I Wasn't Invited to My Boyfriend's Engagement

On the day of our graduation trip to Suttonvale, my boyfriend, Jarrett Duke, vanishes into thin air. As I pace around the airport in a panic, my roommate sends a cryptic text. "Big surprise coming your way today. Patience." I breathe a sigh of relief, instantly assuming Jarrett is running late because he's setting up a proposal. After all, he promised to put me in a wedding dress the moment we graduated. Then the class rep, Louie Fisher, drops a Venmo link in the group chat and tags everyone. "Huge thanks to everyone coming out for Jarrett and Sienna's engagement party! Three years together, and they're finally making it official!" The pool gets filled in seconds, and congratulations flood the chat. Finally, someone notices. "Holy shit, Louie! Did you forget to kick Olivia out of the group?" The chat drops dead silent. Seconds later, everyone starts tagging me. "Olivia, please don't show up and ruin this! They've kept their love secret for three whole years. It hasn't been easy for them!" "Seriously. You're so possessive Sienna couldn't even show her face without risking a fight!" Even our advisor chimes in to lecture me. "Do me a favor, Olivia. Don't make a scene. Let them have their moment." Their relentless words leave me suffocating, too drained even to fight back. It turns out the fairy-tale romance from high school to the altar is a lie. Every single thing about my last four years is a lie. Chapter 1 My class group chat was still blowing up with messages telling me to show some grace. Then my advisor, Sean Holland, called me directly. "Olivia, take my advice. Don't go ruining their big day." I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced out a question. "Jarrett and I have been together for four years. What was all that to him?" Sean sighed, his tone dripping with disappointment. "Why are you being so stubborn? Sienna started working before she even finished middle school just to pay Jarrett's tuition. Do you have any idea how hard she's had it? "You come from a good family and have a great degree. You can find plenty of good men down the road. Why steal from a woman who has nothing? Just show some grace. Don't make a scene. It won't look good on anyone." My chest throbbed so hard it hurt to breathe. "So everyone knew, except me? You all kept me in the dark like an idiot?" Sean went silent for a moment. "You've always had a temper. We were afraid you'd throw a fit and ruin the university's reputation, so we didn't tell you. Jarrett is a loyal man. Now that he's made his choice, you should step back gracefully." With that, he hung up, leaving me sobbing in the middle of a bustling airport terminal. Before long, the boarding call echoed over the intercom. I let out a bitter laugh and tore the ticket to shreds. My boyfriend, Jarrett Duke, had booked these two tickets half a month ago. He promised we'd go skydiving, where he would put a ring on my finger 10,000 feet in the air. Instead, he was slipping a ring onto someone else's finger. Suddenly desperate for answers, I dialed his number with trembling hands. Noise flooded through the speaker. Cheering and hollering from our classmates rang in the background. Jarrett ducked into a quiet corner before answering softly, "Olivia, I'm sorry. I'm having dinner with some old friends, so it's a bit loud." Even now, he was still lying to my face. I scoffed and called him out directly. "I saw the Venmo link in the group chat, Jarrett." The line went dead silent. Then came a long, weary sigh. "Yeah. I guess you were bound to find out. I'm sorry, okay? But I didn't have a choice. Sienna's health is terrible, and she suffered so much growing up back home. Her only wish in life was to wear a wedding dress. "It's just a ceremony. We're not legally married. At the end of the day, I'm still yours. Can't you just understand what a tough spot I'm in?" My eyes widened in disbelief. "You got engaged behind my back, and you expect me to be understanding?" Noticing my anger, Jarrett softened his tone. "Olivia, you're usually so reasonable. Sienna has nothing. She only has me." "You have everything. You have a loving grandmother and a bright future. Why hold a petty grudge over a meaningless title? Look, as soon as today is over, I'll take you to Suttonvale tomorrow, okay?" His casual entitlement felt so utterly alien. It seemed that to him, betraying me was no big deal at all. Speechless for a beat, I finally responded coldly, "We're done, Jarrett." Right after I hung up, my roommate, Ava Dixon, sent me a photo. In it, Jarrett stood in a sharp suit, tenderly slipping a ring onto a woman in a wedding dress. Then came a long voice message from Ava. "See that, Olivia? That's what real love looks like. You always act like such a high-and-mighty princess. Jarrett was sick of it ages ago. "Sienna is so gentle she barely speaks above a whisper. How could you ever compete with her? If you're smart, you'll get out of Jarrett's life." Chapter 2 I listened and watched in stunned silence, the pain in my chest growing sharper. The suit Jarrett was wearing was a graduation gift I'd bought him with an entire year's worth of saved scholarship money. Now he was standing there in