He Gave Her a Wedding, So I Named My Gown Farewell Chapter 01

He Gave Her a Wedding, So I Named My Gown Farewell Chapter 01

On the day Adrian Shaw was supposed to come to my parents’ house for our engagement dinner, I sat in front of the family meal my father and mother had prepared.

Then I saw his social feed.

In the photo, Joanna Liver, his childhood sweetheart in everything but name, wore a white wedding dress. Her eyes were soft, almost sweet.

The caption read, [For the girl I promised to marry when we were kids, I’m finally giving her the wedding she was owed. The wedding may be fake, but the bond is real.]

In that moment, I stared at the dishes my parents had reheated again and again, and my whole body went cold.

Just a few hours ago, I had been secretly happy.

After seven years of standing beside him with no title and no promise, I thought today would finally move our lives forward.

My parents and I had sat there for three hours.

He never came.

He never even sent a message to say he wouldn’t.

He had time to give Joanna a grand, romantic fake wedding.

But he missed the real ceremony that was supposed to make us official.

I looked down at the dress sketch in my hand, the one I’d designed as a surprise for him, and laughed at myself.

A week ago, Adrian and I had gone over every detail of this dinner.

We had confirmed the date, the time, everything.

For seven years, he had prepared all kinds of anniversaries for Joanna.

For me, he had never once planned anything with half that much care.

After a long silence, my mother finally spoke. Her voice was full of heartbreak.

“Elena, are we still waiting?”

I answered softly, “No.”

No more waiting.

Not today.

Not ever again.

After I left my parents’ house, I sent two messages.

One went to my boss.

I resigned.

The other went to the director of the Milan bridal atelier.

I applied for the overseas program starting in three days.

When I got home and opened the door, Adrian was already there.

He was sitting on the couch, playing a game on his phone.

His hair was slicked back with gel, polished and neat.

He had dressed up to go try on wedding clothes.

“You’re back?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re off work early today.”

“It’s Saturday.”

“Oh, right. Saturday. Where did you go today?”

His tone was careless.

He didn’t even look up when he asked.

“My parents’ house.”

“Oh.”

Silence filled the room.

A few seconds later, Adrian finally seemed to remember something. He lifted his head from behind his phone.

“Was today the day I was supposed to go to your parents’ place?”

He wasn’t sure.

He was asking me.

The plan hadn’t even been set for a full week, and he had already forgotten it completely.

I looked at him.

“My parents made a full dinner and waited for you for three hours.”

A trace of guilt crossed Adrian’s face.

“I’ve been too busy these days. I forgot.”

The guilt disappeared almost instantly and turned into blame.

“You could’ve reminded me earlier.”

I had reminded him that morning before he left.

I told him not to forget to buy a gift for my parents.

At the time, he was texting Joanna and had only answered me with a flat, distracted, “Mm.”

“I reminded you this morning.”

He frowned.

“This morning? I was talking to Joanna about something. I didn’t notice.”

“What could be more important than our engagement dinner?”

His eyes went back to his phone.

“Plenty of things. Didn’t you see my post? I went with Joanna to try on her wedding dress today.”

“Isn’t her birthday coming up? Her birthday wish this year was for me to give her back the wedding I promised her when we were little.”

“Isn’t that cute? She’s still like a kid, still playing house.”

His tone was natural.

Every word dripped with affection.

“So you’re planning to have a wedding ceremony with her?”

“Yeah. That’s why we went to try on outfits today.”

He paused, then seemed to catch himself.

“But don’t overthink it. It’s not real. Honestly, it’s just a birthday theme party.”

“What about us?”

Adrian let out a small laugh.

“Us? We’re not in a rush.”

Not in a rush.

It was already our seventh year, and he still thought there was no hurry.

He was willing to build an entire childhood dream for Joanna.

But he couldn’t spare me one real wedding ceremony with a real name attached to it.

When I didn’t answer, he looked at me.

“Are you mad?”

“No. There’s no point.”

“That’s my girl. You’re always so understanding. Joanna says that all the time too. She says you’re open-minded and don’t fuss over little things.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t fuss.

Who could I even argue with?

Every argument ended with the same sentence shoved into my mouth.

She just grew up with me. She’s like my little sister.

“Right. Tell your parents we’ll do the dinner another day.”

Just like that, with one casual “another day,” he brushed aside everything my parents and I had prepared.

“What day? The day after tomorrow?”

The day after tomorrow was Joanna’s birthday.

It was also our seventh anniversary.

Sure enough, Adrian answered almost on instinct.

“That won’t work. It’s Joanna’s birthday. We’ll talk about our stuff later.”

“Relax. I’m not going anywhere.”

He wasn’t going anywhere.

But I no longer wanted to wait.

I walked to the dining table and saw a pile of takeout boxes.

“What’s this?”

He glanced at them.

“I went with Joanna to check out a popular restaurant today. We couldn’t finish everything, so I packed some for you.”

I opened the bag.

Inside were messy leftovers.

I touched the containers.

“They’re cold.”

He didn’t care.

“It’s warm out lately anyway. Just eat what you can.”

I stared at the food.

He had forgotten again.

I had serious stomach problems. I couldn’t eat anything cold.

“I don’t want this. I want soup from the place by the gate.”

Adrian froze for a second.

“Now?” He lifted the phone in his hand. “I don’t have time to go buy soup for you right now.”

No time.

He had all the time in the world to take Joanna to trendy restaurants.

But buying me one bowl of hot soup was suddenly impossible.

“Forget it. I’ll heat it myself.”

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “You seem down today.”

I put the takeout containers into the microwave one by one.

“Nothing. I’m probably just tired.”

“Oh. Then eat early and go to bed early.”

The microwave dinged.

The last dish was hot.

I sat at the table, picked up a bite, and put it in my mouth.

It tasted awful.

Just like this relationship.

Impossible to swallow.

I spat it out.

Then I closed every lid and threw it all into the trash.