Chapter 1

The night before Valentine's Day, I was sorting out the paperwork for our marriage registration the next morning.

My phone buzzed on the corner of the desk. It was the group chat with Ethan's old crew.

One of his buddies suddenly tagged me.

"Nora, go check the city hall booking system."

I opened it and found that tomorrow's marriage registration appointment had been cancelled.

The cancellation had gone through two hours ago.

I called to demand an answer. From the other end came a familiar female voice first, laughing coquettishly.

Ethan's ex-girlfriend, Chloe.

Ethan's tone was casual.

"Chloe's been feeling down. I came out to help her clear her head."

The next second, a voice message popped up in the group chat from one of Ethan's buddies.

"I won! I told you she wouldn't dare get mad even after she found out. Ethan, don't try to weasel out of that Michelin-starred dinner!"

Ethan didn't push back.

As if what had been cancelled wasn't our wedding registration, but some inconsequential date.

In the past, every time I got upset, he'd frown and tell me not to make such a big deal of it.

This time, I said nothing.

I hung up, opened the company intranet, and clicked "submit" on the Overseas Assignment Application form.

Then I sent a message to the wedding planner.

"Wedding cancelled. No need to refund the deposit."

Since there'd be no registration tomorrow, there was no reason to keep waiting for him.

...

The planner's reply had barely appeared when Ethan called again.

"Nora, you cancelled the wedding?"

His voice was heavy.

Waves crashed in the background, and Chloe was laughing, asking if he wanted to go out on a yacht from the pier.

I calmly slipped my passport, professional certifications, and project portfolio one by one into a document folder.

"Yeah."

"Over a single appointment?"

"What else?"

Ethan paused for two seconds, as if reining in his temper.

"Chloe just got divorced. She's emotionally unstable. I came out to the beach with her, and she's been holding my phone the whole time, messing around with it. We can rebook the appointment. Is it fun for you, threatening me with the wedding?"

"I'm not threatening you. The deposit's on me."

"Nora, stop this. Tomorrow night both families are having the engagement dinner. Reinstate the wedding. We'll talk when I'm back."

I didn't agree.

I hung up.

Applications for the company's Dubai posting closed at midnight tonight.

I had spent an entire year preparing for that project.

Ethan kept saying we'd discuss it after the wedding.

I used to think he just didn't want to see me leave.

Now I realized he was simply used to making my decisions for me.

At ten in the evening, the electronic lock chimed.

Ethan pushed the door open.

Chloe followed behind him, cradling an enormous pink dolphin plush—a limited edition from the seaside amusement park.

The moment she saw the suitcase in the entryway, she burst out laughing.

"Ethan, I guessed right again. Nora really did pack. But there's no way she'll actually walk out of this building."

Ethan glanced at his phone.

He'd actually just sent her two hundred bucks.

The notification chime rang clearly through the living room.

I placed the last document into my bag and looked up.

"Is it fun, using me as your betting pool?"

Chloe hugged the plush closer, her smile innocent.

"Everyone's played games like this since prep school. Nora, you're not actually mad, are you? Tell you what, I'll split the two hundred with you."

"Keep it. Consider it tuition." My voice was cold.

Ethan frowned.

"Don't be so sharp. Chloe's already having a rough time with the divorce. Cancelling the appointment was just a way to lighten the mood."

I lifted my eyes to look at him.

"Using my marriage to lighten her mood?"

"I'll rebook next week."

"Don't bother."

I zipped up the suitcase.

Ethan reached out and pressed the handle down.

"Tomorrow's engagement dinner is still on. If you cancel the wedding in front of both sets of parents, what are they supposed to think?"

"You should've thought about that when you cancelled the registration."

His face turned cold.

"I said it was a joke. If you insist on holding onto it, there's nothing I can do."

Chloe took a velvet box from her handbag and set it on the coffee table.

"Nora, these are the pearl earrings Ethan bought you at the beach. Consider it an apology. He was thinking about you the whole time."

Inside the box was only one earring.

The other was already in her ear.

She touched her earlobe, then laughed as if she'd only just noticed.

"The clerk said they were a matching pair. When I tried it on I must've put it back in the wrong box. You don't mind that I wore it, do you?"

I snapped the box shut and put it back in her hand.

"It suits you."

Just as cheap, just as unnecessary.

Ethan stared at me.

For what seemed like the first time, he couldn't find that familiar, compliant expression on my face.

"Where are you going?"

"A hotel."

"Just to force me to come apologize?"

I pulled the handle free from under his hand.

"Ethan, you're overthinking this."

He didn't step aside.

Instead, he reached for the document folder on the coffee table.

The corner of the overseas application form was peeking out.

The instant Ethan read the title, his face darkened.

"You applied for the Dubai project?"

Chloe leaned in and read the project duration aloud.

"Three years? Nora, you're about to get married. Why go so far?"

Ethan yanked my passport out and shoved it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.

"Withdraw the application. Come to the engagement dinner tomorrow as planned. Once you've calmed down, I'll give the passport back."

I looked at him.

I didn't reach for it.

Before leaving, I pressed a button on my phone screen and saved the recording.

At the top of the screen, a small line of text read:

Corporate Compliance Hotline — Connected, 47 seconds.