The night before my wedding with Patty Rush, she told me she had to stay late at the office for an urgent project.

Before leaving, she hugged my neck and asked me to double-check the wedding details for the next day. I smiled and assured her I would, telling her not to worry.

I went through everything alone until dawn, making sure there were no mistakes. Satisfied, I called her to report back.

Her assistant, Ivan Drake, answered the phone.

"Ms. Patty just fell asleep from exhaustion. Is there anything you need?"

I paused for a moment and said, "No, it's nothing."

The next morning, Patty called me.

"Honey, Ivan's sister is getting married and he asked me to be the maid of honor. We're going to have to postpone our wedding by a week."

I calmly replied, "Okay."

But I wasn’t postponing the wedding—I was canceling it.

——

I notified everyone on my own.

From informing my parents to contacting friends and family and then notifying the venue.

It was easier than I expected.

The same process, repeated over and over, like a machine stuck on a loop.

My parents and friends kept calling and texting, asking me why.

"Son, what happened?"

"Bro, are you serious?"

They all wanted to know the reason, but I didn’t know how to explain.

Should I tell them that Patty would rather be a bridesmaid at someone else’s wedding than marry me today?

I wanted to hold on to at least a shred of dignity.

So, I played the ostrich—ignoring calls, not replying to texts.

I texted Patty about the wedding cancellation.

As long as she called me to question it, there was still a chance for us to fix things.

But she never replied.

I comforted myself by thinking she was probably busy and hadn’t seen the message yet.

But then I saw her post on social media.

In the video, she was dressed as a bridesmaid, smiling brightly.

She looked stunning, completely stealing the spotlight from the bride.

I could no longer deceive myself.

I laughed bitterly at my own foolishness.

It was over between us.

From that love-at-first-sight moment in college to five years of relentless pursuit, I had spent nine years living entirely for her.

Chasing after her had become second nature to me.

When she laughed, I laughed with her.

When she cried, I was there to comfort her.

She often told me, "True love is about always being there."

I took those words to heart and stayed by her side, never troubling her with my own struggles. I carried my burdens alone, doing my best to fulfill her every wish.

She once said she wanted to see a grand fireworks display for her birthday, so I bought out an entire street’s worth of fireworks just to make it happen for her.

She mentioned wanting a cat and even though I was allergic to cat hair, I kept that to myself and took her to pick one out from the pet market.

Because of my care, she could focus all her energy on her career.

In just five years, she rose from a junior employee to the position of deputy general manager.

She got an assistant and often worked late into the night with him or traveled on business trips.

Though I felt a pang of jealousy, I never said anything, reassuring myself it was just work.

I loved her, so I trusted her.

When she accepted my proposal, she said, "Thank you for always being there for me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

Hearing that, I felt a little unhappy.

I didn’t want compensation; I wanted her love.

Reality hit me hard. She didn’t love me after all.

She said, "True love is about always being there."

But even the strongest companionship can grow weary.

This time, she didn’t care about my feelings at all. With just one sentence, she postponed the wedding, making me see her for who she really was and recognize myself as well.

She never truly valued me.

And I was tired. I didn’t want to keep going.

Nine years of loving her and in the end, it amounted to nothing—vanished into thin air.

I returned to the wedding apartment.

My parents had used half of their life savings to buy this place for me. It was a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, yet hardly any of it felt like it belonged to me.

One bedroom had been turned into a walk-in closet by Patty; she had a lot of clothes and shoes.

The second bedroom had become a karaoke room because she wanted to enjoy singing at home.

She never once considered whether my parents might stay here someday.

“Meow!”

Chamo, the cat I had bought, let out a sound. I turned to look at him, feeling a bit conflicted.

I could change the rooms back, but I wasn’t sure what to do with Chamo.

I’m allergic to cat hair, so Patty had always taken care of him. She loved cats—sometimes she would even cuddle Chamo to sleep.

I would wrap myself up tightly and use nose plugs to avoid any contact with the cat hair.

All my friends knew about my allergy; none of them were cat lovers, so I couldn’t ask them to take care of Chamo.

And I didn’t want to sell him either—after all, we had lived together for years and I had developed some feelings for him.

The best option was still to call Patty and have her continue looking after him.

After hesitating for a long time, I made the call.

“Hello, honey!”

Patty’s voice was filled with excitement.

Before I could say anything, she continued, "Honey, I just realized how fun weddings can be! Let’s have ours like that in a few days."

She had seen Ivan’s sister’s wedding and dismissed all my carefully planned arrangements.

I felt neither anger nor disappointment.

I just felt exhausted.

“Honey, I can’t talk right now. I’m going to take some photos. Let Ivan chat with you,” she said and the phone was handed over to Ivan.

His voice was filled with smug satisfaction.

“Ms. Patty seems very happy. Do you need something?” he asked.

“I want to change the bedroom back to how it was. I need to ask her if she still wants to take care of Chamo. If she…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Ivan interrupted me.

