My Fiancé Chose Her Over Me—So I Canceled Our Wedding Chapter 01

Before the five of us moved out of our shared house, my boyfriend, Ethan Brooks, suggested a little decluttering game.

If nobody recognized something, it went straight in the trash.

My best friend, Sophie Hayes, picked up my face wash.

“Nobody uses this, right?”

I’d barely said, “That’s mine,” before Luke Carter, one of my childhood friends, tossed it into a garbage bag.

Ryan Foster, my other childhood friend, pulled a scarf out of a cabinet.

I’d stayed up for several nights knitting it for his twentieth birthday.

“Who left this here?”

“I gave you that…”

Sophie was already holding the garbage bag open.

The work bag I’d given Luke and the diffuser I’d bought Sophie for her birthday were swept into the bag, too.

Then I found an insulated tumbler with chipped paint at the bottom of a cabinet.

Ethan immediately took it from me.

“Don’t throw that out. Soph used this in college.”

Sophie came over, too. The four of them gathered around the cup, talking over one another as they traded stories from years ago.

Meanwhile, our matching toothbrushes lay in the garbage bag, along with the first tie I’d ever given Ethan, for our one-year anniversary.

When we finished packing, Sophie looked around at the boxes and laughed.

“I can’t believe the four of us have this much stuff.”

Ethan ruffled her hair.

“There are five of us.”

I thought he’d finally remembered me.

Then he gestured at the four of them, followed by the cat in Sophie’s arms.

“Don’t forget this guy.”

Six years.

Even a cat had a place in Ethan’s life.

I was the only one who didn’t.

I looked down at my phone and canceled the wedding we were supposed to have in three days.

This time, I wanted to find out.

How long would it take them to notice the bride was gone?

…

After canceling the wedding, I slipped my phone into my pocket.

The movers carried out the last box.

Ethan stood in the entryway and looked around.

“Everybody got everything?”

Luke and Ryan said yes.

Sophie turned in a circle with the cat in her arms.

“I’ve got all my stuff, too.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Ethan opened the door.

The four of them walked out, laughing and talking.

Not one of them noticed I wasn’t with them.

When Ethan and I first started dating, he always reached for my hand before we went anywhere.

Once, we rushed to catch the last subway train. He made it aboard, saw me trapped behind the crowd, and pushed his way back off.

I told him we could’ve just called each other and met up, but he tightened his grip on my hand. “We go out together, we come home together. I’m not leaving without you.”

Footsteps sounded outside, and Ethan pushed the door open.

My heart gave a stupid little leap.

He’d noticed after all.

But he didn’t even look at me. He went straight to the couch, crouched beside it, and reached underneath for a cat chew toy.

“Knew it was here.”

I stood barely six feet away.

“That’s what you came back for?”

“Yeah. Soph didn’t realize she’d left it until we got downstairs. That cat’s attached to this one. Won’t chew on a new one.”

He turned to leave and finally saw me.

“Why are you still here?”

I said nothing.

Ethan frowned and checked his phone.

“They’ve been waiting downstairs forever. Why are you taking so long to pack?”

I looked at the chew toy in his hand and gave a small laugh.

When Luke’s mom had surgery, I spent three nights at her bedside so he wouldn’t miss the exam he’d spent two years preparing for.

During the six months Ryan was out of work, I helped him rewrite his resume and look for jobs. I even covered his rent quietly, so he wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

When Ethan first started his business, I went with him to meet clients after work.

We rode around on a moped. As I wiped the sweat from his face, he grinned back at me and promised that one day he’d have me smiling in a luxury car.

I was the one who brought Sophie into the group, too.

Back then, her family was broke and she wore plain clothes. Her roommates shut her out, and I found her crying in the dining hall.

I took her hand, brought her over to sit with us, and told her, “You’ve got us now.”

Afraid she wouldn’t be able to follow the conversation, I told her our old stories over and over. I kept reminding the guys she was shy, worried they’d neglect her or leave her on her own.

After that, they certainly never left her behind.

They only had to get downstairs to notice that Sophie’s cat was missing a chew toy worth a couple of dollars.

But all four of them went downstairs.

Without me.

And nobody thought anything was wrong.

When I didn’t move, Ethan was already heading for the door.

“Hurry up.”

“We’ve got the wedding menu tasting at the hotel this afternoon. Don’t make everyone wait for you again.”

I followed him out.

Don’t worry, I thought.

Soon, they’d never have to wait for me again.