The event itself was exactly like any other high-society affair, except for one crucial difference: this time, everyone’s eyes were laser-focused on the newly married couple. The entire evening, I was constantly busy saying "thank you" to an endless stream of formal, often disingenuous congratulations, plastering a polite, fixed smile onto my face until my cheeks ached.
It was, as always, both exhilarating in its spectacle and utterly emotionally draining. Listening to the women subtly tear each other apart with sweet smiles and veiled insults was exhausting, and the whole atmosphere felt suffocatingly pretentious.
After spending two truly amazing, genuinely relaxed days in a bubble of peace with Luther, being plunged back into this environment felt mortifying. The contrast was physicall
