The day I had the miscarriage, my boyfriend disappeared. That night, his childhood best friend posted a picture of two marriage certificates, stamped with both of their faces. 【Officially on the road. From this day forward, through thick and thin.】 He commented instantly: “My first time. I’ll be gentle.” A flood of comments poured in, wishing them a lifetime of happiness. Some clueless colleagues even sent their wedding gift money to me. I gritted my teeth against the pain, refunded each one, and left a casual comment of my own: 【May you have a long and happy life together. And may you be blessed with children soon.】 The girl’s post was deleted in a second. And the phone call from my boyfriend, who’d been missing all day, came through immediately. “Are you insane? You made a young girl cry, and now you’re acting like you’re the damn wife already? I haven’t married you yet. Know your place.” Ten years together, and this kind of absurd drama had played out countless times. Every time he sobered up, he’d dismiss it as a drunken joke. It always ended the same way: with me breaking down in tears, then swallowing the thorn in my heart and carrying on. But this time, I was done. 1 When Ethan came back, I was still on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. A gut-wrenching pain tore through my lower abdomen from the D&C procedure I’d just had. He didn’t even take off his coat before he started laying into me. “Vera, what the hell were you thinking with that comment last night?” “We all run in the same circles! Chloe is like a little sister to me, we grew up together!” “She’s a young girl, she has a reputation to think about! How is she supposed to face anyone now that people think she’s a homewrecker?” I said nothing, letting him rant. “To make it up to her, I’ve arranged a cushy job for her at the company. You need to post something to clear the air. Just say we broke up.” “Otherwise,” he threatened, “I can’t promise I’ll show up the next time we’re supposed to get our marriage license.” This was the 99th time Ethan had bailed on getting married. The first time, Chloe got her period and had cramps, so Ethan ditched me to go buy her pads. The second time, Chloe had a fever. He left me standing thirty miles away at the doors of City Hall and just turned around and left. The third time, she got scared watching a horror movie by herself in a theater and called him crying. The fifth time… The sixth… In the ten years we’d been together, Ethan had abandoned me ninety-nine times. This time was the one-hundredth. “Marriage license? We don’t need one anymore.” I let out a cold laugh, my gaze drifting calmly out the window. Only then did he seem to remember, his eyes flicking down to my stomach. “Don’t be ridiculous, you’re pregnant. Here, have some hot soup. You must’ve caught a chill last night.” He handed me a takeout container with half a bowl of lukewarm chowder. A few pathetic shreds of shrimp and leftover celery floated on the surface. I lowered my eyes to my phone. Chloe had been relentlessly trying to add me as a friend since morning, over a dozen times. I’d ignored every request. Just a moment ago, however, Ethan had added me to a group chat with six people. It was him, his four childhood buddies, and Chloe—the only girl. The group’s name was “Chloe’s Knights.” The second I joined, Chloe sent a voice message. Her voice was thick with booze and tears. “Vera, please don’t misunderstand. Ethan and I were just joking around, we were drunk.” The others immediately chimed in. “What’s the big deal? Does our princess Chloe really have to apologize for this?” “Seriously. Someone’s got a princess complex, and it ain’t Chloe.” “We were all just messing around. We’ve known each other for years, are you really gonna get hung up on this?” “Don’t feel bad, Chloe. Apologize? For what? Does she even deserve it?” “If they were gonna sleep together, they would’ve done it years ago. It would’ve had nothing to do with you.” “Where’s Ethan? Is he dead or something? Letting a girl take the heat all by herself.” Chloe’s social media wasn’t private. Her latest post was a nine-photo grid, shining brightly on her feed. The caption was sickeningly sweet and proud: 【Just a newlywed. Is there anything better than a bowl of seafood chowder made by your husband’s own hands after a long, hard night? ~】 Ethan wasn’t looking at his phone. He was prying the lid off the takeout container. The fishy stench of overnight chowder filled the air. I’ve always been allergic to shellfish; the smell alone made me want to gag. “Ugh—” Ethan’s brow furrowed instantly. “What are you being so dramatic for? It’s just soup, you’re going to vomit?” “Even if you won’t drink it, you should think about the baby.” “There is no baby,” I replied, my voice cold and empty. Even as I fought to contain the inferno of hatred inside me, my knuckles turned white as I gripped the blanket. He froze, the casual confidence draining from his face, leaving only bewilderment. “What do you mean?” I stared out at the thick darkness beyond the window, not wanting to say another word. His face was pale. After a long moment, he looked up, his eyes red-rimmed. His voice softened as he knelt in front of me and began to explain. “Last