“Alright, I get it. Do you have anything else?”

His tone was impatient.

I replied calmly, “No, that’s all.”

A week later, I ran into Patty downstairs at the office.

She was standing with Ivan and two men and two women.

She didn’t greet me but smiled at the group, saying, “Thank you all for making the special trip. You can go ahead; I need to take care of a few things back at the office.”

Ivan quickly chimed in, “Ms. Patty, you go ahead. I’ll take Mom and Dad along with my sister and brother-in-law.”

As he passed by me, he shot me a challenging glance.

I didn’t even look at him.

Patty came over and linked her arm with mine, explaining, “Ivan’s parents, Cleo and Arnold—Ivan’s sister and brother-in-law insisted on coming over to thank me and treat me to a meal. I didn’t want to turn them down.”

I let out a quiet "oh" and gently pulled my arm away.

Patty didn’t notice anything was off; she asked, “What are you doing at the office today?”

“Nothing much,” I replied flatly.

The truth was, I was here to apply for a spot in the overseas training program with Chief Drew.

But I didn’t feel the need to share that with her.

“Then wait for me a bit. We’ll go out for dinner together later and I’ll introduce you to them.”

Before I could refuse, Patty had already grabbed my hand and was pulling me upstairs.

“It’s settled then! Cleo and Arnold just got married and we can learn a thing or two from them tonight.”

I came out of Chief Drew’s office and waited for an hour before Patty hurried out of her office.

“Let’s go, let’s go! We can’t keep Ivan and the others waiting!”

Ivan was downstairs in the car and as I stood by the vehicle, I heard a meow coming from inside. I turned to Patty and asked, “Did you give him the keys?”

“Yeah, I just really missed Chamo and couldn’t wait to see him. Don’t mind it, okay, honey?”

I didn’t say anything and slid into the backseat.

This wasn’t the first time Patty had done this.

I had raised a fuss about it before, only to be scolded afterward.

She told me I was being overly suspicious, explaining that giving Ivan the keys made it easier for him to grab things from her place.

Maybe she was right; perhaps I was just too paranoid.

But that no longer mattered.

I sat in the car, quietly reflecting on what Chief Drew had just said.

He mentioned that spots for the overseas training program were highly competitive and that his recommendation might not carry much weight.

I understood the implication—he wanted me to ask Patty for a recommendation.

But as I watched Patty, laughing with Ivan while holding Chamo, I had no desire to bring it up.

When we arrived at the restaurant, Patty turned to me and asked, “Honey, you seem a bit off today. Is something wrong?”

I shook my head. “No, everything’s fine.”

Ivan’s parents, sister and brother-in-law greeted us as we entered the private room. Cleo smiled and said, “Patty! You finally made it! Is this your friend?”

Patty quickly explained, “No, no, he’s my boyfriend. We’re getting married soon.”

At this, Ivan’s mom looked surprised. “Oh, he’s your boyfriend? I thought you were my son’s girlfriend since I arranged for you both to share a room during the wedding days and you didn’t refuse.”

“No, you misunderstood, Mrs. Drake,” Patty said, her face filled with panic as she glanced at me, clearly worried that I might react badly and create an awkward situation.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. Ivan’s family home isn’t big and I didn’t want to be a bother.”

Ivan chuckled, “Exactly. Ms. Patty isn’t staying with me; she’s staying at a hotel during nighttime.”

I smiled nonchalantly and looked at Patty. “Actually, you don’t need to explain.”

She seemed surprised, clearly not expecting me to say that.

“Aren’t you upset?” she asked.

I replied, “Not at all. I understand; you’ve already explained it.”

But Patty wasn’t letting it go.

“Do you really trust me that easily? Don’t you want to ask more questions?”

Hearing that made me want to laugh.

In the past, when she would stay out late with Ivan, I’d ask her about it and she would say I was too suspicious and didn’t trust her.

Now that I believed her, she wanted me to question her again.

But I didn’t want to ask anymore.

Did it even matter if she was living with Ivan?

Arnold, Ivan’s brother-in-law, stepped in to lighten the mood. “Waiter, please bring out the dishes.”

Patty didn’t press further and turned to chat with Cleo and Arnold, pulling me into the conversation as well.

“Honey, you should listen too! Our wedding will be just like this!”

I had zero interest and quietly ate my food.

Ivan kept serving Patty dishes and occasionally chimed in with suggestions.

It looked like he and Patty were the couple discussing their wedding plans.

Eventually, Patty noticed that I hadn’t said a word.

“Honey, why don’t you share your thoughts? What do you think of Ivan’s sister and brother-in-law's wedding?”

“It’s great, but I don’t need to.”

Patty seemed a bit annoyed.

“Honey, how can you say that? We’re here to learn from them! Don’t you want us to have an unforgettable wedding?”

I looked at her calmly.

“We’re not having a wedding. I’ve canceled it and decided to break up with you.”