Are Tears Lighter Than Snowflakes?

Just before my wedding began, Mom suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed. I abandoned everything and rushed her to the emergency department myself. But the moment we arrived, a message appeared in the family group chat. "I've got Rachel tricked into going to the hospital. The ceremony can begin." Dad replied immediately, "Don't worry. I'm already walking Serena down the aisle." My brother, Andrew, added, "Serena waited ten years. Today she can finally marry Isaac openly." All three messages were deleted almost at once. Then my best friend, Phoebe Langdon, accidentally posted a video from the ceremony into the group. In the video, my younger sister Serena Calloway was wearing the wedding dress I had personally chosen. Isaac Bancroft stood at the end of the aisle and slid the ring meant for me onto her finger. The same relatives and friends who had congratulated me only yesterday were chanting together. "Kiss her!" From the hospital bed, Mom ripped the phone from my hand. The pain had already disappeared from her face, leaving only panic at being exposed. "Rachel, Serena has waited for Isaac for so many years. "She only wants one wedding that belongs to her. "You've had Isaac for seven years. Can't you let her have this once?" I looked at the EKG electrodes still stuck to Mom's chest and laughed. So everyone had cast themselves as the kind-hearted people in their little play. I was the only one kept outside the , the fool they expected to entertain them. Chapter 1 By the time I rushed back to the Marblecrest Hotel, Isaac Bancroft was holding Serena Calloway's hand and reciting his vows. "From the day I met you, every road in the rest of my life has led back to you." My breath caught. I had written those words myself. I spent three nights revising them because I wanted seven years of love to fit inside a single sentence. Only last night, Isaac had held me and promised those words would be spoken to me at our wedding and no one else. Now he hadn't changed even one word. He was giving every syllable to Serena. The applause died the instant the guests saw me. Isaac released Serena's hand and instinctively started toward me. "Rachel, go back to the hospital for now. "When the ceremony is over, I'll explain everything." I lost control and rushed forward. "Explain it now! "Why is she wearing my wedding dress, my ring, and standing beside the man who was supposed to marry me?" Isaac stepped in front of Serena, impatience flashing in his eyes. "Because this wedding was planned for Serena from the beginning." One sentence was enough to freeze me where I stood. I had spent an entire year preparing for this wedding. But Isaac was telling me something else. This wedding had never belonged to me. He looked toward the diamond veil resting over Serena's hair and spoke calmly. "Serena chose that veil a long time ago. "She was abroad and couldn't come back for fittings, so I had you confirm the size for her." I stared at him. "And the dress?" "Hers too. "The original pattern was drafted to Serena's measurements." The cold went all the way through me. No wonder Isaac had refused to alter the waistline and insisted that I lose weight to fit the dress instead. For six months, I barely ate dinner properly so I could squeeze into it. Only now did I understand that I had never been the intended bride. Serena linked her arm through Isaac's and looked at me with pity. "Rachel, don't blame Isaac. I'm the one who asked him to pursue you. "I had to go overseas for treatment back then, and there was a chance I wouldn't come home. "Your ex had just dumped you, and you weren't sleeping." Compassion appeared in her eyes at exactly the right moment. "I couldn't stand watching you suffer, so I asked Isaac to take care of you for a while. "I made the breakfast menus he brought to your apartment. "I picked the restaurant for your first date. "Even the words he used when he confessed his feelings were taught to him line by line by me." My throat felt sealed shut. Isaac had pursued me for ninety-nine days. I once recorded every tiny thing he did during those ninety-nine days in a journal. Those details had made me fall for him again and again. Apparently none of them had ever belonged to me. Phoebe Langdon came over holding up the skirt of her bridesmaid dress. "Rachel, hiding this from you was wrong. "But Serena has suffered far more than you have. "She watched the person she loved stay with you for seven years and never once tried to break you apart. "She's already been generous enough. Don't keep pushing her." I looked at the woman who had called herself my best friend for more than a decade. "So you knew too?" Phoebe nodded. "We were afraid you couldn't handle it. "You can be extreme when you're hurt. If you learned that Isaac truly loved Serena, none of us knew what you might do." Every person in the room stood on Serena's side. They all looked at me with the same guarded expression. As though I were not the person who had been deceived for seven years. As though I were the unstable woman who might destroy my sister's happiness at any second. My phone buzzed inside my purse. It was Diane Whitaker, the director of the overseas design project that had offered me a position three months earlier. [Rachel, the permanent-placement deadline closes tonight.] [We are still holding the last seat on the flight for you.] Chapter 2 I tightened my grip on the phone and remembered that I had already turned down this opportunity once because of Isaac. Back then, he had wrapped both arms around me and coaxed me for what felt like forever. "Rachel, if you leave the country, what am I supposed to do? "We're about to get married. Can you really leave me here alone?" I had agonized over it, but in the end I rejected an extraordinary career opportunity because I wanted to