Lori loved hosting. She organized several dinner gatherings every month, inviting all of her friends and family.

Melissa attended every single one of these gatherings, but I only ever received a half-hearted invitation once a month, at the end of the month.

By the time I arrived, the food had already been served, and everyone had started eating. Melissa sat beside Edwin, enjoying a crab leg. Edwin, who always said he was a clean freak and hated getting his hands dirty, had already peeled enough shrimp to last her the entire meal.

When Melissa saw me come in, she grinned at me. "You're here, Christine!"

Did this count as waiting for me?

But I didn't bother pointing that out. I simply took a seat in the corner in silence.

Almost every dish on the table had some kind of shellfish, which was Melissa's favorite thing to eat. Since I couldn't have any of that, I stuck to just the salad.

Halfway through the meal, Lori abruptly turned to me with a smile, asking, "Christine, how's the catering for the wedding reception coming along? Can you add lobster to the menu? Oh, and how about some cheese-baked crab? Mellie loves that the most."

Melissa smiled sheepishly. "You don't have to, Mrs. Howell. It was just an idea."

"Since you like it, we'll add it to the menu. After all, what matters most is that everyone enjoys the food at the wedding reception."

The salad greens seemed to lose what little flavor they had in the first place.

It was supposed to be Edwin's and my wedding. It was one thing for him to be completely hands-off with the wedding planning, but now, even the food had to cater to Melissa's preferences.

But then again, the wedding ceremony had already been canceled, so why would there be a wedding reception?

I hummed in acknowledgment and said nothing.

Everything I ate tasted like cardboard after that. Once the grueling dinner finally ended, Lori ushered me to the living room couch to have some fruit for dessert. Then, she turned to Melissa and smiled. "Come help me do the dishes, Mellie."

Melissa was just about to get up when Edwin frowned. "Mom, Mellie is on her period. It'd be pretty uncomfortable for her to stay on her feet for so long. Let Christine do it instead."

My hand tightened around my mug of water.

So, Edwin was capable of remembering such details. Yet, in the entirety of our five-year relationship, he'd never remembered when my period came.

Just last month, on the first day of my period, I had been in so much pain that my face had gone pale. Edwin, however, assumed I'd layered on too much foundation and said to me with a serious expression, "Your foundation is too pale. It doesn't suit your skin tone. Don't use it again."

Lori froze for a moment before chuckling. "How can we let a guest do the dishes for us? Well, since Mellie can't do it, you and your father can do it instead."

Once the two men were herded into the kitchen, Melissa joined them, leaning against the doorframe as she watched in amusement.

I sat alone on the couch, like a pathetic clown spying on a happy family that I wasn't a part of.

Once they were done with the dishes, they came back to the living room and chatted with each other. After a while, Melissa seemed to get a little drowsy and let out a yawn. Edwin immediately noticed that and got up, grabbing his car keys.

"It's getting late. We should go now."

As always, he dropped Melissa off at her place first—but it wasn't far from our apartment anyway. He'd picked it out himself for her. It was a serene apartment complex with lots of greenery and excellent security. Her favorite breakfast diner was right across the street, and around the corner was a cafe she frequented.

Most importantly, it was only two streets away from our house.

"If Mellie ever has an emergency, I can go to her without wasting any time," Edwin explained.

Well, she seemed to have a lot of things that qualified as an emergency in his eyes, everything from a broken pipe and a power outage to a fever.

He also went over each time she woke up from a nightmare or got scared after watching a movie.

Once the car pulled up outside Melissa's apartment, she got out and waved at us with a smile. "Drive safe, Eddie. See you next time, Christine."

Edwin waited until the lights turned on in her apartment unit before driving off. The previously jovial atmosphere in the car now settled into a heavy, dull silence.

We were almost back at our place when I broke it. "Edwin, don't you think your relationship with Melissa is a little too intimate?"

He seemed to be in a fairly good mood. For once, he actually reached over and brushed the back of my hand with his fingers, like he was soothing a fussing pet.

"Are you jealous? Mellie and I have known each other since we were babies. If anything was going to happen between us, it would've happened long ago. You're the one I'm marrying. Isn't that enough?"

It most certainly wasn't, but in the end, I didn't say that. In the end, I slowly pulled my hand away and sighed.

"Are you free tomorrow? There's something I need to tell you," I said.

Edwin immediately frowned. "Must you tell me about it in person? You can just message me on WhatsApp and—"

His voice died out mid-sentence, probably because he finally recalled that I already knew the truth—that he wasn't the one who'd been answering my messages on WhatsApp for the past six months.

