It was a call from my mom, but I did not get to answer it.

Then, the wedding ceremony played on the screen.

Yara was walking toward Cyrus with a big smile. She was wearing the wedding dress I had designed and walking on the bridge I had stayed up many nights to build.

The vows I had written were being read aloud, but they were meant for her.

The custom wedding rings had her initials.

The video of our memories had been edited to show her with Cyrus.

AI had been used to replace my face with hers in the wedding photos I worked so hard to take.

Sadness, pain, and frustration spread through my chest like tiny bugs crawling under my skin.

It hurt a lot.

But I had no way to let it out.

My whole body shook.

Every place on my body that was bruised and sore from the wedding preparations felt like it was burning.

I spent hours under the hot sun to make sure the photos were perfect, only for Yara to steal them.

I saw Cyrus smiling at her with so much love.

He smiled at me too, but he never looked at me that way.

I realized today that he had never really loved me.

I wrapped my arms around myself. I could not stop my tears.

Then, the screen changed again.

I saw my parents in the corner. They were being held down, with their mouths gagged.

“Dad! Mom!”

I jumped up in shock.

How could Cyrus do this? How could he be so cruel?

I ran to the door and pounded on it. “Let me out! Let me out!”

But the only thing I could hear was the sound of the wedding march playing outside.

I went from being angry to feeling helpless. Then I finally understood.

I looked in the mirror, wiped off my makeup, and changed into my own clothes.

This wedding was never really mine.

My bad decision had already made my parents lose face.

Cyrus was trash. I did not want him anymore.

The wedding felt like it would never end.

I planned a big wedding to celebrate our love, but it only brought me pain.

When it was finally over, someone opened the door to the dressing room.

Cyrus was standing there. He looked tired and worn out.

“Ruby, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll explain everything to your parents, and I—”

I did not let him finish. I slapped him across the face.

“Mr. Lloyd, I quit!”

I had always been calm and sensible. I had never acted this way before.

Cyrus froze.

I walked past him without looking back.

“Ruby!” he called after me.

I did not say a word to Cyrus. I just walked straight over to my parents.

They still had red marks on their faces from earlier.

Our relatives crowded around them and gossiped.

“I told you. Chasing money isn’t a good thing.”

“Ruby got fooled, didn’t she? Thought she’d bag a rich guy, but turns out, he never even liked her. This is so humiliating! You really should’ve taught your daughter better.”

I stood in front of my parents. When I saw how upset and ashamed they looked, my heart sank. I did not care who was talking. I snapped back.

“Aunt Jenny, when did you ever see me chase after money? Cyrus had nothing when I supported him!

“Aunt Anna, you’re blaming my parents now? When Cyrus gave you that bracelet, you didn’t say anything!

“He’s the one who cheated and changed the bride at the last minute! He’s the one with no morals! If I’d known what kind of person he really was, I never would’ve dated him!”

I was too angry to notice Cyrus standing behind me. I did not see the look of pain in his eyes.

On the way home, my parents did not ask any questions.

They softly told me to take care of myself and not to cry over someone who was not worth it.

Parents loved their children no matter what.

After dropping them home, I went back to the place Cyrus and I had shared for seven years.

The moment I opened the door, a familiar smell hit me.

My mind felt sharp and clear, but my chest felt heavy as though a boulder weighed down on it.

My eyes welled up with tears, but I tried hard not to cry.

All the pain I had swallowed had nowhere to go.