Chapter 2

The confirmation email had barely left my outbox when there was another knock at the door.

I opened it to find Wanda leaning against the frame, smiling with practiced innocence.

"Edith, since you've thrown out your travel plans anyway, why don't you come with us today to finalize the engagement details? Everyone's already talked it over."

I glanced down at my phone. The notification screen was empty. No one had so much as mentioned it to me.

The next second, Wanda had already hooked her arm through mine, with all the easy expertise of someone who had done it a thousand times before—dragging me, the way she had since childhood, into a world that belonged to her.

"Come on. I heard you had a boyfriend of seven years too, didn't you? Weren't you about to get engaged? You can help me out, give me some pointers."

She batted her lashes, her smile sweet and disarming.

But I knew her too well.

Maybe because she was the adopted one, she had grown up needing to take things from me—proof of her own importance, a way to shore up her sense of safety. Toys when we were small. Friends when we were older.

And then—

The man I had loved for seven years.

Once upon a time I would have fought her tooth and nail. Now I was just tired.

"We broke up," I said flatly.

A brief silence.

The next second, her eyes welled up.

"I'm sorry…"

"Did I just bring up something painful?"

She bit her lip, head bowed, looking heartbroken—as if she were the one who'd been hurt.

My mother happened to be passing by and immediately gathered her into her arms.

"There, there. Edith won't be upset with you."

Then, with an arm around Wanda's shoulders, she steered her gently away. As she went, she turned and gave me a long, weighted look.

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed.

A message from my mother.

【We know Boyce used to be your boyfriend.】

【But Wanda really likes him.】

【Be the bigger sister. Mom will introduce you to someone better later.】

I stared at the message for a few seconds.

It struck me as almost funny.

My parents probably still didn't realize—Boyce had been the one to choose Wanda.

I didn't reply. I simply put my phone away.

Just before we left, Wanda suddenly draped her arms around Boyce's neck.

"Don't forget to introduce Edith to your best friend. Not you—the next best one. I mean, I'm about to be engaged to you, and Edith's still all alone. It breaks my heart."

Boyce was quiet for a beat. Then, low:

"Okay."

And he actually did push three contacts to me.

【They're all good men.】

【The kind of normal relationship you've been wanting—they can give it to you.】

I looked at the messages for a few seconds, then replied:

【Thank you.】

He visibly froze.

His fingers started working against each other again. The unraveling had begun.

In the old days, the moment he showed signs like that, I would have stepped in to calm him. This time I just looked away as if I hadn't noticed.

My phone rang again.

A message from my father, with a pin attached.

【The Grand Windsor Hotel.】

I stared at the name, my fingers stilling.

Because in the original plan—

that was where Boyce had been going to propose to me.

A month ago, he had held me close in the middle of the night and asked, in all seriousness:

"Edith, do you prefer white roses, or irises?"

Back then, I'd really believed we had a future.

…

Half an hour later, the car pulled up at the hotel.

A massive engagement banner had already been mounted out front. The photograph was one Boyce and I had taken together in New York.

Only now, my face had been swapped out for Wanda's.

Inside the ballroom, white irises cascaded from above, swaying gently. Beneath each bouquet hung a love letter—one of the letters Boyce had written to me over the last seven years.

Every signature, every name, had been changed.

Wanda stood in the middle of it all, in a white gown, beaming, radiant.

"Edith! Come look—isn't it gorgeous? Boyce had been planning it in secret for the longest time. Even I didn't find out till today. Honestly, with his social anxiety being what it is, how does he manage to be so romantic when it comes to love?"

She complained out loud, but the smug pride in her eyes was impossible to hide.

I looked quietly at Boyce. I said nothing.

Because I knew—

the dress on Wanda didn't actually fit. He had cut it himself, to my measurements.

The atmosphere stiffened.

My mother stepped in to smooth things over.

"Wanda, sweetheart, I invited a lot of your friends. Go say hello."

Wanda threw herself into her arms, even pressed a kiss to her cheek.

That kind of affection had never, ever been given to me.

When I was little, I had tried to hug my mother. But she had nearly died giving birth to me, and somewhere in her, a quiet resentment had always lived. Whenever I leaned in for closeness, she would instinctively push me away.

So eventually, I stopped trying.

This time, too, I simply lowered my head and reopened the flight-booking app.

My mother spotted it, and her expression shifted.

"Edith."

"Why are you looking at plane tickets?"