“Babe, my boss is sending me on a business trip for a month. I won't be around for Valentine's Day.”

“That's okay. I'll be good and wait for you to come home.”

That night, a hurricane grounded all flights.

My boss picked up a last-minute job and sent me back to the hotel to toss petals and give blessings at a wedding reception.

When the bride stepped out, I nearly dropped the flower basket.

She was cradled in the groom's arms, kissing him, and every gesture, every movement was identical to my girlfriend's.

The instant our eyes met, she froze like she'd been struck by lightning. She didn't move for a long time.

The manager urged me to hurry up and scatter the petals. I swallowed the ache twisting through my chest, grabbed a fistful of petals, and tossed them over the happy couple with a blessing I'd never forget.

Beatrice Harding clenched her fists and watched me, terrified, until the groom noticed.

“Beatrice, why do you keep staring at him?”

“Wait, is he an ex-boyfriend or something?”

“No! He's my cousin!!”

——

“Oh, your cousin!”

“Why didn't you say so earlier? I feel bad for being so cold to him just now.”

Jude Delgado's face broke into a grin. He walked over to me and extended his hand.

“Hey, cuz! Sorry if I was rude before. No hard feelings, right?”

I shifted my gaze to Beatrice. She couldn't look at me anymore. Her eyes darted everywhere but my face.

Like a kid caught doing something wrong, bracing for the scolding.

To save herself from humiliation, to keep Jude from getting suspicious, she'd turned me into her cousin.

Cousin. What a joke. I was only now learning how effortlessly she could lie, and how comfortably she could cheat.

The woman who'd been wrapped around me all last night was standing here today, marrying another man.

“Long time no see, cuz!”

It took me a long time to get my mouth to work. The words scraped out through clenched teeth.

The moment they left my lips, the pain hit like needles driven straight into my chest.

The wedding was lavish. Every seat was filled with the rich and powerful.

I forced a miserable excuse for a smile and clasped Jude's hand.

“Hey. I'm Rhys Dickerson. Beatrice's……”

Beatrice's face went rigid, every drop of color draining out of it. She stood right beside Jude, and behind an expression no outsider would think to question, her eyes begged me not to say it.

My hand tightened into a fist. Every vein across my knuckles stood out.

I reined it in. When I spoke, my voice came out raw. ：“I'm Beatrice's cousin.”

The tension drained from her shoulders the second the word left my mouth. Still, she couldn't bring herself to look at me.

I remembered how she'd fallen for me at first sight. She'd always been wild, reckless, but for me she reined all of that in and played the good girl.

And I wanted nothing to do with her. Every time I saw her, I kept my distance.

The more I pushed her away, the harder Beatrice chased.

Then the day came when a rival set me up, and she threw herself in front of the blade meant for me.

I carried her to the hospital, soaked in her blood. I'd never loved her. But every second she was unconscious, my heart wouldn't stop hammering with the fear that she'd never wake up.

She was clinging to consciousness by a thread, and all she wanted to know was whether I loved her.

I nodded without hesitation. Told her she was the only woman I'd ever marry.

She'd saved my life. I owed her one promise, anything she asked.

In three years together, she never once cashed it in.

My phone buzzed. A message from her.

“Rhys, you still owe me that promise, don't you?”

“I'm using it now. Don't tell Jude or anyone else that you're my boyfriend.”

“I'll explain everything later. Just not now.”

Jude had already pulled her away to make the rounds, toasting the VIP guests. She set down her phone and went through the motions, barely present.

Now that I was her "cousin," Jude insisted I sit down and enjoy the banquet instead of working.

I picked up a shrimp and chewed. The meat wasn't bitter, but everything I tasted was.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Beatrice watching my every move.

She was worried for nothing.

When I made a promise, I kept it.

What I hadn't expected was that her request would be for me to keep the secret that we were together.

I pulled my gaze away and stopped looking at her.

My mind was a wreck, the ache unbearable. I was about to stand and leave when Jude's groomsmen started joking around.

“Jude, congrats on finally landing the girl!”

“You two went pretty hard that night, huh?”

Jude played dumb：“What night? You've had too much to drink, man!”

“Please. I can drink anyone under the table.”

“Quit playing. The eighteenth, last month. You and Beatrice got a room right next to mine.”

“Man, you two were so loud.”

Beatrice went rigid. I just sat there, frozen, for what felt like a long time.

The eighteenth of last month. That was the night my mother was on her deathbed. I'd called Beatrice over and over, begging her to come see my mother one last time.

I was about to give up when she finally called back.

I remembered how heavy her breathing sounded, her voice rough and hoarse.

She said she was away on a business trip and had come down with a fever. She couldn't make it back.

I believed her. I even worried about her health, since I wasn't there to take care of her.

That whole night, half of me was in agony, and the other half was drowning in grief.

Only now, from the mouth of her lover's buddy, did the truth come spilling out.

That night, she wasn't on a business trip. She was in a hotel room with Jude.

I sank back into my chair, all the strength gone from my body. My chest felt like something was gnawing through it from the inside, tearing without mercy.

