He Gave My Wedding Dress To Another Woman Chapter 05

He Gave My Wedding Dress To Another Woman Chapter 05

Ten hours in the air, and the wheels finally touched down.

Every other trip, the first thing I did after landing was check my phone. I used to be terrified of missing something from Ethan.

This time, I left it in my bag.

“Professor Hughes.”

A guy stepped forward from the arrivals crowd, tall, sharp-jawed, holding a sign with Professor Hughes’s name. He shook the professor’s hand first, then turned to me. His smile reached me before his words did. “It’s been a while, Chloe.”

Julian Hayes. Professor Hughes’s star protégé.

My suitcase had burst open on move-in day freshman year, clothes spilling everywhere, and Julian was the one who scooped everything up and carried it to my dorm.

When I lost my student ID shortly after, he’d gotten half the student council to help track it down so I could finish enrollment.

“Hey, Julian.” I smiled back.

Professor Hughes clapped Julian on the shoulder and dropped his voice, though not low enough. “Don’t blow it this time.”

Julian’s ears went red. It took him a solid beat to recover before he reached for my luggage.

The drive to the residence hall was short. As soon as Professor Hughes and I walked through the door, the room erupted — party poppers going off, confetti raining from every direction.

“Welcome, Professor Hughes!”

“Welcome, Chloe!”

A dozen senior researchers burst into applause.

All part of the Aldenbrook team — and they’d laid out a full spread to welcome us.

The wine started flowing.

One of the senior researchers leaned in across the table. “So, Chloe — word is you and your boyfriend tied the knot?”

A fork clattered against a plate. Julian’s hand went still, and something unreadable crossed his face.

“No.” I shook my head. “We didn’t.”

Julian’s shoulders eased. He lifted his glass and took a quiet sip.

“How come? Everyone in the alumni group chat says you two are like the perfect couple — totally inseparable.”

More of them leaned in, curious. I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come.

Julian cut in from across the table. “Come on, guys. Leave her alone — it’s personal.”

“Oh — sorry, sorry. Our bad, Chloe.” They backed off quickly, raising their glasses in sheepish apology.

“It’s fine. It’s not exactly a secret.” My smile felt strained. “It’s just not a great story.”

After all those years together, and he’d dropped me for a girl who’d only been around for a matter of months. Even saying it out loud felt humiliating.

“Chloe, if you don’t want to tell it, I will.”

Professor Hughes had enough wine in him to loosen his tongue, and he laid the whole thing out.

Some of it I’d never even heard.

Haley had written Ethan a love letter shortly after she arrived on campus. He’d taken it. Never said a word about it — not to accept it, not to reject it.

She’d started bringing him snacks, showing up wherever he was. Then she’d thrown a fit until she got reassigned to his lab group.

The kicker — right after she started the program, Haley had mass-requested every guy in our cohort on Instagram. Chatted her way through them one by one until she zeroed in on Ethan.

Professor Hughes told him. Half the department told him. Ethan didn’t want to hear it.

By the time Professor Hughes finished, the whole table erupted. Everyone was ripping into Ethan and Haley.

“God, those two deserve each other. What a trainwreck.”

“He had Chloe — Chloe — and he’s out chasing someone else? What the hell is wrong with him?”

“Forget him, Chloe. We’ll find you someone better. Someone like, oh, I don’t know…” All eyes slid to Julian. “…someone right across the table, maybe?”

The whole table piled on, grinning. “Julian and Chloe — now THAT would be a power couple.”

Heat crept up my neck. I didn’t know where to look.

We’d almost been something once, Julian and I. Then one day, he vanished — no explanation, no goodbye. I’d been gutted by it, and eventually I’d written him off as the kind of guy who flirts until things get real and then bolts.

That was when Ethan had stepped in — always around, always attentive, filling the space Julian left.

Professor Hughes had told me Julian had his reasons. I’d never bought it.

Julian must have seen it on my face, because he rescued me again — pushed back from the table and offered to put on some music. The teasing finally dissolved into laughter.

The party wound down. People drifted off one by one, until it was just me at the table. Julian appeared with a glass of something pale and set it in front of me.

“Drink this. You’ll thank me in the morning.”