it, getting engaged to someone else. I wiped away my tears. Then, I dragged my suitcase out of the airport. I took a cab straight to the hotel where they were holding the engagement party. The moment I walked in, our class rep, Louie Fisher, stepped up first. He blocked the head table. "Olivia Walsh, you seriously came here to cause a scene? We're all classmates here. Do you really have to be this cruel? Sienna and Jarrett are a much better fit anyway. Getting to this point wasn't easy for them. Have some grace!" I ignored him, my eyes locked on Jarrett at the main table. He walked over to me and let out a weary sigh. "Olivia, I explained everything to you on the phone. This is just a temporary compromise to keep Sienna calm. Do you really have to pull this stunt now and make things awkward for everyone?" I side-stepped, brushing off his hand. "Jarrett, you make me sick." Just then, Sienna Powell gathered up her wedding dress and hurried over. She had an innocent face. With her eyes rimmed red, she looked like a frightened deer. "Olivia, please don't blame Jarrett. It's all my fault. I was too greedy. I knew he loved you now, but I still wanted a ceremony. Slap me, yell at me, do whatever you want. Just please don't be mad at Jarrett." As she spoke, she made a show of dropping to her knees. Jarrett caught her instantly and pulled her behind him to shield her. "Sienna, you're not well. Don't do that." He turned back, glaring at me with judgment in his eyes. "Olivia, what more do you want? I explained, I apologized, and Sienna has already compromised this much. Are you really going to keep pushing us?" Watching the two of them play the tragic star-crossed lovers, I suddenly felt like laughing out loud. "One of you lied to me for three years, and the other willingly became the mistress. Do you two even understand what 'compromise' means?" As soon as I said that, Ava couldn't hold back anymore. "Olivia Walsh, stop pushing it. Sienna ruined her eyesight working endless shifts in an electronics factory just to put Jarrett through college. What have you ever done for him? "You're just using your history with Jarrett to hold him hostage and pressure him every single day!" "Exactly!" another guy chimed in. "Jarrett's a good guy. Don't you dare ruin his life!" I looked around at all these familiar faces. Over the past four years, I'd tutored them, brought them breakfast, and even lent them money when they were broke. Now, they were all standing high on their moral high ground, grinding me into the dirt. "Fine. Great." I nodded, looking at Jarrett with eerie composure. "Since what you two have is true love, I'll step aside." I pulled a set of keys from my bag. These were the keys to the apartment we rented near campus. I was the one who paid the rent and paid the deposit. I tossed the keys right at Jarrett's feet. "Get all your stuff out of my apartment by tomorrow. Otherwise, it's all going in the trash." Jarrett's expression flickered, but he quickly regained his composure. "Olivia, you're just speaking out of anger right now. I won't hold it against you. I'll come to see you once you calm down in a few days." I didn't bother answering. I just gave him a cold smirk and left the hotel. As I stepped out the front doors, cheers erupted behind me. "Yes! The wicked witch is gone!" "Alright, back to the party!" "Kiss her! Kiss her!" Chapter 3 I was so sickened that I couldn't eat a single bite all night. Early the next morning, Sean called me into his office. Pointing to my graduate school recommendation form and Outstanding Graduate nomination, he said sharply, "Olivia, making a scene at the engagement party yesterday created a terrible impression. "Jarrett is our department's student representative. He's about to start an internship at a top municipal agency. If you insist on spreading rumors to ruin his reputation, you'll be destroying his entire career before it starts. "The department board will need to reconsider your graduate school recommendation." I squeezed my hands into tight fists. "Are you threatening me?" "I'm teaching you how to act like an adult," Sean said, taking a slow sip from his teacup. "I've met Sienna. She's a sensible woman. Since you already have so much, you should be gracious enough to let go. Don't throw away your future over a guy." I snatched my application off his desk and looked at him coldly. "I don't need to sell my dignity to buy a future." I wanted to believe standing my ground meant something. Instead, before I even made it down the campus greenway, a notification popped up showing money had been drained from my account. It was the joint account Jarrett and I shared, holding 5,000 dollars I'd saved over the years through part-time jobs. Grandma's health had taken a turn recently, and she was hospitalized back home. That money was meant for her surgery. I called Jarrett immediately, cutting straight to the point. "Where is the money from the account?" Jarrett sounded entirely justified. "Sienna's brother needed to pay his tuition, so I lent it to her. Olivia, it's not like you need that much money right this second anyway. What's wrong with helping her family out?" I shook violently, overcome with rage. "That's my grandma's surgery