Chapter 2

Brittany went rigid. The flush in her cheeks slowly drained to white. "A... a prank?"

Someone noticed how lost she looked and walked over with a grin, giving her cheek a playful pinch.

"Yeah!"

"At the party, you kept staring at Leonardo with this heavy look on your face. As your best friend, of course I knew what was weighing on you."

"But that kind of thing doesn't just go away on its own. If you never dealt with it, you'd never really be happy."

"Now seeing you and Leonardo holding hands, I'm genuinely so happy for you!"

"Exactly, Brittany. How else were we supposed to help you get past this?"

"Wait — what's that smell??"

Before the words even landed, the whole group erupted in a wave of knowing gasps and laughter.

"You two didn't waste any time, did you? Already went all the way."

"Nice work."

"Wedding! Wedding! Wedding!..."

Cheers and blessings filled the abandoned warehouse. And I, Brittany's lawful husband, sat there watching it all with a face drained of color.

My nails had dug into my palms hard enough to draw blood. It hurt. The drops fell onto the rope binding my wrists.

But somehow, my chest hurt worse than my hands.

She was my wife. And yet, not even thirty minutes ago, she had slept with another man in that very corner, all to make up for what she said she'd missed.

Their breathless whispers, their confessions, their tragic love story — somehow all of it made me feel like I was the one who had no right to be there.

I slowly closed my eyes. A single tear slid from the corner of one eye, and quietly, I made my decision.

Across the room, Brittany was still in Leonardo's arms, letting him kiss her.

He didn't know I was her husband. Neither did any of our classmates.

Because Brittany never wanted to make our relationship public — probably because she cared too much about what Leonardo would think.

Maybe the grief was written too plainly on my face, because someone finally noticed me tied up in the corner.

"Wait — isn't that Brooks?"

"What were you guys thinking, dragging Brooks into this prank too?"

The moment those words landed, everyone finally turned to look at me.

"I didn't mean to pull Brooks into it. But he kept following Brittany around, and I was afraid of missing the timing, so I just grabbed him too."

"Brooks, I'm so sorry!"

"Let me untie you right now. Please don't be mad, and please don't come after me for this."

"We did do something good here, didn't we? We helped two people who were meant to be find their way back to each other."