After studying abroad for two years, I cut my time short, eagerly looking forward to returning to Solaria, ready to marry. As I was decorating our future home, I discovered thousands of plane tickets carefully preserved by my boyfriend of ten years, Ansel Stormvale. Every month, he had been traveling to Lunaria at least once and it wasn‘ t to see me. Even though I was only 100 kilometers away from his destination in Lunaria. I arrived early at the place where he had planned to propose to me, only to see him on one knee, proposing to someone else. Elara Dawnlight, will you marry me? As soon as you say yes, I’ll switch brides immediately!” His gaze was filled with anticipation and I couldn’t take another step forward. Since I was not the one he wants to spend his life with, I might as well let them have this wedding. But after I ran away, he crossed oceans and continents, searching the world for me! The proposal site was decorated with roses, bathed in the warm glow of soft yellow lights–romantic and intimate. Ansel, kneeling on one knee, was the exact image of the proposal I had dreamed of countless times. But the person standing in front of him wasn‘ t me! “Elara, will you marry me?‘ Elara covered her mouth with one hand, trembling as she took the roses with the other. A dazzling diamond ring was slipped onto her finger. The two embraced tightly, kissing passionately. Their intimate whispers carried to my ears by the wind. I found myself unconsciously rubbing the matching ring Ansel had sent me from across the sea. I never told him the ring was too big. To keep it from slipping off, I had wrapped half a loop of red thread around it to make it fit. Perhaps after all this time, when I tugged at the thread, it came undone. The ring,freed from the thread that once held it in place, slipped off my finger in an instant and rolled into a distant drain. Just like Ansel, who, after two years abroad, was no longer tied down by me. An ill–fitting ring doesn’t need to be retrieved, just as a man who didn’t love me didn’t need to be held onto! “Ansel, I hope your wedding goes as planned.” “Why? The only one I want to marry is you!” “Because… I plan to crash your wedding! That way, it will prove you’re truly in love with me!” My steps faltered. Because I was curious just how far Ansel would go to hurt me for Elara’s sake. “You little rascal, only you could come up with such a crazy idea!” “Then I better prepare an extra pair of running shoes, so I can run faster when we elope!” “Are you really willing to do this to Stella?” “Marrying her to keep my promise is already the most I can do. If she can’t keep her husband from being whisked away at the altar, she can’t blame me, can she?” Their joyful laughter pierced my heart like a dagger. I turned around, leaning against a tree, my legs so weak I couldn’t move an inch. Fearing that my sobs might alert them, I covered my mouth tightly and walked away. But halfway home, my legs gave out and I fell hard onto the ground. I returned home, battered and broken and dialed my advisor’s number. “Professor, I’ve decided to join that research project you mentioned.” My academic advisor was thrilled, but also puzzled. “Didn’t you say you were planning to settle down in Solaria after your marriage? Did your husband agree to a long–distance arrangement? Being apart after marriage can be really challenging. Are you sure you don’t want to rethink this decision? I was wiping the scrapes on my bruised knees, each touch sending a sharp pang through me. “The wedding is off. From now on, I’ll be your right hand, fully devoted to research!” My advisor, who treats me like his own daughter, immediately sensed something was wrong. “Today‘ s the deadline. I’ll put your name on the list. Come back soon so we can dive into the work. Keeping busy will help take your mind off things.” “Don’t think I‘ m meddling, but over the past two years, it’s always been you looking after Solaria, while he’s never bothered to come to Lunaria. That’s a clear sign he doesn‘ t love you as much as you believed.” “Once you’ve made up your mind to move on, don‘ t linger in the past!” If it weren’t for that thick stack of flight tickets, I could have confidently dismissed comment that “he doesn’t love you as much. No wonder he was always out of touch at the end of each month. Turns out, he was busy traveling thousands of miles to be with Elara! For two whole years, I felt like a fool, desperately racing to finish coursework and publish papers, just to carve out time to fly domestically to see him. Those brief meetings after long flights were once the happiest moments of my life. Yet, my cross–ocean love, in the face of that stack of tickets Ansel cherished, had become a joke. As I made my way to the proposal site, I tried to convince myself that maybe he had traveled to Lunaria When I saw him proposing to Elara-the very woman who had once tormented me–it became clear why he hadn’t visited me despite the mere hundred kilometers between us. Elara had barred him from seeing me, leaving him to weave stories of longing and sorrow to explain He knew exactly how much Elara and I were sworn enemies. After my father remarried, Elara and her daughter became the most persistent shadows of my childhood. I had imagined countless scenarios over the past two years of our long–distance relationship. Ansel might fall for someone else, I thought, but I never expected him to fall for Elara. I never anticipated that he would go so far as to agree to let me be humiliated at the wedding just to please her. I submerged myself in a warm bath, the heat gradually stopping my trembling. Then, Ansel‘ s call came in. “Stella, where are you? I’m already at the seaside park!”