I Gave My Ex's Rival Our Wedding Ring

1: 1

Craig James was cheating on me.

His childhood sweetheart was nestled against his chest, the two of them so close they were about to kiss.

The System shrieked in my ear with excitement: Host, quick, walk away heartbroken, suffer in silence, give the male lead the cold shoulder, and the heartbreak points will shoot right up!

The words had barely left it when I shoved the office door wide open.

And slapped Craig James across the face.

The System let out a shrill blast at once: Host, how could you hit the male lead, this doesn't fit the

Before it could finish, a chime sounded.

Heartbreak points +1

The System changed its tune instantly: Host, please hit harder.

Who says tormenting the male lead isn't tormenting?

I smiled faintly and said to Craig James: Something you should know. I gave our wedding rings to Stan Weiss.

Stan Weiss was the man Craig James had been feuding with for twenty years.

01

Craig James's eyes went red on the spot.

He clenched his jaw, veins standing out at his temple, and forced out a low growl: Miriam Cox, say that again!

I couldn't blame him for reacting like that.

The center diamonds on both our wedding rings had belonged to his late mother.

When he proposed, he'd told me it was his most precious possession, that it stood for how much he cherished me.

I thought it would be a promise for a lifetime.

Until his sweetheart Willa Chandler came back from overseas.

Craig James didn't hesitate to postpone our wedding.

He said Willa had just gone through a breakup, and seeing us happy would push her over the edge.

Then he said the Chandler family had gone bankrupt, that Willa was out of work now and could barely support herself.

So he made Willa his secretary.

I always thought he was just honoring some old childhood affection. Until last weekend, when I was tidying the bedroom and happened across an album.

It was full of photos of Willa, from childhood all the way up.

That was when it hit me. Willa wasn't the girl Craig James had grown up playing with. She was the one who got away, the first love he'd hidden in his heart and pined for over ten years.

Now the Chandler family was ruined, and his moon had fallen from the sky.

Of course he'd want to keep her close and cherish her.

I looked at Willa hiding behind Craig James, let out a scoff, and repeated myself: Craig James, I gave our wedding rings to Stan Weiss.

Why? Craig James asked through gritted teeth.

Because he liked them.

At my answer, Craig James froze, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

Because that was the line I used to say to him all the time.

I would drain every cent of my savings to buy Craig James a watch.

I would crawl up all nine hundred and ninety-nine steps on my knees to get him a one-of-a-kind protective charm.

When people asked me why I did it.

I only ever had one answer: Because Craig likes it.

I was still saying that line now. I'd only swapped out the subject.

Craig James knew better than anyone how fierce my love could be, so once the confusion passed, a film of tears rose in his eyes.

He clenched his jaw, holding the tears back, and with the slap mark slowly reddening on his face, there was somehow a kind of broken beauty to him.

Tears really were a man's secret weapon!

I almost went soft!

Good thing Willa spoke up in time.

She stepped out from behind Craig James, eyes red as she explained: Miriam, you've got it wrong. An eyelash fell into my eye, and Craig was just helping me get it out.

I was a month older than Willa, so she called me Miriam.

Craig James was two years older than her, and she called him Craig.

I lowered my eyes and said nothing.

Craig James's expression eased. He let out a breath and said: Miriam, don't get jealous over nothing. Willa and I have known each other for years. If there were anything between us, we'd have gotten together long ago. It never would have come down to you.

I won't hold this slap against you. But stop making up lies to spite me. You know how much the rings mean to me.

I drew a deep breath, lifted my head, and said: Craig James, the honeymoon's already booked and it's nonrefundable, and you don't have the time, so I've decided to go with Stan Weiss.

With that, I turned and left without looking at his face.

The System's alert sounded again.

Heartbreak points +3

It wasn't until I'd walked out the front doors of the company and my mood had settled that the System, quiet all this while, finally spoke up in a small voice.

Host, Stan Weiss doesn't even know who you are!

2: 2

02

The System was right.

I knew of Stan Weiss. Stan Weiss had no idea who I was.

He ran in Craig James's circle, and Craig had never once introduced me to his friends.

The only reason I knew about him at all was that Craig hated him.

Craig had worked hard his whole life, and he'd still always come in second.

First place always went to Stan Weiss, who slept through every class.

When Craig couldn't beat him in the classroom, he tried to beat him in sports, and lost even worse.

Later, once school was behind them, Craig started his company and finally got the upper hand on the aimless, do-nothing Stan Weiss.

But he barely had time to enjoy it. Stan Weiss got bored, threw himself into an emerging industry, and inside a year his company had outgrown Craig's.

Back then, Craig cursed Stan Weiss even in his sleep.

That was how I learned Stan Weiss existed at all.

Before I could answer the System, my phone chimed with a new message.

