The little decorative plastic beads along the neckline were half falling off, and the cuffs and hem were worn down to loose, frayed threads.

The one Natalie was wearing was the gown Duane had commissioned a full year in advance, custom-made by a specialist for more than a hundred grand.

When the finished piece arrived, Duane had said he'd keep it safe for me and hand it over on the wedding day, when the procession came to fetch the bride.

I never imagined "keeping it safe" meant putting it on someone else.

Duane carefully settled her into the car. When he caught the look on my face, he came over and pinched my cheek, smiling.

"My sweetheart looks gorgeous today. Why so quiet? Are you really upset?"

"I promise, the second I drop Nat off, I'll come straight back and do the ceremony with you. All right?"

I lifted my eyes and asked, "Didn't you say the nanny accidentally spilled soy milk on the custom gown this morning?"

Duane went quiet for a few seconds.

"Nat thought it suited her makeup better. I figured it's just a dress, you get married in whatever, it's all the same. I didn't think you'd nitpick over something so small."

So in his eyes, giving away the gown I was supposed to wear at my own wedding,

and leaving me to wear a defective one, was something small.

"Fine, then let's talk about something big."

"Duane, it's not like you don't know the local custom. On the wedding day, the groom has to carry the bride into the marriage home himself."

"Say it again. How long do you want me to wait?"

Duane thought it over. "There and back, no stops in between. About four hours."

I actually laughed, furious.

"The wedding's in three hours, and before that we still have the ceremony and the whole procession to get through. Which part exactly do you think you'll make it back for?"

Duane's expression stiffened, as if he didn't know how to answer.

His groomsmen and friends crowded in to smooth things over.

"His wife's being too hard on him, come on. Duane doesn't have a choice here. They say exes can stay friends, and Nat is his first love after all. The groom on the other side can't come over, so he can't just leave her hanging, can he? That'd be heartless."

"Duane brags about how kind and understanding you are all the time. You can't be this difficult and put him in a corner."

"Right, good things take time. Wait a little longer and maybe your marriage will be blessed with even more luck."

But being kind and understanding was never a reason to let people push their luck.

I shot back, my voice edged with scorn.

"Is that so? If the luck's so great, why don't you have Nat do the waiting?"

They fell silent at once, staring awkwardly at the sky.

I looked at Duane. "I'll ask you only once. Do you absolutely have to go?"

He hesitated for half a second, then nodded and tried to coax me.

"Worst case, we push the ceremony and the wedding to the afternoon. Lori, you've waited five years. What's another four hours..."

I cut him off. "Forget it. Go keep Nat company."

Duane thought I'd caved. Relieved, he walked toward the wedding car across the way.

And I tightened my grip on my phone.

He was right. I'd already waited five years.

So today, I wasn't going to wait anymore.

A sharp cramp twisted through my stomach.

It was a problem I'd carried since my days at the children's home. The moment I got hungry, my stomach ached.

Duane hated dealing with hassles, so I'd been the one coordinating every last detail of the wedding with the hotel.

Last night I'd been so busy confirming the final guest seating chart that I'd fallen asleep exhausted, without even eating.

Then I'd been up at three in the morning to do my makeup, and I still hadn't had a single bite of food since.

I wasn't going to be at this wedding anyway, so I figured I'd head outside the complex and see if any breakfast places were open.

I was just about to get out of the car. One foot hadn't even touched the ground when I was shoved back hard.

The corner of my forehead slammed into the doorframe. No blood, but the pain sent stars bursting across my vision.

Duane's groomsman grinned.

"Sorry about that, hon. Guess I didn't know my own strength."

“But Nat's only half an hour from her start time, and we can't break with tradition or it'll bring bad luck. Duane was worried she'd go hungry, so he went to get her something to eat. He told me to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't get out of the car and cause trouble for Nat.”

Just as he finished, Duane came back, a five-tiered insulated lunch carrier dangling from one hand.

My best friend, still gently blowing on the cut on my forehead, boiled over on the spot.

“Duane, you've got time to stand here keeping your old flame company for half an hour, but no time to carry Lorraine up first?”

“And you won't even let her go eat anything? What is this, house arrest?”

“Before we came, she wanted a piece of bread, and you were the one who said the food was already prepared and rushed her out the door. So this was all just to keep her starving here, so you'd have time to carry that woman up?”

Before Duane could open his mouth, Natalie poked her head out of her own car and said with a smile:

“Lorraine, don't blame Duane. He's just afraid of wasting his strength on you and then dropping me later.”

Beautifully put.

But what I'd wasted on him was far more than just strength.

Duane handed me a plastic bag. Inside were a few buns, long gone cold, obviously left over from the day before.

“The bride can't set foot on the ground herself before the ceremony. Flat ground means poor ground. It'll ruin the family's fortune.”

“Just wait nicely in the car. Have these crab-filled buns first to tide you over.”

I didn't take them.

I only looked at him, almost amused.

“Duane, we've been together five years. You don't know I'm allergic to crab?”

Duane's face shifted, and he gave two uneasy little coughs.

“I've been too busy these past few days. I forgot.”

“I'll check later whether Nat has any leftovers, and bring them to you. Her bridal suite is too far from here, she can't make the trip on an empty stomach. When I get back, I'll take you out for a big meal.”

Natalie called to him from over there in a soft voice: “Duane, are you done talking? I'm so hungry.”

Duane hurried over and lifted out the steaming pastries from the insulated carrier one by one.

