"What other tricks do you want to play?"
I tremblingly extended my deformed fingers, dipping them in the water on the ground. With all the strength I had left, I managed to scrawl in crooked letters on the cement floor. "I am Mike's fiancee."
The man stared at the words on the ground, then suddenly burst into laughter, as if hearing the biggest joke of his life.
"You? Mike's fiancee?"
He took out his phone and started a livestream, holding it in front of me.
"Open your eyes wide and take a good look. Mike's wedding is about to begin and I don't know how many lives you have to pretend to be Mike's fiancee!"
On the screen, Mike stood at the entrance of the hotel, dressed in a well-tailored black suit, a fresh flower pinned to his chest, anxiously looking around.
"Mike, the lucky hour is almost here, why hasn’t the bride arrived?"
The host's puzzled voice came from the phone.
The man retracted his phone, stomping on the knuckles where I'd written with a brutal force.
"Been watching long enough?" he sneered. "I could tell yesterday that you, this toad, were trying to get a taste of something beyond your reach. But you're still not giving up, huh? You probably don't even know, Mike's fiancee is a renowned mortician, even the police take her seriously! She's nothing like the likes of you, some scamming gambler!"
The sharp pain from the brutal kick made me curl into a ball, but despite the agony, a sliver of hope surged within me.
As long as Mike realized I was missing, he would definitely come looking for me.
The auspicious time had arrived at the hotel.
The guests were whispering among themselves and the emcee had already rearranged the program for the third time.
Mike stood in the lounge, calling my phone over and over again, but no one ever answered.
“Mike, why can’t we get in touch with Karen? Could something have happened to her?”
Kyle, the bridesmaid, was so anxious she was on the verge of tears.
Mike’s face grew darker and darker. He grabbed his coat and dashed out. “I’m going to find her!”
He sped all the way home and when he pushed open the door, the living room was silent.
My slippers were neatly placed by the entryway and the wedding dress was still hanging on the rack in the center of the room, the dust cover not even removed.
“Karen?” he called out.
He searched every room one by one, even opening the wardrobe to check, but there was still no sign of me.