Harper’s voice had not been loud. If anything, it was remarkably calm. It was as if she were simply commenting on the weather.

I sat across from her while staring in disbelief at the woman I had loved for eight years.

Back when we first started dating, she was the one who held me and said that her greatest wish in life was to graduate as soon as possible and marry me.

She had also said that whenever life became exhausting, the thought of marrying me motivated her to keep going.

But somehow, I had become the one pressuring her. I had turned into the one who could not wait.

“Harper, you’re the one who said–”

“So what?” Harper interrupted, sounding impatient.

“People change their minds. I’m busy right now, so I don’t want to get married yet. Can you accept that?”

With that, she shot to her feet.

The chair legs scraped across the floor with a harsh screech.

“Take some time to calm down. Something came up at work, so I’m leaving.”

The door slammed shut behind her, and the sound echoed through the room before everything fell into dead silence.

I sat frozen in my chair, my gaze falling on the closed ring box in front of me.

It felt like a hard slap across my face, the type that left your skin burning and stinging.

On our eighth anniversary, the proposal I had worked up all my courage to make ended in complete humiliation.

A notification chimed on my phone. It was the edited video of our eight years together that I had commissioned.

I had planned to curl up on the sofa with Harper and watch it projected on the screen, but that was no longer possible.

When I set my phone down, I accidentally hit play.

The next second, a bright, cheerful female voice came through the speaker.

“Today is February 14, 2018, Valentine’s Day. Jayden and I came to Lake Eronne. I, Harper Langley, swear upon this lake that I will love Jayden Grant for as long as I live.”

It was the first trip Harper and I had taken by ourselves after graduating from high school, and we had traveled to Dewmere.

Harper had made that vow at the foot of Mount Caelum, beside Lake Eronne.

Every memory I had with Harper played through my mind, frame by frame: holding hands at amusement parks as children, sitting in the same classroom at school, sheltering from rain by the roadside, and cooking together in our first shared home.

In the end, I still could not bring myself to let go of this childhood love.

Perhaps she had only acted this way because the pressure of starting her own business had become too much for her.

I should have been more understanding.

After thinking it through, I grabbed my coat and went to Harper’s company.

Just as I reached the entrance and raised my hand to knock, a woman’s confused voice came from inside.

“Harper, what were you thinking? Jayden’s been with you for eight years. He proposed because he wants to marry you. Did you really have to hide out at the office like this?

“Besides, you used to go on and on in school about being his future wife. Now that you’re at the right age to get married, why are you dragging this out? You didn’t even accept his proposal.”

My hand froze midair. I instinctively held my breath.

The faint click of a lighter came from inside.

Harper had picked up smoking during the early stages of her business, but she only smoked when she was especially stressed.

After a long silence, I finally heard a familiar voice.

“I honestly don’t know.”

Harper’s usually calm voice carried a faint sense of uncertainty.

“At first, I wanted to get married. Even starting the company was tied to that thought. I wanted to succeed and marry him in style.

“But for some reason, whenever marriage comes up now, Eugene’s face keeps popping into my mind.”

“What?” Her best friend gasped in disbelief.

“Didn’t you detest him the most back at university? You even said he was like chewing gum that wouldn’t come off.

“I found it strange when you first started the company and hired him as your secretary. I never thought you’d actually fall for him. But what about Jayden?”

Harper fell silent for a long time before she finally answered.

“I wouldn’t say I like him. I still love Jayden. It’s just that Eugene has been by my side for so many years. If I marry Jayden, he’ll be really hurt. It just makes him seem… kind of pitiful.”

I did not know how I exited the building.

By the time I came to my senses, I was already out on the street in a daze. My face was wet with tears.

Never had I imagined Eugene to be the reason Harper did not want to get married.

Although Harper and I had attended the same university and even the same class, we chose different academic tracks.

On the first day of class, she had messaged me, saying that a boy had asked for her contact details and kept tailing her even after she turned him down.

That boy was Eugene.

Later, she became so annoyed that she started bringing me along to class.

Even so, it did not deter Eugene from pursuing her. He still trailed behind her.

But my childhood bond with Harper was never something he could threaten. She had rejected him coldly every time.

For that reason, I never once doubted her feelings for me.

Even when Harper hired Eugene as her secretary during the early days of her company, I had only assumed he shared her academic background and was simply well-suited for the position.

I never expected Eugene to already occupy a place in her heart without me realizing it.

Harper had abandoned the idea of marrying me out of pity for his years of unrequited love.

