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What should I do?
The wedding had been booked in for a long time. Bowing out now would seal the end of my friendship with Nicole once and for all. Did I really want that? Part of me still clung to a shred of hope that we could revive our friendship. Was that foolish? I thought of her party and how she had snubbed me and not cared or noticed when she left me behind. Did she even want me at her wedding? Maybe she’d breathe a sigh of relief if I told her I couldn’t come.
I knew what would happen if I brought it up with Neil. He’d tell me to go to the wedding. No question. But if I was honest with myself, I would prefer to go on the business trip. My work life was more important than Nicole. Neil was more important.
That settles it.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I grabbed my phone and composed a text message.
Hi, Nicole. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it to your wedding anymore. An important business trip has come up, and I can’t really get out of it. Sorry for the late notice. Wishing you all the best for your big day.
I hesitated over the send button for a second, then, with a deep breath, I sent the message.
Just like that, the deed was done.
A weight lifted off my shoulders. Deep down, I must have been dreading the wedding the whole time. Now that I didn’t have to go, I felt a sense of relief. Nicole would be fine without me. I’d be fine without her. It was time to let go and move on.
With that sorted, I returned my attention to the plane ticket booking page. It had timed out, so I had to go through all the steps again. I used Neil’s credit card to pay the ludicrous fare for two business class seats departing on the twentieth of September and returning on the twenty-fourth.
Accommodation was the next thing I had to arrange. Neil had a membership with a particular hotel chain, which made things simple. I pulled up the reservation screen for the location closest to Zelthia headquarters and started to fill in the details. Partway through, the form froze. An error message appeared.
We are currently experiencing a problem with our booking system. Please call us to make a reservation.
Grumbling, I picked up the landline phone and punched in the number. As I listened to the dial tone, my mobile phone started ringing at the same time. Nicole’s name flashed up on the screen. A surge of panic coursed through me. I hadn’t expected her to call me back. Flustered, I hung up the landline and answered Nicole’s call. “Hello?”
“I got your message,” Nicole said.
Her subdued tone struck me as out of character, and I felt a wave of guilt. “I’m sorry, Nicole. It’s just this work thing… It’s very important for me to go. You know, for my career.”
Nicole didn’t say anything. I wondered if she was upset with me and started to regret pulling out of her wedding. I should have sucked it up and just accepted that I had to go for the sake of what little remained of our friendship.
“Nicole?”
When she spoke up again, her voice was even more sombre. “Actually, the thing is, we have postponed the wedding.”
Postponed?
I wondered what could have happened. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Totally,” she said with sudden cheeriness that sounded forced. “It’s just, you know, family stuff. I was planning to send an update to everyone soon.”
“So, when’s the new date?”
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, let me know, and I might be able to attend the new date.”
“Sure. I’ll let you know. Well, that’s all I had to tell you.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
She hung up before I could say bye back to her.
That was odd. I had never heard Nicole sound so down in the dumps before. I wondered what was going on with her. Well, whatever it was, I couldn’t let it bother me too much. I had other things to focus on.
Neil and I worked closer together than ever in the lead-up to the Singapore trip. Literally. Our shoulders almost touched as I leaned in to focus on his computer screen, my chair pulled up beside him in his office. “I wonder if we should move this slide back. What do you think?” I asked.