night… Chloe’s boyfriend broke up with her. She wanted me to get a marriage license with her to piss him off.” “It’s just kids’ stuff, a game. We’ll get it annulled in a few days.” “After the New Year, we’ll go get our license! Don’t worry. We can always have another baby.” He took my hand, his long, elegant fingers wrapping around mine, and pressed his face into my palm. His full lips moved as he spoke, just beneath his strong nose. His thick lashes couldn’t hide the redness in his eyes. Ethan had been admired for his looks his whole life, which is how a looks-obsessed person like me ended up wasting a decade on him. I used to melt whenever he looked at me like this. But now… I felt nothing. “Don’t be upset. If you don’t want the chowder, I’ll take you out to eat.” He pulled me up, ready to leave. The moment he opened the passenger-side door of the car, a thick cloud of perfume hit me. A pair of pink, lacy panties, caught on the hem of my coat, dangled in the air. Ethan’s face went white. “Chloe… she insisted on changing into a dress yesterday to get the license. It was late, there was nowhere else to change, so I just…” I showed no reaction. He, on the other hand, was squirming. He shot me a look and promised again, “I’ll clean it up. Next week. The second City Hall opens on Monday, I’ll take her to get this annulled.” The car was dead silent. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. His brow creased in frustration as his hand, which had been gripping the steering wheel, reached for a cigarette and lit it. Through the haze of smoke, his impatience finally spilled out. “Anyone who knew would think you lost a baby. Anyone who didn’t would think you’d gone mute.” “Are you angry or not? Can’t you say a single goddamn word?” 2 I forced a faint smile. My eyes landed on the sticker plastered on the passenger-side dashboard: “Princess Chloe’s Royal Seat.” I couldn’t help but laugh. Last night, while I was miscarrying, my best friend sent me a TikTok. “Vera, doesn’t this car look like Ethan’s?” In the photo, Chloe had her bare feet up on the dash. Beside them sat a bouquet of red roses and a diamond ring. The caption accompanying the three Live Photos read: 【Twenty-two and living my best life in the passenger seat of a Benz.】 【Shoutout to the woman who spent countless rides on the back of his scooter. Glad I never had to go through that.】 It was true. For ten years, I rode on the back of Ethan’s scooter. We fought our way up from nothing, scrimped and saved for so long, and finally decided to buy our own car before the wedding. This car was brand new. Yesterday was the first time I was supposed to ride in it. But because of one phone call from Chloe, he left me stranded on the way to get our marriage license. The December drizzle was freezing into icy needles. I slipped and fell on the side of the road as a dark crimson stain spread from between my legs. He was off with his “best friend,” getting their joke marriage license, and didn’t come home all night. My body was already incredibly weak from the blood loss. Now, a fresh wave of red was beginning to seep through. My face pale, I pushed the car door open and started walking back to the apartment. Ethan, knowing he was in the wrong, followed me with his head down. “I’ll stay with you.” He helped me onto the sofa, drew a basin of hot water to soak my feet, washed fruit for me, and cut it into neat slices. Attentive, as always. I could hardly tell if the man before me now and the man from last night were the same person. He used to be this considerate, this perfect, in every way. Until he made it big. Then, photos of him with other women started appearing on my phone. He always insisted he was innocent, and he’d fire the women who came onto him or avoid them completely. But getting married was delayed again and again. A woman’s best years are fleeting. Ten of mine had passed. And finally, I didn’t want him anymore. In the middle of the night, I lay with my back to him, my abdomen wracked with unbearable pain. As it intensified, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stumbled out of bed and called a cab to go to the hospital. “What’s wrong? I’ll take you.” Ethan, surprisingly, was awake. He shot up and grabbed my coat for me. In the dead of night, his phone suddenly began to ring, shrill and insistent. He always put his calls on speaker when I was around. Chloe’s tear-filled voice cut through the darkness. “Honey, I wanted to make you soup, but I cut my finger… there’s so much blood… I’m so scared, boo-hoo.” The coat slipped from Ethan’s hand. His face changed. “Does it hurt? I told you not to mess around in the kitchen, you don’t know how to cook!” “I’m coming right now. You just be good!” The endearment and scolding came out so naturally. As he finished, he instinctively glanced at me, but he couldn’t read my expression. “Vera, we just got the license, Chloe isn’t used to it yet. Don’t mind her, she’s just a kid, she’s playing around.” “I need to go to the hospital.” The pain was so intense my vision was blackening. I instinctively clutched his sleeve. He hesitated. But the texts on his phone were coming in one after another. Chloe’s soft sobs were crystal clear, each one like a needle