Keep The Groom I Am Done

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The air in the grand ballroom was thick with the scent of white roses and expensive champagnea scent I had spent nearly a year choosing. But when I finally tossed my bridal bouquet, it didnt land in the hands of a hopeful bridesmaid. It was caught, mid-air, by Cassidy.

She arched a perfectly groomed brow, a playful smirk playing on her lips. "Does this mean Im supposed to propose now?"

She turned her gaze directly to the altar. "Gary, you coming with me?"

The groomsmen, already half-drunk on pre-ceremony whiskey, erupted into loud, rowdy cheers. They began shoving Gary toward her, practically pushing him off the altar.

"Kiss her! Kiss her!"

"Come on, Gary, don't be shy! Its not like you guys didn't literally cuddle in the same bed at the bachelor party last night. We all saw you face-planted in her chest!"

Gary laughed, kicking playfully at one of his friends. "Shut up, guys. My wife is standing right here."

But I didn't miss the faint, guilty crimson creeping up his neck.

Cassidy shrugged, completely unfazed. "I don't mind, but I think someone's little bride is about to cry."

Only then did Gary turn his head to look at me. He reached out, tapping the tip of my nose with a casual, easy gesture. "Don't be so sensitive, babe. Its just a joke. Come on, lets get the ceremony finished."

I slowly pulled my face back, escaping his touch. I reached out and took the microphone from the stunned officiant.

"If she wants to object," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the speakers, "Im taking her seriously."

Three days later, he stood in front of City Hall, his eyes bloodshot and desperate.

But I never looked back.

The rowdy cheers of the groomsmen died instantly. A suffocating silence fell over the ballroom, followed by the quiet, hurried whispers of our guests.

Gary gripped my wrist, his face darkening with embarrassment. "Cassidy was just kidding. Do you really have to do this?"

"Stop making a scene, Nina. This is the wedding youve been dreaming about for years."

"My grandmother is still waiting in her hospital bed to see the video."

Just last night, my grandmother had experienced a rare, fleeting moment of lucidity. With trembling hands, she had placed my palm into Gary's. He had knelt by her bedside, promising her that he would cherish and protect me for the rest of his life.

And then he had gone straight to his bachelor party to mess around with Cassidy.

My eyes burned with unshed tears. I raised the microphone, my voice cracking but steady. "Is motorboating her and sleeping in the same bed also just a joke?"

The words hit the room like a physical blow. The guests leaned in, their eyes darting rapidly between Gary and Cassidy, hungry for the drama.

A flash of angry humiliation crossed Gary's face. He snatched the microphone out of my hand, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper. "Shut up! Are you trying to ruin our wedding?"

Cassidy stepped forward, smoothly taking the microphone from him. Her tone was light, almost bubbly. "Oh, please. Gary and I were taking baths together naked when we were two years old. Isn't it a little late to start getting jealous now, honey?"

With a few breezy sentences, she brushed off their boundary-crossing behavior as childhood innocence.

Suddenly, I was the one being unreasonable.

Gary's mother, Mrs. Stanley, stepped up and draped an arm over Cassidys shoulder, casting a cold, dismissive look in my direction.

"Cassidy is the kind of daughter-in-law I always wanted. Elegant, high-class, from a good family." She sniffed. "Not like some people from cheap backgrounds who throw tantrums at their own weddings. No class, no manners. I don't even know what kind of parents raised her"

"Mom!" Gary snapped, cutting her off. "Stop it."

He looked at me anxiously, his eyes filled with a sudden, heavy wave of guilt and worry.

My face went entirely pale, a bitter, hollow ache spreading through my chest.

Ten years ago, my parents were celebrating their anniversary at a quiet coastal beach. They saw a young boy being swept away by a violent rip current. They swam out, fought the waves, and saved himbut they never made it back to shore. That boy was Gary.

If my parents were still here today, no one would dare treat me like this.

Cassidy crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Are you seriously going to cry over this?"

