Chapter 2

2

Sarah was Josh's dream girl.

He had humiliated and ridiculed me countless times for her.

But Sarah only ever saw him as a backup.

She had boyfriend after boyfriend, and after every breakup, she'd run to Josh and cry.

Josh patted her nose affectionately.

"Silly girl, don't worry. She's just upset because I rejected her so many times. She's delirious with joy."

He glanced at me with disdain.

Even in that second, my heart still ached.

He thought he tricked me into coming.

But last night, when he called, I was at the hospital visiting his grandma.

The old lady was perfectly healthy, even sharing sunflower seeds with me.

His voice had been choked with sobs on the phone.

"Ashley, will you still marry me?"

My heart leaped for only a second, before he continued,

"Grandma… she's not doing well..."

Looking at the lively old lady, my hand holding the phone grew cold.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes,

I would have thought he finally realized his mistake and regretted it after seeing the e-vite to my wedding I posted online.

I simply replied,

"Okay."

After hanging up, someone sent me a screenshot of a group chat.

Josh had sent my e-vite to his friend group.

[Look, Ashley's resorting to this to force me to marry her!]

His friends replied almost instantly,

[The invite doesn't even have a picture. If she's trying to bluff, she should at least make it believable!]

[She probably freaked out because she knew Sarah was with Josh!]

Josh added a sunglasses emoji:

[I just called and told her to come to the wedding tomorrow.]

His friend replied:

[No need to guess, she probably cried with happiness and said yes instantly!]

Josh:

[Everyone come tomorrow. It's at the address on the e-vite. I even got her a $15 wedding dress.]

[If it weren't for Sarah, I wouldn't even spend $15 on her.]

[Josh, you should just take pity on Ashley and have both of them tomorrow!]

[Ew, don't gross me out. She's not even fit to polish Sarah's shoes! If Sarah hadn't begged me, I wouldn't give her another chance to cling to me!]

I thought after all this time, those cruel words wouldn't hurt me anymore.

But my vision blurred, and tears streamed down my face.

My decades of devotion couldn't compare to a single request from Sarah.

As long as she was happy, he didn't care about trampling on my dignity.