Chapter 15

I was surprised.

She lowered her head.

“I shouldn’t have joked about your engagement. And when you said you didn’t want to hear it, I shouldn’t have insisted I’d done nothing wrong.”

I didn’t answer at once.

She bit her lip.

“I only realized the wedding was really canceled when I saw the staff packing up. I… I didn’t mean for it to go this far. You told me not to give the speech in front of everyone, and I felt humiliated. That’s why I went to complain to Shiye.” Her voice dwindled. “I thought he’d say a few nice things to you and it would be over.”

I looked at her.

“Why did you think a few nice words from him would make me let it go?”

She froze.

After thinking for a long time, she murmured:

“Because… whenever there was a disagreement before, you always gave in to us.”

I gave a small, bitter laugh.

Even she had seen how afraid I was of upsetting him.

She hadn’t interfered with my wedding over and over because she couldn’t tell it bothered me. She knew I would surrender in the end.

“Lin Yingqiao.”

She looked up.

“I’ve heard your apology.”

She let out a relieved breath.

“But I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”

Her face stiffened.

“Wangshu…”

“I never asked Shiye to cut you off. I don’t think a man and woman who grew up together can’t be friends. But his always taking your side doesn’t entitle you to expect me to give way over everything.”

She lowered her head and didn’t argue.

“What you said today is your responsibility. His decision to use our wedding to force an apology was his. You don’t have to take the blame for his cancellation. But I can’t pretend nothing happened and carry on being your friend.”

She stood motionless for a long time.

Finally, she murmured another apology and left.

When the door closed, I looked in the mirror again.

I had so often wanted a sincere apology from her.

Now that I’d heard it, I felt almost nothing.

I hadn’t imagined the hurt. It didn’t need her acknowledgment to become real.

Shiye and I had shared beautiful days too. Today’s argument didn’t make those days false.

But having been happy together and wanting to stay together were different things.

I looked down at my ring and gently turned it.

I had worn it for two years, hardly noticing it in daily life.

Now it felt heavier than ever.

—

### 14

11:49.

I called Ms. Chen.

“Please go ahead and clear away the ceremony equipment as we arranged.”

“Yes, Miss Shen. The staff are working on it now.”

“One more thing.”

“Of course.”

I paused.

“The wedding isn’t happening today. And it won’t be rescheduled.”

A brief silence.

She didn’t ask why.

“I understand.”