marry Isaac. Remembering seven years I had once thought were happy, I looked at him through tears and asked one final question. "If Serena was already back, why didn't you break up with me? "In seven years, was there even one moment when you actually loved me?" Isaac remained silent for a very long time. Serena gave a helpless little laugh, her voice full of pity. "He didn't leave you because I wouldn't let him. "You had already made Isaac your entire world. "I was afraid that if he left, you'd fall apart again." She walked toward me slowly, like someone preparing to offer charity. "Rachel, I left the person I loved most beside you for seven years. "I watched him celebrate your birthdays, take engagement photos with you, and even help you plan a wedding. "I've stepped aside for long enough. "Now I only want the wedding that was supposed to be mine. Why can't you grant me that one thing?" Then she rested one hand gently on her stomach. "If it were only me, I could keep stepping aside. "But I'm already three months pregnant. "I can't let my child grow up calling their own father Uncle Isaac." Isaac's face changed instantly, and his hand went to the small of her back to steady her. "The doctor told you to avoid stress. "Stop explaining yourself to her." He looked at me, and his voice turned cold. "Rachel, Serena has already sacrificed seven years for you. "She's carrying my child now. I can't keep acting in this relationship with you." A few sentences erased the seven years we had shared. Yet the Isaac I remembered had once treated me as though nothing mattered more. When acute gastritis put me in the hospital, he canceled meetings and stayed beside me for two nights. When the Bancroft family opposed us, he gave up access to his family accounts and moved into my cramped apartment. At our poorest, we split a single grilled cheese sandwich. He gave me the bigger half and smiled. "Rachel, just wait a little longer. "One day I'll make everyone understand that you didn't choose the wrong man." Later, his startup failed and left him buried in debt. I worked during the day and took freelance design jobs at night, helping him survive the hardest two years of his life. The day his first major investor signed, he held me and cried for a long time. He promised he would never betray me. Those embraces had been real. So had those tears. Yet now he stood beside a pregnant Serena and told me that seven years of love had only been an act. The giant screen behind us suddenly came back to life. The production team, apparently unaware that the ceremony had collapsed into chaos, continued playing the scheduled anniversary film. Gold letters appeared across the screen. [Isaac Bancroft + Serena Calloway: Ten Years Together] Photographs began unfolding across a timeline. On my twenty-fourth birthday, Isaac had told me his flight was delayed, leaving me alone with a cake that went cold on the table. In the photograph, he stood below a snowy mountain wrapping a scarf around Serena and kissing the tip of her frozen nose. Six months earlier, on the day I lost my first baby, Isaac had told me an emergency business trip kept him from the hospital. Mom claimed her heart was acting up. Dad and Andrew had both switched off their phones. I had gone through the hospital procedure alone, shaking with pain and fear. In the photographs, all of them were celebrating Serena's birthday on an island resort. Mom held up a present, Dad cut the cake, and Andrew spent the entire night setting off fireworks along the beach. Phoebe stood behind the camera documenting one big happy family. Photograph after photograph filled in seven years I had never been allowed to see. They also illuminated every crack hidden inside their lies. Chapter 3 The ballroom doors opened again. Mom hurried to Serena's side and gently wiped the tears from her face. When she looked at me, her tone was full of reproach. "Serena has swallowed her hurt for seven years because of you. "She only wants the wedding that should have been hers. Why did you have to come back and ruin it?" My voice shook. "Mom, so you don't have a heart condition at all? You were pretending? "Three years ago, Isaac and I had an appointment at the county clerk's office. "You suddenly said your chest hurt and made me take you to the hospital. "Was that only to get me out of the way too?" Serena let out a short laugh. "Rachel, you finally remembered." From beneath her bouquet, she took out two certified copies of a marriage record. In the photograph attached to the keepsake copy, she leaned against Isaac's shoulder. They looked happy and perfectly matched. The civil-marriage date was the same day I had spent sitting beside Mom at the hospital three years earlier. Dad and Andrew had signed as witnesses. Phoebe had taken the photographs. Isaac and Serena had become legally married with everyone's blessing. Only I had stayed beside Mom while she pretended to be ill. Like an idiot, I had sent Isaac message after message. I apologized for failing to meet him on the date when I thought we were supposed to marry. I told him that once Mom felt better, I would choose another date and make it up to him. He had taken a long time to answer. "It's okay. We have the rest of our lives." Serena waved the marriage record and laughed aloud. "Rachel, I wrote that reply too. "Isaac's hands were occupied with me at the time. He wasn't looking at your messages." I stood in the middle of the ballroom, so cold that I could no longer feel my body. I bit my lip hard, turned, and ran outside. I was afraid that if I looked at their wedding for one second longer, the pain in my chest would stop me from breathing. Standing outside while the processional music rose behind the doors, I answered the project team with trembling fingers: I accept. Their reply came almost immediately. [Rachel, your permanent placement