What would come after that?

Would she feel guilty again over his steadfast devotion and eventually give him a chance to be with her just to make him happy?

What would our childhood bond even amount to?

A phone notification pulled me back to reality.

It was a voice message from Mom.

“Jayden, you and Harper have been together for eight years. It’s about time you got married. A while back, Mrs. Litchfield asked me if you two had broken up, since you’ve been together so long without getting married. She also said that if you had split up, she could introduce you to her niece. I…”

As I listened to Mom’s rambling voice, I wiped away my tears and replied, carefully emphasizing every word.

“Mom, Harper and I have broken up. Please tell Mrs. Litchfield I’d like to meet her niece.”

Mom was shocked. She immediately called me to ask what had happened.

I did not go into the details to keep her from worrying.

She remained silent on the other end of the line for a long time and ultimately did not press me further.

“Alright. I’ll let Mrs. Litchfield know. Remember this, Jayden. No matter what happens, your dad and I only want you to be happy.”

Mabel Litchfield handled things efficiently and arranged for me to meet her niece the next day.

Upon meeting her, I realized Mabel’s niece was Isla Wilson, a senior from my university.

The blind date moved quickly. Once we both agreed there were no issues, we moved straight into marriage discussions and set the wedding early next month.

Even with the tight schedule, Isla took the initiative to plan the wedding with me.

She managed every step with calm precision, from wedding photos and venue selection to invitations and guest arrangements.

That was when I understood that truly wanting to marry someone was never about hollow promises. It was about what she was willing to do to make it happen.

“Alright, Jayden. We haven’t seen each other for almost two weeks. Let’s not talk about anything unpleasant.”

Harper’s words pulled me out of my reverie.

I looked at her. She still wore that familiar gentle expression, as if nothing about her had ever changed.

But I knew that behind that mask, everything had already fallen apart.

I stood up and avoided her touch.

“I’m going to the restroom.”

Since our anniversary, when we parted on bad terms, Harper had remained at the office. She had not returned home or texted me.

I had also been busy preparing the wedding with Isla and had long since pushed her out of my thoughts.

After nearly two weeks without seeing or contacting each other, I had come to see it as an unspoken breakup with Harper.

I had attended this class reunion to hand out wedding invitations to my former classmates, but I had not expected her to show up as well.

I composed myself after leaving the restroom and headed back to the private room to distribute the invitations.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Eugene confronting Harper. His eyes were teary, and his voice cracked as he spoke.

“You said you wouldn’t get married in the first five years of starting your company. Why did you lie to me?”

Harper’s eyes flickered with a complicated emotion I could not decipher. She sighed and spoke in a resigned tone.

“I didn’t lie to you. Jayden told our classmates we were getting married just to avoid embarrassment. That’s all.

“You know he proposed to me two weeks ago, and I turned him down. I gave you my word that I wouldn’t get married within five years, and I’m not going back on it.”

Eugene finally smiled and pulled her into his arms.

“I know you love Jayden, but I also know I have a place in your heart.

“I don’t expect you to marry me. As long as I can have you by my side until I’m thirty, I’ll be more than satisfied. Besides, I’m the only man standing next to you at the company. Jayden isn’t there. There’s only me.”

Harper’s hands clenched unconsciously at her sides, yet she did not push him away.

I smirked as I watched them locked in an embrace a short distance away.

So, Harper had promised Eugene she would not get married for five years, and I had been completely unaware of it.

Thankfully, I was about to marry someone else.

Her promise to Eugene, be it five or ten years, was no longer my concern.

I withdrew my gaze and walked away.

Upon returning to the private room, I handed out the invitations to my former classmates one by one.

Everyone’s faces lit up with surprise as they received them.

“I can’t believe you even printed the invitations already. It looks like we’re definitely attending your wedding next month.”

“Let me see the venue. I’ll be sure to bring you and Harper a big wedding gift!”

When they opened the invitations, they found that the bride’s name was not Harper, as they had expected, but an unfamiliar one.

The room instantly fell silent. Everyone exchanged bewildered looks.

Someone finally spoke up cautiously.

“You’re… kidding, right, Jayden?”

I smiled.

“No. Harper and I have already broken up, so of course, she’s not the bride. You’re all welcome to attend my wedding with my soon-to-be wife.”

The moment the words left my lips, a loud crash came from the doorway.

Harper’s glass had slipped from her fingers and shattered across the floor.

She looked deathly pale.