The Marriage Appointment Abandoned For A Lost Cat

1 The heavy glass doors of City Hall were slowly gliding shut when Danny called to cancel our marriage registration. "Lilah lost her cat," he said, his voice laced with stress. "She's terrified and crying alone in the street. I really can't leave her." I froze, the cool marble floor beneath my heels suddenly feeling unsteady. "We can get registered anytime," he added, as if explaining something obvious to a child. "If the cat wanders too far, she'll never get it back." Through the receiver, I caught the soft, wet sound of a girl sobbing, followed by a fragile murmur: "Please tell your girlfriend not to be mad at me..." I looked down at the creased document folder in my hands. "Danny, we scheduled this appointment a month ago. Nana is sitting at home right now, waiting for us." A heavy sigh echoed through the speaker. In all the years we had been together, whenever he sighed like that, I was always the one to back down. "Go find her cat then," I whispered. He exhaled, relieved. "I knew you'd understand. You've always been the sensible one." Once upon a time, I was the one who received that gentle protection. The first time we crossed the Old Mill Bridge, I had been trembling with fear. He held my hand tightly, promising he would never let go. The bridge was still there. The cold wind still swept through the valley. But the hand holding mine had opened and let me fall. … "Stella, sweetie, why are you back alone?" Nana was standing by the porch gate, watching me from down the lane. Last night, she had carefully wrapped my birth certificate and legal IDs in a red velvet pouch, placing it in my palm. "Once you cross that bridge, you'll start your own family," she had whispered. Now, the pouch sat in my purse, its crimson drawstrings dangling loose. I didn't want to compromise anymore. "Something came up at his office," I lied softly. "We couldn't make it today." Nana offered a reassuring smile. "Work is important. A good man takes his responsibilities seriously. It's normal to be busy." She paused, wiping her dusty hands on her apron. "When's the next open slot? Don't you need to make an appointment online?" I lowered my eyes. "We'll see." She didn't press further. Taking the red velvet pouch, she placed it on the dining table and slowly smoothed out the wrinkled edges. "I'll keep this safe for you. You'll need it next time." Her eyesight was poor. It had taken her three frustrating attempts to thread the needle last night just to embroider a small gold luck symbol on the cloth for us. My phone chimed with a text from Danny. Lilah has calmed down. I'll come pick you up tonight. Explain things to your grandmother. Don't let her worry. I stared at the screen for a long time. So he knew Nana would worry. He simply didn't care enough to show up anyway. At seven in the evening, Danny's black sedan pulled up at the mouth of the alley. Nana walked me to the gate, holding the red pouch in her frail hands. "Stella, take it with you. What if you can register tomorrow morning?" Before I could decline, Danny stepped out of the driver's seat and took the pouch from her with a polished smile. "Don't worry, Nana. I'll handle everything." His voice was smooth and calm, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Nana smiled, the deep wrinkles around her eyes crinkling. "Danny, Stella can be shy and anxious. Take good care of her." Danny glanced at me, his eyes cool. "She isn't that fragile anymore, Nana. Though she does like to get stuck in her own head sometimes." Nana missed the edge in his voice and patted my hand gently. "When building a life together, don't fuss over minor setbacks." As the car rolled over the Old Mill Bridge, the streetlights flickered on one by one. That bridgehead was where I had waited for him earlier today, staring at the City Hall building across the street. Danny tossed the red pouch onto the center console. "I'm sorry about today." "Lilah's cat means everything to her," he continued. "She grew up with no family security. She doesn't have many people to rely on." "I know." "Good." He let out a soft breath and reached over to pat the back of my hand. "Stella, you and she are different. You have your grandmother, and you have me. She only has herself." I pulled my hand back, letting his fingers brush uselessly against the velvet pouch. "Don't hold a grudge over something so small," he urged. "We can pick another day for the license." I heard my own voice ask quietly, "If it were my paperwork that went missing today, if I were the one crying alone outside City Hall, would you have come?" Silence stretched inside the car. Then he let out a short, amused chuckle. "You wouldn't cry over something like that." Those words settled over me like a layer of frost. Because I wouldn't cry, I could be kept waiting. Because I wouldn't cry, I was expected to yield. Because I wouldn't cry, I could always be placed last. When the car stopped outside my apartment complex, Danny unbuckled his seatbelt and held out the red pouch. "I booked a nice table for dinner tomorrow night. My treat to make it up to you." I didn't reach for it. His brows pulled together in a slight scowl. "Stella, that's enough. Don't drag this out." I stared at the deep red cloth. "Danny, do you even remember what day it is?" Impatience flickered across his features, though he kept his tone even. "Our registration day. Of course I remember." "No." I picked up the pouch and pushed the car door open. "It's also the anniversary of my parents' death." Danny's hand froze on the steering wheel. As I stepped out into the chilly night, I heard him call my name behind me. The light fixture on the second floor landing was broken, leaving half the stairs swallowed in darkness. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I'm so sorry. I forgot. I stood in the shadows on the stairwell, staring at the glowing screen. I didn't reply. 2 A wave of hushed whispers drifted from the hallway outside the open office door. Lilah stood near the entrance, holding a stack of pristine folders. She had dropped off documents at our firm before, but today was different. Danny was standing right behind her. The department manager rushed over with a warm smile. "Mr. Mercer, who is this?" Danny answered smoothly. "This is Lilah. She's being temporarily reassigned to your team to help organize project archives." The manager nodded briskly, then turned toward my desk. "Stella, why don't you show her the ropes? You work closely with Mr. Mercer anyway, so it'll make communication easier." Lilah walked over to my desk, her voice soft and timid. "Stella, I'll be in your care. I am so sorry about yesterday. Danny told me you wouldn't stay mad, but I still couldn't sleep a wink worrying about it." I looked at her, my posture rigid. "Our team is extremely busy right now. Organizing archives isn't just filing papers." Danny stepped forward, his knuckles rapping twice against my desk. "Lilah learns quickly. Just give her a quick walkthrough." "I don't have time." His voice dropped an octave, laced with a quiet warning. "Stella, keep your personal feelings out of the workplace." The room fell dead silent. Several coworkers turned to stare. Someone whispered in the corner, "Wait, are they having a fight?" Lilah's eyes instantly welled with tears. "Stella, please don't be hard on Danny. I can go to another department. Really, it's fine..." Danny glanced down at her, his expression softening immediately. "You don't need to go anywhere." He turned back to me, his jaw set. "She just wants to learn. There's no need to be so defensive." Looking at the man I had loved for six years, I suddenly felt like I was staring at a stranger. "If that is your decision, Mr. Mercer, then we'll follow standard company procedure." He blinked, visibly caught off guard. I had always called him Danny. When I was annoyed, I still called him Danny. The title "Mr. Mercer" was reserved for joking in front of clients. This was no joke. At lunch, Lilah trailed behind me in the cafeteria, clutching a pink bento box. "Stella, please don't blame Danny," she pleaded quietly. "He's under a lot of pressure lately, and he's been taking care of me on top of everything else. He probably just didn't pay attention to the details." My best friend, Brooke, sat down next to me and let out a harsh laugh. "He can't pay attention to his own fiancée, but he has all the time in the world to worry about your crying fits?" Tears spilled over Lilah's lashes. People at nearby tables began turning around. She panicked, hastily wiping her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just feel like Stella already has so much. Her grandmother adores her, and Danny loves her. I grew up with nothing, so I guess I just got a little greedy..." Danny walked over with his tray, casually pulling a paper napkin to dab the tears from her face. "What are you crying for?" Lilah shook her head. "It's nothing. I just said the wrong thing." Danny looked over at me, his forehead creased with deep frustration. "She just got here. Do you really have to do this?" I didn't bother explaining. Months ago, I would have explained. I would have dissected every painful detail for him to understand. But when someone has decided not to listen, every word you say sounds like unreasonable nagging. I grabbed my tray and stood up. Danny reached out and gripped my wrist firmly. "You haven't finished eating." "I'm not hungry." "Stella, sit down." His grip wasn't painful, but it was firm enough to lock me in place. I looked down at his fingers wrapped around my wrist. That was the same hand that used to lead me across the old stone bridge. The same hand that had forgotten I was waiting for him on the anniversary of my parents' deaths. I yanked my wrist free and walked straight out of the cafeteria. Behind me, I heard Lilah's timid voice. "Danny, you should go after her. I'll be okay on my own." Danny hesitated for a moment. Then he said, "Eat your lunch first." That night, Danny didn't come to my apartment. He sent a single text message. Let me know when you've cooled off. I stared at the glowing phone screen, remembering the countless times we had argued over the past year. Every single conflict ended with that exact phrase. It was as if all my hurt and boundary setting were nothing more than a childish tantrum that simply needed time to fade. 3 The next morning, during our project status meeting, the manager beamed at the team. "Lilah put a lot of heart