Chapter 3

Blossom POV

The severe allergic reaction caused by the strawberry cocktail kept me on an IV drip in the hospital for three days.

None of my family members came to visit me.

Until the morning of the third day, my phone finally vibrated. It was an automated push notification from a social media platform.

My mother had posted a nine-photo grid of the wedding banquet.

A candlelit dinner. My sister and Christian embracing in the sunset.

Right in the center of the nine-photo grid was a family portrait. I was the only one missing.

"Katelynn's wedding was a perfect success!" my mother captioned.

My best friend Dallas commented below: "Married to true love. So jealous!"

Amidst a screen full of likes and blessings, not a single person asked where I had gone.

A doctor came in to help me with my discharge papers. I learned from him that my family had flown back to Miami the morning after the wedding.

"Sweetie, is no one coming to pick you up?" Nurse Maria asked sympathetically. "Do you want me to help you contact your family?"

"No need," I replied, my voice incredibly hoarse from my swollen vocal cords. "I don't have anyone to contact."

On the flight back to Miami, my phone vibrated.

It was an onboarding email from the headhunter in London: "Dear Ms. Hubbard, we have reviewed your preliminary portfolio submitted to the International Structural Arts Foundation. Your design concept for community spaces is stunning. We sincerely invite you to take on the role of Senior Design Associate at our London headquarters. The team at Singleton & Partners looks forward to your joining."

I opened my calendar, my eyes landing on the preliminary round of the National Fellowship Competition in three days.

I had poured two whole years of blood, sweat, and tears into my core masterpiece, The Nexus Pavilion.

The submission deadline was this Friday at the National Arts Center in downtown Miami.

As long as I secured this award, my international work visa sponsorship for the UK would be expedited, and my name would be permanently cemented in the industry.

After landing, I took a taxi straight back to the apartment I shared with Christian. I had just taken a nap to soothe my exhausted body when I was bombarded by countless phone notifications.

I opened them to find swarms of people flooding my social media accounts, cursing me out as a "homewrecker" and "shameless."

"Are you proud of stealing your sister's man? A calculating homewrecker, disgusting!"

"You pathetic copycat, it's sickening. Your sister studies design, so you study it too. Your sister gets a man, and you lust after him. They're already married, and you still won't let it go?"

Only then did I realize what had happened.

My sister had posted about her wedding and specifically tagged me.

"Thank you to my little sister for witnessing my happiness."

And on my profile, there was still an un-deleted photo of Christian and me.

I used to love posting our daily life with Christian on my social media. But last year, he suddenly forced me to delete all those photos.

I had missed one.

I walked straight to my desk drawer and pulled out the marriage certificate buried at the very bottom.

Suddenly, my wrist was gripped by a forceful, unyielding hand.

"Are you trying to destroy Katie?"

Christian's voice turned freezing cold. "If you post this, people will call her the other woman. Her career, her reputation—everything will be ruined!"

"And what about my reputation?" I looked at the man I had loved deeply for seven years and demanded, "My career, my dignity, my life... are they completely worthless to you?"

Christian wiped his face in extreme frustration and let out a long, heavy sigh.

"You are so smart, your career won't be affected at all, Blossom," he said, using that customary, sickeningly dismissive and condescending tone. "If your portfolio is gone, you can always draw another one. But Katelynn is so fragile. Can't you just be the bigger person and let her have this?"

I looked at him quietly. The very last string of attachment deep within my soul finally snapped.

"Christian, let's get a divorce."

Christian froze for a moment, then he actually laughed.

He rubbed my hair, like he was coaxing an unreasonable child. "Stop making a fuss. You have loved me for seven whole years, could you really bear to leave? You have always been the sensible one, Blossom. Just step back this one time for Katelynn, okay?"

I looked at him.

I remembered my mother saying my sister looked better with long hair, so I cut mine short.

I remembered at my high school graduation, Katelynn cried that her dress was slightly wrinkled, so I gave her my gown.

It felt like I could never win against my sister.

Until I met Christian, who firmly told me, "Why compare? Blossom is just Blossom."

I had never cried so pathetically in my life as I did that day.

So now, seven years later, Christian was absolutely certain that I couldn't bear to let him go.

But now, in his eyes, he could only see my sister too.

What he didn't know was... my international flight was already booked.

For the rest of the journey, I only wanted to walk alone.