Broken Seven Times Over

I've planned seven wedding ceremonies in total, and not once has my fiance, Zachary Gardner, ever shown up for it.

The first time, his adopted younger sister, Louise Foster, bursts into tears because she lost her passport at the airport. It was the dead of winter, but he dumped me by the side of the road and left me.

The second time, Louise's dog sprained its ankle. Zachary stuffed the ring back into its box and rushed to the animal hospital to accompany her.

Every time I argue with him about it, he declares nonchalantly, "We can get married anytime, but I can't let Louise be upset."

Everyone around us agrees with him, saying that we're all family anyway, so I shouldn't be so petty. None of them has seen Zachary and Louise kissing fiercely on the dance floor.

Today is the seventh wedding ceremony. Once again, he turns to leave after getting a call.

I grab the corner of his shirt and say in a choked voice, "If you leave this time, Zachary, I won't marry you anymore."

He stops in his tracks and peels off my fingers.

"Wait for me," he says before rushing off.

What he doesn't know is that this time, I won't be waiting for him any longer.

My boyfriend, Zachary Gardner, had been involved with his adopted sister, Louise Foster. He even jilted me seven times for her.

During the last wedding ceremony, when I forced him to make a final choice between me and her, he ultimately chose Louise.

When Zachary got back to the house, I was sitting dazedly on the couch, still in my wedding gown. Our eyes met, but neither one of us spoke.

"Claire."

Louise stuck her head out from behind Zachary. With a pitiful look on her face, she said to me, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called Zach on your wedding day. But I didn't expect him to love me so much that he'd actually come over to accompany me…"

Although it was an apology, every word was thick with boastful smugness.

"You can drop the act. It simply annoys me," I replied with an icy scoff.

Immediately, Louise's eyes watered, and Zachary took pity on her at once. He pulled her into his arms before turning back to me with a cold stare. "You went too far, Claire. It's just a wedding ceremony. We can just hold another one next time."

The way he could state that so matter-of-factly made me chuckle self-mockingly.

"Zachary, have you forgotten what I said to you? I said that if you walked out of the venue, there wouldn't be another wedding ceremony."

Zachary frowned as he looked at me with a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.

"Claire, it was Lulu's graduation ball today. That's an extremely important event. Her friends would've teased her for not having a date. Since I'm her older brother, I can't just ignore that."

As I exhaled heavily, my gaze landed on my phone—and the