For all the guests, it had been the perfect day. A white arch covered with roses, music, sunlight glinting off champagne glasses — everything seemed flawless. Emma and Daniel had been preparing for the wedding for nearly a year, carefully choosing every detail: from the flowers on the tables to the inscription on the cake. But at the very moment when the priest said, “Exchange the rings,” something happened that no one could have predicted.
As the groom reached out to place the ring on the bride’s finger, Emma suddenly froze. For a second, everything around fell silent. She looked at the ring, and confusion flickered in her eyes — then anxiety. It was different. Not the one they had chosen together just a few weeks earlier. Their rings were supposed to be matching — with engravings inside, their names and the wedding date. But this ring was slightly wider, had no inscription, and gleamed as if brand new.
“This isn’t the ring,” she whispered barely audibly. The guests exchanged glances. The groom turned pale, as if he had been caught in something. He tried to smile and said maybe the jeweler had made a mistake. But the bride noticed something no one else could — inside the ring was another woman’s name.
She took the ring off his finger and showed it to everyone: engraved inside were the words — “To Anna, forever.”
Silence lasted an eternity. Someone coughed awkwardly, someone looked away. Daniel tried to explain, saying it was an old ring, left over from the past, that things weren’t what they seemed. But Emma was already standing aside, her hands trembling, her eyes full of pain.
The wedding never took place. And the ring with another woman’s name was talked about for a long time afterward — because no one ever understood why the groom brought that one.
