"I can't marry you."
The words were quiet, flat, and final and they actually made no sense at a time like this. It's like a judge giving his final verdict.
"What?" she whispered feeling weak and breathless.
"Tomorrow, about the wedding... It's off." He ran a hand through his hair, a familiar gesture of distress that now looked like a performance of a perfected actor, "I'm... I'm going to marry Yueling instead. I just promised her..."
The phone slipped from her suddenly nerveless fingers, landing soundlessly on the plush duvet. His voice, tinny and distant, continued from the speaker. "Shuyin? Are you there? I know this is a, shock...."
" But..."
She scrambled for the device, her hands shaking so violently that she could barely grip it. "What did you just say?" she breathed, the words tearing at her throat.
"Zeyan....."
"Yueling and I... we've been together for eight months now, she is critically ill, and at the same time expecting my son. I'm sorry. I never meant for you to find out like this. But seeing her condition deteriorating like this, I can't lie to you and myself.."
Eight months.
The number hung in the air, solid and brutal. Eight months ago, they had celebrated their engagement anniversary with a photoshoot that garnered over ten million likes.
Eight months ago, he had looked into her eyes and promised her forever, an eternity!
"But what were these words? This could just be a joke right? They were pranking her right?
"This is a joke," she whispered, a hysterical laugh bubbling up, feeling her heart getting torn into pieces. "A terrible, cruel joke. Zeyan, stop it right now."
"It's not a joke." His tone hardened, becoming pragmatic, cold, like the CEO delivering bad news to a shareholder. "What I feel for Yueling... It's different. It's real. And at the same time, I don't want my son to be a bastard... I also want to fulfil her last wishes... I hope you understand me.."
Real, what did he mean by saying that? Were her six years not real? The word was a physical blow to her already shattered heart. As if the six years of shared history, of whispered secrets and public declarations, had been just nothing but a shared delusion.
"We've been together for six years, Zeyan... For six good years, and we have been happy, every single day," 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?" She couldn't believe it, but hearing that pause, she knew she was the only one in the darkness...
The pause was its own damning answer.
"Your father gave us his blessings 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 to her; 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 that 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. How was she going to understand something like this?