My Fiancé Chose Her Over Me—So I Canceled Our Wedding Chapter 08

I took the earliest flight home.

I knocked. The door opened almost immediately.

Mom stood there in an apron. She looked startled to see me, then peered behind me.

“What’s the bride doing coming home alone?”

Dad crouched on the floor, sorting gift boxes for our postwedding family get-together. He looked up at the sound of my voice.

“Where’s Ethan?”

I stood in the doorway.

All at once, I didn’t know how to begin.

I didn’t hesitate for a second when I canceled the wedding.

But when I faced my parents, my throat tightened.

“Mom.”

“I’m not getting married.”

Her smile disappeared.

“Did he hurt you again?”

I opened my mouth.

“No. He just…”

I stopped halfway through.

For six years, I’d always seemed to have an excuse for Ethan.

He didn’t mean it.

He was just careless.

The four of them had known each other for so long.

Sophie was just a friend.

Things would get better once we were married.

I was suddenly so tired.

I shook my head.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Dad already had his phone out.

“I’m calling Ethan.”

I reached over and stopped him.

“Dad, don’t.”

“He didn’t leave me.”

I paused.

“I left him.”

Dad fell silent.

Mom suddenly pulled me into her arms.

“Okay.”

“Then there’s no wedding.”

“You don’t have to marry anyone, sweetheart.”

My eyes stung.

Just then, Mom brushed my shoulder.

I sucked in a sharp breath of pain.

“Ow,”

She let go immediately.

“What happened?”

She caught my hand.

My palm was still wrapped in gauze.

“And what’s this?”

“There was an accident at the rehearsal.”

“What kind of accident leaves you hurt like this?”

“The floral frame came down. I fell.”

Dad’s face darkened.

“Where was Ethan?”

I didn’t answer.

Mom stared at me.

“He didn’t go to the hospital with you?”

“Sophie got scared, too, so he…”

I couldn’t finish.

Dad slammed his phone down on the table.

That evening, Mom took me back to the hospital.

When we got home, I switched my phone on. It wouldn’t stop buzzing.

More than a dozen missed calls from Ethan.

Luke said I took things too far this time.

Ryan told me to stop playing games with the wedding.

Sophie sent a whole page of apologies.

I didn’t reply. I blocked all four of them.

That night, Mom came in to tuck me in.

Before she left, she had a question for me.

“Sweetheart,”

“Did he treat you like this a lot over those six years?”

I stared at the ceiling.

After a long time, I said, “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

I closed my eyes.

“Because I kept thinking…”

“If I just put up with it a little longer, it’d get better.”

When I woke the next morning, my fever was gone.

Something sizzled in a pan in the kitchen.

Mom was making maple-glazed salmon.

Dad crouched in my old study with a screwdriver, fixing the old desk.

“You wanted somewhere to write, right?”

“This desk wobbles. I’m tightening it up for you.”

I stood in the doorway without a word.

There was no study for me in the house Ethan bought.

I’d been away for six years.

But my old desk was still here.

I looked down and checked my phone.

I canceled the wedding dress order.

I got refunds for the honeymoon tickets.

I unlinked the shared account.

I stopped the final payment to the wedding planner.

One by one, the things that tied me to Ethan disappeared from my life.

The last order showed that my refund had gone through..

The doorbell rang.

Mom went to answer it.

Her voice immediately turned cold.

“What are you doing here?”