Chapter 1

On the night of our rehearsal dinner, Ethan Miller picked up my custom-designed wedding ring and slipped it onto his assistant Chloe’s ring finger.

Chloe smiled, her eyes crinkling into half-moons as she waved her hand under the crystal chandelier.

"Oh my gosh, Ethan, it’s a perfect fit! Look, do Nadia and I have the same hand size?"

The crowd around them started teasing and whistling.

Ethan laughed, too. "Actually, I think it looks better on you."

I stood on the other side of the room, watching the wedding ring I had spent three months designing sit on another woman's hand.

Suddenly, I felt completely numb. The whole thing just felt so incredibly pointless.

I said, "Let's call off the wedding next month."

Ethan scoffed. "Here we go again. Another tantrum."

"Nadia, how old are you? If you don't marry me, who else is going to take you?"

He was absolutely sure I would never leave him.

But this time, it was different.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

It was a text from an unknown number: [I’m almost downstairs. Bring your ID.]

I calmly texted back: [Okay.]

Seven years of love. It ended right here.

The room went dead silent for a second.

Chloe was the first to react. She hurriedly hid her hands behind her back, her eyes instantly turning red.

"Nadia, I am so sorry. I really didn't know you’d mind this much."

"I just wanted to help test the size. You were busy changing your shoes, so I thought I'd help."

She sounded so aggrieved, as if she were the one who had just been humiliated.

Ethan frowned at me, his face darkening.

"Nadia, that’s enough."

"Chloe is my assistant. She’s been running around helping us all day without even a sip of water."

"It was just a ring test. Do you really have to embarrass her in front of everyone?"

I stared straight into his eyes. "Ethan, do you even know what's engraved on the inside of that ring?"

He froze.

Chloe stiffened, too.

I let out a soft, bitter laugh.

That ring was custom-made by me.

The inside was engraved with the date we officially started dating, followed by a sentence:

My only choice.

How hilarious.

I never got to be his priority.

Instead, I got to watch him slide my ring onto another woman's hand.

Ethan clearly didn't remember the engraving. A flash of guilt crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by impatience.

"Isn't a wedding ring meant to be worn on the wedding day anyway? What’s the big deal if she tried it on early?"

"Nadia, stop making a mountain out of a molehill."

"We are literally getting married next month, and you’re still this paranoid. Aren't you tired of this?"

I said nothing.

Chloe gently tugged at his sleeve, looking like a helpless puppy.

"Ethan, don't blame Nadia. She’s probably just stressed about the wedding."

"I saw on TikTok that some brides get super sensitive right before the big day."

Ethan looked down at her, his voice softening noticeably. "Don't defend her. I've just spoiled her too much."

Those words felt like a thin needle.

It wasn't a heavy blow, but it pierced right into the most sensitive part of my heart.

For seven years, whenever I was hurt or wronged, he would always say he had "spoiled me too much."

When Chloe first came to the company, Ethan interviewed her himself.

She was a fresh graduate with an average resume. But during the interview, she looked at Ethan and said, "I watched your college entrepreneurship interview. You’ve always been my idol."

That single sentence made Ethan's day.

That night, he came home in an exceptionally good mood.

"The new assistant is quite sharp and sweet," he had said.

I didn't think much of it at the time.

But soon, Chloe started taking over our lives.

When we planned to go to the movies, she would suddenly text him saying a client's file was missing.

Ethan would leave me standing at the theater entrance and drive back to the office to help her look for a piece of paper.

On my birthday, she got a stomach ache.

Ethan canceled our reservations at a Michelin-starred restaurant and rushed her to the ER.

I sat in that restaurant alone until closing time, eventually carrying my birthday cake home by myself.

When he came back, he smelled of hospital disinfectant.

"Chloe is all alone in this city. It’s not easy for her. I was just helping out."

"You have me, you have your friends, you have your family."

"She has nobody."

But I wasn't born with everything either. I just never used my vulnerability as a weapon to get what I wanted.

Later, when our wedding planning started, Chloe was even more enthusiastic than I was.

At the bridal boutique, she told me a mermaid gown would suit me best, but then she proceeded to try on a mermaid dress herself and twirled in front of the mirror three times.

When we did the food tasting, she said my taste was too bland and boring. Ethan immediately had the chef change the entire menu to spicy Mexican fusion—completely ignoring my severe acid reflux.

It happened so many times that I was just exhausted.

I didn't want to stay a second longer. I turned and picked up my purse.

"I will cancel the venue. The wedding planner, the photographer, the caterer—I’ll pay whatever cancellation fees we owe."

"And you don't need to worry about whether anyone else will want me after I leave you."

Chloe chimed in softly, "Nadia, canceling the wedding so impulsively really isn't good. The invitations are already out. What will people think of Ethan?"

As she spoke, she seemed to realize she had said too much and quickly bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken."

Ethan’s face completely darkened.

"You see? Chloe is way more mature than you."

I smiled. "Then marry her."