That was how the last three years had gone, and the two of them had long since grown used to it.

But not this time.

I, Elaine Fox, was done being anyone's shadow.

After dinner at my parents' place, I went to my room early to lie down.

But I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, and then my phone buzzed.

It was Raymond.

"I rebooked my flight."

"I'll land tonight."

"Where are you right now? I'll come get you."

I shot upright.

Wasn't it supposed to take two days? How was he coming back this fast?

"I'm at my parents' place."

"Then wait for me there. Don't go anywhere."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

I hung up, walked to the window, and pushed it open.

The night air drifted in, cool.

The sycamore leaves along the street rustled.

Sure enough, a few minutes later a black car pulled up.

Raymond stepped out in a sharp suit, tall and straight-backed.

"Come down."

He texted me.

At the same moment, a message from Tyler popped up too.

"Isabel and I got a big dinner out tonight, so I won't be home for supper."

"Don't wait up. Eat without me."

I let out a scoff and didn't answer.

In my slippers, still in my pajamas, I ran downstairs.

"Raymond. I didn't think you'd get here so quickly."

Seeing me in my thin pajamas, Raymond frowned and swiftly shrugged off his suit jacket, draping

it over my shoulders.

"I didn't get to ask on the phone."

"You and Tyler seemed to be doing fine. How does it go from that to breaking up just like that?"

Raymond was my childhood sweetheart, and in my parents' eyes the future son-in-law who checked every box.

But in college I'd been wildly infatuated with Tyler.

It had taken everything I had to win over Tyler, that untouchable prize.

And now I regretted it.

"Whatever the reason, I've broken up with him."

"Raymond, didn't you say it yourself once? If no other man would have me, you'd marry me."

"So I'm asking you—right now, will you still marry me?"

Raymond stared straight at me for two seconds, then let out a low laugh and took my hand.

"I will."

"Come on. Get in."

He opened the car door for me himself, and I was completely at a loss.

"Where are we going?"

"Your stomach was growling a second ago. You didn't get enough at dinner, did you?"

Raymond gave a knowing little smile.

"I'm taking you to the food stalls."

I pressed a hand to my stomach. I'd been too busy talking to notice it growling, and he'd caught even that small thing.

Yet after all these years together,

Tyler had never once put this much care into me.

The whole way down the row of stalls, Raymond ate almost ravenously. I looked at him, surprised.

"Have you not eaten all day?"

He nodded.

"I was in a hurry to get back and see who'd upset my fiancée this badly."

I was on the verge of laughing when a video from Isabel suddenly popped up on my phone.

"Elaine, look how good your boyfriend is to you. He made you apology pastries with his own hands."

"Seeing how hard he's trying to make it right,"

"just forgive him."

Looking at that message and that voice note come through,

my heart went cold inch by inch, all the way to the bottom.

After years as best friends,

Isabel of all people knew exactly what I liked.

Yet she couldn't even see that those apology pastries were the ones she loved, not me.

I'd eaten them once and run straight to the toilet to throw them up.

I didn't reply. Instead, another memory surfaced.

A long time ago.

Because Isabel was my best friend, Tyler had kept his distance from her.

Isabel felt slighted by it, and once, eyes red, she chased after him and demanded an answer.

"What did I ever do to you? You hate me so much you avoid me at every turn."

Tyler caught her sleeve, carefully.

"I don't hate you."

He pinned her into the corner against the wall.

"I… I just wanted to see less of you. Otherwise, I can't control myself."

He reminded himself he had a girlfriend.

But he had fallen for her anyway.

"This time, I'll go abroad with you. I promise."

"Once we're seeing each other less often—"

"Elaine won't have so much time to make trouble."

"Wherever you want to travel, I'll take you. All right?"

I leaned back against the corner of the wall and listened, quietly, to all of it. The vows. The confessions poured out to each other.

Tears slid down my face.

I wanted nothing more than to charge over and demand to know—

why, when he'd clearly fallen for Isabel,

he still wanted to stay with me.

But this time, let me be the one to end all of it.

Tyler still messaged me every day. Good morning, good afternoon, good night.

I never replied. Not once.

Until the next day.

Isabel messaged first, inviting me to a meal.

"Elaine, you're my best friend. I don't want any misunderstanding between us."

"Tomorrow, Tyler and I are leaving for overseas together."

"We'll be back in two years, but until then it'll be hard to see each other."

"Let it go, okay? Let's go out and eat together."

I told myself some things really did need to be said out loud.

So I agreed to go.

Isabel's delight and excitement spilled out right through the screen.

"That's wonderful. I knew you'd say yes. I'm going to order all your favorite dishes right now!"

But when I got to the private room, I found they'd started long ago.

The table held nothing but a pile of cold, picked-over scraps.

"Didn't we agree you'd wait for me? Why did you start without me?"

Tyler lifted his eyes, glanced at his watch, and said flatly.

"Didn't you say you'd be here in half an hour? You were half an hour late."

"How is that anyone else's fault?"

Isabel played along beside him with a laugh, sliding another plate of pasta toward me.

"It's all Tyler's fault. He acted like a starving man reborn and insisted on eating first."

"I already gave him a good scolding on your behalf."

"I saved this plate specially for you. I know it's your favorite, so nobody touched it."

Looking at that plate of pasta, I lost my appetite in an instant.

It hadn't been touched because Isabel didn't like pasta, that was all.

Maybe she noticed my silence.

Isabel started up a new topic, testing the water with the question.

"Elaine, tomorrow Tyler and I leave from the airport. You'll come see us off, won't you?"

Every other time they went on a trip together, off to some other city to run experiments,

I'd trailed along eagerly behind them to see them off.

Every time, I wished them a safe journey.

And waited for them to come home safe.

But this time, I shook my head.

"I'm not sure I'll be free."

Because that day, as it happened, was my wedding to Raymond.

Tyler let out a cold laugh.

"You help out at your dad's company. You clock in and that's it. You don't even show up for work, and you still get paid."

"How busy could you possibly be? And you're 'not sure' you'll be free?"

"If you don't come, don't come crying to me with regrets later."

As he said it, he and Isabel exchanged a smile.

The look, the expression, as if they were humoring a child.

But Tyler.

I really won't be seeing you off.

Early the next morning.

Tyler and Isabel waited at the airport. It was the fifth time they'd looked up toward the doors.

"What's going on? Elaine's still not here."

"She isn't skipping our send-off today, is she?"

"How could she?"

Tyler shut it down without a shred of doubt.

"She's never once missed seeing us off. She won't miss this trip abroad either."

"Maybe she just hit traffic and got held up."

But right then—

Isabel idly opened her social media feed, and the next second her eyes went wide with shock.

"Tyler, quick, look—look!"

"How can today be Elaine's wedding?!"

"Who… who is she marrying?"