My boyfriend abandoned me at the altar on the day of our wedding to accompany his childhood sweetheart, who was about to give birth as a single mother.

Faced with the sarcastic looks thrown at me by the guests, I took off my wedding veil and headed to the hospital to confront him.

I saw him holding her baby in his arms with love in his eyes.

She asked him on purpose, "It's your wedding today, Sean. What if Riley gets mad at you for accompanying me during labor?"

"I can get married anytime, but having a baby is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I'd be worried sick if I left you alone in the hospital.”

"From this day onward, I'll be the baby's father. I won't let you both be bullied by anyone."

I ended up marrying another man, but he crashed our wedding like a madman, begging me for another chance.

I walked out of the hospital in a daze as I took out my phone to make a call.

"Jayden, does your word still count when you said you wanted to marry me?"

On the other end of the line, Jayden's cynical voice was heard saying, "What do you take me for, Riley? Your backup plan?"

"I'll marry someone else if you're not willing to."

"Wait! I'll marry you," Jayden said with clenched teeth, "You agreed to marry me, Riley. Don't regret this."

"It's a deal."

After settling on a wedding date, I hung up and returned to my wedding. I apologized to all my friends and family in attendance and announced that the wedding had been postponed to a month later.

I dragged my exhausted body home after making arrangements for everyone present at the wedding.

Not long after I got home, I heard someone at the door.

Sean Lowry walked into the house. He looked at me apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Riley. I had an emergency today."

I smiled bitterly. "An emergency? What could be more important than our wedding?"

Sean looked at me and said, "My friend was in an accident. It was a life and death situation. I didn't have enough time to explain the situation to you. I had to get her to a hospital right away."

If I had not seen it with my own eyes and seen how much he, Yvonne and the baby looked like a family of three, I would have believed him.

When Sean did not appear at our wedding and I could not get through to his phone, I was extremely worried that something had happened to him on the way.

It was not until I saw Yvonne Channing's friend's post on social media about them that I found out he was accompanying Yvonne for her delivery.

I felt like a complete fool.

Tears flowed down my face. I did not want to cry over him, but I could not stop the waves of sadness in my heart.

Sean panicked when he saw me crying. He pulled me into his arms to comfort me. "I know you felt horrible about today, Riley. I promise you I won't be absent during our next wedding."

My hands were on his chest as I pushed him away. I choked back a sob. "That's not necessary. We won't have another wedding."

Sean was in disbelief. He said, "Stop saying things you don’t mean. I know you've postponed the wedding to a month later."

His phone rang when I was about to tell him he was not the groom in that wedding.

The look on Sean's face changed when he saw the name on his phone. "All right. I'll head over right now."

He let me go and turned to leave. It was only when he was at the door that he turned to me and explained, "I need to handle an emergency right now. Be good and wait at home for me. We'll discuss the wedding when I come home."

I did not reply. It was quite a while before I checked my social media again, but when I did, I saw Yvonne post something new.

It was a side picture of Sean holding a baby.

"No one can understand the pain of breast engorgement after giving birth. How fortunate that my baby's father is by my side to help me. He's so good at getting my milk out."

That was the emergency he had to handle? I laughed self-deprecatingly.

I picked up a chair and smashed it into the wall. I smashed all of our wedding photos and later hired some cleaners to get rid of everything that reminded me of Sean.

The next morning, I woke up early to put on some light makeup before heading to work.

I allowed myself to mourn my broken heart, but I could not allow myself to wither away from it.

Bad luck had to be following me. While on my way to work, a car that made an illegal turn hit me. My leg was hurt and I had to visit the hospital.

Coincidentally, I bumped into Sean, who had his arm around Yvonne, downstairs.

Our eyes met. Sean quickly pulled his hand away from Yvonne's shoulder and asked in a flustered tone, "What happened to you, Riley?"

I replied calmly, "Nothing. I had a minor accident and hurt my leg."

Sean immediately gave me all his attention as he helped me queue up to get my X-ray and medication.

Jealousy flashed across Yvonne's eyes. She said tauntingly to me, "I won, Riley. He didn't go through with the wedding.

"I underestimated you. I can't believe you took everything in your stride. Don't even think for a second that you can continue to be with Sean. That would be a mistake."

Sean and I met each other in university. It was raining at the library that day, and we met each other by sharing an umbrella.

He was sweet and loving, and I slowly fell head over heels for him.

We were together for five years and we were a model couple on campus. I thought we would always be in love and eventually get married.

That was when Sean's childhood friend, Yvonne, returned from overseas. She was four months pregnant when she started interfering with our relationship.

"Would you believe it if I told you that Sean will never marry you as long as I'm here?"

