One Phone Call Talked Me Out of My Own Marriage Chapter 08

One Phone Call Talked Me Out of My Own Marriage Chapter 08

The rest of the world seemed to disappear from Landon’s sight.

All he could see was the woman he had spent five years searching for.

Five years.

Nearly two thousand nights had passed, and even he did not know how he had survived them.

He had sent Elise abroad after their divorce. His grandfather had become so furious with him that

he refused to see him.

Everyone believed Landon had lost his mind.

There were even moments when Landon himself had wondered whether Serena and their ten-year

marriage had been nothing more than an elaborate delusion.

But now she was standing before him.

The complicated emotions in her eyes told him that none of it had been imagined.

His eyes reddened, and his chest tightened until he could barely breathe.

“I thought I would never see you again.”

I took in every emotion on his face before turning to Callum.

“Go inside. I’ll talk to him.”

Callum’s lips tightened, but after a moment, he nodded. “All right.”

Only then did Landon seem to notice him.

His gaze dropped to our tightly clasped hands, and shock and pain flashed across his face.

Silence settled over the street.

Even after five years apart, Landon and I still seemed to have nothing to say to each other.

He was the first to break the silence.

“Who is he?”

“Callum Hayes,” I answered. “My husband.”

Landon’s gaze went vacant.

“Your husband…”

Bitter understanding slowly settled over his face.

“Of course. No one waits in the same place forever

He looked at me again.

“Serena, I need to know what happened. How did the entire world change overnight?”

I considered how to explain something that still sounded impossible even to me.

“This is going to sound insane, but five years ago, I received a call from myself ten years in the

future.”

I continued before he could interrupt.

“She told me not to marry you.”

“It happened on the night you fulfilled your ten-day promise to Elise. Over the next few days, I heard

everything that happened between you and the woman I would have become.”

Understanding slowly dawned in Landon’s eyes.

“So that was why you rejected my proposal.”

His voice grew hoarse.

“That was why you left the city without looking back.”

He lowered his head, his eyes turning red.

“So this was my punishment?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know.”

I looked at the face that was both familiar and foreign to me.

“I only knew that if we stayed together, we would eventually destroy each other in a way that was

even uglier than divorce.”

A faint sadness still stirred inside me, but it was not for myself,

It was for the Serena who had once loved him with everything she had, only to be betrayed.

“Landon, I didn’t want every good memory we shared to be buried beneath years of arguments and

betrayal.”

I met his eyes. “Isn’t this a better ending for both of us?”

His shoulders slumped.

All the strength seemed to leave him as he spoke, his voice choked with emotion.

“Do you know what I’ve spent the last five years doing?”

“I’ve been trying to prove that you existed. That our marriage existed.”

His shoulders trembled.

“But what terrifies me is that my memories of those ten years are fading.”

His voice cracked.

“I’m scared, Serena. I’m scared that one day, I’ll forget everything.”

“I’ll forget how much I loved you, and I’ll forget how much you once loved me.”

This was only the second time I had ever seen Landon cry.

The first had been ten years ago, when both my legs were crushed in the stage accident.

But time passed, and even the deepest love could eventually be worn away.

“There’s something I never told you.”

He raised his eyes to me.

“Except for what I heard during those few days on the phone, I no longer remember the details of

our ten-year marriage.”

His entire body went rigid.

Grief swept over him.

I continued quietly, “That’s why forgetting is the right thing.”

“When the last of those memories disappears, find Elise again if that’s still what you want. You

don’t have to spend the rest of your life carrying this guilt.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

I paused.

“And I don’t owe you anything either.”

With that, I turned to leave.

But as I passed him, Landon suddenly pulled me into his arms.

His embrace was hot and trembling.

It felt unfamiliar, and every instinct in me recoiled.

“I’m sorry, Serena.”

His voice broke beside my ear.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t know how I became that person. I’ve replayed everything over and over, and every time, I

regret ever getting involved with Elise.”

“I’m sorry.”

For a moment, I stood there without reacting, then pushed him away.

“Maybe you simply got tired of me.”

My voice was calm.

“Even the strongest love can be worn down by years of ordinary life.”

I took a step back.

“Don’t come looking for me again, Landon. You’ve seen my life now. I have a husband.”

“I won’t let him suffer the way I once did.”

More quietly, I added, “And more than anything, I refuse to be the one who hurts him.”

Landon stared at me for a long time.

Finally, he nodded. “All right.”

I turned and walked away.

Behind me, his voice broke through a strangled sob “Serena, I hope you’re happy.”

I didn’t respond and returned to Callum’s arms.

Landon remained alone in the snow.

His back bent beneath the weight of his grief until he looked decades older, Tears slipped down his face, freezing against his skin almost as soon as they fell.

“It was my fault…”