"Miss Fox, we've changed the wedding setup exactly the way you asked. Was there anything else you'd like?"

"No, that's all. Thank you."

I hung up and walked into the hotel beside me.

The third day was my birthday.

It was the day we'd originally planned to get married.

He'd said he would surprise me at the wedding. Two happy occasions at once.

Now it seemed that was off the table.

He'd already shortchanged me. I wasn't going to shortchange myself too.

I paid extra for the hotel staff to decorate my room, and got ready to celebrate my birthday alone.

At noon, I went home to grab a few things.

The moment I opened the door, I froze where I stood.

The living room was filled with white baby's breath.

Candles had been arranged on the floor in the shape of a heart.

My dead heart suddenly slammed hard against my ribs.

I couldn't stop myself. I lifted my feet and moved closer, one step at a time.

There was a cake on the dining table.

The cake read:

"Happy Birthday, Dawn."

The pounding in my chest stilled all at once, and went back to dead silence.

I turned my head toward the master bedroom.

Dawn was sitting on the bed in my silk nightgown, and Oswald was bent over her, fastening a necklace around her neck.

It was the one I'd saved three months of my salary for, and never let myself buy.

Hearing my footsteps, they looked up at the same time.

Oswald flinched, as if something had just come back to him, his expression a little stiff.

"Millie, why are you home? It's Dawn's birthday today, so I'm throwing her a little celebration, you—"

"Today is my birthday too."

I cut him off.

The air went silent in an instant.

Dawn's eyes reddened immediately. She stood up, looking flustered all over.

"I'm so sorry, Millie. I had no idea today was your birthday. Here, take the cake, I won't have any—"

"No need."

I looked at Oswald.

"You remember her birthday but not mine. Is that it?"

His face darkened.

"Millie, are you serious? She hasn't celebrated her birthday in three years. What's wrong with me throwing her one?"

"You celebrate your birthday every year. Would it kill you to skip it for one year? I already told you, just seven days. Can you stop picking at this one thing day after day?"

"Just seven days?"

I looked around at the baby's breath filling the room.

"Oswald, three months ago I told you I wanted baby's breath for my birthday."

"What did you say back then? You said it was a waste of money. Pointless."

He choked on that, then turned even more irritated.

"Wasn't this a special situation? When it's our wedding, I'll fill a whole room with it for you, all right? Don't throw a tantrum here and make Dawn laugh at us."

Dawn tugged at his arm.

"Oswald, maybe I should just go. I don't want to come between you two—"

Oswald pressed her back down.

"Go where? You're not the one who should leave."

"Millie, if you can't stand the sight of it, then get out. Don't stand here ruining the mood."

I looked at him, and then I smiled.

"Fine."

I turned and walked out of the home I'd lived in for three years.

The moment the door closed, I heard Dawn crying inside, and Oswald soothing her.

The last four days.

Oswald took Dawn to the beach where we'd planned to shoot our wedding photos, and they did an entire couple's set.

Then he took Dawn up to a mountaintop overlook and hung a love lock there.

That was the place I'd asked him to go for a whole year, and he'd always refused, saying his knees hurt.

Dawn posted on her feed every day, and Oswald was in every photo.

Underneath the captions, she always added a line:

"Thank you, Millie, for letting us be together."

Nina was so furious she wanted to go after them and have it out, but I stopped her.

There was no point anymore.

On the night of the seventh day, I went home to pack my things.

When I opened the door, Oswald and Dawn were sitting on the couch, looking through the photos they'd taken over the past seven days.

Seeing me come back, Oswald rose to his feet, his face lit with a relieved smile.

"Millie, you're back. Seven days are up. The deal between me and Dawn is over. Tomorrow's our wedding, and everything's back on track."

Dawn stood up too, her eyes red as she apologized to me:

"Millie, thank you for putting up with all of this these past seven days. I'll leave tomorrow, and I'll never bother the two of you again."

As she spoke, she threw herself into Oswald's arms and started to cry.

Oswald patted her back, soothing her for a long while before he finally looked up at me.

He opened his mouth, hesitated, then said:

"Millie, tonight... Dawn says she wants to sleep in our wedding bed one last time, as a way to truly say goodbye to the past."

"Could you stay at a hotel tonight? Just this one last night. Tomorrow we'll be married."

I looked at him.

This man I'd loved for three years.

This man I'd thought I'd spend my whole life with.

Then I nodded.

"Fine."

He let out a breath and smiled:

"I knew you were the reasonable one. Get some rest early, then. I'll come pick you up in the morning."

I picked up my packed suitcase, pulled open the door, and walked out.

I didn't look back.

The next morning.

When Oswald woke up, Dawn was already gone.

He looked at the empty room, thought back on the absurdity of those seven days, and felt a flicker of guilt.

After asking around among his friends, he decided to set up a little surprise at the wedding to win her over.

He took out his phone and called the hotel.

He wanted them to make the wedding venue a touch more romantic, to add more baby's breath.

The call connected quickly.

Oswald said with a smile:

"Hello, this is Oswald Harding, the groom for today's wedding. Could you help me—"

Before he could finish, the receptionist's startled voice cut him off:

"Mr. Harding? Why are you calling now? Aren't you supposed to be at the ceremony right now?"

The smile froze on Oswald's face.

"What? I haven't even gone to the hotel yet."

The receptionist faltered too:

"Mr. Harding, the wedding program has already started. Let me just confirm with you—the bride is Miss Millie Fox, correct?"

"Miss Fox arrived a while ago. I went over the program with her myself this morning, and you, the groom, were standing right there beside her. You... you really don't know?"

Oswald's voice came out as if forced through clenched teeth:

"I haven't left my place all morning. The groom you're talking about isn't me."

As the words left him, a server's urging voice carried through from the other end:

"Kitchen, kitchen! Ten more bottles of wine for the wedding hall. Miss Fox says the groom has a lot of friends, the guests are asking, get it done fast!"