Before the Wedding, the Dutiful Bride Flew to Iceland Alone Chapter 08

Before the Wedding, the Dutiful Bride Flew to Iceland Alone Chapter 08

It didn’t take long for Serena’s reputation to fall apart completely.

It started when someone leaked a video from the party that night.

Miles listing ten things he liked about her.

Miles texting her more than anyone else.

Miles reshaping my wedding into everything she wanted.

On their own, any of these could hide behind “just friends.” Together, the picture was

unmistakable, and it was ugly.

People started dropping pointed comments in the group chat.

[If they’re such good friends, why go behind her back and steal her fianc#?]

[They were about to get married and she was still helping rewrite his vows? She wasn’t even trying

to hide it.]

[What kind of best friend does that? She wasn’t being a friend. She knew exactly what she was

doing.]

Then people started digging up old receipts, and it turned out this wasn’t the first time.

On my birthday that year, Miles said something came up at work and he couldn’t make dinner. But

Serena posted a photo that showed just the edge of someone’s hand.

The watch on that wrist was the one I’d given Miles.

The night my stomach pain got bad, Miles said it was too late and told me to take a car to the ER on

my own. But someone snapped a photo of him standing outside a bar with Serena, waiting for her

Uber.

She was wearing his coat, smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world.

And the day I went to try on the wedding dress, Miles showed up three hours late.

He blamed traffic.

I found out later he’d been with Serena, helping her shoot professional headshots.

I scrolled through the screenshots people had sent me, and my stomach turned.

I thought back to when Serena and I first met, years ago.

She’d gotten soaked in the rain and come down with a fever, and I’d supported her all the way to the

campus clinic.

She’d sobbed until midnight over a breakup, and I sat beside her on the quad, the wind cutting

through both of us.

She’d told me once.

“Chloe, when you get married, I’m going to be your bridesmaid.”

“I’ll make sure it’s the most beautiful wedding ever.”

I believed her.

I thought we’d be friends forever.

I thought we’d be there for each other when it mattered most. Thinking about it now, I smiled.

I deleted every screenshot.

There was nothing left to see.

Some people aren’t worth hating for long.

The longer you hold on, the more of yourself you lose.

After the wedding was called off, Miles didn’t have it easy either.

His parents called him themselves.

“The invitations are already out, and now you’re telling me it’s canceled?”

“How are we supposed to explain this to the Bennetts?”

“What the hell did you do to make her walk away from her own wedding?” Their mutual friends

weighed in too.

“Miles, Chloe isn’t the type to make a scene over nothing.”

“For her to go this far, she must have been truly heartbroken.”

“You always said she was sensible.”

“But you can’t use someone’s patience as permission to keep hurting them.”

Miles didn’t say much at first.

Then his messages started coming more often.

Sometimes it was a photo of camellias.

[Saw these and thought of you.]

Sometimes it was a wedding dress in a shop window. [This one would look beautiful on you.]

Sometimes it was just a few words, late at night.

[Chloe, I can’t sleep.]

[I keep dreaming about you.]

I didn’t reply.

He had people deliver things to me.

I sent every last one of them back.

The ones I couldn’t return, I donated.

Eventually, one of Miles’s calls got through.