has been confirmed. Your ticket has been issued.] In twenty-four hours, I would be completely gone from their lives. Isaac and I had originally planned to leave for our honeymoon as soon as the ceremony ended. My passport and luggage were already waiting in the bridal suite. I put my passport into the suitcase and was about to leave when the door opened from the outside. "Rachel!" Chapter 4 Isaac rushed inside, breathing hard, as though he were terrified he might never see me again. My face was bloodless. I gave a bitter laugh and was about to speak when he slipped a caramel into my mouth. The gesture was automatic, exactly as it had been for seven years. "Look at you. You're about to have another low-blood-sugar episode." The rich sweetness spread across my tongue and somehow tasted bitter. When I didn't answer, Isaac took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. "I'll have the driver take you to another hotel. "I've already arranged a room. Stay there for a few days. "When the ceremony is over, I'll come find you and explain everything properly." My eyes suddenly burned. He hadn't said he loved me, and he hadn't said he couldn't bear to lose me. But these unconscious habits of care still reminded me of the man who once ran through the rain with medicine and refused to leave until I finished a meal. The habits of seven years were still there. His jacket still held his warmth, warmth I once thought belonged only to me. But the woman legally married to him was someone else. Serena's voice sounded from the doorway, with Phoebe standing behind her. "Isaac, so you really are here." Her gaze landed on the hand he had not yet pulled away from me, and her eyes filled with tears. "Am I always going to come after her? "I know you still can't let go of Rachel. If that's true, I'll step aside and let you be together..." Isaac's eyes reddened. He pulled her into his arms, and Serena, still crying, tipped her face up to be kissed. In that instant, I felt like the vicious woman written into someone else's fairy tale. I drew a deep breath and forced my tears back. Without saying another word, I picked up my suitcase and headed for the door. As I passed Phoebe, she deliberately drove her shoulder into mine. I lost my balance, slammed into a low table behind me, and then hit the floor. A tearing pain ripped through my lower stomach. Warm blood quickly soaked through my skirt. The moment Isaac saw the blood, all color left his face. He crouched without hesitation and reached for me. "Rachel, where does it hurt? "I'm taking you to the hospital right now." For one second, the panic in his eyes looked completely real. But just as he started to lift me, Serena clutched her stomach and doubled over. "Isaac, my stomach hurts. "What if something is happening to the baby?" Those words stopped him cold. Mom and Dad immediately surrounded Serena. Andrew lifted her into his arms, and Phoebe ran to call the elevator. Isaac hesitated only a few seconds before turning and following them. Before he left, he looked back at me once. "I'm taking Serena to the hospital first. "It's probably just your period. Go rest and you'll be fine." The door shut moments later. Only their hurried footsteps remained in the hallway. Holding my stomach, I tried to get up and call for help. My fingertips had barely reached my phone when everything went black. A housekeeper entering to clean the bridal suite eventually found me. She saw me unconscious in a pool of blood and immediately called emergency services. Dr. Naomi Reyes looked serious when she came back with the results. "You're about six weeks pregnant, and the bleeding places the pregnancy at risk. "We're going to keep you for observation and repeat the ultrasound." I stared blankly at the ceiling. So at the exact moment I decided to leave Isaac, our second child had quietly arrived. I remained under medical observation for two days. The team treated the bleeding, monitored me closely, and asked me to avoid unnecessary exertion while they reassessed the pregnancy. But on the third morning, Dr. Reyes stayed silent for a long time after the scan. "The pregnancy has stopped developing. There is no cardiac activity now, and I'm sorry, but you've lost the baby." I didn't cry. I only rested one hand over my stomach without thinking. It was still flat, as though the child had never existed. Before the procedure, a nurse came in with the consent paperwork. She glanced around the empty room. "Is anyone here with you? "The baby's father didn't come either?" At that exact moment, my phone displayed a social-media update. Serena had posted a photograph. She was lying in Isaac's arms. Mom and Dad sat nearby choosing possible names for her baby. Andrew had bought a crib. Phoebe had given her a tiny pair of infant shoes. The caption read: [False alarm. The baby is healthy.] [Thank you to every member of my family who loves me.] They had spent two full days beside Serena at a different hospital. Not one of them had checked on me. The nurse asked gently, "Would you like us to try another emergency contact?" I looked at the blank emergency-contact section beneath the consent form I was signing for myself. After a long moment, I took the pen from her. "No. "I don't have anyone to call." After the procedure, Dr. Reyes recommended that I stay nearby and rest. I shook my head and dragged my suitcase to the airport alone. Every step sent a dull, cutting ache through my stomach. When the boarding announcement sounded, I left the family group chat and switched off my phone. The twenty-four-hour countdown had long since reached zero. When the plane rose through the clouds, Westbridge fell away below me, and with it the seven years that city had trapped me in. Ten hours later, I landed in Port Lumen, Rosavia. The moment I turned on my phone, the screen filled with missed calls.