Chapter 3

"Alright, stop being so petty," Lauren said, softening her tone as if doing me a favor. She claimed she only took pity on Mason because he had no family around here. "He's already married, Luke. Stop getting jealous over nothing."

I stayed completely silent.

Lauren added that she would make it up to me with another wedding, promising she’d explain everything to her parents personally.

"Whatever you want."

"Then it's settled. We'll do it in a month. Mason will be free then, so he can even be the witness for our vows."

I barely registered anything else she said after that. The moment she finished speaking, she bustled off to the kitchen to simmer sweet dessert soup for Mason, fussing over his jet lag and swearing her homemade recipe was the ultimate cure.

I quietly packed up my personal belongings around the house. On the desk, my gaze fell on the calendar where today's date had been circled in bright red ink.

The day I marry my princess, Lauren.

Marrying her had been my greatest wish. I had spent months planning every detail of this ceremony. Her bridal gown was custom-made by a renowned haute couture designer my mother personally pulled strings to book.

Yet Lauren couldn't have cared less. She kicked it into a pile on the floor, treating it with the exact same careless disregard she had for our entire relationship.

Whatever didn't meet her fantasy was discarded like trash.

Early the next morning, Lauren took Mason out, claiming she didn't want him to feel lonely in a familiar city. I asked her casually how the new wedding preparations were coming along.

"Let's just have an intimate dinner with close family. We can just sign the marriage certificate. You know I never really cared for big, flashy weddings anyway."

She wrapped her arms around my neck. "Babe, you're not upset, right? You'll compromise for me, won't you?"

"Sure," I replied softly. "Whatever kind of wedding you want is fine with me."

After all, there wasn't going to be a groom waiting for her that day anyway. It just stunned me that she wouldn't even pretend to put in the bare minimum of effort for me.

My eyes wandered over to the wedding binder sitting on the counter, its pages crumpled. Though the groom's name had been left blank, every single detail—from the venue styling to the floral arrangements—reflected the grand dream wedding Lauren had always envisioned.

She had never shared any of those dreams with me.

My phone chimed twice.

Just as I unlocked the screen to look, the message was instantly recalled. A quick follow-up text popped up with an apologetic emoji: Sent by mistake!

Too late. I had already seen the picture. It was Lauren and Mason standing on a bungee jumping platform, strapped together for a tandem jump. The caption read: Checking off thing #99 on our bucket list with the love of my life.

A dull ache throbbed in my chest. Whenever I had suggested theme parks or roller coasters in the past, Lauren always claimed she had debilitating vertigo and couldn't handle any thrill rides.

Turns out, it wasn't the rides she couldn't handle. It was experiencing them with me.

I tossed my phone aside. There were still loose ends to tie up at the office before my flight. I was leaving, and I had no intention of looking back.