Rigged Coin, Rigged Love

During the groom's challenges at my house on my wedding day, my best friend, Lexie Powell, suddenly pulls out a coin. "Heads or tails? Guess wrong, and the wedding is off." Ignoring my attempts to stop him, my fiance, Elliot Stewart, responds with absolute confidence, "Heads." Lexie bursts into laughter and opens her hand to show the tails side of the coin. "Looks like today isn't the day after all. Party's over, everyone." The room freezes, and the air turns dead silent. Elliot fondly ruffles her hair. "A deal's a deal. No worries. We can always reschedule." Ignoring my pleading look, he scoops Lexie into his arms and walks toward the door. "I told you not to wear high heels. What if you fall?" Lexie playfully punches his chest, blushing. "Are you stupid? You pick heads every single time, and you lose every single time." This isn't his first time guessing wrong. He guessed wrong on Valentine's Day, giving our reserved candlelight dinner to Lexie and leaving me to walk home alone. He guessed wrong when meeting my parents, leaving them waiting all night while he took Lexie to a private cinema. He guessed wrong for our trip, rescheduling the flights last minute to take Lexie on a romantic getaway to an island instead. Even at our wedding, they have to play their coin-tossing game without a care for anyone else. The coin rolls over to my feet. Only then do I finally see that both sides are tails. I clench my fists. I'm done with a relationship that's rigged for me to lose. Chapter 1 I stepped outside and began ripping down the wedding decorations that covered the entire house. My fiance, Elliot Stewart, frowned. "What's your deal? Lexie put a lot of work into hanging those." I stared at my best friend, Lexie Powell, who was curled up in his arms, and let out a cold laugh. "The wedding is off. Why keep the decor?" Elliot looked entirely baffled. "We're just postponing it, not calling it off. Are you really that worried I won't marry you?" The coin I was clutching dug painfully into my palm. He had postponed my birthday party and the Thanksgiving dinner. None of it meant anything to him. My parents, Tyler Hudson and Carla Chapman, stood awkwardly by the doorway. Their eyes were filled with desperation. "A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. You can't just ruin it like this." Elliot cut them off without batting an eye. "Well, now it's a twice-in-a-lifetime event." With those casual words, he turned my six months of wedding preparations into a total joke. As the elders kept trying to reason with him, he looked past the crowd and scowled at me. "You're being way too aggressive. If we keep the wedding going now, think about how embarrassing that'd be for Lexie." Yet when a coworker got married, and he caught the bouquet, his immediate impulse was to hand it to Lexie. He didn't care for a second how embarrassing that was for me. It wasn't just me. Mom's and Dad's ashen faces couldn't muster even a hint of a smile, while our exhausted relatives could barely straighten their backs. The humiliation of so many people didn't matter half as much to him as Lexie did. Mom's voice carried a humble, pleading tone as she said, "Elliot, I'm begging you. You can't just cancel a wedding last minute." Elliot's forehead creased with annoyance. "It's just part of the groom's challenges. She needs to lighten up. Is she really so desperate to get married that she can't wait a few days?" An empty ring box clattered onto the floor. Under everyone's scrutinizing stares, Elliot spoke up slowly. "I figured Lexie would play this game, so I didn't even bother bringing them." So, while I was waiting for him with anticipation to pick me up for the wedding, he had already planned on postponing it all along. My coworker couldn't hold back anymore. "What kind of friend ruins someone else's wedding? Even a homewrecker isn't this shameless." Lexie's eyes instantly welled up with tears as she lowered her head in distress. "It must be nice to have family and friends standing up for you." Elliot's expression darkened, and he pulled her even closer. "If it weren't for you, Lexie wouldn't be in this position. You owe her an apology." Lexie bit her lip and murmured, "Forget it. Scarlett must be upset. We should just go ahead with the wedding." Elliot stroked her hair gently. "You're taking all the blame and still worrying about others. Don't you know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease?" He casually grabbed the gold bangle that was meant for me and slipped it onto Lexie's wrist. Chapter 2 Being the squeaky wheel had never worked in my favor. Six months ago, a drunk man stalked me home, leaving me shaken with nightmares for days. When I broke down crying to Elliot after a drink, he brushed it off, saying I was just oversensitive and paranoid. Yet when Lexie panicked over a deliveryman's knock and sobbed uncontrollably on the phone, Elliot rushed straight to her side in the middle of the night. He completely ignored me despite my high fever. He spent the entire night comforting her. Lexie gave him a light punch, pretending to be tough. "You dummy. Go comfort Scarlett. It's fine if I get hurt, but don't let this ruin six years of what you two have." Smiling, Elliot took her hand. "It's precisely because we've been together for six years that a day or two doesn't matter. Besides, this house is packed with her friends and family. She doesn't need me to comfort her." With that, he turned and left without a second thought. He walked down the stairs, holding Lexie effortlessly. It was the exact way I had envisioned him carrying me away a thousand times before. I was the first to break the heavy silence inside the room. "Thank you, everyone. The wedding is officially off. It won't be rescheduled." Once the relatives had left, I glanced down at my phone. Lexie had posted several photos on social media with the caption, "It feels so good to be cherished." The first photo showed