Today was our fifth anniversary. Austin had kept it from me and arranged a proposal ceremony with his friends.
On a crowded street, he knelt on one knee, holding up a dazzling diamond ring.
"Summer, marry me."
I was touched. I reached out my right hand, waiting for him to slide the ring onto my ring finger.
But just then, Austin's phone rang.
He flashed me an embarrassed smile and answered it.
I couldn't tell what the person on the other end said.
Austin's expression turned panicked. Without a word, he stood up and hailed a taxi by the curb.
By the time I snapped out of it, he was already gone.
The onlookers murmured among themselves, and my friends exchanged awkward glances.
One of them stepped forward to console me. "Summer, Austin might really have been in a hurry."
A flicker of self-mockery crossed my eyes. I forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I know. He had something urgent."
They didn't know that I'd caught a glimpse of his phone screen: Daisy.
Who was Daisy?
She was Austin's childhood sweetheart, a bond of seventeen years that I could never compete with.