into organizing the archives for the Old Mill Bridge Renovation Project. Mr. Mercer reviewed it and said her core concept looks great." The projection screen lit up. The slide displayed my initial draft, right down to the punctuation marks in the subheadings. Lilah stood up, her voice trembling slightly with performative nervousness. "I put this together last night using Stella's old notes as a reference. If anything looks wrong, please feel free to correct me." I looked up at Danny, sitting at the head of the conference table. "That proposal is mine." The room plunged into awkward silence. Lilah's face drained of color. "Stella, I didn't mean to steal your work! I thought since you put it in the shared team folder, it was meant for me to use." The manager looked uncomfortable, but Danny smoothly stepped in to bridge the gap. "Stella, Lilah was just formatting the material. There's no reason to embarrass her in public." "It's my intellectual property," I said coldly. "I know," Danny replied, his tone infuriatingly steady. "Which is why I said she was just organizing it." Lilah immediately hung her head, tears dripping onto her notebook. "Danny, leave it alone. It's all my fault." Danny kept his eyes fixed on me. "Moving forward, you two will co-manage the Old Mill Bridge project. The credits will list the project team, not individual names." The tip of my pen snapped against the paper, leaving a dark, ugly line across my notes. I had fought for six months to get assigned to the Old Mill Bridge project. That bridge was the road that led to Nana's house. The vintage lamp posts along its stone parapets had broken down years ago, and I had deliberately designed the blueprints to preserve the original stonework. I wanted to restore it because it was my way home. "Stella, I always thought you knew how to keep work and personal life separate," Danny said, his tone dripping with quiet disappointment, as if I were the one letting everyone down. After the meeting, Lilah cornered me in the breakroom. "Stella, do you really hate me that much?" she sobbed softly. "I know you think Danny favors me, but I swear I never wanted to take anything from you. When I was little and had no one, Danny helped me out once. I've always viewed him as an older brother." Seeing my lack of reaction, her tears flowed faster. "Please don't be so cold to me. It really scares me." I picked up my mug and stepped around her. "If you're scared, stay away from me." She froze. The next second, Danny stepped through the doorway, pulling her behind his shoulder. "Do you really have to bite everyone's head off today?" I raised my mug. "I just told her to keep her distance." "She was trying to apologize!" "She stole my work." "I told you, that was a misunderstanding!" I stared directly into his eyes. "If I were the one who took her work today, would you call it a misunderstanding?" Danny went quiet for a moment. "You wouldn't do something like that." A faint, bitter smile touched my lips. It sounded like trust. But I knew better. He only said it because he knew I was mature, sensible, and obsessed with keeping up appearances. I was the safe option, the one who would never make a mess or make him look bad. By mid-afternoon, the manager informed me that the core files for the bridge project were being handed over to Lilah temporarily. The official reason? I was "emotionally unstable." Brooke was furious and threatened to march into the director's office, but I grabbed her arm. "Leave it." "How can you just let this slide?" she demanded, her eyes blazing. I closed my laptop. "Because if I make a scene, he'll just say I'm making a mountain out of a molehill." Before the workday ended, Danny walked over to my cubicle and set a small velvet box on my desk. "For you." Inside was a delicate sterling silver bracelet. It was undeniably pretty. But I instantly recognized it. Lilah had posted a picture of the exact same bracelet on her social media feed at noon with the caption: He says every girl deserves to be spoiled. I pushed the box back toward him. "Danny, do you buy your pity gifts in bulk now?" He stiffened, then released a heavy, irritated sigh. "Lilah saw it and thought it looked nice, so I bought an extra one while I was at the shop. Why do you insist on turning everything into something ugly?" I didn't answer. My phone rang. It was Nana. I picked up, and her cheerful voice filled my ear. "Stella, sweetie! Danny called me earlier. He said you two are coming over for dinner tomorrow night!" "I'm making your favorite lotus root soup. Come early, okay?" I looked up at Danny. He lowered his eyes, taking my silence as an acceptance of his peace offering. A tight knot formed in my throat. "Oh, and Stella," Nana added warmly, "I stitched a few extra luck symbols onto that red velvet pouch. Everything is going to go smoothly this time, I just know it." I gripped the phone tightly. "Okay, Nana." Hearing that single word, the tension in Danny's jaw finally relaxed. 