“Enough! Stop talking!”

Beatrice snapped at the guy, furious, but he was genuinely drunk.

“Oh, relax! You're married now.”

“Can't a bunch of single guys learn a few moves?”

“Am I right, guys?”

Beatrice's face was taut, her expression so panicked she looked like someone running for her life.

Jude wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest.

“Babe, what's gotten into you tonight?”

“You're acting so different from usual. Don't tell me your ex really is……”

“No!”

“I just don't think what happens in our bedroom needs to be announced to a whole table!”

Jude chuckled：“You little minx. Since when are you shy about that?”

“Tonight when we get home, you're going to……”

I couldn't listen to another word.

If she had truly fallen for someone else and was just too afraid to tell me, I would have sent her a breakup text and been done with it.

I hated dragging things out. What I feared even more was being deceived.

“Hey, cousin, where are you going?”

“Sit back down, eat something!”

“You're Beatrice's cousin, her only family here tonight. You've got to stay and see the wedding through!”

“Seraphina, over here!”

Even as Jude spoke to me, his eyes had already drifted past my shoulder. He lifted a hand and waved over a woman named Seraphina Whitmore.

“Wow, look at you!”

“You get more gorgeous every time I see you. Still as classy as ever.”

Seraphina was a former classmate of Jude's, one of several he'd invited to the reception.

But the moment she saw me, a flash of something crossed her eyes.

I looked up at her, and she fell quiet.

“Come on, come on. Gotta introduce the good ones to the inner circle.”

“This is Rhys Dickerson, my wife's cousin.”

Jude pointed at me and introduced me to Seraphina.

“Cousin, her name's Seraphina Whitmore. Isn't she gorgeous?”

I had no interest in making conversation. All I wanted was to get out of there.

But Jude kept blocking my path, refusing to let me leave.

“Cousin, you look like you're in a real hurry to go somewhere. I'm telling you, there's no point rushing off.”

“I'm trying to set you up here! Where do you think you're going?”

He dragged me over to Seraphina's side. The second I sat down, a wall of raised glasses came at me from every direction.

“Come on, Cousin, a toast to you!”

The liquor burned going down, a hundred times more bitter than before.

Seraphina noticed something was off with me and spoke up quickly, waving away the next round of glasses.

“That's enough, everyone. If someone gets drunk and ruins the wedding, none of us can afford that kind of trouble.”

“Oh my! Looks like somebody's already playing protector!”

“Heh, Seraphina, you're not even with the guy yet and you're already looking out for him.”

“Hmph, taking his side over ours already.”

“All right, all right. You all know Seraphina's shy. Why don't we just push these two together and see what happens?”

I wasn't in the mood to listen to any of their banter. Whatever they were saying went in one ear and out the other.

“Okay, rock-paper-scissors! Loser gets a punishment.”

Jude was the first to lose, though someone pointed out he'd done it on purpose. He was supposedly unbeatable at the game.

“Look how eager he is. Lost on purpose so he could make out with his bride right in front of us single losers, huh?”

Jude didn't say a word, but the smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth gave him away.

Beatrice didn't want to kiss Jude in front of me, but he didn't give her a choice. He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a deep, lingering kiss.

Everyone clapped and cheered. A few people whistled.

A full five minutes passed before he let her go. Beatrice couldn't bring herself to look at me after that.

It was only then I realized I'd drained three full bottles without even noticing. The alcohol hammered at my skull and churned in my stomach.

Sick and barely holding myself together, I got pulled into the game too, and I lost badly.

Seraphina, who'd never played before either, lost just as spectacularly.

“Ha! Cousin and Seraphina both lost. Rules are rules!”

“You two are literally made for each other. Equally terrible!”

“Come on, kiss!”

“Kiss!”

“Kiss!”

Someone shoved Seraphina toward me. I caught her before she could stumble, my hands steadying her by the arms.

“Oh! And he says he's not interested in this beauty. Beatrice, your cousin sure knows how to play it cool.”

Beatrice stared at us with a smile that never touched her eyes, a flicker of warning buried beneath something sharper.

I was done catering to her feelings. Seraphina's face was flushed but she wasn't pulling away. I was about to lean in when she beat me to it, pressing her lips to mine.

“Wow! No stopping for at least three minutes!”

One minute in, someone shoved me back. It was Beatrice.

“C-Cousin, Seraphina hasn't even dated anyone before! You can't just take advantage of her over a silly game.”

I said nothing. My gaze on her was ice-cold.

“Huh, does anyone else think Beatrice looks a little jealous right now?”

“Shoo, shoo, stop picking on my sweetheart.”

“Hahaha, maybe she just can't wait to get to the wedding night!”

“Jude, you better head back! Your boys sent over plenty of goodies for you two!”

It was getting late. Jude glanced at me, then turned to his friends.

“Hey, check if any of your companies are hiring. Get my cousin a decent job. Being some low-level manager at a hotel? That's not gonna cut it.”

“No problem!”