Chapter 3

"Lily, you're something else—you actually landed the school heartthrob! How long have you two been together?"

"Right? When's the wedding? Don't forget to invite us old classmates for a drink."

"I always knew you two would end up together. Back in school, Ryan was cold to everyone except Lily. When he looked at her, his eyes literally lit up."

The two familiar names made me pause mid-sit.

I glanced over instinctively.

Ryan and Lily had their backs to me.

I couldn't see their expressions, but I could clearly see Ryan deftly picking bones out of a piece of fish and placing the clean flesh into Lily's bowl.

A chorus of envious gasps erupted around them.

"Oh my God, Lily, Ryan is so good to you. I'm so jealous. If my husband were half that thoughtful, I'd be thrilled."

"Seriously. If mine were that attentive, we wouldn't fight every other day."

Lily was basking in the compliments, barely concealing the smugness in her eyes, deliberately suppressing a smile.

"It's not that big a deal. Ryan just understands me, that's all."

Yeah.

Ryan understood her perfectly.

One look from her, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

She wanted to catch a midnight movie—even if he could barely keep his eyes open, he'd change and drive her to the theater.

She wanted to go hiking—even though he was terrified of heights, he'd go along with her whims.

And me?

When I had a fever so bad it turned into pneumonia, and I begged him to take me to the hospital—

He said: "Lily's dog ran away. She's at home crying her eyes out. I need to go help her look."

"You just have a fever. It's not going to kill you. Go to the hospital yourself."

Thinking about that, I suddenly recalled what my mom had said to me at the beginning of the year.

She said: "The day after your dad and I started dating, he was already itching to go to your grandma's house and ask for my hand."

"You've been with Ryan five years. Has he ever once brought up marriage on his own?"

"Emma, if you keep dragging this out, what are you going to do when you're older and he throws you away?"

Even after hearing that, I was still naive.

I gave Ryan three chances to choose me.

If he'd shown even a flicker of wanting to marry me, I would have kept waiting.

That's why I'd contacted the jeweler ahead of time and ordered a custom ring.

But reality slapped me across the face.

That day, he told me that as long as Lily didn't have a boyfriend, he wouldn't get married.

I asked him: "What if she never finds another man she likes? What if it's her whole life?"

He was silent for a long moment, then said: "Marriage is just a piece of paper. As long as our relationship is stable, it doesn't matter whether we have it or not."

I understood perfectly.

What he meant was: as long as Lily was single, he would never marry me.

In that moment, I finally saw the full picture.

Five years of loving him—what an absolute joke.

"Oh! Emma, what are you doing here?"

A familiar yelp of surprise.

I looked up and found Lily standing in the aisle—I had no idea when she'd gotten there.

Ryan heard the voice and turned to look at me too.

His gaze was complicated, his jaw subtly tight.

Like he was afraid I'd say something I shouldn't.

"Ryan, Lily—you guys know this beauty?" someone asked with a laugh.

Hearing that, I was suddenly curious.

How would he answer?

Ryan slowly looked away.

His voice was cold and flat.

"No. I don't know her."

Those words landed on my heart like a sledgehammer.

Crushing the last shred of hope I had left.

I actually laughed.

Then I turned to Lily and said, "That's right. I don't know you. You've got the wrong person."