Hendrick nodded, a fake gleam of understanding in his eyes. “That’s right. Back then, you’d practice for hours just so you could sing for me. Now, come on, sing this song as a blessing for my dear fiancée. Show us your love.”
“Ravenna, sing!”
With a dramatic flourish, Hendrick clapped his hands, the sound echoing through the room like a command. His friends immediately fell in line, chanting in unison, “Sing! Sing!”
A wave of fury and humiliation slammed into me, drowning out the world around me. My hands trembled so violently that I nearly dropped the microphone, the cold metal pressing against my skin like a reminder of my powerlessness.
Back in school, when Hendrick’s parents divorced, he was too terrified to sleep alone. He’d beg me to sing to him, the sound of my voice his only comfort through the long, sleepless nights. I would sneak back and forth between his house and mine, practicing lullabies and perfecting my singing, terrified that my voice might not be good enough.
But now, those precious moments I’d held close had turned into nothing more than a cruel game for his amusement, a mockery of everything I’d given.
My voice, thick with emotion, I shoved the microphone back into Hendrick’s hand.
“I won’t sing,” I said, the words bitter on my tongue. “And I don’t wish you two any happiness.”
The words barely left my lips before a mocking voice rang out. “Ravenna, don’t tell me you’re still chasing after Hendrick?”
“Hendrick, you’d better watch out. Women like her, clingy, shameless, and relentless, are terrifying! She ditched her own wedding to throw herself at you. She’d probably be thrilled to be your mistress!”
Hendrick sneered, his eyes full of disdain as he shot me a glance. “My mistress? You? Not even close.”
Each cruel word was like a dagger to my heart, tearing it apart piece by piece.
If this had happened in the past, I would have already broken down, tears flooding my eyes as I begged Hendrick to explain himself. But not today. Today, I forced the bitterness rising in my throat down and steadied myself.
“Hendrick, you're the one proposing today, and I’m the one getting married. So why don’t you give me a wedding gift? No need for money; a song will do.”
Hendrick exchanged a sly look with Viella, and they both burst into laughter as though I were the punchline of some cruel joke.
“Ravenna, you already ran away from your wedding for me. Do you really think your husband will still want you after this?”
“Exactly,” Viella chimed in, her voice dripping with mockery. “I heard you and your husband had a flash marriage with no real foundation. Now you’ve made such a scene, do you honestly think your wedding will go ahead?”
I forced a smile, though my heart twisted in my chest. “You don’t need to worry about that. My wedding will proceed as planned.”
I had known all along that Hendrick was trying to trick me into abandoning my wedding. But not today. Today, I would stand firm.
Early that morning, I had received his call. His voice, thick with alcohol and a tremor of something that sounded like tears, slipped through the receiver.
“Ravenna,” he whispered, the words heavy with desperation. “Please don’t marry him. Don’t marry anyone else. I can’t stand it. You know I can’t live without you.”
“If you still love me, come to Sinclair Garden, our spot. I’ll wait until midnight.”
“If you show up, I’ll take you away, no questions asked. From that moment on, it will just be us, no one else.”
Before I could even respond, he hung up. On my end, my heart was racing like a wild drumbeat, every thump echoing in my chest.
Hendrick and I had been inseparable since childhood. We’d been best friends for more than a decade, and I had confessed to him more times than I could count. But he had always turned me down, insisting we were just friends.
Was it the impending wedding that had finally shifted something in his heart? Had it taken me about to commit to someone else for him to suddenly feel differently?
At that moment, my bridesmaid, Viella, sent me a message.
[Ravenna, I know you’ve always loved Hendrick. He told me to drive you to Sinclair Garden.]
[If you’ve made up your mind, let’s go. Nothing in this world can stop true love between you two.]
As I teetered on the edge of uncertainty, another message pinged a video message.
In the video, Hendrick was busy arranging flowers and balloons across the lush lawn of Sinclair Garden.
A voice off-camera asked, “Hendrick, Ravenna is getting married today. Tell me, are you really setting up a wedding venue for her?”
Hendrick, without missing a beat, rolled his eyes. “Her? Worthy of this? No, I’m setting up a surprise for Viella. I’m proposing to her today and making her my fiancée!”
“But isn’t she the bridesmaid at Ravenna’s wedding? Will she even make it here in time?”
Hendrick’s eyes glinted with mischief, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“So, Ravenna’s getting married today, huh? I’ll bet you anything. With just one phone call, I can make her abandon her wedding and rush right over here.”
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a teasing whisper. “Who wants to see a clown bride in a wedding dress?”
The group erupted in laughter and cheers. “We do!”
One person, eyes wide in disbelief, asked, “Hey, Hendrick, are all these flowers fresh? This has to be costing a fortune!”
Another voice chimed in, “Not just fresh flowers; these came all the way from France! And this lawn? People would fight to book this spot, but Hendrick not only spent a small fortune but also worked some magic to get it. All for Viella, of course.”
Hendrick’s smile grew, his eyes softening. “For Viella, only the best.”
Suddenly, a memory flashed in my mind, and the wedding gift Hendrick had prepared for me was still unopened.
Curious, I lifted the lid of the box and found it brimming with delicate paper stars and origami cranes, their edges crisp and precise.
A card rested on top, and I picked it up. In his familiar scrawl, it read, "Ravenna, I folded all of these myself!"
My fingers trembled as I picked up one of the stars and carefully unfolded it. Inside, my own handwriting greeted me, "Hendrick, I wish you health and happiness forever!"
I froze. Back in high school, Hendrick had fallen gravely ill, and I had folded 999 paper stars and 1,000 origami cranes, convinced that the act would bring him good fortune and health.
