Blurb：
When Vivian arrived at the venue expecting a romantic proposal from Ryan, she was shocked to discover her name wasn’t on the guest list. The custom neon sign “Ryan & Vivian–Forever” had been replaced with “Welcome Home, Annie,” and the rare Aphrodite’s Bloom orchids she’d helped select now decorated Annie Taylor’s welcome party instead of their engagement. As Ryan’s fraternity brother Mark smirked and led her inside, Vivian saw Ryan focused entirely on Annie, the woman whose ghost had haunted their entire relationship. The orchid tattoo Vivian had laser-removed just hours before now felt like a raw, stinging reminder of her naivety. When Annie Taylor suggested connecting on Instagram to “mark” Ryan’s upcoming proposal, Vivian realized everyone had been secretly laughing at her all along. This emotional story explores betrayal, self-discovery, and whether Vivian will find the strength to reclaim her identity after being humiliated by the man she loved and the mysterious Annie Taylor who still holds Ryan’s heart.
Content：
The orchid tattoo over my heart was gone, scraped away by a dermatologist’s laser just hours before my own proposal.
By the time I arrived at the proposal venue, the security guard at the door gave me an apologetic look,
“I’m sorry, Miss.Your name isn’t on the list for this event.”
I was stunned for a moment, looking around before I noticed that the custom neon sign that was supposed to read “Ryan & Vivian–Forever” was gone.
In its place, an elegant banner fluttered in the breeze, “Welcome Home, Annie.”
Orchids. Thousands of them. The same rare, exquisite Aphrodite’s Bloom that was now a raw, stinging patch of skin on my collarbone.
And me, the supposed star of the proposal, suddenly became an outsider without even the right to enter.
A burst of laughter and chatter drifted from inside. After standing there dazed for a while, I still took out my phone and called Ryan.
It went straight to voicemail. Of course.
One of his fraternity brothers, Mark, spotted me. A smirk twisted his lips.
He led me into the venue I had helped Ryan decorate for tonight.
As I got closer, I saw that Ryan, who should have been proposing to me, was now focused on the woman in the jade-green cheongsam printed with—of course—orchids.
Annie Taylor. The ghost who had haunted our entire relationship.
We’d met a few times and had even gotten along quite well.
She saw me first. Her eyes, warm and knowing, flickered over my simple dress.
“Ryan,”she chided softly, “You didn’t even go greet your girlfriend when she arrived.”
Ryan turned. A flash of guilt, quickly masked, crossed his face. He took my hand and apologized, “Sorry, babe, Annie just got back a few days ago. We couldn’t find a good place for her welcome party, so we just used this spot for now.”
“As for the proposal, I’ll make it up to you. How about next month?”
A month.
Fine.
I looked around at the orchid-filled venue and gave a calm nod.
Almost immediately, voices rose around us.
“Annie,can you believe Jake? He even gave up this gorgeous proposal spot just for your welcome party.”
“Yeah, if you ever leave the country again without a word, you’d really be letting him down.”
“And these orchids— Aphrodite’s Bloom, each one costs a fortune—Ryan didn’t even blink buying them for your party!”
Then, out of nowhere, someone said something that made the air go still.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward me.
Even though I thought I’d braced myself, I still felt crushed under their mocking stares.
Not just because everyone knew Ryan’s and my couple tattoo was the Sue’s Orchid Crown.
But also because the “Annie” they were fawning over was named Annie Taylor.
Seven years ago, Ryan and I got together.
In moments of passion, I’d always see that exquisitely elegant orchid tattoo over his heart and ask him what it meant.
He’d pause, his voice almost reverent, and say, “This is… the love of my life.”
I believed him. Naively.
So I went to a tattoo parlor and had the same orchid inked over my heart.
When Ryan found out, he looked at me with a complicated expression but started treating me even better than before.
He even laughed, hugged me, and said now we had matching tattoos.
Later, when he introduced me to Annie, she once pointed to my tattoo and asked what it meant.
I’d always answer sweetly, with a hint of shyness, that it was our couple tattoo.
And Annie’s reaction was just like Ryan’s friends’, she’d nod, smile meaningfully, and say nothing more.
Back then, I had no idea what the tattoo truly symbolized. I thought their smiles were approval.
Now I know—they were secretly laughing at me.
The silence in the room stretched on.
In the middle of the tension, Annie suddenly smiled.
She acted like she didn’t even notice the awkward vibe, patted my hand, and said, “By the way, we’ve known each other this long, Vivian, and we still aren’t following each other on Instagram.”
“Since Ryan’s gonna propose, I figured we should do something to mark it.”
With that, she pulled out her phone, opened Instagram, and gave me a quick, easy wink.
Almost right away, the stares on me let up, and the room felt lively again.
“C’mon, follow her! People beg for Annie for her Instagram and never get it!”
“Yeah, and if she ghosts Ryan again after he proposes, you can help him send her a message.”
They brazenly flaunted the unusual bond between Ryan and Annie right in front of me.
They’d just spilled the truth, but now they acted like I had no clue what was going on.
It was quiet, mean mockery—blatant, unapologetic.
And Ryan? He never once tried to stop them.
Even though he was standing right next to me, his eyes were glued to Annie the whole time.
After a moment of silence, I pulled out my phone.
But the minute we hit “follow” on each other, I froze. My face went pale, and I gripped my phone so tight I couldn’t let go.
Annie raised an eyebrow, looking surprised, then smiled again.
This time, her smile was even more knowing—like she had a secret.
Seeing Annie smile, Ryan’s mood lightened up too.
“What’s up? Why the smile all of a sudden?”
Annie glanced down, casual as can be, and said, “Oh, nothing—just realized Vivian and I already followed each other ages ago. Kinda funny, right?”
