Since he'd started the company, he'd been run off his feet, too busy to string two sentences together with me, let alone cook for me.

Just then the bedroom door flew open.

Janet rushed in, wearing a slightly awkward smile.

"Mr. Mason, why did you give Rosa the noodles I didn't finish?"

"Rosa, don't eat them. I have a cold. I don't want to pass it to you."

I poked at the noodles, saw the half-bitten egg sitting in the bowl, and my stomach turned. I dropped to my knees beside the trash can and gagged.

Even the noodles he'd brought me were secondhand.

Janet hurried over and patted my back.

"Don't be upset, Rosa. Mr. Mason only gave them to you because he didn't want them to go to waste."

James gave a cold snort. "Leave her be. Spoiled little princesses like her are just precious about everything."

"Rosamond, if you can't stomach a bowl of leftover noodles, what are you going to do about the hundred tables of leftovers from the wedding banquet?"

Janet chimed in soothingly. "Rosa, maybe you don't know this, but leftovers are perfectly safe to eat once they've been heated through."

"I promise it won't embarrass you."

James nodded his approval. "Janet really does know how to run a thrifty home."

"Pity some people will never learn."

I can't learn. And I don't want to anymore.

My phone chimed.

That person had sent over the wedding banquet menu.

A sixteen-course international tasting menu, with cold dishes, hot soups, and desserts all accounted for.

At the bottom, a single line:

【Not enough? Tell me what else you want and I'll have the private chef add it.】

A man I'd never even met could be this thoughtful.

Set side by side, it was almost cruel.

When night fell, James actually carried Janet over and laid her down beside me, on the bridal bed.

Even though I'd already decided to leave, seeing the two of them so close still sent a sharp ache through my chest.

"Rosamond, what's with that look?"

"Things have gotten this far, and you're still throwing a jealous fit?"

James pulled the blanket up over Janet, his eyes full of tenderness.

"Janet's running a fever. She can barely stand, so I had to carry her to the bed."

"If you don't want to sleep next to her, go to the couch."

Janet struggled to sit up. "Leave the master bedroom to the two of you. I'll be fine on the couch."

James pressed her back down onto the bed, and his cold gaze swept over me.

"Rosamond, are you going to the couch or not?"

"Back in college, when you were sick, Janet carried you down five flights of stairs."

"Now she has a cold, and you can't even be bothered to look after her!"

It was the dorm head who'd carried me down those five flights. Since when did that become her good deed?

I said nothing more and walked straight out of the master bedroom.

I sat down on the couch and looked around the room.

Discount-app price-match coupons were scattered across the floor.

On the plant stand sat the secondhand porcelain Janet had dug up somewhere.

Even the toilet had been swapped out for a used one.

James used to praise my taste in design again and again.

Now nearly everything that was mine had been hauled away, and all that remained was that bed, loaded with the memory of our nights together.

And even it now carried someone else's scent.

James came out of the master bedroom and walked straight into me, my face streaming with tears.

"It's not that serious, is it? I'm only looking after your best friend for you. Is that worth crying over?"

I wiped at my eyes and realized I hadn't even known I was crying.

"James, let's break up."

"Mr. Mason! I'm hungry!"

He didn't catch the part where I said break up, and answered the call into the kitchen.

I stood in front of the mirror in the living room. The wound at my temple was still seeping blood.

The injury was right there, plain to see, and yet he was so wrapped up in Janet's cold he never asked about it once.

Right on cue, my phone pushed a new post to my feed.

【Bowl number 158 this year. My midnight snacks are officially covered by a certain someone~】

I tapped into the account.

A couples' account with fifteen thousand followers.

Every day the blogger posted the noodles her boyfriend cooked for her.

And the bowl on camera today was one I'd shaped myself in Charleston.

I read through every single post like I was punishing myself.

Trying to find the man he used to be in the scraps another woman put on display.

So his love had never disappeared. He'd just given it to someone else.

The next day I called an agent and put the house and car up for a rush sale at half the market price.

Anything tainted, anyone tainted, I didn't want it anymore.

It wasn't until the bridal studio called that I remembered today was the day for the wedding photoshoot.

I was about to cancel when the voice on the line spoke first.

“Miss Mann, Mr. Mason changed the outdoor location you'd booked.”

“Changed it to where?”

She clearly found it hard to get out.

“To a spot next to a junkyard……”

“Mr. Mason said it's to promote an eco-friendly message.”

……

“I know you always wanted that castle look, Miss Mann, but our wasteland style photographs beautifully too.”

“I'm sorry, Miss Mann. Mr. Mason really paid us a lot.”

I didn't say anything. I just hung up.

If I didn't pull myself out now, this secondhand wedding would become the biggest joke in New York.

A text came in from James:

【You've got ten minutes. If you're not here by then, forget the shoot.】

I didn't reply. Half an hour later, Janet sent me a photo.

She was wearing my couture gown, kissing James beside a dumpster.

【Rosa, if you don't come the deposit won't be refunded either, so to save you two some money I had no choice but to sacrifice myself and step in. ~】

【Mr. Mason says we can just AI face-swap it later.】

【PS: and I even managed to talk Mr. Mason into letting you wear the couture gown for photos without all the hassle. Don't thank me too much.】

On her feed, she started showing off the freshly printed wedding photos.

【Accidentally got married.】

As I scrolled, I liked it by accident.

James's call came in at once.

His ringtone was a voice clip I'd recorded.

【Baby, hurry and pick up.】

The tenderness of the ringtone made his cold voice now feel all the sharper.

“What's that like supposed to mean? Do you know you made Janet cry?”

“Just because I liked it?”

“Rosamond, how many times do I have to say it? Janet and I are just normal friends. Stop being so petty and paranoid.”

“Fine.”

My short answer left James at a loss for words.

After a moment, he added: “Go apologize to Janet.”

I didn't apologize. Seeing that I wouldn't listen, James was so angry he blocked me outright.

Before he did, he left me one message.

【You're being so unreasonable. I won't be coming home until the wedding. Think long and hard about what you've done.】

All the better. With him gone, it was easier for me to sell the house and car, and easier to get the next wedding ready.

……

On the day of the wedding, James finished his morning meeting and got ready to drive to the venue.

Janet had packed his schedule so tight that he could only spare the two hours at noon to get married.

As for the customary rituals, the door games, fetching the bride, he'd cut all of that long ago.

Rosamond loved him too deeply to ever care about those empty formalities.

Before he even reached the car, James ran into Janet, her eyes rimmed red.

She showed him a photo of the welcome area.

The bride's face was still Janet's.

“Mr. Mason, the AI face-swap failed, and the bride's name got printed as mine too.”

James fell for this act of hers, and he soothed her:

“It's all right. So, would you be willing to take Rosamond's place and go through the ceremony with me?”

“Of course I would. It's just that Rosa will be upset, won't she.”

James frowned and pulled Rosamond out of the block list.

“Leave the gown behind and head home first. Janet hates to see you worn out playing the bride, so she's willing to take the weight off you.”

He was pressed for time. He fired it off and shut his phone, never seeing the bright red exclamation mark.

It was only when he reached the venue that he found Rosamond, dressed in full splendor, standing in the welcome area.

That magnificent gown, he'd never seen it before.

His first reaction was that she'd gone and wasted money again.

But that lush beauty stirred something in him, too, and brought back the first time they'd met.

These past few years, maybe he'd been too hard on her about spending.

She loved looking beautiful, and yet she'd given up dressing up for his sake.

He was just about to speak, to win her back, to have Rosamond go through the ceremony with him instead of leaving it to Janet.

Then his gaze caught the groom standing beside her, and his pupils shrank in an instant.