Chapter 2

Maya's POV

"I'm thinking..." Henry paused. I could picture him grinning. "Wedding day. I just don't show up. Let her stand there in that white dress in front of everyone. Can you imagine?"

The room erupted in laughter and cheers.

I couldn't breathe. I literally could not get air into my lungs. He wanted me to stand alone at the altar. In front of my parents. My friends. His friends. Everyone we knew. He wanted me to wait and wait while people whispered and checked their phones and looked at me with pity. He wanted to humiliate me in the worst way possible, and he was laughing about it with his friends like it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Savage, man!"

"That's cold!"

"But also genius!"

My hands went numb. The cake box slipped.

It crashed onto the floor. Chocolate and cream everywhere, all over the carpet, all over my shoes.

Everything inside went quiet.

"What was that?" Henry's voice, sharp now.

"Probably just a server," someone said. "Anyway, so wedding day, how are you gonna pull it off?"

I didn't wait to hear his answer. I ran.

My legs just moved, down the hall, into the elevator, through the lobby. The receptionist was saying something about my luggage, but I couldn't stop. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.

I pushed through the hotel doors and kept walking until I found a bench by the water.

Then I broke.

I cried so hard I thought I might throw up. Hot, angry, humiliating tears that wouldn't stop no matter how many times I wiped my face.

Eight years I chased Dennis. And when I finally let go, when I finally let myself feel something for someone else, it was all fake. Revenge against Dennis.

Henry never loved me.

That hurt worse than anything. All those nights he held me. All those promises. The proposal with the fireworks he spent months planning.

Every single thing. A lie.

The airport was nearly empty at 3 AM. Just a few scattered travelers sleeping in chairs, a janitor pushing a mop across the floor. I sat in a corner by my gate, staring at my boarding pass through swollen eyes.

Henry's voice kept playing in my head. Over and over. I only went after Maya to piss off Dennis. Those eight years she spent obsessing over Dennis made me sick. Let her stand there in that white dress.

I was fifteen when I first saw Dennis. Fifteen. A stupid kid with a crush that turned into eight years of birthday presents he never thanked me for, games I sat through in the freezing cold while he never once looked up at me in the stands, study sessions where I did most of his work and he barely remembered my name the next day.

Then Henry came along. During those last two years with Dennis, when I was finally starting to see how pathetic I'd become. Henry was... different. He noticed me. Remembered things I said. Brought me coffee when I had early classes. For two years, he pursued me while I was still hung up on Dennis, and he never gave up.

When I finally let Dennis go, when I finally admitted to myself that I was done chasing someone who would never love me back, Henry was there. It took me another year to clean out my heart, to make sure every last piece of Dennis was gone before I let myself feel something real for Henry. I needed to be sure. I needed to know that what I felt for him wasn't a rebound, wasn't desperation, wasn't me settling.

When I finally said yes to Henry, I meant it. When he proposed two years later with those fireworks, I didn't hesitate, I thought I'd found it.

I thought I'd found my happiness.

My phone buzzed. A text from Henry: Miss you already babe. Can't wait to marry you.

I stared at the words until they blurred.

Then I wiped my eyes. Took a breath.

"Since you wanted to humiliate me at the wedding," I whispered into the empty terminal, "I'll let you taste that feeling first."

The loudspeaker crackled to life. "Now boarding Flight 847 to XXX. All passengers please proceed to gate—"

I stood up, straightened my shoulders, and walked toward the gate.

I would go home. I would smile. I would act like nothing happened.

And I would make Henry put everything into this wedding—every emotion, every moment, every ounce of effort.

Then I'd be the one who disappeared.