"God. If Gary and I actually wanted to be together, do you really think you'd even be standing here?"

"Fine, fine. Its all my fault. Ill just leave, okay?"

Gary's face shifted instantly. He chased after her, catching her by the waist to stop her. Then he turned to me, his voice sharp with accusation. "Cassidy flew halfway across the world just to be here for us. If you can't be grateful, fine, but why do you have to drive her away?"

Looking at Cassidys smug, triumphant smile over his shoulder, I suddenly felt a profound, exhausting wave of futility.

I slid the diamond band off my left ring finger and tossed it toward them.

"She doesn't have to leave," I whispered. "I will."

"You wanted to steal the groom? Here, you can have the ring too."

Gary caught the ring, his eyes igniting with a sudden, volatile fury. "Nina! You really want to play this card?"

"Let me tell you somethingif you walk out that door today, we can easily find another bride to finish this ceremony!"

"Let her go!" Mrs. Stanley sneered. "I'll wait to see her crawl back begging."

I gathered the heavy lace skirts of my gown and ran out of the ballroom without looking back, leaving Gary's furious shouts behind me.

I hailed a cab on the street. The driver looked at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes widening slightly at my disheveled bridal gown. "You alright, sweetheart? Where to?"

Sitting in the back seat, the anger in my chest slowly dissolved into a cold, terrifying numbness.

Where could I go?

Shortly after my parents died, my grandmother, shattered by grief, got into a car accident. The other party demanded a massive financial settlement, and I was forced to sell our family home.

It was pouring rain the day of the eviction. I couldn't get a cab, and I was sobbing on the curb. That was when Gary rode up on his motorcycle, his leather jacket drenched, his face wild and rebellious as he pulled off his helmet.

"There's no PIN. Use it," he had said, forcing his credit card into my hand before turning back into the storm.

By the time I sorted out the medical bills and tried to return the money, he had disappeared. But then, a few months later, he suddenly turned up at my university.

He had wrapped a casual arm around my shoulder, winking at a girl who was trying to ask him out. "Sorry, babe. My girlfriend gets super jealous."

Under the autumn sun, his bleach-blonde hair had gleamed. He crashed into my life like a storm.

"Play along as my girlfriend," he had whispered. "Call it even for saving your grandmother."

For three years, I chased him down, desperate to pay back every cent, while everyone else mocked me as his clingy, desperate shadow.

When he crashed his motorcycle on a back road, I was the first to arrive.

When he broke his leg snowboarding, I brought him homemade meals every single day.

Just as I was about to pay off the last of my debt, my grandmother wandered off.

It was the worst blizzard Boston had seen in a decade. The snow was knee-deep. The security footage showed Grandma walking out into the freezing night in nothing but a thin sweater.

The police searched for hours and found nothing. I was losing my mind.

It was Gary who organized thousands of people online to search the city.

As the hours ticked away and I collapsed into the snow for the ninth time, he had reached down and pulled me up.

"We found her. Shes at the hospital. She's okay."

I had sobbed into his chest, completely broken.

He had clumsily wiped my tears, trying to keep his tone light. "Letting your boyfriend hold you isn't a bad deal, you know."

For the first time, I didn't correct him.

"Miss? Are you okay?" the driver asked, offering me a box of tissues.

I looked in the mirror and realized my face was entirely soaked with tears.

"Just keep driving, please."

The city blurred past the window.

Only last night, Gary had knelt by Grandma's bed and confessed: "Actually, ten years ago, the kid your parents saved at the beach... it was me. My family tried to offer twenty million dollars, but your grandma refused. She said a life can't be bought. She said your parents did what was right."

"Nina, destiny brought me to you. I'll spend the rest of my life loving you for them."

But less than twenty-four hours later, everything had shattered.

My heart felt squeezed by barbed wire.

My phone kept buzzing. It was a video sent to the wedding group chat.

Cassidy, wearing a stunning red-and-gold gown, was standing arm-in-arm with Gary, drinking and laughing with the guests.

