Chapter 4

Ethan spotted me in the banquet hall almost immediately.

He walked over quickly, blocking my path.

"This is the first wedding Chloe is coordinating on her own."

"She worked so hard on this. Don't make a scene now."

I hadn't said a single word.

Yet in his eyes, my mere presence made me the villain who was there to ruin Chloe's moment.

I pulled out the floral delivery receipt from my bag.

Chloe's signature was clearly written on it.

Chloe's face turned pale, and she immediately reached out to grab it.

"Hazel, can we talk about this after the wedding, please?"

"I know you're mad at me, but today is about the client..."

Hearing the commotion, the bride's mother walked over.

"Is there a problem here?"

Chloe lowered her head, her voice trembling.

"I'm so sorry, this is my fault."

"The bride was under a lot of stress, and there was an issue with the original bouquet. I just made a quick replacement."

With that one sentence, all eyes fell on me.

I looked up at Ethan.

But he only gently pressed down on my wrist.

"Let's just get through the wedding first."

I suddenly remembered how, in the past, whenever something went wrong, Ethan would always stand by my side without hesitation.

Back then, even without proof, he believed me.

Now, knowing the truth, he was telling me to back down.

The bride's mother looked at me cold-eyed.

"Miss Brooks, today is my daughter's wedding. Whatever business issues you have, they shouldn't be brought here."

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

I had already lost my own wedding.

I didn't want to ruin another bride's day.

Numbly, I sat down on a sofa outside the banquet hall.

Through the half-open door, I saw Chloe's manager scolding her with a dark expression.

"You were in charge of inventory. You lost the bouquet and then had the client thank you publicly?"

Chloe kept her head down, tears streaming down her face.

Ethan stood beside her, making excuses on her behalf.

Once the manager left, the hallway fell quiet again.

Ethan turned and walked toward me.

"Are you happy now, Hazel?"

"Chloe worked herself to the bone for this."

"Did you really have to destroy all her hard work?"

I suddenly burst out laughing.

"Ethan, is Chloe really that important to you?"

"So important that you can't even tell right from wrong anymore?"

Ethan seemed to finally register what he had said. His expression stiffened, and he took a step closer to me.

"That's not what I meant."

"Things were just too chaotic. I was stressed, and I took it out on you."

He was always like this during our past arguments.

He'd make me cry first, then soften his voice to comfort me.

And as long as he apologized, I would always cave.

"Ethan, for work matters, contact my assistant."

"As for our personal life, we're done."

Ethan let out a bitter, frustrated laugh.

"Have you had enough of this tantrum?"

Chloe also spoke up, her eyes red. "Hazel, this joke is going a bit too far."

Before the words could fully leave her mouth, a sudden commotion broke out inside the banquet hall.

The groom stormed out, his face incredibly dark.

The next second, he threw the bouquet violently on the floor right in front of us.

"Didn't we explicitly tell you guys that the bride is highly allergic to gardenias?"

I instinctively looked down.

Among the scattered white roses on the floor, there was a single gardenia stem.