Every single one of those stars, every crane, had been folded by my hands, each one a prayer for his recovery.
Yet now, he had casually gathered them up and handed them to me as a wedding gift while he spared no expense flying in flowers from France for Viella.
The video ended abruptly, leaving my heart splintered into countless jagged pieces.
What should have been a moment of excitement had turned into a pit of cold despair.
I repeated Hendrick’s name over and over in my mind, my emotions twisting from heartbreak to seething hatred.
He knew, he had always known, how I felt about him. And yet, knowing I was on the brink of marriage, he still chose to humiliate me like this.
In the silence, the image of my childhood friend, the one who had once cherished me, who made wishes with me under shooting stars, who promised we would always be together, seemed to vanish, leaving behind only the shadow of what he had become.
“Hendrick, you once said I hadn’t given you a wedding gift, right? Well, here it is.”
I slipped the bracelet from my wrist and handed it back to him, the cool metal feeling foreign in my palm.
Hendrick stared at it, his eyes distant, as if the meaning of the moment was slipping through his fingers.
I remembered when his mother had given it to me just before she left.
She had said that, after her remarriage, I would likely be the one who cared the most about Hendrick in the world.
That’s why she entrusted me with this heirloom bracelet.
Back then, I had been over the moon, imagining it was a sign that Hendrick and I were destined to be together, forever.
But today, the day he was to propose to another woman, everything felt different.
Viella stepped forward, her fingers seizing the bracelet with barely a pause.
"Thank you, Ravenna. Hendrick and I will be so happy together."
Her words, sweet as poison, were followed by a cold appraisal of me; her eyes lingered on my veil.
"Your wedding dress is stunning," Viella said, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. "Since you're not getting married anymore, why not take it off and let me try it on?"
The audacity of her request took my breath away. I instinctively took a step back, shock freezing me.
"Viella, you're still wearing the bridesmaid dress I paid for, and now you want my wedding dress too?"
Viella’s gaze flicked down to her dress, a slight frown creasing her brow, but there was no shame in her eyes, only calculated indifference.
"You’ve already called it a bridesmaid dress, but I’m the one who’s the bride today," Viella sneered, her voice dripping with condescension. "Besides, I’ve always known that your marriage to that husband of yours was just a way to appease your families. Now that you’ve run off and left your wedding, there’s no way it’s happening today!"
I shot back, my voice firm and unwavering. "Who says I can’t get married? I just stepped out for a moment. Once I go back, everything will go as planned."
I gestured toward the grand hall behind the lawn, my heart pounding in my chest.
"In a little while, I’ll be getting married right there."
Viella burst into laughter, a cruel sound that cut through the air. "Sure, sure, your husband loves you to death. He's such a saint; he'll tolerate his bride running off to chase another man, making him look like a fool."
She gazed at me, a mocking pity in her eyes. "Ravenna, I know you're upset, but this is your choice, isn’t it? Stop pretending and spouting ridiculous nonsense."
"Do you even know how much it costs to hold a wedding in the grand hall of Sinclair Garden? Just the venue fee alone is 200,000 dollars! And it’s not just about the money—it’s all about connections."
"For me, Hendrick went through hell to pull strings, booking this lawn three months ahead. And now you're bragging about getting married in the grand hall? Be careful you don’t make a fool of yourself!"
As she finished, her sycophants erupted in laughter.
"I think Ravenna’s gone mad, bragging like that."
"Poor delusional bride. It’s almost sad."
Seeing my refusal to part with the dress, Viella couldn’t hide her impatience. She turned to Hendrick, her voice dripping with challenge. "Hendrick, don’t you think this wedding dress would look better on me than on her?"
Without sparing me a single glance, Hendrick raised an eyebrow, his voice smooth and confident. "Do you even need to ask? Of course, it would look better on you, baby."
His answer was all Viella needed. She immediately reached for my veil, her fingers brushing against my skin like a mockery. "I know this wedding dress is expensive. Your pathetic husband even bought it from some high-end brand overseas. Ravenna, since we’re such good friends, let me try it on!"
It was because we were supposed to be friends that I had asked her to be my bridesmaid. But I never imagined she’d already be tangled up with Hendrick.
I shouted, my voice sharp and desperate, "Don’t touch my veil! I’m going to walk down the aisle in this in just a moment!"
Viella’s sneer was cold and cruel. "Stop pretending! Walk down what aisle? Just take off the wedding dress!"
As I dug in my heels, refusing to budge, she turned to her group, frustration in her eyes. "Why are you all just standing there? Help me out!"
But her command fell on deaf ears. Instead, they looked to Hendrick, waiting for his signal.
I couldn’t help but stare at him, a small thread of hope still clinging to my heart, praying that after everything we had shared, he wouldn’t let her do this to me.
But Hendrick shot me a cold, indifferent glance, his voice as sharp as ice. "Didn’t you hear what your future sister-in-law said? Go, take off Ravenna’s wedding dress and let my fiancée try it on."
In an instant, a dozen hands reached for me, pulling at my dress, tugging at my veil.
I screamed. I shouted. And then, in the depths of despair, I shut my eyes.
This was the man I had loved for fifteen long years. A childhood friend who had always placed me at the bottom of his heart.
Just then, a sharp voice cut through the air, commanding, “Stop! What do you think you’re doing?”
I froze, stunned. The voice… sounded so much like my husband, someone I barely knew.
There was a flurry of footsteps, frantic and hurried, and in the next breath, a jacket, warm from the heat of a man’s body, was draped over my shoulders, shielding me from the chaos.
I couldn’t resist the urge to turn, and when I did, I was met with a face that took my breath away.
It was him.
My new husband, Milo Emerson.
