Time to Wake Up

Before I knew it, Harold had left me alone by the roadside. "Elise wants nothing but to make it up to you, but you won't accept her goodwill. You're always wearing that frown on your face too.

"Walk back home alone and reflect on your atrocious behavior along the way!" he said.

And so I dragged my battered body back home. After what seemed like forever, I arrived at the front door, which I wouldn't open no matter what I tried.

When the alarm blared loudly, Elise strutted over and opened the door, her head held high. She said, covering her mouth in a mockery of an apologetic expression, "Oh, it's you, Shana. I'm sorry. I couldn't remember the complicated passcode, so Harold changed it into something simpler."

I nodded expressionlessly instead of breaking down like she'd wanted, so she pouted in disappointment.

Harold, on the other hand, was satisfied with my reaction—he probably assumed that I'd taken his words to heart. He picked a fallen leaf from my hair, as gentle as he'd been before.

"I'm happy to see you've thought it through," he said. "Come on in. The designer is waiting for you to pick the wedding dress."

Elise didn't seem upset about it and instead appeared gleeful, which told me this was another one of their tricks.

As expected, all the dresses shown to me either had severed straps or zippers that weren't working. Only one of them—a plain white thing—was barely wearable.

Harold urged me with a frown on his face. "Why are you standing there? You have to take photos for the reception later too, so go change into your dress."

When I came out of the changing room, Elise had also changed into her maid of honor's dress. With its puffy, layered skirt and diamonds all over her chest, it was obvious that this was a high-end couture dress.

"I couldn't buy a dress that fit me because of my smaller frame, so Harold had someone design one for me," Elise said. "Don't overthink it."

The moment she finished her sentence, the photographer called, "Can the bride come over? We'll begin the photoshoot soon."

I didn't give her a response. I went over to stand beside Harold, forcing a smile.

This would be my last photo with him—a goodbye to my past.

Little did I know the photographer would yank me away and have Elise stand in front of the camera. "I called for the bride, not the maid of honor."

Harold, whose gaze was fixated on Elise, had no intention of explaining who the bride was. I also saw him furtively hold her hand.

Only then did I realize that his suit and her dress matched.

I didn't want to continue tarnishing my dignity, so I quietly made to leave. However, someone stepped on the hem of my dress, and I toppled to the ground.

Embarrassed, I looked back, only to meet Elise's gleeful gaze, that of someone who'd triumphed against her adversary. She came forward to help me up, faking concern. "Are you okay, Shana?"

I slapped her hand away, and she collapsed toward the wall behind her in an exaggerated performance, looking at me with red eyes. "I know you hate me, Shana, but it wasn't my fault that the photographer thought I was the bride! If you don't want to see me, fine, I'll go away!"

She then ran out, sobbing. Harold glared at me before chasing after her, still in his suit.

The photographer stood stock-still in front of the door, dumbfounded. "Are we still doing this, then?"

I shook my head. At the same time, Harold's voice came from the corridor. "No. Have someone take my place and Photoshop my face in later."

The photographer looked uncomfortable. After seeing him out, I bought a flight ticket on my laptop—even the time spent waiting for my phone to turn on seemed too long.

When I closed the window, I must have misclicked something, for a folder filled with photos popped out.

There were several thousand photos, all of Harold and Elise.

Whenever I suggested taking photos to commemorate moments between Harold and me, he'd always shy away from the camera with a frown. I thought he didn't like taking photos, but it turned out that he just didn't want to take them with me.

There was also a selfie of him from the chest up, revealing a tattoo of Elise's initials above his heart.