"We've been together for six years, Zeyan... For six good years, and we have been happy," she choked out, not believing all this! "Our families... the guests... everyone is expecting..."
"I know it seems sudden," he interrupted, a hint of impatience echoing in his voice. "But sometimes you don't realize what you truly want until it's standing right in front of you. Yueling makes me feel... alive. In a way I never...." He cut himself off. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."
Tears blurred her vision, hot and shameful. "Does my family know? Does your family know all about this?"
The pause was its own damning answer.
"Your father gave us his blessing three days ago."
Three days.... Three days ago, her father had patted her shoulder, called her his pride and joy, and discussed the wine selection. All while knowing he was presiding over her execution.
"My stepmother?" she asked, the answer was already a stone in her gut.
"She helped arrange everything. She thought it would be less painful if we told you after...."
"After what?" Her voice shattered into a sharp cry. "After you utterly destroyed me? After you made me a laughingstock? When exactly would have been a good time to tell me my fiancé was betraying me with my sister?"
"Shuyin, please, lower your voice....."
"WHY?" The question was a raw wound. "Was I not enough? What did I do wrong? Why didn't you tell me earlier then? Why now?"
"You didn't do anything wrong, it's my fault, but I have to fulfill her only wish, and that was to get married; afterwards, we can be a family once again..." he said, and the patronizing pity in his tone was worse than anger. "You're a good woman Shuyin. You deserve a man who can give you the kind of love you deserve. I'm just... not that man."
"You told me you were! Every single damn day!" The scream was torn from the deepest part of her. "For six years, you stood by my side and promised me forever! Were they all lies? Was it all just for show?"
"No, I meant them... at the time," he said, his voice weary, as if explaining something simple to a child. "But people change, Shuyin. Feelings change. You'll understand one day."
One day. As if her heart wasn't being pulverized in her chest.
"So tomorrow... you're not coming."
"The venue has been notified. Your family is handling the guests. My family will cover all expenses. We'll release a joint statement to the press...."
"A statement?" A broken laugh escaped her. "You're managing my heartbreak like a corporate merger."
"Shuyin...."
She heard it then, a soft, familiar giggle in the background. It was her sister. She was there, with him, as he delivered the killing blow.
"I have to go," Zeyan said quickly. "I truly am sorry. I hope, in time, you can find it in you to forgive me. Perhaps... we can even be friends."
"Friends?" The word was ash in her mouth.
"I'm ending the call now. Take care of yourself." And just like that, the screen went black.
Shuyin sat frozen, the silence of the room pressing in on her, a physical weight. She was alone. Utterly and completely alone. The life she had known, the future she had built in her mind, had evaporated in a five-minute phone call.
A sound, guttural and pained, wrenched itself from her throat. She stumbled to her bathroom and was violently sick, her body rejecting the betrayal. When there was nothing left, she collapsed against the cold marble, her expensive silk nightgown soaked with sweat and tears.
Through the window, the lights in the main house still blazed. They were in there, her family. Plotting, planning, spinning the narrative of her ruin.
They had known.
For three days, they had looked her in the eye and lied.
The grief began to curdle, transforming into something colder, harder, and far more dangerous, a quiet, simmering rage. She pushed herself up from the floor, her legs unsteady. Her eyes, once warm and bright, were now dry and hard as she stared at her reflection in the dark bathroom mirror.
The beautiful, delicate doll was gone. In its place was a woman scorned. And she would not go quietly into the night they had prepared for her.
Shuyin stared at her reflection, the cold marble seeping through her silk gown. The woman in the mirror had hollow eyes and a trembling mouth.
They knew, they all knew... The thought echoed, growing louder until it became a scream in her mind.
She pushed herself up, her legs unsteady. The rage that had been simmering now boiled over, hot and blinding. She had to find them. She had to see the lies on their faces herself, she had to hear from their damn mouths!
She burst out of her room, not caring about her disheveled appearance. The mansion was quiet, too quiet. She ran down the grand staircase, her bare feet slapping against the cold marble.