Chapter 1 Chapter 1

One week before the wedding, Justin took me all over Riverstone to complete the “100 Things Every Couple Must Do Together” list that my younger sister, Stella, had written before she passed away. When we reached the final item on the list, Justin handed me Stella’s wedding dress and got down on one knee to propose. “Eva, be careful putting this on. Don’t ruin it. It’s Stella’s dress, and you’ll be wearing it at our wedding too. You in this dress will help me fulfill my dream of marrying her.” My mother, Sandra, stood nearby, wiping tears from her eyes. She pulled a small ring box from her coat and placed it in Justin’s hand. “This was Stella’s. Let this be the ring you use to propose. It’ll be like you’re proposing to her, too.” I stood there in that oversized dress, looking ridiculous. Justin reached out to slip the ring onto my finger, not even asking me if I was willing. I ripped off the veil and knocked the ring from his hand. “I thought choosing me meant you were starting to let her go. I was wrong. I’m leaving.” … I always knew Justin hadn’t forgotten Stella. After all, he still carried her photo with him and called her name in his sleep. However, I thought time would help him see me. I was wrong. “You’re being unreasonable, Eva! Stella never got the love she deserved. Can’t you let her feel it now?” Justin’s brows furrowed, anger flashing in his eyes. I held the veil in my hands, lips pressed tight. I didn’t want to give in. Sandra walked over and gently patted my shoulder. The touch made me look up, thinking she might understand. However, her eyes were full of blame. “Eva, you’re being unreasonable. Stella’s gone. You shouldn’t be fussing over this.” Justin nodded and reached for my dress. “Sandra’s right. You’ve had it easier than Stella ever did. You need to be punished. Take off her dress!” I didn’t resist. I stood still like a puppet while Justin stripped the dress off me, leaving only the base layer. Then he pushed me down onto the sand and looked at me with disgust. “Don’t think looking pitiful will get you sympathy. Pick up the ring and give it to me!” I picked the ring out of the sand and handed it to him. My pride lay shattered on the ground. Justin’s assistant, Nick, looked at me with sympathy. He stepped forward, trying to help. “Mr. Davidson, today was supposed to be your proposal to Miss Walker. It’s not worth getting angry.”“She’s always fighting Stella for everything. She doesn’t deserve a proposal!” My silence made Justin and Sandra more impatient. They saw it as defiance. Justin tucked the ring carefully into his pocket and snorted. “Think about what you’ve done. Let’s go, Sandra.” Sandra gave me one last look and followed him without a word, leaving me alone on the beach. I sat curled up, hugging myself. The only thing left, and which was mine, was the veil, but even the lace on it was in a style Stella liked. I’d chosen it because I knew Justin would like it too. However, the proposal had failed. When I came back to my senses, the sky had turned dark. I was still in my base layer, and home was two hours away. As I stood there, frozen, a lifeguard noticed me. He’d seen me arrive that morning in a wedding dress. He had smiled and wished me well, saying proposals rarely happened on this beach. I was the second he’d seen. The first was last year for a woman wearing the same dress. Her proposal was like a dream, with flowers flown in by plane and fireworks everywhere. It was everything my proposal was not. He mentioned that the man who proposed to her was a CEO frequently featured in financial news, Justin Davidson. The lifeguard saw the tears on my face. Realizing how cruel the comparison sounded, he apologized and left. However, he didn’t know the truth. My tears weren’t because of the comparison, but because I’d once again confirmed that I was never the one who was loved.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Feeling bad about earlier, the lifeguard helped me call a cab. When I got home, I saw Nick walking out of the house. He looked a little surprised to see me, and quickly hid some sort of booklet behind his back. Anything that involved Justin was always handled by his assistant. From the moment Justin and I met, Nick was always around. I gave him a polite smile and asked, trying to sound casual. “All those couple activities that Justin did with me lately; were any of them actually for me?” Nick gave an awkward smile and tucked the booklet further behind him. “You must be joking, Miss Walker. You’re Mr. Davidson’s fiancée. Of course everything you two did was what he wanted.” I glanced down at my messy appearance and gave a bitter smile. “I’ve seen Stella’s list. From the beginning, I knew. And the one you’re holding, isn’t it just filled with pictures of her and Justin?” Nick looked at me and sighed. His face was full of sympathy. “Miss Walker, your sister has passed. You're Mr. Davidson’s partner now.” I gave him a faint smile and stepped aside to let him go. I had hoped more than once that Justin would see me as I was. However, time couldn’t make Justin love me. I dragged myself inside, exhausted. Justin was sitting on the couch, laughing and chatting with Sandra. They were flipping through a photo album filled with pictures of Stella as a child. They weren’t worried that I had been left alone at night, stranded on a deserted beach. All they cared about were things related to Stella. I walked into my room and looked around at the decorations and clothes. After Stella died, no one asked me what I wanted. My family and Justin just turned my room into something Stella would’ve liked. All my clothes had been replaced. The soft, neutral styles I used to wear were gone. Now the closet was filled with crop tops and tight skirts, styles that I never suited. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring into space. Even if I left, there wouldn’t be anything here that truly belonged to me. Justin came into the room and sat beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder, breathing in deeply. “Eva, your scent always calms me down. I was in a bad mood and got impatient earlier. I’m sorry. “I should’ve talked to you first about the dress and the ring, but I knew you’d be good and listen.” He knew full well that this scent wasn’t mine. It was Stella’s favorite perfume. The one who comforted him had never really been me. “Justin, I’m really tired. Can you let me go?” He suddenly shoved me away, his face darkening again. “Miss Walker, what are you throwing a tantrum for now? Are you blaming me for being engaged to Stella, then? We didn’t even get married! And don’t forget, you had something to do with her death! “If it weren’t for Stella, you’d still be a nobody!” I could barely breathe. Justin had told me he loved me. Stella was the one who had lied about her identity. Her death was an accident. How had everything become my fault? Looking at Justin, staring at me like I was his enemy, felt like a knife cutting through my chest. I remembered the boy who once protected me like a hero, helping me escape the torment of school bullying, and offered to pay for my grandma’s medical bills. Where had that boy gone? Justin brushed the scar on his finger left by the car accident, turned, and slammed the door behind him. “Stop being so selfish. Stella was a blessing to us both.”

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Not long after Justin left, Sandra came to comfort me. She sat down beside me and gently took my hand as she said, “Eva, I know today was hard for you. You’re my daughter, too. Of course, I feel for you. “Be good, alright? Justin is someone you can trust with your future. He just gets a little stubborn sometimes. “I’ll help keep an eye on the wedding planning. I won’t let you suffer anymore.” Hearing her words, I buried myself in her arms and cried. At that moment, it felt like only family could ever truly love me. Later that night, though, as I passed by the study, I overheard something that shattered my heart. “I really wish I could have seen Stella get married. We asked Eva to help fulfill that dream, and she still won’t cooperate. She’s so ungrateful!”“There, there, my dear. Don’t be upset. Eva grew up in the countryside. How could she ever compare to our Stella? “But now that Stella’s gone, we still need to keep ties with the Davidsons. Right now, it’s all about keeping Eva in line. Show her more care. We still need to get more access to the Davidsons through her.”“I know. Why couldn’t it have been Eva who died instead?” It felt like I’d fallen into a pit of ice. The biological parents I had only just reunited with after more than ten years never saw me as a daughter. I was just a tool to them. There was no longer any reason for me to stay. I pulled out my phone and booked the next available flight. In two days, I’d be away from this place and Justin. The next morning, I was packing when I got a text from Justin. [Come downstairs. We’re going to the wedding rehearsal.] I ignored it. However, the next second, another message came through. It was a photo of Grandma, the woman who farmed to raise me in the countryside. Justin had brought her to the city. In the photo, she stood smiling next to him. Grandma was showing signs of early Alzheimer’s. She couldn’t handle stress and sometimes didn’t recognize people. She’d been doing well in the care facility. Yet Justin would go to such lengths just to use her against me. My hands were shaking so badly that I almost dropped the phone. My chest felt like it was being crushed. Then a video call came through. I answered immediately. Justin looked at my panicked face and smiled, clearly enjoying it. “Miss Walker, ready to come downstairs now?” Seeing his indifference, I trembled with rage and gritted my teeth. “Justin, you know Grandma is everything to me.” His expression faltered for a second, guilt flashing across his face. It vanished quickly, replaced by his usual smug look. “Relax, Miss Walker. I know what I’m doing. I just want Grandma at your wedding.”“She’s at the best facility now, with full-time nurses and doctors on call. She’ll be there on our wedding day.” I stared straight into his eyes, trying to see if he meant a word of it. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I closed my eyes. Enough. I couldn’t keep being this foolish.

