Sorry, but You're Not My Groom

I tried to explain myself with, "You've misunderstood the situation. I'm not—"

However, Isaac cut me off with a wave of his hand, refusing to hear what I had to say. "I'm busy. I'm going now. It's best if you stop doing such things. It'll only wear out my love for you."

The door slammed shut with a loud bang, and the house fell silent once more.

I stood in place for a long time, laughing at myself. How much love for me did you even have left, Isaac? How could it possibly be worn out any further?

In the past, I would've been so upset about the fact that he misunderstood me that I would go for days without being able to eat or sleep properly.

But now, I was able to get over it quickly. I continued to go through the wedding details Mom sent me.

Before setting my phone aside, I checked my social media updates, only to find that Isaac, who never ever posted on Instagram, just did.

There was a photo of Jenny as well as their wedding invitation, along with the caption, "With how incredible you are, I have to marry you to make sure I won't lose you."

In less than a minute, our mutual friends left comments on the post.

"Hey, Isaac. When did you suddenly get engaged to someone new?"

Immediately, the post on Isaac's account disappeared, but it swiftly appeared on Jenny's. I also got a call from Isaac.

In the past, I would've taken a screenshot of the post and called him up to question him. I would definitely have gotten into a huge fight with him. But this time, I didn't even take his call.

It was strange, really. I didn't feel all that upset when I saw the post. Perhaps I felt numb to it all already. My immediate reaction was to marvel at the coincidence—they were getting married the same day I was.

By the time Isaac got home, I had already gone to bed. He quietly entered the room and came up to the bed.

"Are you asleep, Vicky? Why didn't you take my call?"

With my back toward him, I said offhandedly, "I fell asleep and didn't hear it."

Isaac exhaled in relief before leaning in to check my temperature. "Are you still running a fever?"

As soon as he got near me, the cloying scent of a woman's perfume wafted over. Revolted, I could barely resist the urge to heave.

I instinctively scooted to the side to avoid his touch. His hand hung in the air. He looked shocked.

"Did you see something, Vicky?" he asked tentatively.

Burying myself under the blanket, I responded glumly, "No. The cold is making me feel terrible. I just want to sleep."

…

When I woke up the next day, I finally felt better. Pulling myself together, I started sorting through everything inside the house, slowly eradicating all traces of me. In doing so, I realized something.

I had bought a lot of couple-themed items, and Isaac used them with me at first. Yet, at some point, he started setting them aside, leaving them to gather dust in the corner. I tossed everything into the trash.

There was also an album filled with photos from our travels, postcards we collected, tickets from places we had gone to, and also the letters he had written to me.

The album was filled with the memories Isaac and I shared throughout these years.

But ever since Jenny showed up, nothing new was added to the album.

When Isaac came back, I had just tossed the album into the fire.

He dashed over in a frenzy and snatched the half-burnt album out of the fire. Ignoring the stinging burn coming from his hand, he questioned me in fury, "Have you lost your mind? Don't you know how important this album is to us? Why did you throw it into the fire?"

Isaac rarely ever lost his temper at me. It was even his first time yelling this loudly at me. It didn't seem like he was faking his anxiety over the album, but it was also true that he was secretly marrying someone else and hiding it from me.

Not wanting to get into a fight, I said, "The album has gone moldy and is infested with silverfish. I've made copies of everything in the album. We can just make a new one."

That calmed Isaac down.

When I applied the ointment to his burn, he stared at me and abruptly suggested, "Vicky, it seems like you haven't been in a good mood lately. Are you under a lot of pressure at work? I signed you up for a personalized tour. You should take a trip and take your mind off things."