Cheated on My Wedding Night, So I Married His Boss

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In our fishing town there's a rule: if a man wants to marry his bride, he has to light a wishing lantern for forty-nine straight nights.

Xavier Mason lit forty-eight outside my window.

On the forty-ninth night, the whole town came to witness the rite completed.

Instead, I watched him turn to leave.

His buddies tried to stop him. Xavier, you're really going? Light this last lantern and you and Crystal Thomas are husband and wife!

Crystal waited five years for you to light these lanterns. The whole town is watching the two of you now. If you walk off, she'll have no way to save face.

Xavier waved it off. You guys cover for me. Crystal's easy to handle, she won't make a scene.

Lauren's the one with the temper, and she's already cleaned up and waiting for me at the hotel. If I don't show, she'll tear this little fishing town apart.

The truth was more bitter than seawater.

It pierced the tip of my heart, but I didn't cry. I turned away and dialed a number. Dad, the forty-ninth lantern. Let him light it.

Xavier, this time, I won't be marrying you.

Our Crystal is finally getting married!

The townspeople were truly happy for me.

On their own, they had dressed up my window with fresh flowers.

Green vines wound around the wooden cottage, and red roses spilled down like a waterfall.

It was the most romantic lantern-lighting the town had ever seen.

By the rules of the fishing town, tonight counted as my wedding night. The lantern lit, the rite complete.

In the yard the coals glowed bright under the barbecue, the smell of grilled fish drifting everywhere.

And the fishing lantern Xavier had made for me with his own hands hung outside my window, waiting to be lit.

Crystal, you might have to wait a bit. Xavier's stomach started hurting, so he went to the hospital in the city.

Robert Dickerson, one of Xavier's buddies, rubbed his hands together as he lied for him.

It's fine. No rush.

The man I was waiting for was still on his way too.

I sat beneath the lantern, waiting for one of the town elders to set the flower pin in my hair.

On all those nights Xavier had lit lanterns for me, I'd carefully chosen twelve kinds of flowers and wound them, layer by layer, into a grand bridal crown.

I'd made a wish once: that I would wear the most beautiful flower pin I'd crafted with my own hands when I married Xavier.

I asked an old master to teach me. Wiring the loops, setting the pin, working in the center blooms. Every step, I did myself.

More than once I pricked my fingertip, and blood ran down onto the petals.

I wrapped the cut in tape and kept working the flowers.

In the end, it was done.

But the man I wanted to marry had already gone.

My fingers brushed gently over the blossoms, finishing the last of the offering.

Why isn't Xavier here yet?

As night fell, the wind picked up over the town, and the people grew anxious.

Before, Xavier had always come before dark to light my lantern.

He'd said he wanted to be the first light to fall against my window.

He couldn't bear to leave me waiting alone in the dark.

I turned to look at Robert.

He hurried to explain. Crystal, Xavier's out buying flowers for you, he's almost here! You know how he is, he loves a little romance.

Yes. I know.

When Xavier loved someone, he gave them romance without limit.

On our first date, I ran an hour late because of work.

He texted me. Thank you for being late. You gave me time to prepare a surprise.

At the flower shop next door, he'd begged the owner to teach him, then made me a bouquet of roses by hand.

Crystal, you fishing-town girls see flowers as beauty and as a blessing. From now on, every holiday, I'll bring you flowers, and pray for blossoms in full bloom, the moon whole, and you safe and well.

Once I had to travel for work and came home after several days away.

From the light switches to the shoe cabinet, the water dispenser, the refrigerator, every place I might pass through was covered with little notes of how much he missed me.

He'd save up our everyday photos, make them into albums, and hide them on my bookshelf.

I'd come across one by accident, and the moment I opened it, it was full of sweet memories.

Fireworks, candlelit tables, balloons, a drone confession. Every popular grand gesture there was, he gave me.

Lighting the lanterns was the last of them.

Forty-nine nights, and for every one of the first forty-eight, Xavier had brought me a surprise.

