Chapter 1

On my birthday, my fiancé said he had a last-minute business trip.

My best friend, who was out of town, sent me a birthday text.

"Bella Swanson, happy birthday to both of us."

Her birthday and mine fell on the exact same day.

So I just bought a plane ticket and flew to Lake Tahoe to see her.

But there by the lake, I saw my fiancé holding a camera, taking pictures of her.

She was laughing as she asked him.

"Noel Gilbert, today's Bella's birthday too. If you're not with her, won't she be upset?"

"Come to think of it, Bella never even knew you take great photos. You've never taken a single one of her, and you know photos are her favorite thing."

My fiancé answered lightly.

"She won't be. She thinks I'm away on business in New York."

"Today's your birthday. I just want to spend it with you, properly."

"And I only take photos for you. Taking them for Bella feels like too much trouble. I don't have the patience for it."

I stood where I was, the wind off the lake blowing over me.

The cold went all the way into my bones.

......

Noel kept offering suggestions, and Cristina Bailey struck one pretty pose after another exactly the way he wanted.

The two of them moved in perfect sync. Before long, Cristina had already posted a new update to her feed.

A grid of nine photos, captioned:

【Thanks to today's photographer. Good-looking and professional too.】

So it turned out Noel wasn't unable to take photos. He just wasn't willing to take them for me.

Holding back my tears, I liked Cristina's post.

I decided to stick to my original plan. Even alone, I would still take some beautiful photos.

After all, a birthday only comes once a year.

I stood not far from them, a bouquet of flowers in my hands that I'd bought from a roadside stall.

The wind off the lake was too strong. In the end it pulled the tears from my eyes.

Even Noel and Cristina, standing not far off, grew blurrier and blurrier.

Swallowing down the hurt, I went through the photographer's directions and finished my set like a machine.

Just as I was about to leave, I saw someone walk over to Noel and Cristina.

Asking if they wanted to take wedding photos together.

The person said with a smile.

"Handsome, your girlfriend's gorgeous. You two look so right together. Since you're already here, why not shoot a set of wedding photos?"

Cristina's smile was shy and sweet as she looked up at Noel, waiting.

Noel took her hand and said gently.

"Sure. She'll look beautiful in a wedding dress. And it'll be nice to have something to remember it by."

"Today's her birthday, actually. I want her to remember how perfect this moment is, forever."

I'd asked Noel to take wedding photos with me many times, and every time he'd put it off, saying work was too busy.

I always tried my best to be understanding about it.

I'd even thought maybe we should skip the wedding photos altogether, forcing myself to believe it didn't matter. They'd only end up collecting dust anyway.

Maybe we wouldn't look at them once in years.

But it never once occurred to me that he simply didn't want to take photos with me.

And now, standing there, I watched them in the clothes people only wear at a wedding, the two of them leaning into each other.

My stomach turned over and over.

I turned around and, almost fleeing, made my way back to the hotel.