Chapter 1

My pre-wedding party was in full swing.

Yet, the center of attention wasn't me, but Julian's childhood sweetheart, Blair. She had just announced she was auctioning off her "first kiss."

My fiancé, Julian, bought that kiss without a second thought.

Amidst the roaring cheers of the crowd, they locked lips. They looked like the perfect match, made in heaven.

In that moment, I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene.

I casually pulled out my phone and replied to the email from the Paris headquarters: "I accept. I am ready to start immediately."

......

Julian raised his bidding paddle, staring fixedly at Blair. He looked at her like a predator eyeing a guaranteed prize.

"Five hundred grand, going once! Going twice! Sold! Congratulations, Julian!"

The crowd erupted. A few of Julian's friends—the trust fund kids who never looked me in the eye and always called me the "boring bookworm" behind my back—started banging on the tables, howling and cheering.

"Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!"

Blair didn't feign a moment of shyness. She opened her arms to welcome Julian.

He dipped his head and, amidst the deafening screams of the room, kissed her.

I watched their mouths press together. I saw Blair's arms wrap tightly around Julian's neck, and I noticed how his body tensed into the kiss.

Time stretched into an infinite blur.

The surrounding noise faded from my ears, morphing into a sharp, high-pitched ringing.

I thought I would be furious. I thought I would throw my drink in their faces, screaming at Julian, demanding to know why he would humiliate me like this.

But I didn't.

The kiss ended. Blair pushed him away slightly, panting, and her eyes found mine. The corners of her lips curled into a triumphant smile before she grabbed the microphone.

"Wow, massive thanks to my absolute bestie, Julian! But don't get the wrong idea, guys, this is all for the charity fundraiser tonight. Vivian is so open-minded; she definitely wouldn't get mad over a little inside joke between childhood friends, right?"

The moment the words left her mouth, every pair of eyes in the room snapped to me like a spotlight.

In those gazes, I saw mockery, pity, and the gleeful anticipation of a good show.

Julian looked up at me, too. He pushed through the crowd and stopped in front of me.

He smelled sharply of alcohol, masked by the cloying sweetness of Blair's perfume. The combination made my stomach churn violently.

"Vivian, why aren't you hanging out with everyone else?" He reached out to drape an arm over my shoulder.

I shifted slightly, dodging his touch.

His hand froze in mid-air, and his brow instantly furrowed. "What's wrong with you now? Can you drop the gloomy face? It's our joint bachelor party, everyone's having a good time. Don't be a buzzkill."

"A buzzkill?" I repeated the word softly, overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of it all.

Julian scoffed, his tone dripping with impatience. "Are you overthinking this again? It was for the Children's Foundation! Besides, Blair is my bro, we practically grew up in the same crib. Those guys are idiots, always making dirty jokes. I was just bailing her out so she wouldn't get taken advantage of. Can you stop being so damn sensitive? Why can't you just take a joke?"

Spending a fortune on his childhood friend's kiss and making out with her in front of all his friends—that was bailing her out.

And if his own fiancée showed a hint of displeasure, it was just me being sensitive. Me not being able to take a joke.

"Future sister-in-law, you're not actually mad, are you?" Blair's eyes held a toxic mix of faux-innocence and pure provocation. "Julian and I have known each other since birth. If something was ever going to happen between us, you wouldn't even be in the picture. If you can't even handle this, how are you going to be Julian's wife?"

Someone from the frat-boy posse whistled sharply and shouted, "Yeah! Vivian, this is how our circle rolls. If you can't adapt, you should probably just crawl back to your library!"

The room erupted in roaring laughter.

Julian didn't stop their mockery. He just looked down at me, using a tone that sounded like charity. "Vivian, drop it. Just give me some face, okay? Don't make things awkward for everyone."

Staring at Julian's face, my mind was violently pulled back to that rainy night.

The night my parents were in a horrific car crash on their way to discuss our wedding plans.

Standing in the morgue, looking at their pale, lifeless faces, my entire world caved in.

Trembling uncontrollably, I dialed Julian's number over and over again.

Thirty missed calls.

I had assumed he was trapped on the road by the storm, or tied up with some emergency. I was drowning, desperately grasping for him like he was my only piece of driftwood.

Until the early hours of the morning, when I saw Blair's social media update.

In the video, the night sky was lit up with brilliant fireworks. Blair had her hands clasped together, making a wish, while Julian stood beside her, looking at her with nothing but affection.

The caption read: "I said I wanted to see the grandest fireworks, and my best boy booked the entire beach to cheer me up. So lucky to have you, Julian."

I found out later that the firework display had drained the exact funds we had set aside for our wedding venue deposit.

When I stood alone at the funeral, facing the condolences of relatives and friends, Julian finally showed up.

Exhausted and visibly annoyed, he said to me, "Vivian, the dead can't come back. Don't be too sad. Blair was really going through it that night, and I was terrified she might do something stupid. I had to be with her. You understand, right?"

Understand.

It was the word I had heard most over the past three years.

Blair went through a breakup, so I had to understand when Julian abandoned me with a high fever in the middle of the night to comfort her. Blair took a liking to a limited-edition bag I bought, so I had to understand when Julian took it to give to her. And now, Blair decides to kiss him at my pre-wedding party, and I am still expected to understand.

"Vivian? Are you even listening to me?" Julian's voice rose in pitch.

I finally snapped back to the present. I looked at him and slipped the engagement ring off my finger.

Julian's face finally fell. "What are you doing?"

"Since the two of you are such a perfect match, this shouldn't stay on my hand."

I placed the ring on the table and headed for the yacht's gangway.