pricking at Ethan’s heart. The look of profound concern was written all over his face. My hand was forcefully shoved away. In agony, I tried to grab him again, but I was blocking his frantic escape. “Get out of the way!” He gave me a hard shove. I stumbled and fell against the wardrobe. A heavy vase toppled off and crashed squarely into my stomach. The metallic taste of blood immediately filled my mouth. “Ethan, don’t go.” But he didn’t even look back at me. He grabbed his coat, struggling into it as he unleashed his fury on me. “Vera, will you give it a rest?” “Didn’t you hear Chloe is hurt? Why are you picking a fight with a girl seven years younger than you?” “She got hurt trying to do something for me! How can you be so vicious? Do you want her to bleed out before you’re satisfied?” I was in too much pain to speak, gasping for every breath. He was still yelling. “So she took your spot as the bride for a day, is that why you’re trying to get revenge?” “You’re almost thirty, an old woman. What’s the big deal about waiting one more day? You’ve waited ten years, you can’t wait a little longer now?” He saw me struggling to my feet, saw the bright red blood pooling beneath me. He froze for a second, then his brow furrowed in disgust. “Are you serious? You’d hurt yourself just to keep me here? Have some goddamn dignity.” “The keys. Your car keys.” My words cut him off. I threw the object in my hand at his feet. Ethan was completely speechless. His expression turned awkward. After a silent second, his lips moved, and he spoke softly. “Wait for me. I… I’ll be back soon.” He turned and fled, not even bothering to put his coat on properly, his heart clearly somewhere else. By the time the sky began to lighten, he still hadn’t returned. I must have passed out for a while. When I came to, I found myself lying on the freezing floor, not knowing how long I’d been there. Dark red had soaked through my pants. I fought back the rising panic and the sour sting in my heart, and slowly, painfully, dragged myself to the front door. I knocked on my neighbor’s door. “Oh my God, Vera!” Her scream was the last thing I heard before I collapsed. 3 When I opened my eyes, I was in a cold hospital room, undergoing a D&C. It felt like a pair of icy tongs were inside me, scraping mercilessly at the walls of my womb. It was a pain that felt like my bones were being carved out, my flesh stripped away. A cold sweat beaded on my forehead. In the midst of the agony, my phone rang. It was my best friend. “Vera, is Ethan home?” she asked, her tone hesitant. “I think I can hear his voice next door… and the sounds are, well… let’s just say they’re not just talking.” My best friend lived next door to Chloe. The hand holding my phone fell limp against the bed. I stared at the harsh fluorescent light overhead for what felt like an eternity, long enough for it to burn away the moisture in the corners of my eyes. That half hour was the longest of my life. It ended when I heard the doctor say, “There’s a risk of further hemorrhaging. We didn’t get everything.” I finally left that room. As I sat alone in the recovery ward, a girl who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen, her eyes red, handed me a tissue. “Here, miss.” I wiped my tears, my mind a complete blank. This baby was an unexpected gift this year. After my mother passed away, I was utterly alone in the world, with no family left. Since then, I’ve yearned for a family of my own, for someone who belonged to me. For this child, I had gone through countless rounds of IVF, choked down bitter medicines. I knew the sooner I could carry a child to term, the safer it would be. So I persevered. The blue and purple bruises from the injections on my stomach would barely fade before new ones appeared. But now, that child was nothing more than a mangled mess of blood and tissue. When the doctor showed me the basin, the tears I had been holding back streamed down my face. The family I had dreamed of for so long was now just a bowl of bloody water. Six years of effort, all washed away. Swallowing the suffocating pain, I took a cab home. I was going to pack my things and leave the home Ethan and I shared. But as I was packing, I realized my mother’s wedding dress was gone. It was the last thing she had left me. Two years ago, before she died of cancer, she told me her biggest regret was not being able to see my wedding. She couldn’t be there, but she hoped one day I would wear this dress to walk toward my own happiness. I searched the apartment like a madwoman, but the dress was nowhere to be found. Ethan’s phone went straight to voicemail. As I collapsed in a storm of tears, my best friend called again. “Vera, you have to see this local video! Why is Ethan having a wedding with someone else?!” My frantic search stopped. I forced down my panic and clicked the link she sent. The image that filled my screen shattered my heart. In the video, Ethan was walking Chloe down an aisle on a lawn at the Garden Hotel. Chloe, clutching a bouquet, was smiling shyly. And she was wearing my mother’s wedding dress. My vision went black. Rage and pain tore through my chest. Ethan, how dare you? By the time I reached the hotel, Chloe was planting a kiss on Ethan’s