I looked at Lam Vi’s hand gripping Chu Hoai’s sleeve.

Then I looked at him.

He did not pull away.

That was enough.

I placed my wine glass on the table.

Very gently.

The microphone carried the small sound through the entire ballroom.

Then I asked:

“Chu Hoai, do you still love her?”

His face changed.

“Nien Niem, today is our wedding. Don’t ask ridiculous questions.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

His mother immediately interrupted.

“Of course he doesn’t. They’re divorced.”

I turned toward her.

“I asked your son.”

The hall became completely silent.

Chu Hoai’s jaw tightened.

After several seconds, he said:

“She was an important person in my life.”

Lam Vi lowered her eyes.

Her fingers were still on his sleeve.

I nodded.

“Do you still contact each other?”

“Nien Niem.”

“Yes or no?”

His expression hardened.

“Sometimes.”

“How often?”

“That’s enough.”

I smiled.

“No. Not yet.”

Then I looked toward the wedding coordinator standing beside the stage.

“Ms. Chen, would you come here?”

She hesitated, then walked over.

I asked:

“Who added Lam Vi to the main banquet table?”

The coordinator glanced nervously at Chu Hoai’s mother.

That single glance answered before she spoke.

“Mrs. Chu requested the change yesterday.”

A murmur spread through the hall.

I looked at my future mother-in-law.

“So you knew.”

Her expression stiffened.

“She is an old friend of the family.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me she was coming?”

“This is our son’s wedding. We don’t need permission for every guest.”

My mother stood again.

“Your son’s wedding?”

Her voice trembled.

“My daughter is the bride!”

Chu Hoai rubbed his forehead.

“Everyone stop.”

Then he looked at me.

“Nien Niem, let’s finish the ceremony first. We’ll talk at home.”

At home.

As though I were already trapped inside it.

I picked up the microphone.

“No.”

Chu Hoai froze.

I turned toward Lam Vi.

“You came to bless us, correct?”

Her eyes flickered.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll return the blessing.”

I removed my veil.

The entire ballroom erupted in whispers.

I placed it on the table.

Then I took the bridal bouquet and held it toward her.

Lam Vi stared at it.

“What are you doing?”

I smiled.

“You said you would come whenever Chu Hoai needed you.”

I looked at him.

“And apparently he needed you at our wedding.”

Then I pushed the bouquet into her hands.

“So take my place.”

Chu Hoai grabbed my wrist.

“Nien Niem!”

I pulled free.

His voice dropped.

“Stop humiliating me.”

I stared at him.

“You brought your ex-wife to my main table wearing white.”

“You held her hand.”

“You called her Vi Vi in front of three hundred guests.”

“And now I’m humiliating you?”

For the first time, several people in the hall laughed.

Not at me.

At him.

His face darkened.

His mother slammed her palm against the table.

“This wedding cannot be canceled!”

I turned toward her.

“Why?”

Her lips parted.

That was when my father stood.

He had been silent the entire time.

He walked onto the stage carrying a thin folder.

I knew what was inside.

Six months earlier, when Chu Hoai’s family company encountered cash-flow problems, my father had agreed to provide a guarantee for one of their largest redevelopment projects.

Not because he trusted the Chu family.

Because he trusted my decision to marry Chu Hoai.

There was only one condition.

The guarantee would become effective after our legal marriage registration.

The ceremony was today.

Registration was scheduled for tomorrow morning.

My father placed the unsigned guarantee agreement on the table.

“Mrs. Chu,” he said calmly, “is this why the wedding cannot be canceled?”

Her face immediately lost color.

Chu Hoai turned toward his mother.

“What guarantee?”

He didn’t know.

That surprised even me.

My father continued.

“Your mother approached me four months ago. She said the Chu family’s Riverfront project needed additional credit support.”

Chu Hoai stared at her.

“Mom?”

She stood up.

“This has nothing to do with the wedding.”

“It has everything to do with the wedding,” my father replied.

He opened the final page.

“My guarantee required my daughter to become a legal member of your family first.”

Then he took the document.

And tore it in half.

The sound was soft.

But every person in that ballroom heard it.

Chu Hoai’s mother rushed forward.

“Mr. Shen!”

My father tore it again.

Then placed the pieces on the table.

“My daughter is not collateral.”

I looked at him.

For the first time that day, my eyes burned.

Chu Hoai turned toward me.