Chapter 4 Chapter 4

For this wedding, I didn’t have any bridesmaids of my own. Instead, Sandra had invited Stella’s friends. In the makeup room, they didn’t even bother to hide their mockery. “Stella really had bad luck. Died young, and now this country bumpkin gets to take her place.”“So what? Everyone knows she’s just a stand-in. Mr. Davidson loves Stella. Mr. and Mrs. Walker love Stella, too.” I didn’t care about their sneers and gossip. However, one of them suddenly threw a pillow straight at my head. I turned and stared coldly at her. She didn’t apologize, lifting her chin proudly. “What’s the point of glaring? Go ahead and complain. Who’s going to stand up for you? If you cause trouble and ruin the rehearsal, you’ll be the one getting punished. It’s pathetic.” She wasn’t wrong. To everyone here, I was just someone to be tolerated. Anyone who had ever known Stella seemed to think they had a right to step on me. At the wedding rehearsal, everything was decorated in Stella’s favorite red tones. The aisle was lined with red roses, and even the bouquet was made from them. Everyone had forgotten that I was allergic to red roses. Just touching them caused me to break out in hives. I forced myself to bear the itching all over my body and walked through the entire rehearsal with Justin. The moment our eyes met, I saw a tenderness in him that I’d never seen before. However, I knew he wasn’t seeing me. “Why isn’t there a seat for Grandma in the family section?” I pointed at the empty spot. Sandra’s gentle expression vanished immediately. “What would we save a seat for that old woman for?” I said quietly, “Mom, Grandma raised me.” Sandra frowned and snapped under her breath, “You’re the Walkers’ daughter, not her granddaughter. You ungrateful brat.” My heart skipped a beat. Looking at Gilbert and Sandra’s obvious displeasure, I thought of what I had overheard the night before, and pain started to spread through my chest. Justin put his arm around me. “Mrs. Walker’s right. Stella never even acknowledged that woman. And now you treat her like treasure. Eva, you don’t know how good you have it.” I clenched my fists so hard that my nails left white marks in my palms. Justin had spent time with Grandma before. Yet, now, just to defend Stella, he was demeaning her, too. As I watched Justin, Gilbert, and Sandra sigh over Stella’s old photos again, something in me finally broke. Still, I told myself to hold on a little longer until the wedding was over. Then, I’d leave with Grandma. I took Gilbert’s arm and walked toward Justin. Every step felt like torture. Before I reached them, Nick rushed over to Justin and whispered something. Justin’s face changed instantly. I tried to read their lips. “Grandma… missing…” The bouquet slipped from my hands. I let go of Gilbert and ran over to Nick, grabbing his arm. “What did you say? What happened to Grandma? Where did she go? I’m going to find her! Take me to her!” Justin pulled me back hard, shouting, “Eva, get a grip! You’re still at the wedding venue. We’ll deal with Grandma after the ceremony.” I shook off his hand and stared at him, stunned. “You know she has Alzheimer’s. And now she’s gone missing, you want me to wait? I’m not getting married!” Sandra walked up and slapped me across the face. “Snap out of it! So what if she’s dead? What does that have to do with you? If you don’t go through with this wedding, don’t blame me for cutting you off.” Tasting the blood in my mouth, I looked around slowly at everyone before pulling off the wedding dress and throwing it at Justin. I turned and walked straight toward the door. Justin’s face darkened as he stared at the gown I’d tossed aside. “Eva, if you walk out that door, I’m canceling the wedding. Don’t even think about marrying me!” Even with his threat hanging in the air, I didn’t stop. It was time for me to leave all of this behind.