My Fiance‘s Kindness To Her Was My Humiliation In A Bridal Shop Chapter 01
The wedding was ten days away. I pushed open the fitting room door just as Ryker bent down, adjusting the crystal-encrusted back necklace on Willa’s gown.
The gown was my main dress. The one I’d paid off the balance on just yesterday.
The one I was supposed to wear in ten days, walking down the aisle to marry him.
A bridal consultant stood off to the side, smiling, telling Willa her shoulders were stunning, that the dress looked like it had been made for her.
She’d walked in with Ryker. Everyone in the shop probably assumed they were the couple here for the fitting today.
I stood in the doorway of my fitting room, veil still pinned in my hair, fingers curling slowly into fists.
The assistant who’d been filming my try-on moments ago had frozen, her camera hovering mid-air like she couldn’t decide who to point it at anymore.
Willa caught my reflection in the mirror. Her eyes went wide, like she was only just now realizing I was there. She scrambled to cover the lace at her chest.
“Presley, don’t misunderstand.” Her voice came out soft, soft enough to sound almost innocent. “I just thought this dress was so beautiful. I wanted to try it on, and Ryker said…”
“She’s never worn a wedding gown.”
Ryker stood up and finished her sentence for her, his voice calm as if he was handling the most trivial matter in the world.“What’s the big deal if she tries it on?”
I stared at him, and suddenly I almost laughed.
Last night, I’d stayed up until one in the goddamn morning finalizing the wedding timeline.
I’d transferred the balance yesterday afternoon, spent this morning chasing down last-minute details, and now here I was.
My fiancé, standing in front of my wedding gown, fixing the back necklace for another woman, asking me—what’s the big deal.
***********
I didn’t say a word. I just walked toward them slowly.
The shop went dead quiet.
The consultant who’d been holding my gloves took an instinctive step back.
Ryker glanced at me, as if he’d finally noticed how dark my expression was—but his voice stayed tight, laced with that familiar, patronizing tone he used when he wanted me to be reasonable.
“She just got back to the States. She’s having a rough time.”
“It’s just a try-on. Don’t make a scene.”
I stared at him. “When exactly,” I asked, quiet, “did the scene start?”
He frowned.
Willa pressed her lips together, looking like she wanted to peel herself out of this. “Presley, I really didn’t mean anything by it. I was just…”
“You meant something.”
I cut her off.
“You meant something, because you knew exactly whose dress this was, and you still stood here letting him hold up your train.”
The color drained from her face.
Ryker’s voice dropped. “Presley.”
“Why are you taking this out on her?”
“She told you it was just a try-on. Do you have to be so uncouth?”
I looked at him, and I understood something in that moment. When someone finally kills the last bit of hope inside you, it doesn’t hurt. It just goes hollow.
So hollow you can’t even find the energy to be angry.
I reached up and pulled the veil from my hair.
The tulle slipped through my fingers and drifted lightly into the consultant’s hands.
Everyone froze.
Ryker’s face finally shifted. “Presley, what are you doing?”
I ignored him. I looked down and started pulling the ring off my finger.
He’d put it there last month. He said he’d get me a better one after the wedding.
But apparently, in his mind, everything was on loan. The dress. The wedding. Even the groom’s dignity—he could lend that out to comfort someone else.
The ring stuck.
I twisted it hard. My knuckle went red almost instantly.
Ryker moved toward me, something like panic finally crossing his face. He reached for me. “Stop it.”
I sidestepped him. I set the ring down in the silver tray where they kept the jewelry accessories.
“You wanted her to try on the dress. So you can stand here and finish helping her.”
I lifted my eyes to his and said it clear, every word its own sentence.
“There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
The shop went so silent I could hear people breathing.
The assistant still had her phone up. The frame trembled, just slightly.
Every trace of color had drained from Willa’s face. Her voice started to shake. “Presley, please, don’t do this. I really wasn’t trying to take him…”
“You weren’t trying to take him.” I looked at her, cutting her off clean. “You just believed that if you reached for him, he’d take your side.”
“And he didn’t prove you wrong.”
Ryker’s face was thunder. “Enough.”
“You want to lose it in here, is that it?”
“We’re ten days out. You’re talking about calling off the wedding right now. Have you thought what happens next?”
There it was. That was the sentence that killed the last sliver of illusion I’d been holding onto.
He knew exactly that he’d crossed a line. He just didn’t think it mattered.
He’d been sure I wouldn’t flip the table. Not after I’d sunk this much money, this much effort, this many years of my life into him.
He was betting I couldn’t afford to leave him.
Betting I’d do what I’d always done. Swallow it. Hand him the way out. Tell myself it was fine, the wedding was this close, just let it go.
I nodded. A laugh came out of me, quiet and strange.
“I’ve thought it through.”
“As of right now, the wedding is canceled.”
Ryker looked like he hadn’t heard me. “What?”
“I said canceled.”
I turned to the consultants, my voice so steady it surprised even me.
“I need you to pull up every record for this gown. Payment history, alteration notes, appointment booking log. All of it.”
The consultants hesitated, their eyes darting to Ryker.
I followed their gaze.
“Well?” I asked. “It’s my dress. My money. Am I not allowed to see my own records?”
The words landed hard. The two consultants traded a look and went straight for the tablet and the paperwork.
Willa couldn’t hold her pose anymore. She clutched at the skirt, stepping backward. “Ryker, maybe I should just take it off…”
“Yeah.” I looked at her. “You should. Now.”
Her eyes went red-rimmed instantly, like I’d just wounded her beyond reason.
I didn’t have the energy to watch her perform.
A few minutes later, the consultants pulled up the system records.
[Booking name: Presley Lancaster.]
[Deposit: Presley Lancaster.]
[Balance: Presley Lancaster.]
[Urgent alteration fee: Presley Lancaster.]
I took the tablet, flipped straight to the payment page, and held it up in front of Ryker’s face.
“You seeing this?”
“I booked the dress. I paid for the dress. I put this wedding together.”
“You took what was mine to play out some unfinished fantasy with your precious first love, and now you want me to be gracious about it?”
