After 999 Nights, He Said We Were Never Together Chapter 13

After 999 Nights, He Said We Were Never Together Chapter 13

Only then did Ryan regain a sliver of reason. He hurried to explain.

“Isabelle, I just want to understand why she suddenly moved to Spain. Give me a little time…”

Isabelle lost control completely.

She raised her hand and slapped him, her eyes turning red.

“You’re the one who said you’d loved me for eight years, and now you’re the one trying to run away from our

wedding. You claimed Sophie Whitfield was only your best friend, yet you slept with her for years. Ryan

Blackwood, have you ever told the truth about anything?”

The entire room fell silent.

Richard and Grace stared at their son in disbelief.

Isabelle’s father, Daniel Monroe, had been waiting nearby. His face flushed with rage. He stepped forward,

struck Ryan across the face, and left with his daughter.

This time, no one tried to stop them.

The blow knocked Ryan to the floor. His cheek swelled, his head spun, and blood appeared at the corner of

his mouth.

He seemed not to feel the pain.

He simply stared after the Monroe family as they walked away.

Even after the doors closed behind them, he never asked Isabelle to stay.

Was he unable to speak?

Or did he no longer want to?

He didn’t know.

The wedding ended before it had even begun.

That evening, the Monroes returned the engagement ring, settled their share of the wedding expenses, and

announced that the two families would have no further contact.

The Blackwood living room was still decorated with white flowers and wedding ribbons. It looked lavish and

romantic, yet the house was utterly silent.

Ryan sat alone on the sofa, staring through the window at the dark Whitfield villa next door.

Memory after memory passed through his mind.

Every one of them belonged to Sophie.

At five or six, they held hands while swinging in the garden.

At twelve, he sat as her model while she drew his portrait.

After they became adults, there were countless kisses and embraces.

For eighteen years, they had been inseparable friends.

Then, in a single night, they became secret lovers.

Lovers.

The word felt wrong, but it was the only one Ryan could use for the past five years.

Sophie had never been his girlfriend, yet everything between them had gone far beyond friendship.

The declarations of love and affection he whispered in bed, words he had once treated as nothing more than part of the moment, had quietly carved themselves into his heart.

He had repeated the lies so often that somewhere along the way, they became true.

He simply hadn’t noticed.

Only after losing Sophie completely did Ryan finally understand what he felt.

He had liked Isabelle.

But during the years she was gone, that feeling slowly hardened into obsession.

Wanting what he couldn’t have blinded him and convinced him that his feelings had never changed.

In reality, time had already led his heart toward Sophie.

That was why her growing distance had made him angry.

Why hearing her admit she loved him had shaken him.

Why learning she had left made him panic.

Compared with finally having Isabelle, losing Sophie forever was far more unbearable.

If he had to choose between them, Ryan knew his answer.

He wanted Sophie to remain beside him.

He couldn’t imagine what his life would become without her.

There would be no one to share a good bottle of wine with, no one who understood his strangest thoughts, no one who could follow a story he told in circles a hundred times.

The only person who truly understood him was now an ocean away, thousands of miles beyond his reach.

The thought alone sent a chill through him.

That was why, when he heard the Monroes had called off the wedding, his first reaction had been relief.

Richard and Grace were still struggling to recover from the shock. They stared at him for a long time before finally finding the courage to ask,

“Isabelle said you and Sophie…”

The secret Ryan had hidden for years had been exposed in an instant. He didn’t know how to face his

parents.

After a long silence, he nodded.

The couple seemed unable to breathe. They drew in deep breaths, their expressions turning unbearably

complicated.

“When did this start? Why didn’t you tell us? If you two were together all this time, why were you marrying Isabelle? Did Sophie decide to move to Spain because of you?”

“How could you be this foolish? Our families have been close for decades. If you and Sophie truly loved each other and told us, do you think we would’ve opposed you? How could you do this to her? How could you do

this to Thomas and Helen?”

Ryan’s thoughts were a tangled mess. He had no idea how to answer.

Silence filled the room again.

After a long time, he finally made a decision.

“This was my fault from beginning to end. I’m going to Spain tomorrow to apologize to Sophie.”

Richard and Grace sighed heavily, their voices filled with helplessness.

“After what you did, Sophie must have lost all hope in you before she left. Thomas and Helen probably don’t

even know the truth yet. What good will it do for you to go alone? We’ll come with you and apologize

properly.”