Chapter 8

After spending a full day and night in bed recovering, Mia had finally regained enough strength to face what lay ahead.

Today was the day she would leave.

Her flight was at 7 p.m., and once she boarded, she would never come back.

As dawn broke, Mia got out of bed and began packing her belongings. She decided to donate everything to a local community center.

Among the donated items were all the gifts Nick had given her over the years—clothes, handbags, jewelry and even the wedding ring he had placed on her finger.

Anything of value was donated to benefit others, while the less valuable items were tossed into a fire.

If she was starting over, she would leave with nothing that tied her to him.

By the time she finished, it was already afternoon. Mia glanced at her phone—it was 3 p.m.

Just four hours until her flight.

She was about to change clothes and head to the airport when Jenna suddenly appeared, blocking her path. “Mia, what are you standing around for? Come on, get moving! You’re coming with me to get your makeup done.”

“Makeup?” Mia frowned slightly. “For what?”

“Don’t play dumb,” Jenna said with a scowl. “Isn’t today your wedding anniversary with Nick? He told me that when you got married, my parents didn’t approve, so you skipped the ceremony and just signed the paperwork. He’s always felt guilty about that. And lately, with everything going on with Xena, he knows he’s been neglecting you. So, he wants to make it up to you by throwing you a proper wedding for your five-year anniversary.”

Fake. It had to be fake.

This was definitely a trap, Mia thought.

She and Nick had been married for five years, and he had never once mentioned holding a wedding for her. Why would he suddenly decide to do it now, on the very day Xena was back in his life?

“What, you don’t believe me?” Jenna sneered, giving Mia a disdainful look. “Then call Nick and ask him yourself. Do you think I’m doing this for fun? If he hadn’t forced me, I wouldn’t be wasting my time on you.”

Mia didn’t believe her, and she certainly didn’t want to call Nick.

Seeing Mia standing there like a statue, Jenna lost her patience. She pulled out her phone, dialed Nick’s number, and shoved the phone into Mia’s hands.

“Mia, I’ve already heard about your mom. You’ve been through so much lately. Let me make it up to you today.”

Fake. It had to be fake. Nick would never speak to her in such a gentle tone.

“I’ve already arranged everything. Go with Jenna and change into your dress. We’ll see each other at the wedding.”

Fake. All of it was fake.

Mia’s body began to tremble uncontrollably. What was Nick up to? Why would he suddenly hold a wedding for her? What was his real motive?

She knew deep down it was all a lie. She knew she was the unloved one.

But when she put on the custom wedding dress Nick had supposedly prepared for her, she couldn’t stop the faint glimmer of hope that stirred within her.

There is a universal human tendency to cling to hope, even when logic and experience insist the outcome is impossible.

What if?

What if, this time, it was real?

She had been unlucky for so long.

Surely, she deserved a win, just this once.

“Fine,” Mia thought. “I’ll go and see for myself. There’s still time.”

With the mindset of a gambler taking a one-in-a-million chance, she went to attend the supposed wedding.

By 4 p.m., her makeup was done.

By 5 p.m., she arrived at the wedding venue.

When she pushed open the doors to the banquet hall, a bucket of cold water poured down on her from above.

“Hahahahaha!” Laughter erupted around her, loud and cruel.

Jenna stood behind her, laughing so hard tears streamed down her face. “Mia, you idiot! Did you really think Nick was going to throw you a wedding?

“Hahahaha, what a fool! Today is Xena’s birthday. This isn’t the wedding you’ve been dreaming of—it’s her birthday party!”

The banquet hall was full of people, all there to celebrate Xena’s birthday.

Xena herself was there, dressed in a wedding gown identical to the one Mia was wearing—except hers wasn’t drenched in water and still looked pristine and elegant.

“This dress?” Jenna said smugly, pointing to Xena’s gown. “It’s the one Nick had custom-made for her. Isn’t it beautiful? He’s planning to propose to her today.

“Mia, Nick and Xena are true love. You’re just a pathetic joke in their legendary love story. If you have any self-respect, you’ll leave on your own. It’ll be even more humiliating if Nick throws you out.”

Mia reached up and touched her face, only to realize she was crying.

Crying? Why?

Hadn’t she already known this was all fake?

“Mia, you really are a fool. How many times has fate played cruel tricks on you, and yet you still fell for it?

“You knew it was a lie, and yet you came anyway. What were you trying to prove? How pathetic you are?’ she silently cried.

She turned and fled from the suffocating venue, practically running out the door.

Flagging down a taxi, she rushed to the airport as fast as possible. Once there, she bolted into the restroom and began tearing at the wedding dress she was wearing.

“Take it off. Take it all off,” she thought desperately.

The dress was too tight, too stifling.

“Help me! Please, someone help me!” the plea echoed in her mind.

She couldn’t take it anymore. Everything about it—the dress, the situation—was suffocating her. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of this cursed wedding dress and leave. Leave everything behind, never to look back.

Finally, after frantically pulling and tearing at it, the wedding dress was reduced to shreds.

Mia tossed the once-pristine white dress onto the dirty restroom floor. From her bag, she pulled out a long black slip dress and slipped it on.

Her phone was vibrating furiously. She pulled it out to see dozens of missed calls—all from Nick.

Apparently, he had been calling her nonstop since she got in the taxi, over thirty times at least.

But she had been too consumed by her breakdown to notice.

The phone was still vibrating, Nick still calling.

Mia calmly removed the SIM card, snapped it in half, and tossed it into the trash.

It was almost 7 p.m. She collected her ticket, cleared security, and boarded the plane without any issues.

Moments before takeoff, she deleted all her social media accounts, severing every tie to her past.

When the flight attendant came by to remind her to turn off her phone, she smiled and nodded.

The phone’s screen went black as the plane lifted off the ground.

Mia leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

“Nick, I won’t bother with goodbye.

“Because I hope this is the last time I’ll ever see you,” she muttered.