Tonight, I was looking forward to it more than ever.

I just never imagined Xavier's "surprise" this time would be cheating on me.

I quietly changed into the deep-red bridal gown and came downstairs, unhurried.

Not a trace of impatience on my face.

It made even Robert feel guilty. Crystal, don't worry, Xavier's definitely coming!

I smiled and said nothing.

Even if Xavier showed up in time.

This forty-ninth lantern, I would never let him be the one to light it.

"Xav, it's been over an hour. Your wife's already pinned the flower in her hair. If you don't show up soon, I can't hold the line!"

Robert was on the phone with Xavier.

Xavier was breathing hard. "Hold on a little longer. Lauren Simmons won't let go of me"

In the background, Lauren purred, "Don't stop, Xav."

"See? She's starving for it today. How can I just walk away before I've fed her?"

Xavier tossed the phone aside and gripped Lauren's chin. "Don't think I don't know. This is exactly the kind of thrill you're into."

"Not any earlier, not any lateryou come for me on the exact night I'm meant to light Crystal's final lantern!"

"That's me," Lauren said, melting into him. "You want it or not?"

Xavier's voice shook. "I want it. I'm going to take you hard."

Robert couldn't listen anymore. "You really need to wrap it up! From the look on your wife's face, something's off."

"She's just upset. That's normal," Xavier said, certain. "Trust me. The second I show up, she'll be so overcome she'll cry."

"That's our Xav for you. The night the rite's supposed to be sealed, you leave Crystal standing there alone, and she doesn't even dare to call and rush you."

"Xav, how many rounds in over there already? You going to have anything left to deliver to Crystal later?"

The guys howled with laughter on the line.

A confident smile curled at Xavier's lips. "Think about it. Crystal's almost twenty-nine, the small-town spinster of that fishing town. She's been praying for me to marry her for five years. You really think she'd dare cause a scene?"

"I won't be done for a while here. Figure something out on your end. Stall a little longer."

I carried the tray over to top off their tea.

The chattering, joking crew went strangely silent.

Robert covered, awkward. "Crystal, Xav bought a ton of food and gifts. We'll go bring them down."

I opened my phone.

Lauren had just posted to her feed.

"A man who throws everything aside to come to me. Nothing sexier."

In the photo, a man's bare back, with a familiar black mole.

A ring box tossed carelessly on the pillow.

The diamond ring Xavier had bought to propose to me.

The truth went in through my eyes like an ice spike, and the cold ache of it spread until my whole head throbbed.

"Crystal, we're at the hospital. We don't see Xavier here."

The hospital was just a lie he'd tossed off, so of course my friends were never going to find him there.

"Let me give him a call. Don't wait for him. Come on back first."

The man who would light a lantern for me was almost here.

How could I let my oldest friends miss the moment I was finally chosen?

I opened my chat with Xavier.

The last message still sat there from the afternoon.

Xavier had written: "Two hours until the lanterns, baby. I miss you so much."

By custom, on the day of the lighting, the groom isn't allowed to see the bride.

Xavier was pouring out how much he missed me.

At that very same time, Lauren had posted a sweet little photo of herself out for afternoon tea.

Her "husband" was wearing the exact same watch as Xavier.

Back then I'd just assumed it was the same model.

Once trust cracks, the wind comes pouring in and never stops.

Xavier's betrayal had left a trail all along.

The first time he met Lauren, he kept asking me about her.

I'd thought it was only natural curiosity, since Lauren was a lifestyle influencer like him.

It never crossed my mind that his betrayal had been planned for a long time.

My video call went through, and Xavier cut it off.

A message came back fast: "Babe, I'm in the bathroom."

The last time, he'd cut off my video call too.

He said he was in the shower.

I'd even teased him, "It's not like you've never picked up my video calls in the shower before."

Xavier said he wanted to keep a little mystery.

So his "mystery" was Lauren, in his bed.

"Pick up the phone."

