Chapter 2

2

I tossed and turned all night.

Every time I closed my eyes, I thought about the last ten years with Ethan.

I used to be the only one he cared about. He always stood by me, even when people said I wasn't good enough for him.

Before Nana passed away, she held his hand and asked him to take care of me.

He looked her in the eyes and promised.

"Don't worry, Nana. I love Willow more than myself. I'll never let her suffer."

"I promise you, we'll get married right here in your garden so you can watch her walk down the aisle."

Back then, his words felt like iron. I thought they would last forever.

But I forgot that even iron can rust. Time erodes everything.

The day before the supposed wedding, I saw a purple dress in the living room.

It had a long train and a massive, ugly red flower pinned to the chest.

Layla ran up to me, beaming.

"Willow, look! I designed this wedding dress for you myself!"

"Ethan said you loved that 'country' style, so I spent so much time researching rural weddings!"

Even though I had already decided to leave, the sight of that thing made my blood boil.

"Even in the country, brides wear white, Layla. This looks like a cheap bridesmaid's dress."

Layla froze. She started to shrink back, her eyes welling up.

"I'm so sorry, Willow. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I just thought you'd like it… I'll go destroy it right now!"

She grabbed a pair of scissors and pointed them at the dress. Ethan rushed out of his study and snatched them away.

"I told you never to play with scissors! What if you hurt yourself?"

Layla's voice trembled. "Ethan, did I do something wrong? Willow is so angry with me…"

Ethan turned to me, his face full of disgust.

"Layla worked on this for four months! She stayed up late talking to designers just for you, and this is how you thank her?"

"If it wasn't for Layla, you wouldn't even have a dress."

"Apologize to her. Now!"

I looked into his eyes and felt a strange urge to laugh.

Whenever I had tried to talk to him about my dress, he told me not to bother him.

He was too busy taking Layla on trips to distract her from her breakup.

Layla was always the priority.

If she was sad, he stayed up all night with her.

On my birthday, he rented out a theater to watch romance movies with her.

When I had a high fever from overworking, he told me to drink water and then drove Layla to a private clinic for a tiny scratch.

This was my wedding, yet he acted like I was the one doing nothing.

The Sterling family already looked down on me because Layla had been the one "helping" with everything.

He hadn't even looked at the real wedding dress sitting in my closet.

The disappointment was finally too much to bear.

Ethan sneered. "Not apologizing? Fine. The wedding is off. We aren't getting married until you say sorry to Layla!"

I finally relaxed my fists. I looked at him calmly.

"Fine."

I went back to the room to pack.

Caleb Rhodes had messaged me saying the flowers were blooming back home. I wanted to see them.

Nana and I had planted those bushes together years ago.

In the living room, Ethan was busy comforting Layla. He felt a flicker of annoyance.

He checked his phone and messaged his assistant.

"Sir, Miss Quinn did make changes to her travel plans," the assistant replied. "But I don't have the clearance to see her new destination. You'd have to check yourself."

Ethan relaxed. He didn't bother checking. He assumed I was just being stubborn.

As I finished packing, a text from Ethan arrived.

"If you want to be my wife, you need to fix that temper. Layla only wants what's best for you."

"Anyway, there's a family dinner at noon. I'm taking Layla there now. I'll send a driver for you."

"Apologize to her when you get there, and we can move past this. Don't ruin the mood before tomorrow."

It was a Sterling family dinner, yet he was taking Layla instead of his bride.

When the driver knocked, I took one last look at my suitcase.

Ethan proposed to me in front of everyone. It was only right that I ended this in front of everyone too.