Elliot awkwardly adjusting camera angles to take pictures of her. The second was Elliot with his head lowered, patiently shelling crab meat for her. The third was Elliot crouching by her feet, gently massaging her ankle. I flipped my phone face-down without scrolling any further. Yet the memories came flooding back anyway. When Elliot went abroad on a business trip, he crossed five city blocks to buy her a giant bag of local treats. For me, though, he brought back a cheap box of generic airport duty-free candy. Elliot would text her three times a day to make sure she ate on time. Yet when my irregular eating gave me stomach cramps, he didn't even bother handing me a cup of warm water. I was zipping up my final piece of clothing into the suitcase when Elliot finally pushed the door open. He sat down next to me, carrying a bowl of chicken soup. Noticing my silence, he reflexively reached out to tickle me to break the ice. That was our usual way of making peace. However, I stepped back to dodge him and held the coin up right in front of his face. "She used a double-tailed coin just to mess with me. Do you find that funny?" Elliot's gaze instantly turned cold. "I prepared that coin. I just didn't want Lexie to lose. It didn't mean anything else." He didn't want her to lose, so he enabled her to humiliate me over and over again. It was a stupid excuse, yet he didn't even notice. He pulled me firmly into his arms and slid a ring onto my finger. I had caught a glimpse of his order history once. This was a lovers' set. I got the ring, while the matching necklace and bracelet were with Lexie. His heart had been split into three parts, and I got the smallest piece. When I still said nothing, he let out a sigh. "You know Lexie's an orphan. She grew up without any family to care for her. She just wanted to win a game. Can't we just let her have this?" My voice trembled as I asked, "So, you just let her ruin our wedding?" His frown deepened. "It's just a game. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? I told you, it's not like I'm not marrying you. Why do you have to pick a fight over such a small thing?" Elliot glanced at the tears on my face but made no move to wipe them away. "Don't use tears to manipulate me. It makes you look pathetic." His words felt like a heavy boulder crushing my chest. He had long forgotten the day he asked me out. That day, he'd stared at me with reddened eyes as he promised he'd never let me suffer. He swore that from then on, the only tears I'd ever shed would be tears of joy. Years had passed, and the weight of a single tear no longer touched his heart. I threw off his hand, grabbed my luggage, and headed straight for the door. Elliot's expression darkened. "You're always so emotionally unstable, throwing a fit the moment someone calls you out. I'm only nice to her because she's your best friend, and I don't want her to feel like she has no one to rely on." I finally understood that the cost of him shielding Lexie from the storm was leaving me to stand in the rain alone. I unhooked the house key from my key ring and cut him off. "Then, go ahead and be her pillar for the rest of your life. We're done." Chapter 3 As I walked out of the room, Lexie was sitting on the couch wrapped in Elliot's coat, holding a mug of hot chocolate he had made for her. On her hand was a diamond ring even larger than mine. Without needing to ask, I already knew the answer. As she was pitiable, Elliot's lock screen and social media feeds were filled with her photos. Out of sympathy for her, when I received 100 roses on Valentine's Day, she received 1,000. As she didn't have a place of her own, we bought a place that was right across from her office. It was also styled entirely to her liking. As she watched me leave, Lexie went pale and hurriedly stood up to grab my hand. "I shouldn't have played that stupid game. Please don't fight because of me. I'll leave right now." Elliot rushed over to support her, knocking me hard against the corner of the table. He gently rubbed her stomach without sparing a single glance in my direction. "She's your best friend. Do you really have to drive her away at her most vulnerable moment?" A dull throb shot up my lower back, but my voice remained calm. "Six months ago, you told me yourself that Lexie was much stronger than me and never threw tantrums like I did. How did her strength suddenly turn into vulnerability?" Six months ago, Lexie and I attended a bidding event together. She hesitantly sipped half a glass of wine, while I stepped in front of her and drank a full bottle on her behalf. I ended up hospitalized that night, while Elliot was at her apartment making hangover soup for her. Elliot frowned. "Scarlett Hudson, you're not only being selfish now; you're being vindictive." I didn't bother arguing any further. I turned on my heel and walked out of the apartment. Before the elevator doors slid shut, Elliot's voice drifted through. "Let her throw her fit. She'll come crawling back begging for forgiveness in a couple of days anyway." Outside, the rain was heavy. Before I could take more than a few steps, someone grabbed my wrist. Elliot coldly thrust an umbrella into my hands. "If Lexie weren't so worried about you, I wouldn't even bother. You're making an endless fuss over something so small. Looks like postponing the wedding was the right call. Once you learn to behave, we'll talk about setting a new date." I glanced down at the broken umbrella, threw it aside, and walked out into the rain. That night, I ran a high fever. Half-asleep, the buzz of my phone jarred me awake. "Bring all the documents tomorrow at 9:00 am. We're transferring the apartment to Lexie," Elliot said. I answered instinctively, "What?" "Watching you storm out made Lexie feel insecure. She's terrified that she'll be kicked out too. Putting the place in her name will give her some security." Maybe being sick made me emotional, because my voice betrayed a hint of hurt. "I'm