“Twenty minutes until kickoff.”
“Are the bride and groom ready yet?”
The MC’s voice echoed through the makeup room.
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew.
There was no bride.
There was no groom.
There was only a woman standing there, wearing a dress she had spent weeks preparing for…
while the man she loved watched her become a joke.
I looked at Chu Thoi Yen.
For seven years, I had memorized every expression on his face.
I knew when he was tired.
I knew when he was angry.
I knew when he was pretending not to care.
And now…
I finally understood.
The calmness on his face wasn’t confidence.
It was certainty.
He was certain I would forgive him.
Because I always had.
The MC looked confused.
“Mr. Chu?”
Chu Thoi Yen adjusted his sleeve.
His voice was calm.
“The engagement party is canceled.”
Everyone froze.
For a second, I thought maybe…
Maybe he finally understood.
Maybe he finally realized how cruel this was.
But then he looked at me.
And said:
“Because this isn’t the right time.”
The right time.
Not because he hurt me.
Not because he humiliated me.
Because the timing was inconvenient.
I smiled.
A strange, empty smile.
Even now…
He still didn’t understand.
Trieu Duc stepped forward.
“Sister-in-law, don’t be angry.”
I looked at him.
He immediately stopped.
Maybe because he finally saw something different in my eyes.
Before today, whenever they joked about me, I always smiled.
Whenever they teased me, I always pretended not to care.
Because I loved Chu Thoi Yen.
And because I thought these people would become my family.
But today I learned something.
A family does not watch you bleed and call it a joke.
I walked toward the table.
The table was full of things I prepared.
The invitation cards.
The wedding candies.
The decorations.
Everything.
I picked up one box.
The box I folded myself.
A thousand boxes.
My fingers had blisters from folding them late at night.
I remembered that night.
I sent Chu Thoi Yen a photo.
“Look, I finished another hundred.”
He replied:
“You are really looking forward to marrying me.”
At that time, I smiled.
Now…
I finally understood.
He wasn’t moved.
He was laughing.
I turned to him.
“Chu Thoi Yen.”
He looked at me.
“Yes?”
“Do you know how long I spent preparing this party?”
His eyebrows moved slightly.
“I know.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You don’t.”
“Because if you knew, you wouldn’t have done this.”
Silence.
“Do you know how many people I contacted?”
“How many times I changed the guest list?”
“How many nights I stayed awake checking every detail?”
Nobody spoke.
“Do you know why?”
I looked at him.
“Because I thought this was our future.”
His expression finally changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I laughed softly.
“That’s the worst part.”
“What?”
“You didn’t mean to.”
“You just didn’t care enough to think.”
At that moment, Lam Thien suddenly stood up.
“Dang Duong…”
Her voice was shaking.
“I really am sorry.”
I looked at her.
For seven years, she had been my best friend.
The person I trusted most.
The person who knew every secret.
She knew how much I loved Chu Thoi Yen.
She knew how long I waited.
She knew every time I cried because he treated me like a younger sister.
And she still participated.
“Why?”
My voice was quiet.
She lowered her head.
“I thought…”
“What?”
“I thought you two would eventually get married anyway.”
I stared at her.
“So because you believed the ending would be good…”
“You thought hurting me along the way didn’t matter?”
She couldn’t answer.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message.
From an unknown number.
I opened it.
My face changed.
It was a screenshot.
A group chat.
The group name:
“Chu’s Brothers.”
The messages were from one month ago.
Trieu Duc:
“Let’s see how long Sister-in-law can prepare before she realizes it’s fake.”
Another person:
“I bet she will cry.”
Another:
“Mr. Chu, you owe us dinner if she still believes it until the day of the party.”
And Chu Thoi Yen’s reply.
The one that made my hands cold.
“Don’t worry. She won’t leave.”
Only five words.
She won’t leave.
Because for seven years…
I had never left.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Everyone saw my expression.
Chu Thoi Yen frowned.
“What happened?”
I didn’t answer.
I simply handed him my phone.
He looked at the screen.
The color disappeared from his face.
“Where did you get this?”
I smiled.
“So you remember.”
His lips moved.
No words came out.
The room became silent.
Then I said:
“Chu Thoi Yen.”
“Do you know what I regret most?”
He looked at me.
“Not loving you.”
A pause.
“I don’t regret that.”
“Because loving someone sincerely is never something to be ashamed of.”
My voice trembled slightly.
“But I regret giving my dignity to someone who treated my feelings like entertainment.”
For the first time…
I saw panic in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not annoyance.
Fear.
“Don’t do this.”
His voice lowered.
“Don’t end everything because of a joke.”
I looked at him.
“A joke?”
“Yes.”
“Chu Thoi Yen.”
I smiled.
“Something is only a joke when everyone laughs.”
“When one person is the only one being hurt…”
“That’s humiliation.”
The MC quietly left the room.
Nobody stopped him.
Because everyone knew.
The engagement party was already over.
Not because it was canceled.
But because something much more important had ended.
I took off the engagement bracelet he had given me.
The one I wore every day.
I placed it on the table.
“Keep it.”
His face became pale.
“Dang Duong.”
I picked up my bag.
“I won’t ask you why anymore.”
“Because I finally understand.”
“Your answer has always been clear.”
I walked toward the door.
He grabbed my wrist.
Not hard.
Just desperately.
“Where are you going?”
I looked down at his hand.
Then at him.
“Somewhere I don’t have to beg someone to choose me.”
He froze.
After seven years…
that was the first time he looked like he was afraid of losing me.
That night, I left the venue alone.
I canceled the hotel reservation.
Canceled the photographer.
Canceled everything.
Except one thing.
My own future.
Three days later, Chu Thoi Yen came to find me.
He looked exhausted.
“I want to explain.”
I poured him a glass of water.
“Explain what?”
“The engagement.”
I smiled.
“You already explained.”
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t realize…”
“No.”
I interrupted.
“You realized.”
He looked at me.
“You just believed I would forgive you.”
Silence.
He sat there for a long time.
Then whispered:
“When did you stop loving me?”
I thought about it.
Then answered:
“At the moment I realized you were more afraid of losing control than losing me.”
His eyes reddened.
Months later, Chu Thoi Yen still tried.
Not with jokes.
Not with promises.
With actions.
But some wounds cannot disappear because someone says sorry.
Some trust cannot return because someone finally understands.
And I learned something:
The woman who spent seven years waiting for a proposal…
was not the woman who walked away.
The woman who walked away…
finally loved herself enough.
One year later, I received an invitation.
Chu Thoi Yen’s wedding.
I opened it.
Then smiled.
Because for the first time…
seeing his name with someone else’s did not hurt.
I didn’t cry.
I didn’t feel jealous.
I simply closed the invitation.
And continued my life.
Because the greatest revenge was never making him regret losing me.
It was becoming someone who no longer needed him to choose me.
For seven years, I waited for him to say: “I choose you.”
In the end, I became the person who finally said it to myself.