The moment I sent that, Xavier called me himself.

"I'm sorry, babe. Sorry to keep you waiting. I'll be there soon."

There was an echo on his end.

He really was in a bathroom.

Watching him work so hard at the act, I decided to just cut through it.

"My friends went to pick you up. No sign of you at the hospitalbut they did watch you and Lauren walk into a hotel."

Xavier's breathing went ragged.

"Didn't Lauren just want to come witness the happiest moment of our lives?"

"I could hardly drag her along to the hospital with me, so I checked her into the hotel first."

When Xavier lied, he talked faster.

For a while I said nothing.

That was when Xavier finally caught the wrongness of it.

He was sick, and I hadn't asked after his health.

He was late, and I hadn't pushed him to hurry.

Instead, the first thing out of my mouth had been Lauren Simmons.

I'd never been the jealous, suspicious type. I rarely went looking for things to resent.

So if I'd brought her up, I already knew.

Xavier lit a cigarette, almost lazy about it. "Since your friend saw, I won't keep it from you anymore."

"I did sleep with Lauren!"

"But I swear, Lauren's just for fun. You're the one I'm serious about!"

"Don't worry. Five years between us, I won't forget that. The wedding and the marriage license are still yours!"

I'd always told myself we were happy. Devoted, even.

Xavier had been at my beck and call for years.

"Why?"

"Crystal, no matter how good you are, five years is five years. A man gets bored!"

Bored. That was the whole of his explanation.

My long silence put him on edge.

His voice dropped. "A lifetime is long. You've got to let a man glance out the window once in a while!"

He'd cheated with his whole body and his whole heart, and he called it a wandering eye.

Not a flicker of guilt.

"They say a man's heart goes where his money goes. You of all people should know I've given you everything!"

Xavier dropped the cigarette and ground it out underfoot. "An hour, tops. I'm on my way."

"I promise, I'll get you your big night. Lights lit, vows done, the whole show!"

I gave a cold little laugh.

The Xavier who had cheated had long since lost the right to light my lantern.

But I wanted a clean end to five wasted years.

From tonight on, whoever I married, whatever child I bore, none of it would have anything to do with Xavier.

I spoke slowly. "Xavier, I'm giving you ten minutes."

He didn't like that. "The wind off the water's brutal at night. You want me to speed?"

The old Xavier had once driven five hundred miles through a night of rain just to see my face for a moment.

And now he was worried about speeding.

I tipped my head back and looked off into the distance.

The moon over the sea was the same moon in the sky. The man in front of me was not the same man.

"You're not here in ten minutes, I'll find someone else to light my lantern."

Xavier laughed outright. "Crystal, can you not throw out childish threats like that to scare me?"

"Tonight's your forty-ninth lantern. Whoever lights it is your groom. Who exactly are you going to dig up on the spot to light it for you?"

Xavier knew our customs inside and out.

It wasn't that he didn't know how to love me. He just loved himself more.

One phone call, one easy chance with Lauren, and he'd thrown me aside on the most important night of all.

Just to crawl into a hotel bed with her.

A man like that, I didn't want anymore.

"I mean every word."

I cut the call. There was less going back in that than there had been in his betrayal.

Robert found me fast. "Crystal, give Xav one more chance. He really does care about you!"

"Right, right, he made one little mistake. Just pretend he went on a business trip and now he's home!"

"The whole lantern ceremony's set up. Xav bought this, bought that, decorated the entire town for tonight. That shows you his heart!"

"Exactly! Xav's a huge creator, tens of millions of followers, the pressure to keep posting is no joke. He earns all that money for you to spend, you ought to be a little gracious about it!"

My best friend, Janice, pushed up her sleeves. "Does any of that sound human to you? Xavier cheats and now he's the victim?"

"Without Crystal, how do you think Xavier ever became a creator with tens of millions of followers?"

Robert sneered. "That's what I can't stand about you women. The second a man makes it, you slap your name on it, the woman behind the successful man, like half the credit's got to be yours!"

