He Gave My Wedding Dress To Another Woman Chapter 08

He Gave My Wedding Dress To Another Woman Chapter 08

The group chat went dead for a heavy beat. Then it exploded.

[wait… didn’t you and chloe break up??]

[dude come on. you’re with haley constantly. there’s no way you two aren’t together.]

[literally everyone on campus knows you moved on. people have been calling you a scumbag for weeks.]

The reactions split between shock and mockery.

[that’s bullshit]

[when did i EVER say chloe and i broke up?? who told you that?? haley and i are just friends.]

His thumbs were shaking as he typed.

[bro you literally slept in the same tent and she posted a picture of herself with no clothes on, lying on your chest. “just friends” doesn’t cover that.]

[don’t even try to deny it. haley posted it herself.] Someone dropped the screenshot right into the chat.

Ethan stared at the photo. His stomach dropped. [i had NO idea about this. haley, get in here and explain. NOW.]

Haley’s reply landed like a grenade. [ethan… are you seriously going to act like last night didn’t happen?]

The chat erupted. Everyone piled on — calling him a coward, a liar, the kind of guy who’d sleep with someone and pretend it never happened.

The realization hit him from the side — Haley had set him up. But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

He didn’t care about any of it. He hammered out one message.

[TELL. ME. WHERE. CHLOE. IS.]

Someone finally answered.

[chloe left. she went abroad with Professor Hughes for the research position.]

[the team out there looks great and the place is gorgeous. she’s been sending pics — she seems happy.]

Ethan read each message twice, like the words might rearrange themselves into something that made sense.

“No.” The word ripped out of him. “There’s no way. She wouldn’t just leave.”

“She would stay. She’d stay for me.” He couldn’t breathe. He called Professor Hughes — again and again, slamming redial until the line finally picked up.

“Yes,” Professor Hughes said, voice flat. “Chloe is here. She came with me.”

Ethan lost it. “What do you mean she’s THERE? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Did you make her go — did you pressure her into this?”

That was the wrong thing to say. Professor Hughes’s patience snapped.

“I put the application in your hands. YOU tore it up. Who exactly are you blaming here?”

“And don’t you dare say you didn’t know. When Chloe was standing outside City Hall waiting for you — where were you? When she boarded that plane alone — where were you? When she landed in Aldenbrook without you there for her — where the hell were you?”

“With Haley. Every single time, you were with Haley.” His voice cracked with fury. “You threw away your future for Haley. Why should Chloe throw away hers to watch you do it?”

“You can’t even see what Haley really is. Open your goddamn eyes.” A breath, sharp and disgusted. “You’re pathetic.”

Professor Hughes never raised his voice. In all the years Ethan had known him, not once. The line went dead.

Ethan stood in the empty apartment, phone still pressed to his ear. Shame flickered first — then rage swallowed it whole.

He tried Chloe again. Voicemail. He switched to texting, fingers hammering the keys.

[how could you just LEAVE like that?? is this about the dress? the locket? because i took haley to see some meteor shower? seriously??]

[there is NOTHING going on between me and haley.]

[All those years, chloe. All our history and you can’t even trust me??]

[answer me.]

[you don’t get to just decide we’re over without even talking to me first.]

[what about everything we promised each other?? you can’t do this. you can’t just disappear and make me look like a fool.]