4 When we drove to Nana's house the next day, Lilah was sitting in the back seat. "Stella," Lilah said sweetly, handing a gift basket toward the front, "Danny mentioned your grandmother likes soft pears, so I picked some up on the way." I shot a glance at Danny. He avoided my gaze and locked the car doors. "Lilah was home alone with nothing to do," he said casually. "It was on the way, so I invited her for dinner. She has great manners. Nana won't mind." Lilah immediately leaned forward. "Maybe I should just get out. I don't want to make Stella unhappy." Danny gripped the steering wheel and stepped on the gas. "Sit back." As the car crossed the Old Mill Bridge, I put my hand into my coat pocket, my fingers brushing against the soft red velvet pouch. Nana had reminded me to bring it, saying she wanted to take a photo of us after dinner for good luck before our next trip to City Hall. When we pulled up to the gate, Nana was already waiting outside. Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Lilah step out of the car. Danny spoke up immediately. "Nana, this is my friend Lilah. She was in the area, so I brought her along to visit you." Lilah handed over the fruit basket with a sugary smile. "Hello, Nana! Danny talks about you all the time." Nana took the basket, forcing a polite smile. "Well, come on in and sit down." At the dinner table, Nana ladled a steaming bowl of lotus root soup and reached out to set it in front of me. Danny reached across the table, intercepted the bowl, and placed it right in front of Lilah. "Her stomach has been bothering her," Danny said smoothly. "She needs something warm first." Nana's hand hovered in midair, frozen. Lilah quickly gestured in panic. "Oh no, please! Stella should have it first." Danny glanced at me. "Stella doesn't care about one bowl of soup." I stared down at my empty bowl. Brooke had asked me recently when Danny had changed. The truth was, he hadn't changed overnight. It didn't start with a massive betrayal. It started with a bowl of soup, an umbrella given away, a missed promise, a forgotten wait. Each moment was tiny. So small that if I complained, I sounded petty. Nana quickly filled another bowl for me, offering a slightly strained smile. "There's plenty more in the pot." Lilah sat beside Danny, her eyes dropping to the red velvet pouch resting beside my place setting. "Oh, that's so pretty." Danny picked it up, examining the intricate gold thread. "Nana's embroidery is amazing." Nana chuckled softly. "My eyes aren't what they used to be. The stitches are crooked, don't mind them." Lilah lowered her head, her voice dropping to a tragic whisper. "My mom used to stitch things for me when I was little. But after she passed, no one cared about me anymore." I looked up, my eyes locking onto Danny's. "That pouch is for my marriage license." The smile faded from Danny's face. "Lilah was just making a comment, Stella. Don't be so overly sensitive." Lilah hastily put the pouch back down. "I'm sorry, Stella! I shouldn't have said I liked it." I reached across the table to retrieve the pouch, but Danny's palm slammed down over it, blocking my hand. "Stella, not in front of your grandmother. Don't make a scene." "I'm not making a scene." "Then finish your dinner first." His palm pressed firmly against the velvet, flattening the small, carefully stitched gold letter of my name underneath his hand. I looked at his fingers, and suddenly, the urge to argue completely evaporated. Nana picked up her tea glass and offered to put the pouch away in the cabinet. At that moment, a sharp meow sounded from near the doorway. The white cat Lilah had brought in her carrier had slipped free. It leaped onto the dining table, its back claws catching on the red velvet pouch and dragging it off the edge. The pouch tumbled onto the dusty threshold, rolling straight into a patch of wet mud near the door. Nana gasped, hurrying over to pick it up. "Oh dear, oh no, it can't get dirty..." Lilah panicked, dropping to her knees. "I'm so sorry! I didn't hold onto the carrier!" Danny bent down, picked up the muddy pouch, and casually dusted it against his trousers. "It's fine. A quick wash will fix it right up." I held out my hand to take it, but Danny pulled it out of reach, setting it casually on a side table. "It's just a piece of cloth, Stella. If it's ruined, I'll buy you a new one. Don't be unreasonable." Nana froze in her tracks. Her vision was failing. It had taken her three long nights under a dim lamp to stitch that pouch. It wasn't just a piece of cloth. It was her quiet joy, her belief that I was finally going to have a home of my own. I stared at Danny. "Apologize to her." He frowned, annoyance flaring in his eyes. "I already said we can clean it." "Apologize to Nana." "Stella, stop pushing it." Lilah began to sob uncontrollably. "It's all my fault! Please don't fight! I'll buy a new one to replace it, I promise!" Nana waved her hands frantically. "No, no, it's alright! The little creature didn't mean it." The last bit of warmth in my chest died completely. Danny looked at me, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "See? Even Nana says it's fine." I walked over to the side table and picked up the red velvet pouch. The wet mud had already soaked deep into the fabric, staining the gold embroidery. Slowly, I unzipped my bag, pulled out my legal documents, and slipped them into my coat pocket. "You're right," I said quietly. "It doesn't matter anymore." "And we don't need to get a marriage license anymore, either."