Some people threw a tantrum and walked out, so Cassidy had to step in.

Honestly, they look perfect together. Why don't they just get married for real? Show that psycho what she's missing.

I turned off the phone, my cold face reflected in the dark screen.

"Take me to The Pinnacle," I told the driver.

I needed to know the truth.

At the penthouse, I went straight to his gaming room.

Gary kept a locked box here.

Once, I had caught him tucking photos inside. When I teased him and tried to look, he had held me close, laughing: "It's a surprise for our wedding day."

I had been waiting for that surprise for years.

It was a four-digit combination lock.

I tried his birthday. Our anniversary. My birthday.

None of them worked.

With trembling fingers, I typed in Cassidy's birthday.

Click.

Inside were three thick photo albums, ten keys to luxury sports cars, and a dark green velvet box.

I opened the albums. They were filled with photos of Cassidy growing up.

On the back of a photo of her as a teenager, holding a helmet and smiling fiercely on a podium, Gary had written:

The love of my life. May you always shine.

The date was July 5th, 2016.

The exact day my parents drowned.

"So, you finally found it," Gary's raspy voice sounded from behind me. "I used to have feelings for Cassidy, but that's ancient history."

"That day, I was going to confess to her. But she just laughed and hugged everyone, saying we were all brothers. I never gave her the necklace. And the sports cars I bought her over the years... I never gave them to her either."

"So," my voice cracked, "the day your confession failed, you got drunk on the beach and walked into the ocean. And my parents died saving you."

I was shaking violently. My parents died for this? For his high school heartbreak?

I lost my family, and I had been living a lie with him for eight years.

"It was never a coincidence, was it? You transferred to my school out of guilt. You forced yourself into my life, pretended I owed you money, just so you could keep me close for three years. Was it fun, Gary? Playing with my life?"

"No, Nina, it's not like that..."

Panic flickered in his eyes. He reached out to wipe my tears, but flinches when I drew back.

He pulled out a lighter and flicked it open.

"Cassidy and I are just friends. There's nothing between us. If this box bothers you so much, then"

He threw the lighter into the box. Flames immediately licked the thick pages of the albums.

"If you're still mad, I'll never speak to her again. Okay?"

He pulled out his phone, opened his contacts, and deleted her right in front of me.

But a second later, Cassidy's name flashed on his screen.

He hesitated, then answered. "Just let me say goodbye to her. For good."

Three minutes later, Gary stormed back in, his face contorted in anger.

"Did you upload that video of Cassidy catching the bouquet? People online are tearing her apart, calling her a manipulative 'pick-me'! How could you cyberbully her like this?"

"Do you have any idea how important her race tomorrow is? This cannot stain her career!"

I stared at him, feeling a cold, hollow laugh rise in my chest. "Are the comments wrong? She grabbed the bride's bouquet and proposed to the groom."

"I told you, it was a joke! And you're going to ruin her entire life over a stupid joke?"

"Nina, I didn't think you could be this vindictive."

He looked at me with pure disappointment. "I've already had my team use AI to swap your faces in the video. You're going to post an apology statement saying you did it out of jealousy. We need to kill this story now."

Anger reached a fever pitch, and suddenly, I felt entirely calm.

"No. I had nothing to do with that video."

"Nina!"

He lunges forward, pinning my arms and snatching the phone from my pocket.

I fought him, but he hoists me over his shoulder and locked me in the windowless utility closet.

Through the heavy door, his voice was muffled.

"Im wiping your camera roll so you don't leak any photos of us and make things worse. Calm down tonight. The housekeeper will let you out tomorrow. Once I'm back from Cassidy's race, we'll go get registered."

The light in the closet was broken. There were no windows.

I sat in the pitch black until dawn, when the housekeeper opened the door, gasping at my bloodshot eyes.

"Oh, goodness, ma'am. Are you alright?"

I shook my head, my throat dry as paper. "Where is my phone, Mrs. Clark?"

