At my engagement dinner, I pushed both passes across the table to my sister.
I kept neither.
One was a VIP pass that granted access to the main hall.
The other was a plastic wristband that only got you into the side room to watch a livestream.
When my fiancé laid them out, he’d told me to choose.
I really did choose the VIP pass.
He took it from me at once and hung it around my sister’s neck with his own hands.
“She’s representing the young scholars. She has to be at the main table.”
“You like quiet,” he’d added, turning to me. “The wristband suits you better.”
I looked at my now-empty hand and suddenly found the whole thing ridiculous.
If the outcome was already decided, why ask me to choose at all?
Because they liked watching me reach for the better thing.
Then watching it be given to my sister.
And in the end, I was supposed to take the lesser option and say it was fine.
I’d been through that kind of choice too many times.
When we were kids, they put two summer camp brochures in front of us.
My sister chose Switzerland, so I had to stay at a camp nearby.
When it was time to apply to college, everyone encouraged her to aim for the best school she could get into.
The moment I mentioned my dream school, they persuaded me to choose a safer state university instead.
Even love had worked the same way.
My fiancé had always been close to my sister.
It was only after she left for Oxford that he started seeking me out.
When he proposed, he told me the past was over.
I believed him.
I even thought that getting engaged meant that, for once, I had finally been chosen without hesitation.
But here we were at my own engagement dinner, and he was still thinking first about where my sister should sit.
As for me, the fiancée, I was only fit to watch my own engagement party on a screen in the overflow room.
My sister held the VIP pass and said softly that she really needed it.
I didn’t fight her for it.
But I didn’t take the wristband the way I always had before.
I pushed both items toward her.
“You can have them both.”
“I’m not choosing anymore.”
Maybe they thought I was being mature again, stepping aside with grace.
Only I knew the truth.
What I shoved away this time wasn’t just two passes.
He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 33 Camille jerked her head up. “Weren’t you the ones who agreed to give me the banquet hall in the first place? And it was Dad who had people put the donation QR code on every table.” My adoptive mother turned on her. “If it
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 32 Within two hours of receiving the order, the foundation had deleted every link. The board then issued a statement acknowledging that the notice revoking authorization had been received before the new fundraising page went live, and announcing that Mr. and Mrs. Mercer would no
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 31 The promotional video could still be opened through the newsletter link. My lawyer didn’t send them a third notice. She filed for an injunction directly with the court. The evidence wasn’t a massive stack of documents. It was only my revocation notice from a
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 30 That night, my adoptive father had his lawyer contact me. “Mr. Mercer is willing to permanently remove the page, and he can also offer financial compensation.” “What’s the condition?” “That you withdraw your complaint to the board and acknowledge that this was only a
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 29 I muted my microphone and sat quietly in front of the projector. Eli set a cup of hot tea beside me without looking at the argument on the screen. “Want to step outside for some air?” I shook my head. “It’s not over.” Sure
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 28 “They’re genuine.” Grant’s voice wasn’t loud, but my adoptive father’s expression changed at once. “This is a foundation meeting. It has nothing to do with a canceled wedding.” “It had nothing to do with it at first.” Grant looked at the media photo on
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 27 My adoptive mother didn’t answer. My adoptive father said heavily, “June did sign an authorization after she reached adulthood. The foundation has the right to use existing archival material.” My lawyer took over. “That authorization was lawfully revoked. The notice was received by your
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 26 The emergency meeting was scheduled for the following afternoon. I didn’t go back to Boston. I just turned on the projector in my studio and joined remotely. On the other side of the screen, my adoptive parents sat in the center of the long
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 25 “Are you sure? Those are your adoptive parents.” I looked at the girl in the video, smiling so hard to make herself lovable. “That’s why I’ve already given them more than twenty years of chances.” The next morning, the fundraising page was still up.
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He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 24 The new fundraising page had gone live at 11:40 p.m. The delivery confirmation from my lawyer for the revocation notice was clearly time-stamped from one year earlier, at 9:12 a.m. on the morning of my wedding. An entire year apart. It wasn’t that they
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