Chapter 1

I waited for ten hours at the Registrar's Office again, until the screen above the window went completely dark.

I spoke calmly into my phone.

"Ethan, the Registrar's Office is closed again."

This was the third time he'd left me to become a joke on the day we were supposed to sign our marriage license.

Each time, the excuse was identical.

Chloe, the girl next door, was so helpless, she couldn't even turn on a gas stove.

He said she was all alone and so clumsy, and he was just lending a hand.

Once, I bought into his grand excuses.

I let her tag along on every date.

I got used to him being called away mid-movie.

Even when people openly mocked me for being too invested, I held my head high and endured it.

But my patience only brought out his entitlement.

Finally, there was a stir from the earpiece.

He clearly heard me say the Registrar's Office was closed again, yet he couldn't even be bothered with a perfunctory apology.

On the other end of the line, he deliberately lowered his voice, coaxing her with extreme patience.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch from a broken nail. Leave it, I'll put a band-aid on it right away."

Meanwhile, the marriage license application form in my hand was being swept into the trash like garbage by the cleaning lady.

It was never just "helping out."

He simply couldn't bear for her to face even the slightest setback.

And this ten-year-long, dead-end relationship? I didn't want it anymore.