She pointed to the coffee table. "Mr. Stanley told me to make you some soup before he caught his flight. He said you shouldn't look at your phone for a few days..."

I walked right past her and grabbed the phone.

When it booted up, the screen was flooded with missed calls and texts.

I clicked a link sent by my old college roommate. The top trending topic on Twitter was Gary's account, featuring a picture of a marriage certificate and a childhood photo of him and Cassidy.

Childhood sweethearts, finally together. @Cassidy_Racer

The comments were a sickening wave of congratulations.

An heir and a champion racer. True love exists!

Good luck at the championship tomorrow, queen!

The second trending topic: High school teacher admits to AI face-swap out of spite.

The video showed my face swapped with Cassidy'smaking it look like I was the one who crashed the wedding and proposed to Gary.

This is pathetic. She almost ruined the bride's career right before the race.

I'm sick to my stomach. This woman is a teacher? What school lets a psycho like this near children?

My brain went entirely numb. I swayed, clutching the wall to keep from falling.

Then, my phone rang. It's the school principal.

"Nina, the scandal surrounding your personal life has severely damaged the school's reputation. Effective immediately, your contract is terminated."

"Principal Evans, I didn't"

He hung up.

Before I can call back, Gary called.

"How dare you use my name to post those lies? I just lost my job because of you!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Gary's voice was thick with sleep, casual and relaxed. "I can take care of you. Being a wife is much better than dealing with screaming teenagers anyway."

"Besides, you're twenty-six now. Its time we started thinking about having a baby, dont you think?"

My body shook with a violent, visceral disgust.

"Gary," I whispered, "you make me sick."

I hung up, the tears finally spilling over.

Then, my phone rang again. It's the hospital.

By the time I arrived, Grandma was already in the OR. The surgeon handed me a critical notice to sign.

"The patient experienced severe emotional stress, causing an aneurysm to rupture. We have an experimental blocker that could save her, but it's fifty thousand dollars a dose. Do you want us to proceed?"

"The golden window is three minutes. If you want it, you need to pay now."

"Do it!" I screamed, my hand shaking as I signed the papers. "Do whatever it takes! Just save her!"

I ran to the billing window, my chest tight.

Declined.

The online banking app said my daily limit was exceeded.

I frantically tore open my wallet, dropping cards onto the floor.

"Try this one. PIN is 062746," I sobbed, handing over a card.

Declined.

"Ma'am, this card has been frozen by the primary account holder."

I froze. It was the joint card Gary gave me.

When did he freeze it?

There's no time to think. I pulled out my personal savings cardthe one where my entire four years of teaching salary, nearly seventy thousand dollars, was kept. I read off the PIN.

The nurse looked at the screen, her face falling. "Ma'am... there aren't enough funds."

"What? That's impossible!"

My head spun.

My phone buzzed. It was a text from Gary.

Hey, my card hit its limit while celebrating Cassidy's win. I used your savings card to buy her a celebratory Chanel bag. Consider it a gift from us...

"Gary!" I screamed into the phone as I called him back. "That is my grandmother's life support money!"

Gary chuckled on the other end. "Stop being so dramatic. I'll pay you back tenfold when I get home. I have to go."

The line went dead.

The nurse walked out of the double doors, looking at me with deep pity.

"Family of Marian Rogers... I am so sorry for your loss."

The world went entirely quiet. I watched them wheel out a gurney, a white sheet draped over the quiet silhouette of my grandmother.

"Gary, are you sure you're skipping my after-party?" Cassidy punched him playfully in the chest. "That's cold."

Gary didn't pull away, just smiled. "I cleared your name, posted a fake marriage certificate, and dealt with my girl's tantrums. I think I've been more than supportive."

"She's still throwing a fit at home. I need to get back and smooth things over before she does something crazy. My flight is tonight. Tomorrow is our fifth anniversary, and we're getting registered."

But when he finally unlocked the door of the penthouse, the flowers in his hands fell to the floor.