Morning came, not with joy, but with whispers that cut sharper than blades.
By the time Li Na descended the stairs, the courtyard was already filled with neighbors and relatives. Their faces told the story she dreaded: pity in some eyes, curiosity in others, and smug delight in the cruelest. The wedding that was supposed to unite two families had become the scandal of the street.
"A runaway groom," someone muttered near the gate. "Imagine the shame."
"She must have done something," another whispered.
"Poor girl… who would marry her now?"
Li Na kept her head high, though every word pierced her chest. Her mother, Madam Chen, tried to shield her, shooing away the gawkers with angry hands, but even her mother's voice trembled with disappointment and fear.
"Li Na, stay inside," she urged, grasping her daughter's wrist. "Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you like this."
But Li Na pulled away. "Why should I hide, Mama? He ran. I didn't."
Her uncle, Wei, arrived soon after, his face set in a grim mask. "Zhao Ming left for the airport last night. He and Fang Mei are gone together. No trace, no explanation." He paused, lowering his voice. "People are saying he never intended to marry you at all."
Li Na's fists clenched until her nails dug into her palms. Rage threatened to choke her, but humiliation pressed down heavier. She could feel her dreams, her dignity, her reputation are all reduced to ashes overnight.
As the day dragged on, relatives began to leave, embarrassed to linger at a house filled with ruined decorations and untouched banquet food. Her bridal gown still hung upstairs, a ghostly reminder of what should have been.
By evening, the house was quiet. Too quiet.
Li Na sat at her vanity, staring at her reflection. Her eyes were red but dry now. Somewhere between dawn and dusk, her tears had burned out, replaced by something harder and sharper.
She thought of Zhao Ming's smug smile, of Fang Mei's triumphant laughter, of the whispers that would follow her for years.
"No," she whispered to the empty room, her voice low but steady. "I won't let them write the ending of my story."
And as the night deepened, a reckless idea began to take shape the one that would turn her humiliation into defiance, and bind her fate to a man she barely knew.