Every single one was something Natalie loved.

Afraid of smudging her makeup, he even thoughtfully fed them into her mouth for her.

A laugh nearly rose in my throat at how absurd it was.

There was a time I ran a high fever and couldn't get up, and I'd coaxed him to feed me.

He'd brushed me off, called it childish.

So it turned out it wasn't that he was unwilling. It was just that the person hadn't been me.

Even the so-called food he'd prepared was prepared for Natalie. I was only fit to eat her leftovers.

The spare one had always been me.

My phone buzzed. It was my childhood sweetheart, sharing his live location. He was already on his way.

In less than half an hour, this farce would be over.

Soon the car door was pulled open again by Duane, and the cold wind slapped me full in the face.

“Lorraine, get out.”

I thought he'd had a change of heart and wanted to carry me upstairs.

Before I could ask, Duane spoke again:

“The AC in Nat's wedding car is broken, it can't put out any heat. Swap with her and go wait in that car.”

I lifted my eyes: “Didn't you say the bride can't set foot on the ground herself?”

Duane frowned:

“Special circumstances, special handling. As long as you don't go into the bridal suite, it's fine.”

My best friend wasn't having it.

“Do you even hear yourself? It's December. It's more than twenty below outside.”

“We're not the ones who broke that woman's car. Besides, doesn't she have her Canada Goose? That thing's the warmest there is.”

“It's only because you were in such a rush to get here that Lorraine didn't even get to put on a coat. You want her to wait four hours in a car with no heat? Are you trying to freeze her to death?!”

Duane pinched the bridge of his nose impatiently, a note of warning in his voice.

“Lorraine, I'll leave you a pack of hand warmers.”

“ Don't make me drag you out. It won't look good for either of us.”

My gaze settled on Natalie, who sat across from me watching the whole thing like it was theater.

The Canada Goose draped over her shoulders was the birthday present I'd bought Duane last year.

I'd worried he'd catch a cold being careless about the chill in winter.

When it was my turn, all I got was a ten-dollar pack of barely-there hand warmers.

I gathered my skirt and stepped straight down out of the car.

"Duane, I'm not getting in that car, and I'm not marrying you either."

Duane froze for a second, then let out a scornful snort.

"Lorraine, stop this nonsense."

"You're a leftover old maid with no job, no family, no background. I'm the only one who'll overlook all that. If you don't marry me, who do you think would want you?"

I looked at the contempt in his eyes, and my heart filled with disappointment.

Yet he was the one who'd said his woman didn't need to go out and earn money.

People would mock him for being useless, he'd said, so he wouldn't let me work.

"I'm not making a scene."

Duane opened his mouth to say more, but Natalie cut in from her seat.

"Duane, if Lori doesn't want to, just let it go. I'll get out and run around a bit to warm up."

And with that, she made a show of climbing out.

Duane immediately called out in a panic, "Nat, don't move, I'll carry you!"

Then he turned, his face cold as he looked at me.

"Looks like I've spoiled you rotten. On a day this happy you've got to go looking for trouble. Don't want to marry me? Suit yourself."

"This place is a good ten miles from your house and cabs don't come out here easy. If you're not afraid of freezing to death, then stand right here. Either way, the wedding car is getting switched!"

He ran over and lifted Natalie onto his back.

As he carried her toward this car, he spoke with a doting, helpless tenderness.

"Silly girl, would I ever let you freeze with me here?"

"You're the bride today. Your feet can't touch the ground. It means you'll never be wronged after the wedding, never have to toil or suffer."

A bitter mockery rose in my chest.

The same feet-off-the-ground rule, and for me it was about not dragging bad luck into the bridal room and ruining his fortune after the wedding.

For Natalie, it was nothing but pure tenderness.

And even so, he thought he'd spoiled me rotten.

As they passed by me, Natalie suddenly cried out, looking at me with wounded eyes.

"Lori, just because you don't want to switch cars, you didn't have to pinch me, did you? That really hurt."

Duane quickly settled her into the car, then turned and shoved me hard to the ground.

"Lorraine, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm the one who asked to switch cars. If you've got a problem, take it out on me. Do you really have to cause trouble on the most important day of Nat's life?!"

My best friend rushed to help me up. The fabric at my elbow had torn open, snow seeping in through the gash.

I held back my friend, who was about to charge over and hit him, and spoke coldly.

"There are four or five cameras right here. Go to the property office and pull the footage right now, see whether I touched her or not."

"It's obvious you hurt yourself—"

Duane thought I was making excuses, and it only made him angrier.

But the moment Natalie heard the cameras mentioned, her expression turned a little uneasy, and she tugged at his hand and gave it a shake.

"Duane, it's early in the morning, no need to bother the property office."

"Maybe it was the crystals on my embroidered gown that scraped me. You know how delicate my skin is. I might have misjudged Lori."

"Ugh, it's supposed to be a lucky day, and yet everything keeps going wrong. I don't even know if I've crossed paths with something foul."

When she said "something foul," she let her eyes land deliberately on me.

Duane nodded and said nothing more, though the look on his face when he glanced at me was still grim.

I truly couldn't stand being there any longer, so I just pulled my friend toward the gate of the complex to wait.

We hadn't waited three minutes before Duane came chasing after us.

He grabbed my wrist, his tone anxious.

"Lori, thank goodness you didn't leave."

At that, my friend shot me a startled, knowing glance.