I begged my boss, Arthur Hutton, ninety-eight times for us to get officially married.

Each time, he canceled our plans because his childhood sweetheart deliberately lured him away.

On the ninety-ninth attempt, I waited for him at the city hall.

Arthur simply patted my head and then put up a sign on the door that read, [Serena Xander and Dogs Not Allowed.]

He said indifferently, “Millie’s throwing a fit, and I can’t calm her down. I need to marry her first.

“I’ll divorce her, so just wait for me. Next Wednesday is a good day. I’ll marry you then.”

But he did not know that I only had ninety-nine chances to give.

I would be resigning the following week.

The news about the sign at city hall quickly became the top trending search topic across the entire city.

Everyone was curious about who Serena Xander was and why the billionaire CEO explicitly banned her from entering.

Arthur Hutton remained completely unbothered. He forwarded the trending topic to his social media feed.

[She got jealous and insisted on getting married to me. To make sure no one bothers us, I set up this plan.

[My bad for blowing up the timeline, folks!]

He posted these captions with a photo of him and Camila Leach showing off their official marriage license.

On the license, Arthur was the groom, and Camila was the bride.

This was the very license I had begged Arthur to get with me 99 times before, without any success.

Camila had secured it with a single jealous outburst.

And I was labelled as “no one.”

I dropped a like on the post and sat on the stairs. I was lost in my own thoughts.

Today was Valentine’s Day. It was a good day to get married.

The line of eager couples waiting to be married stretched from the city hall lobby all the way to the next intersection.

Arthur and Camila walked up to me.

Arthur said in surprise, “Why are you still here? I already told you that the divorce won’t be finalized for another three days.

“Don’t worry. I give you my word. Just three days, and I’ll definitely marry you. I mean it this time.”

I remained silent.

I recalled the last time we tried to register our marriage.

Arthur said Camila’s dog was hungry, and he had to go buy pet food for her, so he could not proceed with our registration.

On that day, I cried over that absurd excuse so much that my eyes were swollen.

Arthur simply held Camila and watched me quietly.

Only after my tears had run dry did he reluctantly toss me a tissue.

He told me to go home early and even reminded me to cook dinner.

At that moment, I just looked at the joy in Camila’s face. I felt numb as I said calmly, “Do you want to take a picture?”

Arthur was startled. He did not understand what I meant.

“What?”

I pointed at Camila and said, “Do you want me to take a picture for you two? I brought a veil. She can borrow it.”

Arthur froze. He had only just realized how elaborately I had dressed up for the day.

He had promised me 99 times. I kept holding on to the hope that we would finally get married, and that our love would last a lifetime.

But he broke his promise again.

I smiled, took off my veil, and gave it to Camila before I turned and walked away.

Arthur frowned. He did not understand what I was making a fuss about.

Camila gently tugged at his clothes, and his attention shifted back to her.

He only managed to mutter dismissively, “She’s so dramatic!”

I paused briefly, then continued walking away.

‘Arthur, I won’t wait for you anymore,’ I thought.

…

That night, I did not go home. Instead, I went straight to the best hotel in the city center.

I had originally booked it to celebrate our marriage registration. Sadly, I was the only one there tonight.

Before going to bed, I saw Camila’s social media update.

She and Arthur were at the rooftop bar just one floor away from my room.

She looked youthful as she nestled in Arthur’s arms. They smiled radiantly as she showed off the large pink diamond sparkling on her finger.

The caption read: A limited edition of the season.

Camila even tagged me in her post. She thanked me for giving them my blessing.

Indeed, she should thank me. I was the one who took Arthur to pick out that diamond ring.

I was also the one who bargained tirelessly to get a better price because I did not want him to overspend.

I woke up late the next day.

By the time I rushed to the law firm, the team meeting had already started.

When I entered, everyone gave me pitiful gazes, especially Valeria, who was close to me.

She hesitated for a while and finally handed me an exquisitely wrapped goody bag.

“The receptionist handed these out to celebrate the boss’s marriage.”

The white packaging reminded me of when we first tried to register our marriage.

I was still young then and inexperienced in the ways of the world.

I stayed up all night preparing over thirty boxes of goody bags to share our joy with everyone.

Arthur sneered at the effort.

He said I was being tacky for making a fuss over silly gestures just for a marriage registration.

So, he threw every single bag into the trash.

In the end, we did not go through with the registration. After that, I never stayed up all night wrapping goody bags ever again.

Valeria’s eyes welled up when she saw that I was lost in my thoughts.

She said hurriedly, “Serena, try not to take it to heart. We all know you were his girlfriend.

“You were with him when he had nothing. You built this successful firm together. You endured those awful client dinners until you were sick. You worked cases for days without sleep. When that defendant lunged at him in court, you were the one who jumped in front of him…”

She could not bring herself to finish her sentence.

My other colleagues also fell silent and looked at me with pity.

They all knew how in love I was with Arthur.

They had all seen the news. They knew about the [Serena Xander and Dogs Not Allowed] sign.

In the end, I was the one who changed the subject. “It’s fine,” I said. “It’s all in the past now.”

I was not going to be part of Arthur’s life anymore.

“What’s in the past? What’re you talking about?”

Arthur suddenly appeared.

“Nothing, just casual talk.”

Arthur frowned. His expression instantly turned cold, as if he had thought of something.