“You knew about this?”

“No.”

That was the truth.

“Then don’t mix business with us.”

I almost laughed.

“Your mother already did.”

Lam Vi suddenly put the bouquet down.

“I should leave.”

Chu Hoai immediately reached for her.

“Vi Vi.”

Again.

That name.

That instinct.

That tenderness he claimed was already dead.

I looked at him one final time.

“You see?”

He froze.

“You still reach for her before you even remember I’m standing here.”

His hand slowly fell.

“Nien Niem, I can explain.”

“No.”

I removed the ring.

He stared at my fingers.

“You don’t need to.”

I placed the ring beside the torn guarantee.

Then I turned to the guests.

“I’m sorry you came here for a wedding.”

I smiled.

“But there won’t be one.”

Someone began clapping.

I never discovered who.

Then another person joined.

Then another.

Within seconds, half the hall was applauding.

Not because a wedding had succeeded.

Because a woman had refused to become the joke inside her own ceremony.

I walked down the red carpet with my parents.

Behind me, Chu Hoai called my name.

I did not turn around.

The Riverfront project did not collapse.

But without my father’s guarantee, the Chu family had to sell two smaller properties and bring in an outside investor.

Chu Hoai’s mother blamed me publicly.

That lasted until someone leaked the wedding video.

Then the public saw everything.

Lam Vi in white.

Her hand on Chu Hoai.

His mother ordering me to accept it.

The words:

You married into the Chu family. You have to learn to accept his past.

The comments were not kind.

For several weeks, Chu Hoai tried to contact me.

Flowers.

Messages.

Calls.

He waited outside my office twice.

I ignored him until the third time.

Then I agreed to meet him.

He looked exhausted.

“Nien Niem.”

I sat across from him.

“Say what you came to say.”

He swallowed.

“Lam Vi and I aren’t together.”

I almost smiled.

“Congratulations.”

“She left the city.”

“That has nothing to do with me.”

“She said she only came because my mother invited her.”

“And you brought her to my table.”

He lowered his head.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His answer took a long time.

“I wanted to prove that I had completely moved on.”

I stared at him.

“By making your ex-wife part of our wedding?”

“I thought if the three of us could stand together normally, then the past would finally be over.”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“You wanted me to prove I was generous enough to tolerate what you still couldn’t let go of.”

His eyes reddened.

“I did love you.”

“Maybe.”

He flinched.

“But you loved being understood more.”

He said nothing.

“You wanted a wife who would accept your mother.”

“Accept your ex-wife.”

“Accept your history.”

“Accept your discomfort.”

“Accept your mistakes.”

I leaned back.

“And every time I had feelings of my own, you called it making trouble.”

His face collapsed.

“I’m sorry.”

I believed him.

It simply didn’t matter anymore.

Three months later, Lam Vi contacted me.

Her message was short.

I owe you an apology.

We met once.

She no longer wore white.

She looked tired.

“I thought he would choose me if you left.”

I looked at her.

“Did he?”

She laughed bitterly.

“No.”

Apparently, after the wedding, Chu Hoai blamed her for everything.

She blamed him for humiliating her publicly.

Within two weeks, the fantasy they had preserved for years collapsed under reality.

“I thought I was his unforgettable person,” she said.

“Maybe you were.”

She looked at me.

I continued.

“But being unforgettable isn’t the same as being suitable.”

She nodded.

Then she apologized.

I accepted.

We never became friends.

We didn’t need to.

A year later, the hotel where my wedding had failed invited my father to a business dinner.

He asked if I minded returning.

I said no.

When I walked into the ballroom, the red carpet was gone.

Different flowers.

Different music.

Different people.

I felt nothing.

That surprised me.

For months, I had thought that room would always represent humiliation.

Instead, it looked exactly like what it was.

A room.

Nothing more.

My mother squeezed my hand.

“Do you regret it?”

“Canceling the wedding?”

“Yes.”

I smiled.

“No.”

“Not even once?”

I looked toward the main banquet table.

“No.”

Because that day I had almost married a man who expected me to spend the rest of my life respecting everyone’s feelings except my own.

Lam Vi had come to my wedding believing she could remind Chu Hoai that she was his past.

His mother believed marriage would force me to accept it.

Chu Hoai believed I would calm down after the guests went home.

They were all wrong.

I did respect his past.

So much that I gave it back to him completely.

And then I walked away before it could become my future.