It was from Craig.

He'd written: Miriam Cox, is lying to me fun? You don't even know Stan Weiss.

I didn't reply. Instead I said to the System, "Sis, can you actually be useful for once? Go find Stan Weiss right now and force him to come on the honeymoon with me. Zap him if he won't!"

The System sounded ready to cry. "But host, the only person I can zap is you!"

My vision went dark.

The System had bound itself to me last week, the moment I discovered Willa Chandler was Craig's first love.

It told me I was inside a heartbreak novel and had to farm enough heartbreak points before it would let me go.

No upside. Only downside.

I didn't want to farm any heartbreak points. I just wanted to break up with Craig and get as far away from him as possible.

The thought had barely formed when a current tore straight through my body, leaving me dizzy and seeing spots.

That was how I found out there was a penalty for not doing the tasks.

I took a deep breath and asked the System, "Can you at least get close to Stan Weiss, close enough that he can hear you talk?"

"That much I can do."

"Good."

I leaned in and murmured a few things to the System.

The System looked pained. "This doesn't seem like a great idea"

"Do you want your heartbreak points or not?"

"On my way!"

On the System's first day with Stan Weiss, Craig sent me a message.

He wrote: Miriam, don't be so stubborn.

I couldn't be bothered to answer.

On the second day, Craig called me.

He said, "Miriam, do you have any idea Willa's been crying for two days straight because of you? Get over here and apologize to her, now!"

I hung up on the spot.

On the third day the System spent with Stan Weiss, my doorbell rang.

It wasn't Craig at the door. It was Stan Weiss.

I didn't go to open it. I was scrolling through Willa Chandler's posts.

Craig had taken her to a sacred snow-peak resort in the Rockies.

The two of them stood beneath the prayer flags for a photo.

No hand-holding, no embrace, just a quiet look between them.

And from that look I read the love the two of them couldn't say out loud.

I gave it a like.

I set down my phone and opened the door.

Stan Weiss stood outside, dark circles under his eyes, and said in an exhausted voice, "Can you please make that damned System of yours stop singing corny pop songs in my ear twenty-four hours a day!"

3: 3

03

"Fine," I said, nodding. "But you have to do something for me."

"As long as you make this tone-deaf System go away, I'll do anything!"

"For the next few days, I need you to moonlight as my other man."

"What?!"

Stan's pretty peach-blossom eyes snapped wide. "Are you insane? I'm a CEO. Where am I supposed to put my face if I'm playing some woman's side piece?"

I folded my arms and smiled coldly. "Sing for him."

The System launched in on cue.

One line was all it took. Stan shut his eyes, wearing the look of a man whose soul had already given up.

Because the System sang truly, unbearably terribly.

Stan caved. "Fine. Forget the other man. Right now I'd agree to play a dog."

"Good. Then pack your things. We're leaving now."

"Where to?"

"A snow-peak resort in the Rockies."

Before I got engaged to Craig, he always said the snow-capped mountains were the purest place on earth.

He wanted the love between us to last like the snow on the peaks that never melts.

So he'd booked our honeymoon there.

For the longest time, I believed that mountain was sacred ground in Craig's heart.

Until last week, when I pulled the photos out of that album packed with Willa, and saw the writing on the back.

[Willa loves the dumplings from the shop by the school gate. Remember to bring her some.]

[Willa doesn't like being in the sun. Remember to bring a parasol when you go out with her.]

[Willa says she doesn't like pink, but she always buys pink pens. For her next birthday, get her something pink.]

Ninety-nine photos. Ninety-nine little preferences.

Craig had never put that kind of care into me.

Trembling, I wiped my eyes dry and turned to the hundredth photo.

On the back was the most heartfelt wish of Craig's youth.

[If I ever get to marry Willa, I want to take her to a snow-peak resort in the Rockies, because my love for her is like the snow on the mountaintop. It lasts forever.]

So when I saw Willa's post, I felt strangely calm.

I even wanted to laugh.

Laugh at how stupid I'd been.

At how, when Craig told me the wedding was being pushed back, I'd actually asked him, like a fool, "Then what about our honeymoon?"

And how, when he said work was too busy and he had no time to go, I'd stupidly believed him.

It wasn't that he had no time.

His love simply belonged to someone else.

At the thought, I let out a long sigh.

Beside me, Stan's eyes flew open. He said, with real resentment, "Sis, I'm begging you. I haven't slept in three days. Just be quiet and let me sleep a little."

Thinking about what the System had done, I did feel a little guilty.

I said, sheepish, "Go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you when it's time to board."

Stan shut his eyes and dropped straight into a dead sleep.

I picked up my phone, snapped a shot of his profile, and posted it.

The caption was two words: [Setting off.]

