Chapter 2

Back at the bridal boutique, Chloe held the wedding dress against herself and asked, “Do you think this suits me?”

Adrian smiled indulgently.

“Of course. You have a beautiful figure.”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned and looked around with a frown.

“Where did Emma go?”

Chloe said, “I don't know. Honestly, it almost feels like the wedding doesn't even matter to her.”

My phone rang.

It was Adrian.

The second I answered, his voice came through sharp and cold.

“Emma, where the hell did you run off to?”

I leaned against the far end of the hallway, phone in hand, and answered flatly.

“I'm a little tired. I came home first.”

On the other end, Chloe sounded bright and cheerful.

“Then get some rest. I've already picked out the dress and invitations for you.”

Then came Adrian's low voice, edged with reproach.

“Look at Chloe. She’s been bending over backward to make sure everything is handled for you. Once this wedding is over, you owe her a real thank-you.”

I looked at my pale reflection in the glass window and suddenly laughed.

Was she really helping me, or was she just taking over my wedding without caring what I wanted?

I said nothing else and hung up.

When I woke the next morning, the wedding planning group chat was already sitting at 99+ unread messages.

I opened the only voice message in which Chloe had tagged me.

Her sweet, syrupy voice came through the speaker.

“Emma, I changed the background music for you. The song you picked was too heavy. A wedding should feel lighter.”

The very next second, Adrian's reply appeared.

[Yeah. The original song doesn't fit. A lot of guests will be there. Change it to something lighter.]

I stared at those words as my fingers slowly tightened.

The song I had chosen was the one that had played at my parents' wedding.

I had once imagined that when the melody sounded at my own wedding, they would be there with me in another way, walking me down the aisle.

But now everyone in the group chat was saying the new song was better.

Not one person asked me, Emma, is that what you want?

I set the phone face down on the table, and the room went instantly quiet.

Deep in the closet hung the unopened garment bag for my wedding dress.

On the desk sat the invitation sample. The embossed gold names on the cover stung my eyes. I threw it into the trash.

I had once thought that, at least at this wedding, I would finally get to be the center of the story.

But in the end, even the music, the dress, and the invitations had all been decided by someone else.

My phone vibrated again.

Chloe had sent a new message to the group.

[Emma has never liked making decisions anyway. We can just decide these things for her.]

Adrian replied, [All right.]

I looked down at my suitcase and suddenly found it all ridiculous.

Oliver had known me longer than anyone, yet he always took Chloe's side.

When Adrian was first pursuing me, he said I was quiet and gentle, the kind of woman a man wanted to protect.

But after Chloe appeared, his tastes changed. He started saying girls should be more lively, more opinionated.

I wanted someone to care about me too. I wanted someone to respect what I liked.

But no one had ever asked me.

Even this wedding, the one I had thought would finally let me be the heroine of my own life, had turned me into a backdrop again.

I closed the suitcase and called my landlord.

“I'm ending the lease on this apartment.”

The landlord seemed to remember something.

“Oh, right. You're getting married. You're moving into the Westwood residence, aren't you?”

“No,” I said. “I'm leaving Boston.”