Ryan cried when I told him.
“I’m so sorry.”
I hung up.
Three weeks later, he and Lina announced their engagement.
That was when something inside me simply stopped.
I stopped arguing.
Stopped begging my parents to understand.
Stopped trying to explain why I couldn’t attend family dinners where Lina and Ryan sat together.
If everyone else wanted to pretend this was an ordinary romance, they could.
I couldn’t.
And on their wedding day, I stayed home.
Around noon, my phone rang.
My cousin Nora.
She was one of the few relatives who had never told me to “move on.”
“Hey.”
“Annie.”
I sat up.
Something was wrong.
“What happened?”
“You need to come here.”
My heart jumped immediately to Amelia.
“Is Amelia okay?”
“She’s okay.”
“What happened?”
Nora lowered her voice.
“She stopped the ceremony.”
I stood.
“What?”
“Not the wedding itself. They’re married.”
