After Our Wedding Was Canceled, He Searched the River for the Ring Chapter 05

After Our Wedding Was Canceled, He Searched the River for the Ring Chapter 05

One after another, every message was from Miles.

Miles: [Elena, where are you?]

Miles: [Why was the bridal car service canceled?]

Miles: [I’m at your studio. You’re not here.]

Miles: [Elena, don’t scare me like this. Text me back when you see this.]

At four in the morning on his wedding day, Miles was already dressed in his suit.

Elena had personally chosen his bow tie.

That day, she had stood behind him in front of the mirror, smiling as she straightened his collar.

“Wear this exact suit when we meet for our first look tomorrow.”

Miles stared at his reflection, running his thumb lightly over the bow tie.

Then he picked up his phone.

Their conversation was still open to his last message from the night before.

Miles: [I’ll meet you for our first look tomorrow morning.]

There was no reply.

Miles frowned.

She was still angry, but that was fine. Once the wedding was over, he would take his time making it

up to her.

But the silence from her end felt wrong.

He called the company handling the wedding transportation.

When someone answered, the representative sounded hesitant.

“Mr. Bennett, the bridal car service was canceled yesterday afternoon.”

Miles went still.

“What did you say?”

“Ms. Ward canceled it herself. She said the wedding was no longer happening.”

Sienna was sitting on the couch, and her expression changed too:

“How could Elena do this?”

“All your family and friends are coming today. Isn’t she humiliating you in front of everyone?”

Miles did not answer.

He looked down and called Elena.

Her phone was off.

He tried again, but it was still off.

A sense of dread finally settled over him.

His best man, Dylan Reeves, glanced at him, unable to keep quiet any longer.

“Her knee was bleeding yesterday.”

“She stood there alone behind you and watched you for a long time.”

Miles snapped his head up.

“What do you know?”

Dylan scoffed.

“Clearly, not much.”

“But at this point, there isn’t even a damn wedding left to have.”

The room fell silent.

Miles immediately began calling the vendors one by one.

Hair and makeup, photography, and the dessert table had all been canceled.

Every call ended with the same answer.

“Ms. Ward notified us yesterday.”

Miles gripped his phone as his knuckles slowly turned white.

Moments later, Miles’s mother called, her voice shaking with panic.

“Miles, where is Elena?”

“Everyone is about to arrive, and the venue keeps asking why the bride still isn’t here.”

Miles’s throat tightened.

“I’m going to find her.”

He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

Sienna quickly stood.

“I’ll come with you.”

Miles stopped.

The night before, he probably would have waited for her without thinking.

This time, he only said, “No.”

Sienna froze where she stood.

Miles went to Elena’s floral studio first.

The door was locked.

Beyond the front window, the studio looked cold and deserted. A few white rose petals still lay

scattered across the worktable.

He unlocked the door with his spare key.

The moment he stepped inside, he realized the scent of flowers had faded to almost nothing.

A stained length of ribbon lay beside the walk-in cooler.

It was the ribbon Elena had planned to wrap around her bridal bouquet.

Miles bent down and picked it up, but his fingers suddenly began to tremble.

He remembered Elena handing him the bouquet the previous morning.

At the time, he had only thought she was being understanding.

Now he realized she had already cut away the last thing she had still wanted to hold on to.

A partially completed floral order sheet remained on the worktable.

White roses. Lily of the valley. Lisianthus.

Beside each flower, Elena had written notes in her neat handwriting.

[No gardenias. The bride is allergic.]

Miles stared at the final line as his heart sank.

Before he could fully process it, his phone rang again.

It was the wedding videographer.

“Mr. Bennett, when Ms. Ward canceled the videography service last night, she said she didn’t want the final cut anymore either.”

“She said that if you asked about it, you could keep it.”

Miles opened the video.

The screen filled with fragments of their eight years together.

The campus entrance. Streetlights glowing over the snow. The sound of wind along the shore.

He had secretly recorded proposal clips in every one of those places.

Elena had eventually edited them into their wedding video.

On the final frame was a sentence she had added herself.

[I’m finally going to marry the man I’ve wanted to marry since I was a teenager.]

Miles stared at the words as the rims of his eyes suddenly reddened.

He braced himself against the edge of the worktable, but he could no longer remain standing.

Then his phone vibrated again.

Dylan had sent him a message.

Dylan: [You need to check the company group chat. Now.)