Chapter 2

Back in the lounge, I took off the suit.

Only after I changed into comfortable everyday clothes did I feel I could breathe again.

I was packing when Shen Mo and Ji Yan walked in.

She looked at me and launched into her usual lecture.

“You left the stage five minutes early. Add that to missing your cue for the vows, and that’s five points off your wedding performance.”

“Learn from it. Practice on your own for another five months before the next wedding. Stop making us pay for your mistakes.”

Shen Mo measured a wedding’s perfection in points. Every point she deducted meant another month of practice for me.

Five months, then another five.

Across eighteen weddings, I had waited seven whole years for her.

If seven years hadn’t brought us a marriage, an eighth wouldn’t change anything.

I didn’t have endless stretches of seven years. I didn’t want to wait anymore.

When I said nothing, she took it as agreement.

Ji Yan, though, sounded curious. “You can lose points? I thought Mo only gave them out. How many do you have now, Chen?”

My throat went dry. “Minus five. You?”

“Over six thousand!”

I went rigid.

Thinking I didn’t believe him, he eagerly showed me his WeChat Moments feed.

The screen was full of photos of Shen Mo and Ji Yan, each captioned with a running score.

Made the perfect cup of coffee: plus ten.

Clocked out right on time, no overtime: plus twenty.

Knew to ride home in my passenger seat, didn’t get wet at all: plus fifty.

The newest post was from three minutes ago: Perfectly cleaned up Chen’s wedding mess: plus one hundred!

The posts came from a woman’s account I didn’t recognize.

But I recognized the profile picture at once: the engagement ring I had given Shen Mo.

I had known she used a different account with Ji Yan. I assumed it was a rarely used secondary account, a sign that she knew where to draw the line.

Now it seemed the silent account on my own contact list was the secondary one.

I stared at those scores. My eyes stung so badly I couldn’t lift my head.

Seven years of struggling for a negative score had become a joke.

Ji Yan realized something was wrong and gave Shen Mo a playful punch.

“This is your fault! Chen’s your fiance. How can you leave him at minus five?”

They began bickering over the scores.

I quietly took out my phone and messaged a client.

“Lin, does your offer to recruit me for your overseas branch still stand?”

“Of course! My flight leaves early the day after tomorrow. Want to come with me?”

I looked up and met Shen Mo’s intent gaze.

My heart skipped.

Then she frowned and clicked her tongue.

“All right. I’ll give you five points, so someone stops saying I’m too picky for leaving you in the negatives. But if you wear that again next time, you’ll lose two. You’ve worn it so many times. It’s old. You should have thrown it out ages ago.”

She was looking at the corner of the suit sticking out of my suitcase.

My hand paused around my phone. Then I pressed send, hard.

“See you the day after tomorrow.”

I pulled out the suit and threw it into the trash, along with every piece of clothing and every accessory she had prepared for the perfect wedding.

“You’re right. It’s time to throw out the old things.”

She stared at the trash, a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

Before she could speak, the clock in the lounge chimed again.

I cut her off. “Time for the wedding toasts. Any longer and you’ll miss your cue.”

With Ji Yan looking at her expectantly, Shen Mo turned and took him away.

At the door, she paused.

“Three points for reminding us about the schedule without being asked. You only need another week to prepare. Don’t worry. The next wedding will work.”

I kept packing. I felt nothing.

She didn’t know there would be no wedding in a week.

I didn’t want an exception that came this late.