I Was Planning Our Wedding When He Told Me He Had a Wife Chapter 03

I Was Planning Our Wedding When He Told Me He Had a Wife Chapter 03

I let out a scoff laugh. Suddenly, I remembered when his company was just starting out.

At a business dinner, a pot-bellied executive, arm around a young woman who was clearly not his wife, drunkenly patted Jason’s shoulder and said, “Kid, what’s the point of a man’s success? To live comfortably!”

“Keep the wife at home happy, have some fun on the side, that’s real living!”

“Take me. My wife handles everything at home, the kids, the parents, never complains. The one I bring out… well, she knows how to have a good time. Two separate worlds. Works like a charm.” Back then, Jason had smiled and raised his glass respectfully. “I appreciate the advice, but Evelyn keeps my hands plenty full as it is.”

The whole table chuckled, toasting to what they called his loyalty and my luck.

I’d swallowed it whole back then, proof, I thought, that I was his one and only. Now, looking back, his words weren’t a denial at all.

Did he have a “wife at home” who worked hard without complaint?

Yes. That legal wife.

Did he have an “outside one” good for showing off? Yes.

That was me.

They don’t interfere with each other…

He’d already been practicing that principle back then. I was just too stupid to read between the lines.

“Get out.”

Jason was taken aback. “Evelyn…”

“I said get out!” I grabbed the nearest object and hurled it at him with all my strength!

He didn’t dodge. The ornament grazed his temple, leaving a rapidly reddening mark.

“You’re too emotional right now. The angry words you say, the decisions you make, you’ll regret them later. Remember what I said. As long as there’s no child, you’ll always have a way out. A choice.”

So in his eyes, without a child, I could just walk away easily? I dug my nails into my palm, using the pain to fight the physical nausea.

“I’ll come see you later.”

The door closed softly. I slid down the wall to the floor.

The hole gouged out in my heart let in a howling, cold wind, telling me that everything I’d believed in, hoped for, and built over these six years was all founded on shifting sand. And now, the sandcastle had collapsed.

My phone buzzed. It was Aunt Felicia from back home. I took a deep breath and answered. “Aunt Felicia?”

“Sweetie,” her tone was uncharacteristically urgent, “You have to come home, no matter how swamped you are. Three months. It’s been three months.”

“You didn’t even tell me your wedding date properly, just… mentioned it over the phone. Do you have any idea how worried your mother has been?”

“…Yeah.” My throat was tight. Three months. Right. For these three months, my eyes were only on Jason, only on our future. I’d forgotten Mom was waiting for me too.

“And when you hung up like that so fast, like you couldn’t wait to get off, she just… the tears started and she couldn’t stop them.”

Aunt Felicia sighed. “I shouldn’t meddle, but seeing your mom like this, I can’t hold it in any longer, sweetie. Your mom… she doesn’t have much time left.”

I froze. “Aunt Felicia… what… what did you say?”

“Late stage. Untreatable. She hid it from you, afraid you wouldn’t be able to take it if you were pregnant. These past days, she’s been forcing herself to hold on, wanting to see you get married in style.”

The phone slipped from my hand, and I let out a wail. I cried until not a single tear was left. Then I fumbled for my phone and dialed Jason’s number.

He answered. “Evelyn?”

Mustering every ounce of strength, I forced out a dry, raspy sentence, “The wedding… goes ahead as planned!”