"Sure, Crystal pitched plenty of ideas, and the videos she planned all blew up. But take her away and Xavier still couldn't have made it big?"

"She's not the money behind it. You telling me she's the one who turned Xavier into a star?"

One taunt after another from Xavier's buddy crew, until Janice was past her limit.

I caught her by the arm and announced it then and there.

"In ten minutes, we light the lantern."

"Crystal, you should never have stopped me back there!"

"If you hadn't been propping him up behind the scenes, do you really think Xavier could've hit ten million followers off a few videos he thought were so clever?"

"You even pulled in your family's resources for him! And he actually treats you like you're nobody, like your family just sells seafood balls!"

Janice was so furious she looked ready to flip the table.

"My family does sell seafood balls."

We just kept selling them until we became the world's largest fish-paste supplier.

My father wanted me to come home and take over the seafood business. I didn't want it.

I liked the new culture industry far more.

So I started an influencer-incubator company of my own.

But my father wouldn't let me trade on the name of the fish-paste heiress.

So I hired Janice to be CEO.

And I stayed hidden at her side, just a lowly incubation handler.

Xavier was my first product.

He worked hard. He was willing to try any style.

He was good-looking, so I pushed him as a heartthrob lifestyle influencer and helped him shoot a few artsy little romance clips. But online, good-looking men are everywhere.

Xavier didn't break through.

I really did pour resources into him, handed him traffic that made every other influencer green with envy, and only then finally lifted him onto his throne as everyone's dream man.

I never imagined Xavier's love would be a tide.

At high tide, fierce and overwhelming.

At low tide, nothing but wreckage left behind.

I stood by the window, flowers in my arms.

I took in the gilded lights running from beneath my window all the way out to the sea.

This was the path of stars Xavier had paid a fortune to lay for me.

He'd built a giant wall of flowers down by the water. He'd planned to propose to me there, loud and grand, inside a heart ringed with romantic candlelight.

When the moment came, hundreds of little boats would sail in from offshore to wish me a happy marriage.

Since Xavier wasn't coming...

This million-dollar lantern ceremony he'd labored over, I would graciously accept.

"The lantern ceremony begins now."

The music started.

The young women danced and sang, and the older men and women lifted their voices in the wedding song for me.

The whole scene came alive.

But Xavier's crew of buddies panicked, and one after another they came to talk me down.

"Crystal, stop this nonsense. Xav said it'll be another hour before he gets here. Starting the music and the singing now isn't right, is it?"

"Exactly. The groom isn't even here. Who's going to light the lantern for you? When this falls apart, you're the one who'll be humiliated!"

"Xav said if you'd just be reasonable, he'll come as fast as he can. Hurry up and call the whole ceremony off!"

The buddies' shameless nerve came straight from Xavier.

Xavier was convinced he had me by the throat.

That was why he'd dared to admit the affair to my face, on the very night of the lantern lighting.

He was betting I didn't have the courage to walk away.

I was the one who'd walked beside him from nothing to everything.

He was certain I couldn't bear to lose what we had, certain I'd choose him over myself.

Even if he never showed, I'd put on the flower comb and stand at the window, waiting and waiting for him.

That was the only choice Xavier had left me.

And I refused to take it.

I lifted my eyes toward the edge of the village.

Rows of headlights flared on, like envoys from outer space, gliding in slowly along Oceanfront Boulevard.

"That's not right."

The crew was bewildered.

Robert had just called Xavier.

He'd told him the lantern ceremony had begun.

Xavier was still getting dressed, taking his sweet time getting over here.

Even if he hit the road and drove like a madman, it would still take him fifteen minutes.

There was no way he was here this fast.

And they hadn't even arranged a motorcade.

"The groom's here! Throw the petals!"

A car door swung slowly open, and a tall, striking man stepped into view.

The lively song and dance cut off all at once.

Every eye went wide.

Why was it him?