Chapter 3

It took me half an hour of waiting before I finally got a car.

Back at the office, my coworkers crowded around me, chattering.

"Vivian, don't you have a wedding next month?"

"I could've sworn I just saw your name on the overseas assignment list."

"What's going on? You'd give up the wedding, put yourself and your wife on opposite sides of the world?"

"Or is our resident workaholic ditching his wife for this posting?"

I smiled.

"There isn't going to be a wedding."

That only made them more curious, but seeing I'd already turned back to my work, they took the hint and didn't press.

After work, Gabriella texted me.

"Let's grab dinner together."

I was about to say I couldn't, that I'd made plans to get hot pot with some coworkers.

After all, with the posting next month, I'd have fewer and fewer chances to see them.

Then Gabriella added another line.

"Don't be difficult. Ned's coming too."

"If you want to check out on everything, fine, some other time. Not today."

"We're going over the details for the wedding day. You're the groom, so obviously you need to hear it."

Staring at those lines, more than once I nearly gave in to the urge to lay it all out.

To tell her I wasn't going through with the wedding.

But the words wouldn't come. If I came clean now, the trouble and hassle waiting for me would be so much worse.

Better to hold out till the very end.

The place they'd picked for dinner was a barbecue joint.

Gabriella and Ned moved through it like they knew it by heart, and the owner came over smiling to greet them. They'd clearly been here many times. Regulars.

When I walked in, the two of them were eating from the same ice cream.

Catching my eye, Ned quickly pushed the ice cream away. "Vivian, don't get the wrong idea."

"Gabriella said it was too cold and she couldn't finish it, so I just had a taste."

"I'm not getting the wrong idea."

I sat down, unruffled. "We've been friends since we were kids. Why would I read anything into something this small?"

I watched the shrimp Gabriella was peeling in her hands.

In my head I counted down. Three, two, one.

And sure enough, just as I'd guessed.

She peeled the shrimp and, out of habit, dropped it into Ned's bowl.

Seeing me sit there without a word, Ned realized something was off and elbowed her.

"What are you doing? Your boyfriend's right here. Shouldn't the peeled shrimp go in his bowl?"

So Gabriella's hand froze in midair, shrimp and all.

Then she made a little detour and set it in my bowl instead.

"Sorry, force of habit. You used to work late, so the two of us would come here to eat when we were starving."

"Ned can't be bothered to peel his own shrimp, so I just did it for him without thinking."

My grip tightened on the chopsticks, and something crawled under my skin like a thousand ants.

No wonder they were on such good terms with the owner.

While I was killing myself staying late at the office for our bright future, too busy to even eat dinner,

the two of them were coming here to eat together.

They always said I was swamped with work.

And so, little by little, it just became the default that they stopped inviting me to anything.

Trips that used to be the three of us slowly, without anyone saying it, turned into just the two of them.

"Our Vivian's a busy man, run off his feet all day. We'll show you the photos when we're back from our trip."

"Trip?"

I looked up, startled. "What trip?"

They said they'd even picked out where to go for the honeymoon after the wedding.

They just didn't know what the place was actually like, so it needed a look in person.

So the two of them had bought tickets. For two.

I looked at them. "So this time, I don't get to come again?"

The air went quiet for a few seconds.

Ned scratched his head and said with a laugh, "We just didn't want to interrupt your work, that's all."

"Gabriella said you've been going after some rare work slot lately, so you'd definitely be too tied up to get away."

I didn't do what I used to do, didn't swallow it and go along with him for the sake of keeping things pleasant.

"Actually, no. I'm not that busy."

"I put in for wedding leave, after all. The boss knows. I happen to be free these next few days."

"You've even locked in the venue for the honeymoon. So how is it that I, the groom, don't know a thing about it?"

They both froze, a flicker of surprise on their faces.

Maybe they hadn't expected me, who could never get away, to say something like this.

Seeing how awkward it had gotten, Ned quickly pulled out his phone.

"Vivian, if you're upset, we can go buy an extra ticket right now."

"Then the three of us can go together—"

Gabriella was frowning too.

She watched Ned scroll for a long while, her expression getting worse and worse.

Finally she couldn't hold back.

"There are no tickets left, Vivian Simmons. Just don't tag along."

"Besides, we're only going to scout it out this time, it's not the honeymoon. Isn't it better to save the surprise for after the wedding?"