The CEO Postponed Our Wedding Nine Times For Her Chapter 03

The CEO Postponed Our Wedding Nine Times For Her Chapter 03

Six months ago, Chase and Sloane happened to be on the same flight.

The plane crashed, leaving them stranded on a deserted island.

I was on pins and needles for weeks, working with search and rescue teams without sleep or rest.

It took a full month before we rescued them from an uncharted island in a remote archipelago.

When they were found, they were huddled together, unclothed, and intensely wary of anyone besides each other.

The rescue team and I struggled for a long time just to get them to let go of one another.

The accompanying doctor said it was likely a form of post-traumatic stress.

To survive the wild animals on the island, they had to rely solely on each other.

When temperatures dropped to freezing at night and they had no blankets, they had to huddle together for warmth.

In that island world, they were the only two people who existed, which made them react violently to outside stimuli.

I wept as I listened to the rescuers’ theories.

I blamed myself repeatedly—why hadn’t I found them sooner?

If I had, they wouldn’t have developed such a difficult condition.

I brought them both to my home to care for them.

Stimulated by the familiar environment, their sanity gradually returned.

However, in the middle of the night, Chase would wake up screaming.

I would hold him tight, stroking his back to soothe him.

But he would push me away like a cornered animal.

His eyes would be bloodshot:

“I don’t want you! Where’s Sloane? Get Sloane! Tell her to come here!”

My mouth hung open, my limbs turning cold as ice.

Ultimately, I simply opened the guest room door.

Sloane was sitting in the corner wrapped in a duvet, her eyes red as she begged:

“Maya, can you let me have Chase?”

“Please, I can’t sleep without him.”

“Don’t blame me… there’s no other way…”

The cold wind blew in from the window, making my skin crawl.

I gripped the hem of my shirt and forced a smile:

“Sure. Why don’t you two sleep together for now?”

After that, I became paranoid.

At the slightest sound from their room, I would jump up like a startled bird and peek in to check.

But they really did seem to just lie under the covers together, giving each other the kind of support only they understood.

At most, they would wake up with their limbs so entangled it looked like they were trying to merge into one person.

Tears fell silently.

I made up my mind then.

If Sloane ever asked me to step aside for Chase, I would allow myself to be heartbroken for exactly one month.

After that, we could still be best friends.

It was an accident; I wouldn’t blame her.

But once they recovered, they quickly drifted apart.

One day, they abruptly returned to their old pattern of constant bickering.

Chase went back to being my gentle, attentive boyfriend, as if nothing had changed.

But I knew something had shifted irrevocably.

When we ate together, Chase would prioritize Sloane’s food aversions over my preferences.

On a roller coaster, when both of them were dizzy, Chase’s hand would instinctively reach for Sloane.

On the day we set the wedding date, Sloane got dead drunk.

She leaned on my back and said over and over:

“Congratulations, Maya.”

“I always dreamed of us having a double wedding.”

“But it looks like that’s never going to happen in this lifetime…”

A large patch of my shirt grew damp with her tears.

I pretended not to notice.

I acted as if those tiny rifts had never existed.

I just never expected that a single engagement would lead to nine failed attempts at a wedding.

Every single time, Chase was the one who started the fight.

Sloane’s hairstyle, her perfume, her dress—anything could spark their war.

I went from being the frantic peacemaker to a numb spectator.

And by this ninth time, I was truly exhausted.