His Wedding My Exit Chapter 03
The next morning I went straight to the wedding planning company. Robin laid all the contracts out in front of me.
“The hotel deposit is twenty-five thousand, the wedding planner is sixteen thousand. Adding in the photography, wedding transportation, florals, and dresses, if you cancel now, you’ll lose all these deposits and cancellation fees.” She slid the figures toward me.
I ran my eyes over them. “Acceptable.”
Robin was visibly taken aback. “Are you really considering canceling?”
“Still considering.”
She nodded. “Then remember, you can still cancel with the current fees before ten tomorrow morning. After ten, the hotel’s second venue payment will automatically process.”
“I understand.”
I’d barely cleared the door of the planning company when Hayden sent a message: “Menu tasting tonight at six. Don’t be late.”
I wrote back: “Not going.” His call came through at once.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I have something to do tonight.”
“We only have this one tasting.”
“Go by yourself.”
Hayden was clearly holding his temper down. “Freya, are you getting harder and harder to deal with lately?” I stood at the side of the road.
I didn’t defend myself the way I once would have.
I asked, out of nowhere, “Do you remember where we went on our first date?” The line went quiet on the other end.
“Why are you asking this?”
“You don’t remember?”
“It was six years ago. Who remembers it that clearly?”
I asked again, “Then which bakery makes Adele’s favorite chestnut cake?”
He shot back almost before I’d finished. “Why are you bringing her up again?” I let out a short laugh.
He remembered. He even knew why I was asking; he just wouldn’t say the answer out loud. I simply hung up.
It was past seven in the evening by the time I finally went back to our apartment.
The instant the door opened, there was an extra pair of women’s shoes in the entryway.
Adele was crouched by the television wall in the living room, holding a tape measure. Hayden stood beside her, holding the other end. Two cups of coffee sat on the coffee table. One was his iced Americano. The other was a chestnut latte. I stood dead still at the door.
Adele was the first to smile. “Freya, you’re back?”
I looked at her. “Why are you here?”
“I have a space design exhibition next week, and the measurements for one of the display walls haven’t been lining up. Hayden mentioned this wall in your apartment is about the same size, so I came over to measure it.” Explanation delivered, she crouched back down.
As she measured the corner, she laughed suddenly. “Good thing we left an extra six centimeters here back then, otherwise the cabinet would’ve completely blocked this outlet right now.” I stopped halfway through slipping off my shoes.
“I have a space design exhibition next week, and the measurements for one of the display walls haven’t been lining up. Hayden mentioned this wall in your apartment is about the same size, so I came over to measure it.” Explanation delivered, she crouched back down.
As she measured the corner, she laughed suddenly. “Good thing we left an extra six centimeters here back then, otherwise the cabinet would’ve completely blocked this outlet right now.” I stopped halfway through slipping off my shoes.
“What do you mean, left an extra six centimeters back then?” The smile on Adele’s face stiffened for a second.
Hayden frowned at once. “You’re starting again.” I didn’t look at him.
I only stared at Adele.
“Why do you know that an extra six centimeters were left here when my apartment was being renovated?” Adele gripped the tape measure.
It took her a few seconds before she whispered, “Freya…”
“I’m asking you.”
She pressed her lips together. “Two years ago, Hayden came to me.”
I looked at Hayden. “Why did you go to her?”
He was plainly impatient. “She does interior design. It’s perfectly normal to ask her to help look over the plans.”
“How much did she look over?”
“Do you really need to ask in such detail?”
I kept my eyes on Adele. “Did you pick out the wall color?” She didn’t answer.
“The sofa?” She still said nothing.
“The cabinets?” Adele finally looked up.
“Freya, did you really not know?” My heart sank.
“The sofa?” She still said nothing.
“The cabinets?” Adele finally looked up.
“Freya, did you really not know?” My heart sank.
She looked straight at me and said, one word at a time, “I was the one who created the initial overall design plan for this apartment.” The living room fell utterly silent.
I let my eyes travel slowly around it. The grayish-white walls, the black leather sofa, the metal floor lamp, that black-and-white painting in the dining room I’d hated from day one. Two years ago, when we were renovating, I had raised so many ideas. I wanted warm white walls.
I wanted a light-colored fabric sofa. He called it cheap. I wanted a whole row of flower stands on the balcony. He said it would look messy. In the end I hadn’t chosen one single thing. Everyone had pushed me back then. Hayden was so swamped with work and still willing to oversee the renovation, so I shouldn’t be so picky.
I’d tried to talk myself into it, too. It was only a difference in taste. Anyone could give a little ground. As it turned out, that wasn’t it at all. Every choice of mine he’d branded tacky, cheap, or ugly had always been measured against someone else.
I asked Adele, “You did all of it?”
She said softly, “I only did the initial drafts. Hayden made his own changes later.”
Hayden cut in at once. “Why are you so fixated on this? A professional helped with the design, and you’re still finding a way to make it about Adele?”
I turned to look at him. “This is the home I’m going to live in.”
“Haven’t you already been living here for two years?” He gestured around the living room.
“You’ve been living here perfectly fine for two years, and now that you know Adele designed it, you suddenly can’t live in it anymore?” I looked at him.
Here it was again. The wedding dress was worn by me, so it was mine. I was allowed to live in this house, so it was mine. As for whether I liked it. Had anyone ever asked me? None of it counted.
Adele said softly, out of nowhere, “Freya, don’t blame Hayden. I really thought you knew all along.” I didn’t speak.
She came up to me and added, quietly.
“Actually, I told him later on that since you two were getting married soon, maybe he should remodel it into a style you liked.” I looked up at her.
She paused.
“He said there was no need.” Her lips curved into a faint smile.
“He said he was used to living here.” At last I was certain.
Not one word of this had slipped out by accident. The camellia on the wedding dress, the college hairstyle, the chestnut cake. The black and gold wedding. And now, today, this apartment. Every single time, she knew exactly what she was saying. She just wanted to remind me, again and again.
What I wore was what she hadn’t worn. What I lived in was designed by her. The man I was about to marry was the man who had chased her for two years. She could turn Hayden down.
But she couldn’t stand the thought that one day she might truly stop being special.
I asked, out of nowhere, “Did you absolutely have to come here to measure a wall today?”
Adele paused. “What do you mean?”
I asked, out of nowhere, “Did you absolutely have to come here to measure a wall today?”
Adele paused. “What do you mean?”
“You couldn’t find another comparable wall in the entire city?” She stayed silent.
“Or did you just want to see who is currently living in the apartment you designed for Hayden two years ago?”
Hayden said sharply, “Freya!” The smile on Adele’s face finally fell away.
After a few seconds, she let out a soft laugh. “If you insist on thinking that way, there’s nothing I can do.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t matter.”
Hayden frowned. “What doesn’t matter?”
I looked down at the time.
It was 8:47 PM. Thirteen hours and thirteen minutes remained until ten o’clock the next morning.
I lifted my head and looked around this apartment—where not one thing, from the walls to the sofa, belonged to me. And then I smiled.
“My parents paid for the wedding anyway, and I’m the one who signed the contracts.”
“Before ten o’clock tomorrow morning, as long as I sign my name, the hotel, the wedding planner, the photography, the wedding transportation, the florals—everything can be canceled.”
For the first time, the expression on Hayden’s face froze.
I looked at him.
“Since all of you feel that what the bride likes isn’t important.”
“Then whether or not this wedding has a bride probably isn’t that important either.”