cheek. SMACK! I slapped her across the face with all my strength. “You thieving bitch!” “Ah!” “Ethan, she hit me! Waaaah…” Chloe clutched her face, her eyes instantly welling up with tears as she ducked behind Ethan. Ethan’s buddies were all there. Their faces darkened, and they formed a protective circle around her, glaring at me like a pack of wolves. “You crazy bitch, do you know whose turf you’re on? You dare hit Chloe?!” Ethan’s expression was thunderous. He stormed over to me, looking as if I had personally humiliated him in front of the world. He gave me a hard shove. “Vera! Will you give it a rest?” “Look around you! Chloe’s friends and colleagues are all here!” “She has a marriage license with me now, you think we could just not have a wedding?” “I’m just going through the motions with her, it’s all an act! Did you really have to come here and make a scene?!” 4 “I don’t care who you marry, but you should never, ever have desecrated my mother’s wedding dress!” Ethan’s eyes darted away, his righteous anger faltering as he stammered out an explanation. “Vera, just let me explain.” “Chloe saw the dress when she came over. She’s just a curious kid. She was just borrowing it to wear for a bit, she was going to give it right back.” “Can’t you be a little less petty?” Seeing the fire in my eyes, he took a deep breath and spoke in a tone of forced patience. “At least she’s walking down the aisle with me in it. Isn’t that what your mom would have wanted? What’s the big deal?” I could have shattered my own teeth from clenching my jaw so hard. I was stunned by his shamelessness. I saw Ethan’s friends glaring at me, ready to pounce. Getting Chloe to take off the dress willingly was impossible. Ethan was shielding her, looking at me as if I were the one being completely unreasonable. From the crowd, I could hear Chloe’s colleagues and friends whispering. The voices were just loud enough for me to hear every word. “Who is this mistress? Some old woman acting so shameless, trying to steal the bride’s dress.” “Exactly. Look at her, she’s so washed up. Ethan is one of the top execs in Crestwood. You think he’d ever be interested in her?” Seeing that I wasn’t leaving, Chloe clung to Ethan, crying her eyes out. But the look she shot me over his shoulder was pure, triumphant arrogance. I raised my phone to my ear. “Hello, I’d like to report a theft. My wedding dress, valued at twenty thousand dollars, is currently being worn by the thief.” “What are you talking about?! Who’s a thief?!” “Ethan, look at her!” Chloe’s face turned pale with fear. She ripped the dress off in a panic. “Vera, don’t say things like that! I’ll take the dress off, fine! If I’d known it belonged to a dead person, I would’ve thrown it out ages ago.” She tossed the dress at me with disgust, and in the process, “accidentally” knocked over a platter of gravy. Instantly, several dogs brought by the guests swarmed it, tearing and biting at the fabric. The beautiful wedding dress was instantly covered in filth, ripped to shreds by the dogs. A sharp pain lanced through my heart. I lunged forward, grabbed her by the hair, and slapped her again, hard! Chloe fell to the ground, wailing. “My ear! It hurts so much, I can’t hear anything, Ethan!” Ethan’s eyes filled with concern. He rushed over, scooped her up, and stepped right on my hand as I reached for a piece of the shredded dress. “Will you ever stop, Vera?! It’s just a stupid dress!” he roared. “Chloe’s a musician! If her hearing is damaged, what’s she supposed to do with her life?!” “Is a dead person more important than the living?!” I stared at him in disbelief. Ethan was an orphan my mother had sponsored. She supported him his whole life; she even funded his first company. Now that she was gone, she was just “a dead person” to him. He must have realized what he’d said. His tone softened. “Vera, I didn’t mean it like that.” “I’m taking Chloe to the hospital first. When I get back, I’ll get this marriage annulled.” “Next month, on the anniversary of your mother’s passing, we’ll get our license.” He rubbed his temples, looking utterly exhausted. “I’ll buy you a new dress. Just pretend I’m the one who ruined it. Stop making a scene, okay?” “Twenty thousand dollars. Not a penny less,” I said, my voice ice-cold as I looked at the sobbing Chloe. Ethan’s face went completely dark. “Twenty thousand? We’re supposed to be family. Have you not had enough drama for one day?” “If you keep this up, then maybe we shouldn’t get married at all.” I knew Ethan’s liquid cash was all tied up in the stock market. Chloe didn’t have any money. He wanted to play the hero, but coming up with twenty thousand dollars would be like pulling teeth. Too bad it wasn’t my life on the line. I gathered the tattered remains of the dress, looking from the fragile damsel in his arms to Ethan’s pale, strained face. I announced, my voice devoid of emotion, “I’ve already filed a police report for the damaged dress. And also, Vera Song doesn’t want cheap, second-hand goods. Remember, I’m the one dumping you.” “Consider the twenty-thousand-dollar bill my wedding gift to you.” “I wish you and your best friend a long and happy life together.”
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