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Chapter One: The Worst Client Ever
Nina Zhao was halfway through a lychee martini when her phone buzzed with an email that made her choke on her drink.
Subject: Wedding Inquiry - October 2026
From: Brandon Chen
She stared at the name, her stomach dropping. Brandon Chen. Her ex-fiancé. The man she'd been engaged to for eighteen months before he'd broken it off six months ago because he "wasn't ready for commitment."
And now he wanted to hire her to plan his wedding.
"你沒事嗎?" her best friend Jasmine asked in Mandarin from across the bar table. (Are you okay?)
"Brandon wants me to plan his wedding," Nina said flatly.
Jasmine grabbed the phone, read the email, and her eyes widened. "他瘋了嗎?" (Is he crazy?) "誰會找前未婚妻規劃婚禮?" (Who asks their ex-fiancée to plan their wedding?)
"Apparently Brandon." Nina took another long sip of her martini. "He says—and I quote—'You're the best wedding planner in Boston, and Claire and I want the best.'"
"Claire? He's marrying someone named Claire?" Jasmine made a disgusted sound. "多久了?" (How long has it been?)
"Six months since he broke up with me. So probably five months since he met her, proposed to her, and decided to rub it in my face by hiring me to plan their fucking wedding."
"你不會接吧?" (You're not going to accept, right?)
Nina thought about her bank account, which was healthier than it had been but not healthy enough to turn down a high-paying client. She thought about her business, Zhao Events, which was finally gaining traction after two years of struggling. She thought about her pride, her self-respect, and the satisfaction of saying no.
Then she thought about her rent, her student loans, and the fact that Brandon's family was loaded and would probably pay top dollar.
"我要考慮一下," she said. (I need to think about it.)
"Nina—"
"I know it's humiliating. I know everyone will think I'm pathetic. But Jas, I need the money. And maybe—" She paused. "Maybe this is closure. Maybe I need to see him marry someone else to really let go."
Jasmine looked skeptical but didn't argue. "那就讓他付大價錢." (Then make him pay big money.) "如果你要幫他規劃婚禮, 至少要他把你付得起辦公室." (If you're going to plan his wedding, at least make him pay enough for you to afford that office space.)
The office space. Nina's dream office in Back Bay had fallen through last month when someone had outbid her at the last minute. She'd been devastated—it was perfect, with huge windows overlooking Newbury Street and enough room to finally hire an assistant.
"Fine," Nina said, making a decision. "I'll do it. But I'm charging him double my usual rate."
"That's my girl."
Jade Chen grew up between two worlds—attending Chinese school on weekends while binge-watching K-dramas at night. As a second-generation Chinese-American, she spent years as a cultural consultant in Hollywood, frustrated by the lack of authentic Asian representation in romance. From her loft in Los Angeles' Koreatown, Jade writes the stories she never saw growing up: Asian characters with rich inner lives, cultural authenticity, and unapologetic sexuality. Her work celebrates food as love language, explores diaspora identity, and centers Asian women as romantic and sexual protagonists.