The next second, my phone started buzzing nonstop.

Craig called first, and when he found I wouldn't pick up, he started sending message after message.

I didn't read a single one. I just switched the phone off.

The rest of the trip was dull.

Stan only woke for boarding, and the moment he hit his seat he was out cold again.

When we landed and I woke him, he was still groggy, trailing after me in a daze, following wherever I went.

I'd meant to grab a meal first, but seeing him half-asleep on his feet, I sighed and decided to head to the hotel instead.

I just never expected that the moment we walked out of the airport, I'd run straight into Craig.

4: 4

04

He'd come here specifically to catch me.

The second he saw Stan Weiss behind me, his eyes went red with rage.

At the same moment, the system chimed.

Heartbreak points +10

I flinched.

I hadn't expected Stan to have that kind of effect on Craig.

Craig rushed over, grabbed my wrist, and tried to pull me to his side.

Too bad. I didn't budge.

Because Stan suddenly stepped forward, hooked an arm around my waist, and pulled me tight against him.

He was like a different person, chin resting on my shoulder, voice low and lazy. Sweetheart, you never told me you knew Craig James.

So fake.

Such a snake.

I loved it.

Craig's face went green.

He blurted out, his voice cracking. Stan, Miriam is my fiance!

Stan raised an eyebrow and said, unhurried. If she's your fiance, how come you never brought her around to meet any of us?

Craig couldn't get a word out for a long moment.

The truth was, I'd always known the answer.

In Craig's mind, I wasn't good enough for him.

His friends were all sons of wealthy families, and their relationships tended to be between equals. I wasn't like that. My background was ordinary. The only thing decent about me was my education.

He thought I wasn't presentable, so he never once took me anywhere his friends would be.

Watching Craig squirm put Stan in an oddly good mood.

He shifted his gaze to Willa Chandler, who'd been standing silently behind Craig the whole time, and smiled.

Craig, your engagement ring is on Willa's hand, and you're still calling her your fiance? That's a little shameless, don't you think?

My breath caught.

My engagement ring had been gone for a long time.

I'd taken it off in the shower and set it on my desk.

By the time I finished, it was gone.

I asked Craig if he'd seen it, and he snapped at me. Miriam, how can you be so careless? You lost your own engagement ring!

I really believed I'd lost it myself. I cried for a long time and begged Craig to forgive me.

It turned out Craig had quietly taken the ring himself and given it to Willa.

Hearing Stan's words, Willa's eyes reddened as if she'd been wronged.

She slid the ring off her finger and held it out to me. Miriam, I didn't know it was your engagement ring. If I had, I never would have accepted it when Craig gave it to me. I'll give it back right now.

I just hope you won't keep taking it out on Craig. Please give him back the wedding ring. That one belonged to his mother.

I didn't take it. I said calmly, The ring's yours. And if you want the man, you can have him too.

A flicker of delight crossed Willa's eyes, but Craig went pale.

He rushed to explain. Miriam, it isn't what you think. Willa had a party to attend and didn't have the right jewelry, so I just lent her your ring to help her save face. She only forgot to give it back

The words were barely out of Craig's mouth, and before I could say anything, I heard a soft cry of pain.

It was Willa.

Craig's attention snapped straight to her.

Willa, what's wrong?

Willa kept her head down and said softly, You were walking so fast just now, I twisted my ankle.

I'm fine, really. Go explain things to Miriam. Don't fight because of me.

Explain what? How could she ever matter as much as you? I'm taking you to the airport clinic right now!

Craig scooped Willa up anxiously and turned to go, without another glance at me.

Once he was far enough away, Stan pulled a bored face, let go of me, and yawned.

That Craig. Still as messed up as ever.

Having gotten that out, he shut his eyes again, sleepy, back to the half-awake state from before.

Seeing him like that, I didn't ask anything more. I got him into a cab and took him to the hotel.

Stan was a spoiled heir through and through. The moment we walked into the hotel, he ordered me to make up his bed with the silk sheet set he'd brought.

I almost turned on my heel and walked out, but looking at the dark circles under his eyes, I forced myself to let it go.

Never mind. I'd put him through the wringer these past few days.

And I'd still need him to keep playing along later, so I'd help him this once.

Only after I'd made Stan's bed and lit the scented candles was I allowed to leave.

The moment I stepped out, I ran into Craig, who'd just gotten back.

As it happened, his room was right across from Stan's.

He glanced at me, then caught a glimpse of Stan moving inside the room, and lost it completely.

Miriam, the two of you are actually sharing a room!

The words were barely out when Stan came out of the room too and stood behind me.

He draped his arm over my shoulder, his knuckled fingers landing right at my collarbone.

Craig's pupils shrank sharply.

On Stan's hand, there was actually