money! What right do you have to touch my savings?" I thought hearing that would make him hesitate, even just a little. Instead, he blew a heavy sigh into the receiver. "Olivia, stop using your grandma as an excuse. She's been sick for a while. What's the big deal if her surgery is pushed back a few days? "If Sienna's brother can't pay his tuition, he'll be expelled. That affects the rest of his life. Can you stop being so selfish for once?" The heartbreak hit so hard I barely had the breath to speak. "Give me back my money, Jarrett. Right now." He let out another sigh, forcing a patient tone to soothe me. "I already transferred it. I can't pull it back now. I'll make it up to you next month when I get my internship paycheck. Stop making a scene, okay? I'm really busy today. I've gotta go." Listening to the dial tone, I sank onto a wooden bench along the walkway, gasping for air. But the blows didn't stop there. Moments later, a new post popped up on my Instagram feed. Louie had posted nine photos. In the pictures, Jarrett and Sienna were wrapped in each other's arms, beaming with pure bliss. The caption read, "True love conquers all. These soulmates are finally together." Below it was a long trail of likes and congratulations from our classmates. As I scrolled through the comments, a text arrived from an unknown number. "Olivia, Jarrett said he got tired of wearing his Casio watch, so he gave it to me. You don't mind, do you?" That Casio was the 18th birthday present I had given Jarrett. I didn't mind at all—because now, I didn't even want the man himself. Chapter 4 Swallowing down the nausea, I blocked Sienna's number. I spent the rest of the day running all over the city, swallowing my pride to borrow money everywhere I could until I finally put together 3,000 dollars. Grandma's surgery money was finally secured. But the moment I stepped onto the train back home, Grandma's neighbor, Mrs. Jordan, called me. "Olivia, you need to get back here fast! Something's happened to your grandma! This afternoon, a young lady called her out of nowhere and told her that she and Jarrett had gotten engaged. "She said you'd been dumped, but you were still shamelessly clinging to him and told your grandma to teach you some self-respect. "She even sent a bunch of photos and videos right after! Your grandma passed out the second she saw them! She's in the ER right now. The doctors said she might not make it!" My head went completely numb. My phone slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the floor. By the time I rushed into the hospital, the lights above the operating room had just gone dark. The doctor said with a mournful sigh, "She had a massive, sudden heart attack. We did everything we could." I stood there frozen, watching as they wheeled Grandma out, covered beneath a white sheet. The woman who raised me, who saved the sweetest apple for me, who used to stroke my hair and call me her precious girl, was never going to wake up again. I fell to my knees beside the hospital bed, completely unable to shed a single tear. The sheer agony swallowed every last bit of my senses. I didn't know how much time passed before Jarrett came rushing in, flushed and out of breath. He froze when he saw the white sheet on the bed. He walked over to my side and reached out to wrap his arms around me. "Olivia, I'm so sorry. I got here as fast as I could. I had no idea your grandma was this sick. If I knew, I never would've touched that money." I slowly raised my head and fixed my bloodshot eyes on him. "Get out!" Jarrett forced me into a firm embrace anyway. "Olivia, I know you're hurting, but I didn't mean for any of this to happen. We can't bring her back now. Don't torture yourself like this. I'll stay right here and help you through the funeral." Before the words could even settle, Sienna's name flashed across his phone. "Jarrett, it's thundering outside, and I'm scared. When are you coming back? I'm so scared. My chest is hurting again…" Jarrett hesitated, giving me a conflicted look. "Olivia, your grandma's already gone. There's not much I can really do here right now. Let me go check on Sienna first, and I'll come back first thing tomorrow morning to help with the funeral, okay?" As I looked at him, a sickening sense of absurdity washed over me. Grandma was dead, and he was rushing off to comfort a mistress who was scared of thunder. And that mistress was the one responsible for Grandma's death. I shut my eyes, pure hatred burning through me. "Just leave, Jarrett. And never show your face in front of me again." As for everything Sienna owed me, I'd make sure she paid for it all. But Jarrett assumed I was just lashing out in anger. "Take care of yourself, then. Call me if you need anything." With that, he hurriedly left. Three days later, I finished Grandma's funeral services. I sold our family home in the countryside and wiped every single piece of my contact info clean. Just as I boarded the train heading to Marlowe, Jarrett showed up at Grandma's house. Staring into the empty courtyard, he grabbed Mrs. Jordan and asked frantically, "Where's Olivia?" Mrs. Jordan couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "Oh, Olivia? She moved away. She's never coming back."