After a few seconds of silence, he changed his tune and said, "Fine. I'll make some time tomorrow."

Edwin and I had been together for five years now. Even though I'd unilaterally called off the wedding, I still thought it was only right for me to tell him about it in person. It would at least serve as a proper and respectable ending to this pathetic excuse of a relationship.

But when I woke up the next morning, Edwin wasn't in the house. For once, though, he'd actually sent me a message.

"Mellie wants to spend the day at the newly opened hot springs resort. I'll accompany her for a while and come back to the house this afternoon."

I stared at the message for a long time before replying, "Didn't I tell you last night that I needed to tell you something?"

A response came right away. "Don't make such a big deal out of it."

That was all I needed to know that it was the AI program, not Edwin himself, that was responding to my messages again.

I didn't bother answering. Instead, I got out of bed and started packing my things. There really wasn't much to pack anyway. Despite having lived in this apartment for five years, the things that were truly mine could fit into a single suitcase.

Afternoon soon passed into night, and Edwin still wasn't back. A little after 8:00 pm, I saw Melissa's social media update.

She'd posted a picture of the resort taken at night, the lights sparkling in the background as she flashed a peace sign at the camera. The caption read, "It's so fun here! I can't bear to leave. I'm so glad Eddie is here to keep me company."

Someone commented, "I heard a room at the resort costs a few grand per night. You really splurged, huh?"

Melissa responded with a shy emoji, saying, "Nothing's worth more than my happiness! Besides, Eddie's paying."

As I stared at the screen, everything suddenly made sense to me. Edwin must've told Melissa that I wanted to talk to him about something. That was why she picked today of all days to ask him to take her to the hot springs resort.

She probably assumed I was just going to bother Edwin with the wedding plans again. As it was, she'd been doing that ever since we started planning the wedding.

On the day of our menu tasting, she had a stomachache. When we were supposed to choose our wedding invitations, she said her computer broke down.

And when we toured wedding venues, she said there was a power outage at her apartment, and she was scared to be alone.

Over time, Edwin simply stopped participating in anything related to our wedding planning.

Well, I was indeed going to tell him about something involving the wedding. Only this time, I was going to inform him that the wedding had been called off.

…

Even on the next day, there was still no sign of Edwin.

I texted him. "Are you coming back today?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I've got something extremely important to talk about."

"Got it."

"If you don't come back today, there will be consequences."

"Don't make such a big deal out of it."

All three responses I got were the automated ones sent by the AI program.

Even after midnight, there was still no new message from Edwin.

If things had proceeded according to plan, I should've been asleep in a suite at the hotel by now, getting a good night's rest so I would look my best for my wedding tomorrow. My wedding gown should've been hung up in the closet, and the hotel ballroom would've been fully decorated for the ceremony.

But instead, I was standing alone in an empty apartment, my suitcase leaning against the door.

My phone lit up.

At last, Edwin sent me a message.

"I'll arrive at the hotel ballroom on time tomorrow. I don't have a lot of time to spare in the morning. I need to join Mellie on her morning run. Let's keep everything simple and skip all the unnecessary fluff, like the groom's first look and the photo session. Just make sure you're there on time, too."

Even on his wedding day, he still planned to go running with another woman. Edwin was probably the only man who'd do something like that.

This time, I was the one who didn't reply. I blocked his number and deleted it. Then, I grabbed the suitcase I'd packed long ago and called a cab, heading straight to the airport.

I'd booked a flight out of Rivermere five days ago, the same day I canceled all of the wedding bookings.

In the last five years, if Edwin had so much as prioritized me just once, perhaps the flight ticket might've gone unused.

Alas, he didn't.

To put it precisely, not once throughout the past five years did he ever prioritize me.

…

When the flight landed in Crestshire, I got myself a hotel room and had a restful sleep.

Meanwhile, back in Rivermere, it was almost 10:00 am when Edwin arrived at the hotel with Melissa and his relatives from the Howell family.

But there was nothing in the hotel lobby that made it seem like a wedding was happening at the hotel today—no flowers, no welcome sign, and no portrait of the wedding couple.

Frowning, Edwin stopped one of the hotel staff and asked, "Which ballroom is the wedding ceremony in? We're with the groom."

The hotel staff member froze and checked the records in confusion.

"We don't have a wedding scheduled today."

Then, she remembered something and smacked her forehead. "Oh, there was one, but it was canceled five days ago."