Chapter 3

“Adrian, please. I’m begging you.”

Adrian remains silent.

For Lily, that counts as a promise.

She winks at me.

“See, Evelyn? You don’t have to worry anymore. With Adrian here, no one will ever bully you again.”

Then she takes my hand and gently places it in Nathan Caldwell’s palm.

I jerk in surprise and try to pull away.

Nathan closes his fingers around mine before I can.

The pressure on my knuckles is a clear warning.

If I move again, he might break my fingers.

I go still.

Lily smiles.

“Lastly, I want to give Nathan back to you.”

Nathan Caldwell is the man who once stood beside me during one of the darkest periods of my life.

I knew him before I turned eighteen.

Back then, I saw him as my salvation and the man I loved.

I worked desperately to become someone worthy of standing beside him.

Then I started university, and Nathan met Lily.

One look was enough for her to decide that she wanted him.

She pursued him relentlessly.

She even pressed a knife to her throat and threatened to kill herself unless I gave him up.

She said she had never felt this way about any man.

Nathan only gave a faint smile.

“Enough, Evelyn. It’s only a relationship. You’ll get over it.”

Then he abandoned me and chose her.

They have been together for eight years.

Now Lily is dying, and she wants to give him back to me as if he were something she borrowed.

He never knew how long I had dreamed of that wedding.

Back in the hospital room, Lily looks at me with tears in her eyes.

“Evelyn, I’ll give you back the wedding I owe you. I’ll plan everything myself.”

Everyone is moved by her selflessness.

No one asks whether I still want any of it.

Lily insists on choosing my wedding dress herself.

At the bridal boutique, she tries on one white ball gown after another.

“This one is too long. It hides my legs.”

“The waist on this one is too high. It doesn’t show my figure.”

In the end, she pulls out an outdated green gown several sizes too large and holds it out to me.

I do not take it.

Lily’s eyes immediately fill with hurt.

“Evelyn, don’t you like it?”

“Of course she does,” Nathan says. “You chose it for her.”

His warning gaze lands on me.

Then he orders the bridal assistants to take me into the fitting room.

The gown hangs loosely from my body when I walk out.

Nathan looks me up and down.

“Lily has excellent taste. It looks beautiful.”

I give a cold laugh.

“Who wears green to her own wedding?”

“Green represents new beginnings,” Lily says gently. “Don’t read too much into it.”

“This dress looks like it was made for someone twice my size,” I say. “Lily, do you actually want me to marry Nathan?”

Her expression changes.

Nathan immediately snaps at me.

“You always assume everyone has bad intentions. If it’s too loose, they can clip it at the back.”

Afterward, we go to choose the wedding rings.

Lily slides the custom men’s band onto Nathan’s finger.

Then she puts the matching women’s ring on her own ring finger.

They lace their fingers together, and Lily rests her head against his shoulder.

“This set was designed by Nathan for me and made to fit my hand,” she says tearfully.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wear the replica.”

Their rings are made of platinum.

Lily’s is set with a ten-carat pink diamond surrounded by smaller stones, handmade by a famous jeweler from Nathan’s design.

Mine has a silver band and a large pink glass stone.

It looks like cheap costume jewelry.

I do not care about the price.

But even the sales associate looks uncomfortable when she places it in front of me.

The ring for my wedding was designed for Lily.

I am only allowed to wear the imitation.