3

As I stepped outside, the guests who had been prevented from entering the venue seemed to have figured out what had happened. They looked at me with a mixture of emotions.

Seeing the elderly relatives standing out in the sun for so long with no place to sit, a surge of guilt overwhelmed me.

It was my selfishness that had caused them to suffer and embarrassed my parents.

I bowed deeply to everyone and said, "Sorry, everyone, but the wedding may need to be canceled. Let's just consider this a gathering and move to the next room for a meal."

Once the guests were re-seated, the wedding in the adjacent room was nearing its end.

I opened all the fine wine originally intended for the wedding and drank glass after glass, trying to numb myself with alcohol.

After all, Jessica and I had been together for three years.

I had known all along that Alex and Jessica were exes, and their dramatic romance had even become known throughout the entire university.

Yet, Jessica had repeatedly assured me and had always been proactive in giving me her passwords to various apps on her phone.

I was never inclined to check her phone, and that only made me feel even more petty. So, I gave her my full trust.

Even until she insisted on living separately before marriage, and until she stopped answering calls and responding to messages, I had never doubted her.

But now, she had silently postponed our wedding, leaving my family outside, and openly embraced Alex with passionate kisses in the place and time meant for our wedding.

And she had the audacity to say she was doing me a favor.

I wasn't some secondary character in a porn video, who relied on letting my wife to sleep with others to get a promotion.

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became, and I downed the contents of my glass in one gulp.

A hand stopped my action, and I saw Jessica, now in her casual clothes and with red eyes, trying to stop me from drinking.

"Thomas, come back with me and let's get married, okay? I can explain—it was just an act..."

"Oh? Then let me see your phone."

A look of embarrassment flashed across Jessica's face, and she instinctively tried to hide her phone behind her.

"Thomas, you... you never check phones, remember? You said that you despise such things..."

I sneered and waved my hand dismissively. "Jessica, just leave. I've already taken care of my relatives and friends. It's over between us. If you have any sense of responsibility, go back and attend to your guests."

Jessica bit her lip, tears falling down her cheeks, the droplets catching on her eyelashes, making her look pitiful.

"Thomas, we're supposed to be an engaged couple. My friends and relatives are also yours. Won't you come with me to host them? They'll understand—I've already explained! Just come with me to toast and follow the procedure on stage, and let's turn the page, okay?"

"Turn the page" again.

She clearly remembered and understood what "turn the page" meant, but she chose Alex instead.

My parents, seeing the situation, walked over with their wine glasses.

My heart ached for them and hurried to help them back to their seats. But my mother, determined, walked over and stood in front of Jessica.

My mother was trying to stand up for me. Fearing a confrontation might hurt my parents, I reached out to mediate, but saw my mother grab Jessica's hand.

"Jessica, you're a good girl. Please forgive Thomas! He's still young and immature, and he doesn’t like to be embarrassed. Please, as an adult, don't hold a grudge. Just forgive him!"