“Serena, I know what you’re up to.

“You’re just jealous that I treated Millie well, so you’re playing the victim to make me look bad and get everyone’s sympathy. Isn’t that right?

“For a high-class lawyer, you sure resort to petty tricks.”

He glared at me. He sure must have felt like a knight protecting his princess.

But Camila was no princess.

She was the other woman who had meddled in someone else’s relationship.

I felt somewhat amused but could not be bothered to respond.

Arthur, however, grew even more convinced he was right and lifted his chin arrogantly.

“You know what? Considering the history we have, I’m going to let this one slide.

“But I’m warning you, don’t do this again.”

After he was done talking, he noticed the goody bags on the table.

His mocking expression vanished instantly.

After a moment of silence, he pulled out a concert ticket from his pocket. It was the one concert I had been waiting for a long time to attend.

He looked a little uneasy as he said, “This is the ticket to your favorite singer’s concert. Let’s go together tonight.”

I knew this was his way of making it up to me.

Seeing that I was not accepting his offer, he added, “You have my word. I’ll be at city hall the day after tomorrow. I won’t back out this time.”

All our colleagues gathered around in shock.

Valeria’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

After thinking for a moment, I ended up taking the ticket.

After all, considering the past five years, he owed me far too much.

That evening, I arrived on time at the concert entrance.

A long line stretched all the way to the next street, but there was no sign of Arthur.

I always used to wait for him outside the venue whenever there was an event. I’d always be the very last person to go in.

A few times it had rained, and the ticket gates closed early.

I just sat on the stairs and listened to the entire concert before. I would get soaked in the rain.

Tonight, I would not wait for him.

I could finally enjoy the concert properly.

…

During the audience interaction segment of the concert, the camera panned across the crowd and finally landed on Arthur and Camila.

It seemed that he had indeed come.

He had simply booked different seats for himself and Camila.

When she noticed the camera, Camila became overly excited and tried to form a heart with Arthur.

Arthur, however, acted as though he did not see her and lowered his head and pretended to be busy on his phone.

Just then, my phone buzzed.

It was a text from Arthur.

[Hey, where are you? Did you end up going to the concert?

[It’s Millie’s birthday. She really wanted to come, so I kind of had to bring her along.]

This was new. It was the first time he had ever explained himself to me, so I willingly replied.

[Yes, I’m at the concert. Don’t worry about it.]

On camera, Camila’s expression slowly shifted from excitement to resentment.

Fortunately, the cameraman noticed it and turned the camera away.

After the concert ended, I took my own sweet time before I returned home. I went for a walk along the beach.

My phone kept buzzing incessantly.

Almost all the notifications were texts from Arthur, and the rest were social media posts where Camila had tagged me.

It turned out that a clip of her and Arthur at the concert had gone viral.

On every promotional page that shared the video, she had pinned a comment specifically tagging me.

The caption read:

[My busy lawyer made time to come to the concert with me despite his busy schedule.]

In another comment, she added, [Okay, everyone, show’s over. Mr. Hutton saw the posts and is already begging for my forgiveness.]

The attached picture showed Arthur on one knee as he tied her shoelaces.

Her intentions were obvious, but I did not care. I liked every single post.

It was already early morning by the time I returned home.

The lights in the living room were still on.

To my surprise, Arthur had fallen asleep on the couch with his laptop in his arms.

During our five years together, he had always stayed out for his enjoyment until midnight, and I was always the one who ended up sleeping on the couch.

Even in the first year of his startup, when I drank until I vomited to help him secure clients and was rushed to the hospital by a colleague, Arthur never waited up for me.

At most, he would send me a message to tell me to come home early.

Then, he would fall sound asleep.

My thoughts were interrupted when Arthur was startled awake when I opened the door.

He rubbed his eyes. When he saw me, he straightened up with a stiff face.

“Where were you? Why weren’t you answering your phone? I thought something happened to you…”

He did not finish his sentence, as if he was suddenly aware of his own outburst.

He pursed his lips and awkwardly pulled a velvet jewelry box from his pocket.

I took it and opened the box. There was a sparkling diamond ring inside.

I was stunned.

I had waited five years for this ring.

In those five years, I had hoped that one day Arthur would stop me, ask for my hand, and slip the ring onto my finger.

I thought that once the ring was on my finger, he would settle down with me.

I finally had the ring, but it felt unpleasant in my hand.

I immediately regretted opening the box.

I thought for a moment before I took out my phone to send him my resignation letter.

Arthur frowned. He did not understand what I meant by this.

He thought I would be crying tears of joy and swear to love him for the rest of my life.

He coughed and said eagerly, “What’s the matter? Are you so happy you’re speechless?”

I did not look up and continued searching through my phone.

My phone was out of battery, and it shut down abruptly.

Left with no other option, I went back to my room to look for a charger.

Arthur’s face stiffened. He reached out and was about to demand an explanation.

Just then, someone knocked on the front door.

Camila shivered in the night. She wore only a thin white dress.

“Artie, my electricity went out. You wouldn’t mind if I stayed over, would you?”

“Sure.”

I was the one who answered her.

After all, I would be leaving the day after tomorrow. It did not matter whether she stayed over or not.

Camila was stunned. She then immediately threw herself into Arthur’s arms like a frightened little kitten.

For the first time, I saw confusion and hurt in Arthur’s eyes as he looked at me.