sick…" The line went quiet for a moment before he snapped with impatience. "Running away didn't work, so now you're faking being sick for sympathy?" That single sentence cleared my foggy mind instantly. The dull ache in my chest just wouldn't fade. I hung up the phone. Swallowing my tears, I booked a train ticket back home. The next morning, right as I arrived outside my office building, I ran into Lexie leaning on Elliot's arm. "Scarlett, we came to take you home." Lexie made it sound as though I were the outsider who didn't belong. She swayed slightly, and Elliot instantly snatched the bag of breakfast from my hands and pushed it into hers. "Lexie has low blood sugar. Skipping one meal won't kill you." I suffered from severe stomach issues. Skipping breakfast meant crippling cramps. It wasn't that he thought it was fine that I skipped a meal. Rather, I just didn't matter to him. When I tried to walk away, Elliot's expression instantly darkened. "Lexie squeezed onto a packed subway just to apologize to your face. Her ankles got all scraped up. Give her a break." I glanced at the barely noticeable red mark on her ankle, then rolled up my sleeve to reveal the scar on my arm. "I rode that crowded subway for three years. The worst time, a zipper on someone's bag sliced me open so badly that I needed five stitches." There was zero sympathy in his eyes as he looked at me. "Is that even worth comparing? You and Lexie aren't the same." My voice tightened. "You're right. We aren't. When we started dating, you promised my parents you'd never let me suffer—" Before I could finish, a hard slap landed across my face. Chapter 4 A flash of panic darted across Elliot's face, but his voice remained cold. "You know Lexie doesn't have parents to rely on. Did you really have to bring that up just to hurt her? She might be optimistic and strong, but that doesn't mean she won't be upset." I froze in place. How could she possibly have no one to rely on when the man who should have stood by me was her pillar? I let out a bitter laugh. "Elliot, we're over." He looked at my swollen cheek, as if he wanted to say something. He was about to reach out and touch it, only to pull back the moment Lexie swayed slightly. Without another glance at me, he scooped Lexie up into his arms and headed toward the pharmacy. I was long used to it. Any minor issue Lexie had was always more important than me. Ten minutes later, a text from him popped up on my phone. "I lost my cool just now. Let's talk properly later tonight. Be good and stop overthinking. Once we wrap up the wedding in a few days, I'll take you to the beach to unwind, okay?" I had nearly drowned as a child, leaving me terrified of deep water. The one who had always dreamed of visiting the ocean was Lexie. I didn't bother replying. I just deleted his contact information. After swiftly completing my resignation at work, I returned to our apartment to pack up the rest of my belongings. As I was handing the boxes over at the courier station, Elliot stopped me. Exhaustion clouded his eyes, as if his patience had been completely drained by my unreasonable behavior. After a long silence, he pulled me into his arms. "That's enough. I know you're just trying to scare me. I can overlook your recent attitude, but you still owe Lexie an apology. Apologize to Lexie today, and we'll hold the wedding tomorrow." He seemed entirely convinced that I would give in for the sake of his offer. Lexie walked over and thrust a set of car keys into my hand. "Elliot said it's not good for a woman to take the crowded subway all the time, especially when it's so easy to get hurt, so he insisted on buying this for me. But I don't drive much, so you should take it." Over the past three years, I had asked him countless times about buying a car for my commute, and he had rejected the idea just as many times. He would say, "You can't just run from every hardship. It's just a subway ride. Don't be so dramatic." Now, Elliot casually chimed in, "This car is to give Lexie some status. You're used to taking the subway anyway, so don't try to take it from her. You won't be needing the money your parents gave us as a wedding gift either, so we might as well give it to Lexie." The 500 thousand dollars in that account was my parents' life savings for retirement, yet he handed it away so easily. He snatched the keys back from my hand and placed them right back into Lexie's. Lexie lowered her eyes and smiled softly. "You're going way overboard. A car and a house? All I really want is for you two to make up and get back together." I stayed silent, stacking the packed boxes onto the cart. Smiling, Elliot patted her head. His gaze casually swept over me. "Lexie really understands the bigger picture. I hope a certain someone can learn from her and lose the princess attitude after we're married. "I've booked the venue, and the wedding is set for tomorrow. I just tweaked the menu and decor a little to suit Lexie's taste." He stared at me, then paused for a moment. "Stop thinking only about yourself, and try to be more considerate of Lexie." The moment the words left his mouth, a box on top of the stack suddenly wobbled and tumbled off. Elliot instinctively pulled Lexie into his chest to shield her. The sharp corner of the cardboard box slammed hard against my shoulder, leaving a bloody gash. I collapsed onto the floor, and the coin tumbled out of my pocket, rolling across the ground. Elliot froze when he saw my detached expression. The words slipped out before he could stop himself. "Don't make a scene out of this. I only grabbed Lexie first because I panicked." Instinctive reactions could reveal a person's true feelings. I picked up the coin. "Heads or tails. Guess wrong, and the wedding is canceled forever." Elliot looked at me in utter disbelief. "Stop joking around. How could you ever bring yourself to—" I stared down at the coin, which had tails on both sides, and spoke in a soft voice. "I guess heads."