Kneel Once for His Love? Hard Pass

At the wedding ceremony, just as I was about to formally greet Alexander York's parents as my in-laws, his longtime female best friend, Casey Clarke, sprang up from the groomsmen's table and charged onto the stage. She dropped herself into the chair beside Alexander's father and crooked a finger at me. "Come on, Lucille, honey, my daughter-in-law. Come over here and pay your respects." By local tradition, newlyweds kneel before their in-laws and pay their respects during the wedding ceremony. The guests burst out laughing. Without the slightest hint of shame, Casey pulled up a video from the night before and played it on the big screen. In the video, she straddled Alexander's lap, forcing him to call her "Daddy". After Alexander finally said it, she asked, "What if your bride-to-be refuses to play along?" He lowered his head and lit a cigarette, his smile full of certainty. "She wouldn’t dare. She loves me too much to embarrass me at our wedding." The video ended. Casey reached over and patted me on the head. "Well, Lucille?" I remain still. Alexander walked over to me. "Casey's been by my side for 20 years. If you marry me, the least you can do now is show her some respect." Back then, when she stole my wedding ring, he said a twenty-year friendship like theirs shouldn’t become distant because of me. When she left hickeys all over his neck, he told me a twenty-year friendship like theirs couldn't fall apart just because of me. Now, he was still using the same old excuse at our wedding to pressure me into giving in. Alexander leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Come on. One time on your knees in exchange for a lifetime of my love. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me." I looked at him and realized how straightforward this equation is. So I decided I no longer want the deal. Chapter 1 Lucille's POV Of course, I wasn't going to pay my respects to Casey Clarke, of all people. Alexander York stood there, his expression already cold. "Lucille, don't make me ask twice." I removed my veil. "This wedding is off." The entire ballroom fell silent. Casey quickly broke the silence with a laugh. "Oh, come on, Lucille. You seriously can't take a joke? Al didn't even blink and called me 'Daddy'. One would think you could handle a little more than he can." The groomsmen joined in, laughing and egging me on. Alexander's mother, Mildred Smith, shot to her feet. "Lucille, do you have any idea where you are now? No matter what you're upset about, we can deal with it after the ceremony. Just finish the wedding." His father, Ethan York, remained seated, but his face had darkened. "All of the York family's guests are here. If you call off the wedding now, what exactly are we supposed to tell them?" I turned to Alexander. "So, did neither of you plan to explain to the guests or to me what the two of you had been pulling?" He took the microphone from my hand. "Sorry, everyone, but Lucille isn't feeling well. We're putting the ceremony on hold." I softly corrected him, saying, "I'm not unwell. I don't want to marry you anymore." Alexander finally looked at me. There was no concern in his eyes, just the anger of a man who had been publicly defied. Mildred grabbed my hand. "Haven't you embarrassed us enough? There's no marriage without hurt feelings. Casey's been like this with Alex since they were kids. You really had to make an issue of it today?" So, this was the first thing I was supposed to learn after marrying into the York family—swallowing my grievances in front of everyone, no matter how humiliating. When Casey sensed how tense things had become, she casually picked up the veil I had left on my chair and plopped it over her head. She planted her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at Alexander. "The bride's walking out? Fine. Your best man will take her place. Son, come on. Lift Daddy's veil." The guests burst out laughing again. Alexander reached over and shoved her away. "Go away. Stop making things worse." He sounded annoyed, but there wasn't a trace of real anger in his eyes. As Casey backed away, she stepped on the veil. The sheer white fabric dragged across the carpet, leaving a long black streak across it. That was the last thing Mom had left me before she died. Everyone knew that. Yet when Mildred saw the stain, all she did was frown. "It's just a veil. We'll get a new one later." Only then did I understand that none of these people had ever cared about me, let alone my family. Alexander grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the private bridal room. The second the door closed, the last remnants of his patience disappeared. "What on earth was that? Casey made one stupid joke, and you're going to ruin the entire wedding over it?" I looked at him, yet strangely, it didn't hurt me as much as I thought it would. Maybe I had been disappointed far too many times that by the time it came to this, even arguing with him felt pointless. "You're right. Her joke isn't worth ruining a wedding over." His brow twitched. "Stop saying things you