The Day Another Woman Became the Bride Chapter 08

The Day Another Woman Became the Bride Chapter 08

Around noon,

when I returned from grocery shopping with my parents, a haggard-looking man

was waiting outside the door.

Mason’s hair was a mess, like he’dn’t slept. He leaned against the wall with his eyes

closed.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, he slowly opened his eyes and met my gaze.

For a second, something that had gone dark in his eyes flickered back to life.

Mason rushed over.

“Claire…”

Seeing my parents watching him warily, he quickly composed himself and spoke respectfully.

“Mom, Dad.”

Dad frowned instantly.

“Don’t call us that.”

The last time Mason had come to my house was for our formal engagement dinner.

Back then none of this had happened.

My parents saw him as handsome, well-off, and likely to treat me well.

After our engagement, Mason also called them Mom and Dad.

They had smiled and accepted it happily.

Now they looked at him like he was garbage.

I told my parents to go inside first.

I didn’t want him saying something that would upset them.

Facing Mason alone, I noticed that his eyes were badly bloodshot.

I crossed my arms and spoke coldly.

“What else do you want? We’re no longer together.”

Mason looked at me and suddenly smiled.

“Claire, so this is how much it hurt you back then.”

I didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?”

He lifted his head as if remembering.

“I failed to treat you as the real bride. I gave your bridal car and your wedding to Paige.”

“It seemed like nothing then. Now that you say I mean nothing to you, I know how much it hurts.

I cut him off mercilessly.

“No. I hurt a hundred times more than you do now.”

“If you’re here to play the victim and make me feel sorry for you, save it. No one here is buying it.”

Something flickered in Mason’s eyes, and he fell silent.

At a loss, he began telling an unrelated story.

“Paige and I really were together once. Then, without warning, she left me and went to Paris.”

“I was depressed for a long time. Meeting you in college helped me recover.’

I stayed quiet.

Mason continued.

“I thought I’d finally moved on. But when Paige returned from Paris, I realized I’d never let go of

the bitterness of being abandoned.”

Pain filled his eyes.

“So I treated her even better. I wanted her to regret losing me.”

“Especially after she said she didn’t believe in marriage and just wanted to stay friends. It gave me

an excuse to stop hiding how much I favored her.”

“Without realizing it, I ended up hurting you.”

My eyelashes fluttered.

His obsession. His unspoken thought.

It had made me the sacrifice in his so-called revenge.

Mason grabbed my hand.

“Claire, I’m sorry.”

“After last night, I’ve figured it out. You’re the only woman I love now.”

I nodded.

“Are you finished? Then you can leave.”

The day we officially started dating, he’d never told me, “I love you.”

When he waited in the snow all night and begged for my forgiveness, he’d never told me, “I love

you.”

My heart was dead. Only then, when he knew I wouldn’t return, did he call me his only love.

This kind of love was cheap.

I’d given ten years of my life for this cheap love, and the price had already been devastating.

I wasn’t going back.