Chapter 1

On the day my grandmother Nana was in critical condition, Scott accompanied me back to my small hometown. For a second, I thought he had finally decided to put me first.

But at the hospital's billing counter, he left his phone in my hand when he went to use the restroom.

The screen lit up. It was a group chat notification from his friends.

"Scott, are you seriously at the hospital with Elly right now?"

"Aren't you afraid she’ll find out you only agreed to marry her because Aurora refused to see you?"

"What's there to fear? Elly is so easy to handle. A few sweet words and she’ll believe anything."

"Seriously, though. If Aurora comes back, are you still going to marry Elly?"

Scott replied two minutes later:

"Stop asking stupid questions. If Aurora comes back, this wedding is off."

I stood in front of the payment window, my hands trembling so hard I couldn’t even insert my credit card into the slot.

Catherine walked up just then to drop off some food. She caught a glimpse of the screen and let out a sharp laugh.

"Well, Elly. It turns out you’re nothing but a placeholder bride, huh?"

"And here you are, telling Nana every day how good he is to you. Hilarious. If Nana heard this, she’d jump right out of her hospital bed."

Late that night, as I sat on the bench outside the ICU, I quietly canceled my bridal photoshoot reservation with Scott.

Then, I opened my laptop. I took my pending transfer request to Chicago—the one I had submitted just to be closer to him—and changed it to an application for International Medical Relief.