don’t mean out of anger, Lucille. We're already legally married. Even if you walk out on me today, you're still my wife." I looked at the red marks around my wrist, left by his tight grip. "Then we'll get a divorce." Chapter 2 Lucille's POV Alexander's grip tightened around my wrist. Just then, Casey's voice came from outside the door. "Al, come out. Your dad's table is full of relatives waiting for you to make the rounds." He didn't move. Casey pushed the door open and walked in. The veil, still streaked with dirt, was crooked on her head. When she saw me, she pulled it off and tossed it onto the vanity. "Come on, Lucille. That's enough. There are more than 200 guests out there. Al can't leave all his friends and family hanging just to keep you happy." Alexander's voice dropped. "Leave us alone." She clicked her tongue. "Fine. I won't get involved in your fight." As she reached the door, she turned back to me. "But there's something I should warn you about. Al hates it when people threaten him with a breakup or a divorce. "Back in high school, his mom tried to force him to transfer schools. He dumped his suitcase at my place and shared my bed for six months without going home. "This man responds to persuasion, not pressure. The harder you push, the less likely he is to back down." Alexander frowned. "Are you done?" Casey laughed and shrugged. As she turned to leave, she picked up the veil lying on the vanity. "Oh, right. Did this really belong to your mom? No wonder it's so flimsy. One step, and it was ruined." I stared at the veil in her hand, my voice turning icy. "Put it down." She froze for a second before laughing. "Okay, okay. I won't touch it. Still, when your mom was in the hospital, you kept him up every night. I was the one drinking with him until the early hours. "The night your mom died, he fell asleep in my car. I was the one who answered your messages for him." My fingertips went cold. The night Mom died, I called Alexander 17 times. He didn't answer a single one. The next day, he simply told me he had been tied up at a business dinner the night before. Alexander looked away. "I'll explain everything later." He let go of me and followed Casey out. Before closing the door, he left me a single instruction. "Wait for me at home." This time, I wasn't planning to do that. I slowly folded my veil and left the hotel alone. Not long after I returned to our marital home, videos began popping up one after another in the wedding group chat. The reception was still ongoing. Ethan and Mildred stood onstage, smiling apologetically as they told everyone I had been under too much pressure before the wedding and asked them not to take it personally. Casey, on the other hand, stood beside Alexander with a bottle of whiskey. When someone asked why she was still there when the bride had already left, she planted one foot on a chair, slapped Alexander on the shoulder, and laughed. "My boy got embarrassed today. Of course, Daddy's got to stay and have his back!" She took drink after drink for Alexander, shielding him from one table after another. By the end of the night, she had taken my seat. Alexander merely nudged her shoe with his foot. "Get off." Casey didn't budge. She picked up my glass and clinked it against his. "I'll sit here for a minute. Don't be so petty." He didn't tell her to move again. When it was time to cut the cake, the emcee stared at the empty spot beside Alexander, unsure how to continue. Casey rolled up her sleeves and headed straight for the stage. She reached around Alexander from behind and took hold of his hand. Together, they cut the cake. He leaned down and told her not to cut it crooked, but she deliberately scooped up a handful of frosting and smeared it all over his face. He froze, then grabbed her wrist and smeared the rest of the frosting right back on her. They chased each other around the cake, laughing and fooling around. She was laughing so hard that she could barely stand and eventually stumbled straight into his arms. Alexander instinctively caught her by the waist and muttered, "You're in your twenties and still can't walk properly." On camera, even Ethan and Mildred were laughing. The wedding I had spent eight months planning went on without me, as lively as if nothing had ever happened. 30 minutes later, Casey posted a photo on social media. The caption read, "Bride went on strike. Her best man stepped in to save the day." Our mutual friends flooded the comments. "Congrats, Casey, on marrying off your son." "You two have better chemistry than the actual newlyweds." "Honestly, it made no difference that the wedding went on without the bride." Alexander didn't clarify anything. Beneath the post, he simply wrote, "Lucille's just throwing a tantrum. Stop spreading nonsense." Just then, an email arrived with the research center's final offer. The program abroad was three years long, with a permanent position waiting for me afterward. A month ago, I had turned it down for Alexander. This time, I accepted it. Then I called my lawyer. "Draft a divorce agreement. I don't want anything from our