This Isn’t Giving Up,It’s Choosing Myself

2: 2

The room went dead silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

Russ stood frozen for a few seconds, then let out a cold little snort of a laugh.

"Lily, aren't you clever now? Learned how to play hard to get, have you?"

He took two long strides forward and clamped his hand around my wrist, gripping so hard he nearly crushed the bone.

"You don't owe me anything? What are you going to give me back for this hand?"

"Whatever your grievance is, you can say it at home!"

He ignored my struggling and dragged me out of the club by force, shoving me into the car.

The whole drive he drove fast, his face dark.

The car finally stopped in front of the Matthews mansion.

Russ hauled me into the living room, where Marjorie Matthews sat on the sofa drinking tea.

Seeing me dragged in, she set down her cup, gave me a glance, and spoke in her usual displeased tone.

"What is it this time? Moping around with that long face all day."

"Do you have any idea how much Russ has done for you?"

I lowered my eyes and didn't grovel out an apology the way I always had.

Before, I would have gone straight to the kitchen to make her the gourmet health tonic, just to buy one flicker of a kinder expression from her.

But now I only felt bone-tired.

Just then, light footsteps came down the stairs.

"Russ, Lily, what are you two fighting about?"

Daniela Baxter came down in a plain, elegant set of loungewear. Ever since Russ and I got together, she'd been free to come and go in this house as she pleased.

Her gaze landed on the display mannequin in the living room.

On it was the wedding dress I'd spent a month reworking through sleepless nights, designed stitch by stitch.

To suit Russ's taste, I'd revised the dress version after version.

Daniela walked up to it, and a flash of wonder crossed her eyes.

"What a beautiful dress. Lily, you're so gifted."

She turned her head and looked at Russ, the picture of pitiful longing.

Russ let go of my hand and walked straight to her side.

His voice softened at once.

"You like it?"

"Lily has a better figure than me. It'll look prettier on her than on me."

She paused, then added in a low murmur, almost to herself.

"I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to wear one, even once, in this life."

She bit her lower lip and glanced at me, timid.

"Lily, could I borrow it and try it on? Just for a moment. I won't ruin it."

My head snapped up, and I stared at her in disbelief.

I'd been taken in by the Kim family, and I'd walked on thin ice my whole life; she wanted to snatch everything of mine.

But a wedding dress is the most important thing a woman ever wears.

She knew that, and still chose to lift it away from me in that airy little voice.

I stepped forward and planted myself in front of the dress.

"No. This is my wedding dress."

Russ's face went cold in an instant. He came over and shoved me aside.

I stumbled back two steps, and the small of my back slammed hard into the edge of the coffee table. I cried out in pain.

His brow only creased for a second. He didn't spare me another glance, carefully sheltering Daniela instead.

"It's just a dress. Since when did you get so petty?"

I pressed a hand to my faintly aching belly and looked at the man I'd loved for five years.

He was like a blunt knife, slicing through my flesh a little at a time.

I drew a deep breath.

"Russ, if you let her put on this dress today, then we're finished. Completely."

Russ looked as though he'd heard the biggest joke in the world, his eyes full of mockery.

"Completely finished? Lily, who do you think you are?"

"Without me you wouldn't even have a place to live. What exactly do you think you're using to be finished with me?"

Daniela held the dress in her arms, a flicker of triumph in her eyes, though her face stayed soft and fragile.

"Russ, is this really okay? Lily looks so upset."

He turned, took down the dress I'd sewn through sleepless nights with his own hands, and tenderly held it out to her.

"Dani, go try it on. Don't mind her."