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True best friends never approve of the men you choose.

Natalie couldn't stand Zachary Shaw. She always felt Winona deserved far better.

Because Winona was inherently good—so good that Natalie occasionally felt ashamed of her own dark, cynical thoughts whenever she remembered the warmth Winona had shown her back then.

"What about you, Natalie? Are you and your boyfriend tying the knot?"

Natalie had been with her high school sweetheart for years. They were from the same rural village and ended up getting accepted into Capital University together. It had caused a massive uproar in their hometown, complete with a massive celebratory banquet.

Only Winona knew they had secretly been dating long before that.

When the college acceptance banquet was held, Winona took a cab all the way to the countryside just to attend.

Seeing Winona sitting among the rustic crowd, looking completely out of place, stirred a feeling in Natalie she couldn't even describe.

Natalie had been a total nobody in class, but simply because they were roommates, Winona had kept her close to her heart.

Natalie's face instantly lit up with pure joy. "We're planning the wedding now! We worked like dogs for years and finally saved enough for a down payment on a house! I came out today to hand-deliver your invitation."

Clawing their way up from a rural village to owning property in Empire City was a monumental feat.

Natalie's eyes welled with tears as she grabbed Winona's hands. "You have to be there."

The wedding was set for two months from now.

"Congratulations on crossing the finish line of an eight-year marathon," Winona smiled genuinely.

Natalie had been with him since she was seventeen. She was twenty-five now.

Speaking of her fiancé, Natalie's eyes crinkled with soft affection. "I barely contacted you those first few years after graduation. We were living like rats. We rented a basement apartment, and one morning we woke up to find the floodwater lapping right against the edge of the mattress. We had to move so many times. Honestly, Winona, I never thought I'd actually own a home in Empire City."

She squeezed Winona's hands tighter. "You absolutely have to come to my wedding."

She quickly wiped her eyes, forcing back the rising tide of emotion. "Speaking of which, are you getting dragged online because of Sienna again? Is she making it her life's mission to ruin you? Wherever she goes, a hate mob follows you. While you were away, every time I saw her hosting a show, I wanted to throw up. Seriously though, if you just revealed you were Jaca, all the rumors would vanish overnight."

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