Part 1The Ninety-Ninth Cancellation

After preparing for a long time, the wedding reception was canceled once again because the groom didn't show up.

My parents, carrying the gifts they had prepared in advance, bowed and apologized table by table, skillfully returning the cash gifts one by one.

The relatives finally couldn't hold it back anymore and started making sarcastic remarks:

"Is your family ever going to stop? You've held this wedding ninety-nine times, and we still haven't even seen what the groom looks like. Is this a real wedding?"

My mom apologized profusely, promising there wouldn't be a next time.

When Arthur Vance finally rushed over, the wedding venue had already been torn down and was in shambles.

"There was a fluctuation in the experimental data, so I'm late."

I had heard this sentence many, many times.

Unexpectedly, this time I wasn't hysterical.

I thought he would at least say sorry, but Arthur just grabbed a handful of wedding candy with his usual expression.

"Since everything is fine, I'll head out first. Mia is still waiting for me to tutor her."

Mia Harper was his junior in the research group.

And Arthur never missed a single one of her tutoring sessions.

I looked back at my parents, whose usually proud spines were bent by the repeated scoldings.

Exhaustion and weariness swept over me.

I suddenly realized that the groom didn't have to be him.

...

Arthur didn't care about anything unrelated to physics.

Sometimes he would even mistake me for someone else.

I thought he was always just immersed in his own world.

That he was like this with everyone.

But just now, the few pieces of candy he took were all Mia's favorites.

Strawberry flavored, beautifully packaged candies.

Yet I was allergic to flowers, and he never remembered.

Dense, red hives quickly broke out on my arm.

I looked expressionlessly at the yellow roses Arthur brought as an apology.

I thought of how I had lost my temper more than once because of his inattentiveness.

But he never explained. He would only furrow his brow, creating fine lines.

He would silently watch me vent.

And then act as if nothing had happened.

"Chloe!"

My mom turned around and was frightened by the large and small red patches all over my body.

She and my dad quickly took me to the hospital.

My consciousness grew fuzzy, and my mom's suppressed crying lingered in my ears.

"Richard, it's all your fault for insisting on introducing Arthur to Chloe!"

My dad was Arthur's college professor.

Back then, he recognized Arthur's abilities and was determined to match us up.

And I was attracted by Arthur's aloof and detached aura, chasing after him recklessly.

He had sighed:

"Chloe Sterling, I don't know how to date."

I blinked and said cheerfully:

"That's okay, I'll teach you!"

He laughed.

It was only now that I understood the helplessness and annoyance in his laugh.

My dad couldn't reach Arthur.

Suppressing his anger, he called the university lab.

He couldn't find him there either.

"Arthur isn't here. He seems to have something important to take care of."

"What could be more important than his fiancée being sick?"

Just as my dad finished roaring this sentence, I looked up and saw Arthur supporting a pale, clean-looking girl.

Arthur, who usually had a strong sense of boundaries, was pressed seamlessly against her.

Usually a man of few words, he was constantly reminding her:

"Mia, the doctor said you have to take the fever medicine every day, you can't..."

Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes met mine mid-air.

It turns out that Mia's slight fever was a massive deal to him.

Enough to make him willingly interrupt his experiment.

I remembered the year I was harassed by some street thugs and frantically called Arthur for help.

His voice was extremely calm, like glass beakers clinking together.

"It's useless to call me. Chloe, what you need to do right now is call the police."

In Arthur's eyes.

There was no difference between me and any other random passerby he couldn't name.

"What's wrong with you?"

He walked over, asking me in a rare show of benevolence.

While Mia still clung to his arm, looking weak and apologetic.

"Sister Chloe, I'm really sorry. I troubled him so much on your wedding day."

I curled my lips into a smile:

"You can trouble him all you want from now on."

"Because I'm not going to marry him."