I ignored her at first because Sean and I had been deeply in love for five years.

Yvonne was pregnant with another man's child, but was not married. I did not believe Sean would leave me because of her.

It was during our wedding that reality gave me a big, hard slap.

I was defeated by Yvonne, but there was no way I would let her gloat about it.

My voice was cold as I looked at her and said, "Miss Channing, it doesn't matter what you say. I'm still Sean's legitimate fiancée. What right do you have to speak to me that way?

"Is it such an honorable career to be a third party in someone else's relationship?"

Yvonne lifted her chin arrogantly and said, "The third party is the one who's not loved."

That was when the ground suddenly shook.

"It's an earthquake!" Someone shouted.

Sean was in the queue for my medication when the earthquake happened. He quickly ran toward us and grabbed Yvonne's hand to lead her to the exit.

Yvonne reminded him in a panic, "Sean, my baby…"

Sean turned back to run up the stairs. He grabbed the baby in his arms and left with Yvonne.

I stared as he left. He did not even glance at me throughout the ordeal.

That was when I was forced to admit that our five-year relationship was nothing compared to his love for Yvonne.

I did not lose to Yvonne. I lost to him.

Sean finally remembered me when the ground stopped shaking. He went against the crowd to get to me.

He stammered, "I was really worried about the baby, Riley. I didn't mean to forget you…"

I smiled bitterly and said, "It's fine. The baby is more important."

Sean looked relieved and smiled when he saw how understanding I was. "It's great that you understand me, Riley. Let me take you home."

Yvonne stood behind him with tears in her eyes as her baby cried loudly in her arms. "Sean, I think the baby’s frightened…"

Sean looked flustered. He immediately turned to me and said, "Wait for me here. I'll take Yvonne and the baby upstairs first."

I nodded silently. When they got up the stairs, I turned to leave.

Sean Lowry… I would never wait for him again.

I returned to work two days later after my leg had recovered.

What I did not expect was Yvonne showing up at my house with her baby in her arms when I got home from work.

She smiled gleefully when she saw me. "You're home, Miss Fisher. Sean was worried that no one was around to take care of me after I was discharged from the hospital, so he brought me and the baby back here."

I stared at the night gown she was wearing and said with clenched teeth. "Take that off! Who told you that you could touch my clothes?!"

Yvonne put her baby down and approached me. Her smile turned wider. "Sean was the one who gave me permission.

"Your clothes won't be the only thing I take. I want everything you have!"

She slapped me and I retaliated right away. She stumbled backward in an exaggerated manner.

Yvonne cried out loud, "I didn't wear your clothes on purpose, Miss Fisher…

"Please don't be mad. I'll return them to you right away."

She started to take off her clothes to reveal her almost-naked body to me.

Her baby was frightened by the commotion and started bawling.

I was taken aback, but I quickly realized that this was part of her scheme. However, it was too late for me to say anything.

Sean pushed the door open and rushed inside. When he saw what was happening, he pushed me to the ground.

"When did you become so horrible, Riley? How can you do such a thing to a single mother and baby?"

Sean picked up the baby carefully and took off his coat to put it over Yvonne.

Yvonne leaned into his arms pitifully. "This was my fault, Sean. I shouldn't have worn Miss Fisher's clothes. Please don't be mad at her."

Her words only enraged Sean further. He glared at me and said, "I was the one who let Yvonne put on your clothes. If you're mad about it, just vent your anger at me."

Sean's biased attitude chilled me to the bone.

I held back my sorrow and roared at him, "This is my house. What right do you have to bring her back here? What right do you have to allow her to wear my clothes?"

Sean helped Yvonne up and said to me, "Both you and Yvonne need someone to care for you, which is why I brought her back. It'd be easier for me to look after both of you. Since you can't accept her, I'll take her away with me.

"Yvonne's clothes got dirty when she was feeding the baby milk, so I grabbed a piece of your clothing for her to change into. I can't believe you're being so petty about this.

"You should stay home alone and reflect on what you've done. If you don't apologize to Yvonne, I won't go through with the wedding."

Sean left with Yvonne and her baby after that.

His angry words reverberated in my ear. I fell limply to the ground the moment he closed the door.

I was not planning on marrying Sean, anyway.

...

One month later, I put on my wedding dress and got into the car Jayden sent for me to take me to the wedding.

I received Sean's message on my way there.

"It's been a month. Are you done reflecting on what you did?"

"Yvonne is having a one-month-old celebration for the baby. Buy a present and come over personally. I'll take that as your apology."

I smiled and took a picture of myself in a wedding dress to send to him.

"It's a busy day for me. I'm getting married."