Chapter 4

"Three years together, and he's finally willing to bring the little bride-to-be out to meet us!"

"Little bride-to-be? After today she'll have to be called Mrs. Harding, won't she?"

"Lee's already got the ring ready. Who doesn't know he's proposing today!"

Three years of dating.

Something exploded inside my skull.

An impossible thought surfaced in my mind, and the pain set me shaking in convulsions I couldn't stop.

My sister, nestled in Lee's arms, listened to it all, gave a bashful little smile first, then let her eyes go red.

"Today is the happiest day of my life."

"So there's someone very important to me that I want here to witness it, with her own eyes."

She finished and turned to look at me.

The color drained from my face all at once.

"No…"

But she was already striding over, seizing my wrist in one hand.

I shrank back with everything I had, my legs too weak to hold me, until I was nearly curled up on the floor.

My sister only gripped me tighter.

"Sis, don't be scared."

"Everyone here is someone you used to know."

She hauled me up off the floor by force and dragged me, step by step, into the crowd.

"It's time you faced them again too."

The bustling ballroom went abruptly silent.

Everyone finally got a clear look at my face.

The next second.

Those smiles froze, bit by bit, on every face in the room.

Contempt, disgust, and whispers no one bothered to hide.

"How does she still have the nerve to show up?"

"After that whole scene three years ago, the depression, the suicide attempt, all to win Lee back, she's not still trying to cling to him, is she?"

Cold ran through me, the voices drifting farther and farther away, while something clamped down on my chest and wouldn't let go.

My sister, eyes red, came to stand in front of me.

"Sis, I know about what you and Lee had before."

"But today, I really do want your blessing."

Her voice caught.

"Only if you bless us with your own mouth will I believe you've truly let the past go, that you're truly better!"

I opened my mouth.

But my throat was stopped up, and not a single word would come.

Then Lee let out a cold laugh.

"Forget it."

The look he turned on me carried disgust he didn't bother to conceal.

"A blessing from someone like her would only feel dirty to me."

My head snapped up.

Lee stared at me and spoke, one word at a time.

"Actually, I should thank you."

"If that thing hadn't happened three years ago, I'd never have seen you for what you are, and I'd never have met the person truly worth loving."

He paused, as if he wouldn't be satisfied until he watched the words cut into me.

"You letting me off the hook is what gave me the chance to meet the one I really love."

A wave of jeering broke out around us.

And there, under everyone's eyes, Lee dropped to one knee.

The moment the ring box opened, my whole body locked up.

That ring.

Three years ago, hunched over a table in the library, I had drawn it stroke by stroke, over and over, in my notebook.

A band that curled like a vine, with a tiny round diamond set at its center.

Back then Lee had snatched the notebook from me and said with a grin:

"When we graduate, I'll have it made exactly like this, and I'll slip it on your finger myself."

Now he really had made it.

And with his own hands he had slipped it onto my sister's ring finger.

My sister threw herself into his arms in tears, and the whole room was applauding.

Then she suddenly turned and ran over to me, lifting her hand to show me the ring.

"Sis, look."

"Lee says this design means something really special."

She threw her arms around me.

"Thank you for making this happen for us."

My body was as stiff as a block of wood.