What a Farce

Chapter 5

I turned off my phone and opened the documents I had with me.

I had decided to stay single and Ansel had no idea what I had sacrificed for him.

Now, fleeing the wedding, I could focus entirely on my research career.

With so many preparations needed for the new project, I had no time to think about what the wedding scene might be like at that moment.

When I got off the plane, my advisor and senior classmates were there to greet me.

“Welcome back, Stella!‘

They held up banners and presented me with flowers, making my return to Lunaria feel like a grand celebration.

The warm reception drew curious glances, with some mistaking me for a celebrity.

“Professor, this is quite the ceremony,” I said, half–amused.

My advisor gently wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said with a kind smile,

“Stella, we ll always be your family and your support.

After witnessing Ansel‘ s proposal to Elara, I had been holding back my emotions for so long. But those heartfelt words from my academic advisor broke the dam and all my bottled–up feelings came rushing out.

My senior colleague pulled out tissues she had prepared in advance, comforting me with genuine concern.

“Sis, if Ansel let you go, he’s blind. Our Princess Stella deserves the very best!”

“Exactly! If you’re not satisfied, I’ll fly back right now and knock him out!” my senior brother chimed in.

I bit my lip and, unable to hold it in any longer, buried my face in my senior’s shoulder and sobbed. After my mother passed away, it was Ansel who had been there for me through my darkest days. When Elara and her mother abused me, making my father think I was a bad child and pushing him away, it was still Ansel who protected and comforted me.

When I left the country, I had been clear with Ansel about my feelings.

“If one day you stop loving me, just break up with me. I’ll give you my blessing.”

Back then, he cried like a fool but didn’t dare ask me to stay.

“Stella, I’ll never love anyone else in this lifetime, Go chase your dreams, I’ll stay home making money and wait for you to graduate and marry me!”

His promises still echoed in my ears, yet the man who made them had already changed.

I thought we would face life‘ s storms together.

But he turned his back and left me behind.

After crying my heart out, the weight of all my bottled-up grievances lifted.

Even the gut–wrenching pain in my bones began to fade.

My advisor and senior classmates took me home, where they personally cooked to celebrate my return.

I basked in their warmth, feeling fortunate that life hadn’t treated me too unfairly.

After the celebration faded, I finally dared to turn on my phone while lying in bed.

At this hour, Ansel was probably enjoying his wedding night.

As soon as my phone powered on, I saw over a hundred missed calls from Ansel–more than he had made during our two years of long–distance.

Messages flooded in from TalkaTo and texts, one after another, overwhelming me.

Just as I was about to switch off my phone again, another call from him came through.

“Stella, you finally answered…”

“Where did you go? I kept calling you and you didn’t answer. You didn’t reply to any of my messages either I thought something had happened to you.”

“And why did you move out of the house?”

I frowned, confused. What had gotten into him?

He had allowed Elara to steal the wedding and I had moved out and fled–wasn‘ t it obvious that we were done?

Now, he was pretending to be concerned, as if suddenly worried something had happened to me. Was it because, without me as a comparison to prove their so–called true love, the wedding drama wasn’t as enjoyable?

When I had been in Lunaria, rushing to the ER for surgery alone in the middle of the night, he had been just 100 kilometers away. He hadn’t seemed worried about me then.

“Ansel, congratulations on your wedding, but I don’t want to be the clown in your wedding–stealing drama.”

Ansel was audibly breathless on the other end of the line, clearly panicking,

“Stella, what are you talking about? What wedding–stealing? Did you misunderstand me?”

“I waited for you at the wedding all day, but you never showed. I couldn’t reach any of your friends either–it’s like you all agreed to disappear together…”

He was truly a master at pretending.

He even managed to mimic the shaky tone I get when I’m upset.

It seemed he was genuinely furious.

Angry that I had run off and left him and Elara to look like a joke.

I scrolled through the wedding video my friend sent me, feeling nothing but disgust toward Ansel. “Ansel, so it’s fine for you and Elara to plan a wedding heist at my ceremony, but I’m not allowed to flee and skip it?”

“Consider this wedding my parting gift to you for being there during my darkest days.”

My cold tone seemed to frustrate him, but there was even more anger in his voice.

“Stella, what are you talking about? Why would I ever let Elara crash our wedding? Besides, I’m your husband–she couldn’t steal me even if she tried!”

“I know you have a lot of resentment toward her and I shouldn’t have taken it upon myself to reconnect you two, but I did it all for your sake. Can’t you stop being so sensitive?”

His blatant denial only left me feeling more disillusioned.

“I saw you propose to her.”

“The issue with the ring wasn’t that something went wrong–it was that it already had an owner.” “You didn’t have time to take wedding photos with me and had to rely on Photoshop, yet you managed to take photos with her on a cruise.”

“You never once visited me in Lunaria, but you traveled thousands of miles for her every month.” “I know you’re only marrying me to keep your promise. I walked away and gifted you the wedding–shouldn’t you be happy?”

“Why force me to expose everything and leave nothing but humiliation?”

“Or is it that you think I should just play along with your charade to prove your so–called true love?”