It seemed like no big deal, so almost nobody paid it any mind.
They went back to joking around and talking about childhood stories I’d never been part of, leaving me standing there, totally humiliated.
But I knew—Annie had put it all together.
She’d figured out I’d once made a fake account to follow her, that I’d stayed up all night scrolling through her posts like a creep, staring at pictures of her and Ryan.
I could barely breathe, shame weighing me down.
My eyes burned, tears threatening to spill over.
The scar on my collarbone—from when I got the tattoo removed—throbbed, sharp and sore.
I couldn’t take it anymore. Frantically, I scanned the room, looking for what I needed.
I’d known from the start this proposal had turned into Annie’s welcome party.
The only reason I showed up was to get that one thing back.
Even though most of the old stuffe had been cleared out, I still spotted it in a corner.
It was something I’d hidden there, a surprise I’d planned for Ryan when he proposed—a collection of al the little ways I’d loved him over the years.
But now I knew if anyone found it, it would only make the shame and humiliation worse.
I gritted my teeth and ran for that corner, no second thoughts.
But I was in too much of a rush—I crashed right into a server coming in.
The four-tier cake he was pushing went crashed down on me.
I fell, covered in thick, heavy frosting from head to toe.
I tried to get up, but the slippery cake on the floor made me lose my balance, and I hit the ground hard again.
The noise—plates clattering, the cake tin slamming down—drew everyone’s attention fast.
They turned and saw the ridiculous scene, me on the floor, covered in frosting, cake crumbs everywhere.
Right away, they started yelling at me.
“Vivian, what the hell? You’ve ruined the whole party!”
“Did you do this on purpose? Just because Ryan didn’t propose to you?”
Ryan’s face went dark, his jaw tight with anger.
He walked over—not to check if I was hurt, just to snap, “Vivian, what are you doing?”
He reached out like he was gonna help me up, but then noticed what I was clutching tight to my chest, my fingers white from squeezing it.
He stopped short, his brows furrowing. “What’s that?”
Hearing him, I only held the thing in my arms tighter—like it was the last piece of something I couldn’t bear to lose.
When he reached for it, I instinctively pulled away, my shoulders tensing up.
Ryan looked caught off guard, his brows lifting a little.
I’d never kept secrets from him before—not once.
This was the first time I’d ever tried to hide something from him.
Frowning, he helped me up anyway, his hand firm on my arm.
He stared at me, his eyes a mix of irritation and just a flicker of concern. “What’s with you today? Why are you being so careless?”
Once, I would’ve told myself that Ryan was just naturally reserved quiet—like, even when he cared, he didn’t show it much.
Back then, even that tiny bit of worry would’ve been enough to make me happy.
But after seeing the way he looked at Annie in those posts—full of warmth and that soft, wholehearted devotion—I realized that when he truly loves someone, he doesn’t hold anything back.
And in seven years, I’d never seen that side of him.
All the emotions I’d been shoving down—hurt, anger, sadness—seemed to go cold right then.
I wiped the frosting off my cheek with the back of my hand and said flatly, “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
This time, I didn’t throw my arms around his neck, complaining about how much my elbow hurt or begging him to act like he cared—like I used to do, every single time.
Ryan noticed the difference. He opened his mouth like he was gonna say something, but someone cut him off.
“Sorry doesn’t fix this! You ruined the whole party!”
“Everything was perfect until you showed up and messed it all up!”
“I told Ryan ages ago he should’ve been with someone like Annie—you’re just a clumsy mess, and you don’t deserve him!”
The others crowded behind Annie, every word they said sharp with criticism.
Truth was, when Annie wasn’t around, they used to be halfway nice to me.
Sometimes Ryan would even stand up for me, tell them to lay off..
But now that Annie was back, maybe because his friends were trying to prove they were on her side, or because Ryan was in a hurry to draw a line between us,
their attitude turned mean, and Ryan just got quieter.
I looked at the people across from me—every one of them staring, their faces tight with disdain and annoyance.
I stayed quiet, covered in sticky frosting, letting them spit out all their anger at me.
Finally, Annie stepped forward to smooth things over, like she was the one in charge.
She brushed a fleck of frosting from my hair and said gently, “Maybe we should call it a night. Ryan, why don’t you take Vivian home?”
“If you all still wanna celebrate, we can do it another time.”
Before Ryan could respond, the others started protesting, loud and sharp.
“Why should we end the party short because of her? If she wanna leave, let her go—she’s a grown woman, she doesn’t need a babysitter!”
“Nobody even invited her, anyway—who asked her to show up out of nowhere?”
“C’mon, Ryan, you can’t leave now—Annie’s back for good, you can’t ditch her for this!”
They ranted on, like they’d totally forgotten that this party was supposed to be for my proposal party.
Ryan’s eyes shifted—from Lily, to his friends, then finally to me.
“Babe, head home first. I’ll have my driver take you.”
“I can’t leave right now. Annie’s my friend—I can’t let her down.”
He couldn’t let her down, but letting me down was fine?
But I didn’t argue. I just nodded calmly. “Okay, I’ll go.”
Ryan let out a quiet, almost relieved sigh.
Right before I walked out, I saw him urgently pull out a handkerchief and carefully wipe the frosting off Annie’s hands, his thumb brushing her knuckles soft.
But I didn’t care anymore.
I didn’t look back.
It wasn’t until I was completely out of that venue—with its sickly sweet orchid smell clinging to my clothes—that I felt like I could breathe again..
I gasped for air, my chest tight, but then a sharp, brutal pain shot through my body—so bad I doubled over.
A warm, sticky feeling spread under my shirt, seeping into the fabric,
I looked down slowly, my hands shaking, and saw…
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