marital assets. Just get it done as soon as possible." Chapter 3 Lucille's POV The lock clicked. Alexander came home with Casey. The moment she walked in, she kicked off her sneakers and slipped her feet into the new slippers I had bought. "Hey, Lucille. Mind if I use your bathroom to freshen up?" She didn't wait for an answer. She pushed open the master bedroom door and walked right in. Alexander took off his coat. Seeing that I was staring at Casey's back, he casually explained, "She drank on my behalf all night. She reeks of booze." Ten minutes later, Casey came out wearing nothing but my bath towel and plopped herself onto the couch. She draped one leg across Alexander's lap and picked up the tablet the wedding photographer had sent over. "Perfect. Let's pick the photos from today." She flipped through them like she was sorting through her own album. The photos of her clinking glasses with Alexander stayed. The ones of her holding his hands from behind as they cut the cake stayed. The one of her throwing herself into his arms and smearing frosting all over him stayed, too. What didn't stay was a single photo of me. When she reached the picture of me standing alone on the stage, she deleted it without hesitation. "Look at her face. She looks like she's at a funeral. What terrible luck." The next photo showed my eyes, red from tears, as I took off my veil. She clicked her tongue. "Goodbye to this one, too. Who wants pictures like this in their wedding album? It'll ruin the mood every time you look at it." I reached for the tablet. Alexander got to it first and pressed his hand over it. "She's right. The wedding has already turned into a mess. There's no point keeping pictures that remind us of it." Soon, Casey finished making her selections. Out of the 40 photos, not a single one showed my face clearly. She tossed the tablet back onto the table, satisfied. "Now that's what a wedding album should look like." Alexander didn't argue. I turned and headed into the bedroom, closing the door behind me. Then I booked a flight for three days later. Outside, Casey was calling for Alexander to help her find the hair dryer. He answered, his footsteps passing right outside my door without stopping. With one day remaining before Alexander and I were scheduled to leave for our honeymoon, he tossed a revised itinerary onto the coffee table. Where my name had been, Casey's was now printed instead. "When you finally come to your senses and apologize to me, I'll put your name back." Casey was sprawled on the carpet, packing her scuba gear. She looked up when she heard that. "Come on, Lucille. Hurry up and apologize. I really don't want to be in a honeymoon suite with Alex. It's like two dudes sharing a room." At that, Alexander smiled. He was certain I would eventually give in. After all, we were supposed to leave the next day. What he didn't know was that I would also be leaving, just one day after them. The next day, I had planned to visit Mom's grave. Before she passed away, she had always regretted that she wouldn't live to see me walk down the aisle. Alexander had promised to come with me after the wedding. We would bring flowers and our wedding guest book and tell her we had finally tied the knot. I waited outside the cemetery until noon. The only thing I got from him was a text. "Casey has a competition this afternoon. Her car broke down, so I'm taking her. We can visit your mom anytime. If Casey misses this competition, she won't get another chance." In the end, I held the flowers against my chest and made my way up the hill alone. A thin layer of dirt covered the gravestone. I crouched down and wiped it clean, then arranged the flowers in the vase. "Hey, Mom… The wedding ceremony wasn't completed. The veil you left me got ruined, too." When I was a kid, I would go home and tell Mom about everything that hurt my feelings, just like this. "But it's okay. I've decided to leave. This time, I won't be waiting around for him." Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around. Alexander and Casey were approaching me, one behind the other. "Casey knew I was supposed to come here today, so she insisted on coming right after her competition," he said casually. "See? She's more considerate than you are." Casey set a bottle of liquor in front of the gravestone. "Mrs. Walker, I got a little carried away at the wedding. But don't worry. If Al ever gives Lucille a hard time, I'll be the first to knock some sense into him." With that, she pulled a red paint marker from her pocket, the kind she had used to sign things at her competition. "The headstone looks too plain. Doesn't exactly fit someone who just had a festivity at home." She crouched down and drew a crooked red flower beside Mom's name. Then, as if it were nothing, she added a line. "Al got married! Love, Casey." I grabbed her by the wrist. "Wipe it off." Casey stared at me, as if I were the unreasonable one. "I was just trying to make her gravestone look a little more festive. What's your problem? Let go!" "I said wipe it off!" I exclaimed, reaching for the marker. She