He Chose First love at My Birthday Party

At my birthday party, my boyfriend Byron Fox suddenly pulled out his phone, switched to selfie mode, and aimed it at everyone.

Everyone assumed he wanted a group photo, so they all turned toward Byron's screen with smiles.

But right there in front of everyone, Isabel Butler came trotting up to the lens and pressed a soft kiss to Byron's cheek.

The next second, with everyone watching, the two of them shouted into the camera together.

"We're going official!"

The whole banquet hall fell into a dead silence, and every gaze landed on me.

After all, everyone there knew that Byron and I had been together for seven years, and that we'd recently been discussing marriage.

Even today's birthday party had been arranged by Byron himself, just for me.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, Isabel snatched Byron's phone away, admiring the clip while waving a careless hand.

"Don't get the wrong idea, everyone. Byron and I are just joking around."

"These videos are all the rage lately, aren't they? Announcing a couple at a party with friends. I just wanted to film one for fun."

Under everyone's eyes, I relaxed against the back of my chair and spoke with a light laugh.

"Videos of brides calling off the wedding right before marriage are pretty popular lately too."

"Byron, why don't we film one of those?"

——

The atmosphere had turned eerie, terrifyingly so. No one dared to breathe.

Isabel seemed oblivious to the mood in the room and gave an impatient pout.

"Willow Summers, you're not going to be that petty, are you?"

"It was just a tiny little joke. What's so hard to accept about it?"

I picked up my bag and stood, answering Isabel with a smile.

"Your joke is between the two of you. It has nothing to do with me, so of course I can accept your little joke."

"The party's about run its course anyway, and it's time for me to head home. Have fun, everyone."

I was just about to leave the private room when Byron grabbed my wrist.

"If you accept it, then why the sour face?"

"Willow, this birthday party was thrown just for you. What are people supposed to do if you leave now?"

Byron's words nearly made me laugh.

Things had already come to this, and he still wanted to guilt-trip me with this party.

I didn't spare Byron a single glance.

"Your joking around is between the two of you. It has nothing to do with me."

"And by the same logic, what face I wear in front of you, and when I go home, have nothing to do with you either."

With that, I didn't give anyone in the room another look. I turned and walked straight out of the private room.

The moment I got home, I saw that Isabel had posted to her social media feed ten minutes earlier.

It was the very selfie clip Byron had shot at the party, the one announcing them as official.

Isabel had even added a caption to fit the mood.

"We're going official."

The moment that video went up, our college class group chat blew up.

"Oh my God, did you guys see Isabel's post? What does 'going official' mean? Weren't Byron and Willow about to get married?"

"Willow and Byron broke up? When did that happen? Didn't Isabel go abroad back in sophomore year? When did she come back?"

"They probably didn't break up. They've been together seven years. There's no way they'd split that easily. It's got to be some kind of misunderstanding, right?"

Watching everyone's chatter in the group, my grip on the phone tightened, little by little.

The first time I ever met Byron was on move-in day my freshman year.

"Hey, do you know which way the multimedia classroom is? I'm a new student this year."

"What a coincidence, I'm a freshman too. Let's head over together."