Wedding Fraud

October sunlight filtered through the banquet hall's floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling softly onto the red carpet. Today is the wedding ceremony of Bella Scott and me. It should be a day of great joy, yet an inexplicable tightness in my chest dulls the happiness. Relatives and friends sat around the round tables; the crisp clinking of glasses mingled with laughter drifting through the air. Each face wore the practiced smile of polite congratulations. My mother clasped my hand, repeatedly urging, "Alex, today is a joyous day; you must hold back and not make a fuss." I nodded in reply, "Mom, I understand." His gaze involuntarily drifted to the center of the stage, where Bella Scott stood in a pristine white mermaid wedding gown. Her makeup was exquisite, and she laughed and chatted with her close girlfriends, her eyes and expression brimming with shy delight. The master of ceremonies took the microphone and stepped onto the stage, his voice resonating throughout the hall: "Next, we'll play a little game—Find the Red Heart! The staff have hidden five little red heart stickers in various spots on the bride's wedding dress. Whoever finds them all first will receive a mysterious gift prepared by the newlyweds!" No sooner had the last word fallen than a figure jumped to their feet: "I'll go!" It was Henry Clark, Bella Scott's male best friend. Wearing a sapphire-blue suit and with his hair slicked back, he walked up to Bella in just a few steps, a broad, exaggerated smile on his face: "Bella, I know you best—I'm sure I can find everything in under a minute." Bella smiled and gently pushed him: "You're just sweet-talking; don't touch me recklessly." There wasn't even a hint of refusal in her voice—only a trace of indulgence. I stood to the side, my chest tightening, about to speak when Henry bent down, burying his head in the folds of Bella's wedding dress, his arm circling her waist—his familiarity uncomfortably close. The laughter around me took on a sour edge, whispers rippling through the crowd. I clenched my fists so tightly my knuckles whitened, a surge of anger rising instantly, my throat tightening. "Henry, you've gone too far!" I snapped through gritted teeth, my voice trembling with barely suppressed emotion. Henry slowly raised his head, holding a little red heart sticker between his fingers, flicking it away carelessly. "Alex, must you be so petty? It's just a game. I haven't done anything wrong." Bella immediately tugged at my arm, a trace of reproach in her eyes. "Don't be like this, everyone is watching. Henry's just messing around, he's always been like this since we were kids." "Just joking?" I turned to look at her; my heart felt as if it had been struck with a blunt object—humiliation overwhelming even my anger. "Do you call it 'just joking' when he buries his face in your skirt like that?" "What else do you expect it to be?" Bella Scott frowned, her tone sharpening. "Can you be a bit more generous? Don't embarrass me at the wedding." I stared at her indifferent attitude, swallowing the words lodged in my throat as my anger simmered beneath the surface. Henry Clark kept using the excuse of searching for stickers to frequently touch Bella Scott; she either rebuked him lightly or avoided him but never truly stopped him.