clicked her tongue and yanked her arm free. "Why are you getting worked up again?" My foot slipped on the wet moss, and I went tumbling down the stone steps. My knee scraped against the gravel, and my elbow slammed into the edge of the gravestone. Blood quickly ran down my arm. Alexander's expression shifted. He instinctively stepped toward me, but Casey was already rubbing her reddened wrist. "I didn't push her. She just lost her footing." He stopped. Despite looking at the blood running down my arm, he said coldly, "Apologize to Casey first." I pulled myself up against the gravestone and sat down. "She scribbled all over Mom's gravestone and then shoved me!" He frowned. "Just wipe it off. Did you have to get physical?" Casey crouched down and hurriedly rubbed at the paint with her sleeve. Instead of coming off, the red paint smeared farther across the stone. She stood up and held up her hands. "It's waterproof. I'll get someone to clean it up later. What's the big deal, Lucille?" I stared at the ugly red streak beside Mom's name, and finally, my tears came. Chapter 4 Lucille's POV At the sight of my tears, Alexander lost what little patience he had left. He turned toward the gravestone. "Mrs. Walker, your daughter never had the chance to learn how to be a wife from you. You left too soon." My fingers clenched, but he kept going. "She gets upset over the slightest thing. She even called off the wedding and threatened me with divorce. She was like this when you were sick, too. The moment something went wrong, she cried. "And the second that happened, everyone had to drop everything like their world revolved around her. You asked me to take care of her before you left. But how am I supposed to take care of someone who acts so petulantly?" I stared at Alexander, stunned. When Mom was sick, her greatest fear was burdening me. Even when the pain kept her awake at night, she would lie there quietly so she wouldn't wake me. Before she passed, she held Alexander's hand and begged him to be patient with me. Now, he was standing at her grave, turning her final request into a burden. Worse, he was blaming her for not raising me right. Alexander looked at me. "If your mom were around, she would've been disappointed to see you turn into this." I closed my eyes. The last bit of pounding pain in my chest went quiet. "Alexander, let's get divorced. I'll have my lawyer send the papers to your secretary." His face dropped. He grabbed my injured arm. The wound split open again, pain exploding through me. He stared at me for a long time before a cold sneer escaped him. "You're going to push this even further, huh? Forget about divorce. It's not happening. Instead, I'll make you understand exactly what happens when you try to threaten me." With that, he walked down the hill. Casey followed him for a few steps before turning back to me. She lifted her chin with a smug grin. "Looks like you're in trouble now, Lucille." I knelt alone in front of Mom's grave, slowly rubbing away the red writing with the edge of my sleeve. When I returned home, the nursery door was open. Alexander was standing inside with the fetal Doppler in his hand. It was the only sound we had left of our baby, Mason. Alexander pulled the memory card from the device and snapped it in half right in front of me. I stood in the doorway, forgetting how to breathe. He tossed the device back on the table. "Consider that a lesson." When we lost the baby, Alexander had been even more devastated than I was. When I woke up from the surgery, he was kneeling beside my bed, his eyes red from crying. Now, all he did was narrow his eyes at me in warning. "Today, it's only the recording of Mason's heartbeat. I don't know what it'll be next time." I met his gaze. I could clearly see the reluctance in his eyes, but his voice remained frigid. "While Casey and I are away on the honeymoon, take some time to reflect. Once we get back, I expect you to have come to your senses." I closed my eyes, but the tears still rolled down my cheeks. Alexander tried to reach over and wipe the tears away, like he had done every other time, but I turned my face away. His expression darkened instantly. "Lucille, don't exhaust the last of my patience." Casey's voice came from outside. "Al, the bags are in the car. If we don't leave now, we'll miss our flight." He pulled his hand back. "Don't even think about leaving again. I mean, where else could you possibly go?" After the door closed, the room fell silent. I crouched on the floor and slowly put everything he had thrown back in its place. A silver baby bracelet lay on the bed. Back then, Alexander had held my hand and carefully engraved a message on the back. "Mommy and Daddy love you forever, Mason." I ran my thumb slowly over the words. So, this was how short forever could be. … Third-Person POV Three days later, Alexander and Casey returned from their honeymoon. She pushed open the door and called out cheerfully, "Hey, Lucille. I got you a present!" No one answered. Alexander rushed into the nursery, only to find a signed divorce agreement waiting for him inside.