The Wedding He Kept Delaying Was Never Coming

1: 1

My boyfriend came home from a business trip abroad with a whole haul of gifts and local specialties for my little sister.

Daniela Sullivan ran over to pick through them, thrilled.

I stayed where I was and didn't move. My mother looked at me.

"Aren't you going to see what Irvin Sanchez brought you?"

I shook my head. I didn't need to look to know.

All those gifts, every kind you could think of, and never once anything for me.

They chattered away, happy together, while I sat there like an outsider who'd wandered in by mistake.

Then, easy as anything, Irvin slipped Daniela a bank card.

"Here. Your birthday's coming up. Buy whatever you want."

"Irvin, I knew you were the best!"

Daniela was over the moon. She threw her arms around his neck.

Everything about them was warm and easy, and my parents were smiling too.

But I was staring at that bank card with the little cartoon fox on it, and my heart dropped straight to the bottom.

That was the card we'd opened together at the bank, the one where we were saving up the money for our wedding.

Irvin had said that once he'd saved five hundred thousand, he'd use it to marry me.

But at dinner yesterday, Daniela let something slip.

That was how I found out he'd already saved the full five hundred thousand six months ago.

Except that five hundred thousand was being set aside as my sister's dowry.

Watching the two of them laughing and talking in front of me, I lowered my head and agreed to the company transfer, then turned and went back to my room.

That wedding I'd been waiting for and would never get, I didn't want to wait anymore.

I'd let myself be worn down to nothing just trying to get close to him.

But from here on out, the road was long, and all I wanted was to take care of myself.

1

Seeing that I hadn't said a word and had just gone back to my room,

Irvin sensed something was off and followed me in, frowning.

"Hilda Sullivan, why aren't you saying anything? Are you upset again?"

"Come on, you're not actually jealous of your own little sister, are you?"

A flicker of impatience crossed his eyes, but he kept his voice soft, coaxing.

"All right, enough of this."

"You know how it is. I'm going to marry you one day, so I have to stay on good terms with your family."

"And I dote on Daniela like she's my own little sister. What more could you possibly want?"

Right. I should be satisfied. Grateful, even.

Because he really did treat my sister better than his own sister.

Better than he should have, honestly.

Every business trip, he came back with all kinds of gifts.

And here was the odd part: they were always exactly the things Daniela liked, as if he'd handpicked each one just for her.

While I, the girlfriend, got nothing.

I turned and glanced at that pile of gifts, already divided up, and gave a bitter little smile.

"So you came back from your trip with a gift for everyone. Where's mine?"

Irvin blinked, then broke into a grin.

"Is that all this is about? You're jealous over that?"

He reached out and ruffled my hair, the gesture affectionate and practiced.

"You know how Daniela is. She's young, she's sweet. Whenever I see something a girl her age would like, I know she'll be happy with it."

"You're my girlfriend. Do the two of us really need things like that? I'm all yours already."

He laughed, the same way he'd laughed the countless other times he'd coaxed me out of a mood, his tone just as easy.

And it sent a sharp ache through my chest.

But he hadn't always been like this.

He knew how much I loved little gestures, how much I loved the small ones he used to bring home for me on a whim from some roadside stall.

Even just a bunch of flowers, or a hairclip, and I'd be happy the whole night, glad that he thought of me even when I wasn't around.

But somewhere along the way, overlooking me had become a habit.

I looked him in the eye.

"That bank card with the fox on it, do you still remember it?"

His smile paused, then he gave a careless shrug.

"Of course I remember. Why bring that up all of a sudden?"

I kept my eyes on him. "Nothing. I just suddenly wanted to ask. How much have you saved up now?"

Something evasive flickered through his eyes, but he answered calmly enough.

"I was only fifty thousand short of the goal, but my mom got sick a few days ago and it cost almost a hundred thousand, so now I'm a hundred and fifty thousand short."

Irvin lied without so much as a change in his expression, then took my hand as though moved by feeling.

"Hilda, trust me. I've been working hard to save."

"A year at the most, and I can go to your parents properly to ask for your hand and give you the wedding you deserve."

"Is that so."

I pretended not to see the panic in his eyes and said it quietly.

"But I just heard Daniela bragging that you gave her a bank card with a fox on it and told her to spend whatever she wants for her birthday."