The Dress Fitting He Promised I Would Not Attend Chapter 10

The Dress Fitting He Promised I Would Not Attend Chapter 10

We got to the restaurant parking lot.

“Claire… did you just say that to get rid of him?”

I shook my head.

“I told you I wouldn’t use you like that. I meant what I said. I was planning to tell you tonight anyway. My heart is empty now, ready for someone new.”

Daniel’s face broke into a surprised smile. He couldn’t stop grinning.

“Really? Claire, do you really…”

I leaned over, wrapped my arms around his neck, and kissed his jaw. Just below the sharp line of it.

“Okay. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

Ethan didn’t go back to the States. He hung around Vancouver like a ghost.

I tried to be patient. Grandpa Arthur had asked me to.

“You should go home. Your company needs you. Don’t make your grandpa worry.”

His eyes were red. He looked like someone had broken him.

“No. If you won’t come back, I won’t either. Claire, I can’t accept this. You can’t just condemn me without a fair trial.”

“What difference does it make if you accept it or not? We’re never going back to how we were. Get that through your head.”

He wouldn’t listen.

Eventually, with the head of Whitmore Group gone for so long, problems started piling up.

Grandpa Arthur had to step in. He couldn’t handle the stress. He got sick.

That’s when Ethan finally went home.

Before he left, he came to see me one more time.

Compared to a few days ago, he looked terrible.

He had stubble and hollow eyes, as if all life had drained out of him.

“Claire, I’ve done a lot of thinking. I know how badly I messed up.”

“You’re your own person. You don’t put up with nonsense. I ruined what we had because I was stupid and selfish. That’s why you don’t want me anymore.”

“But I swear to you, I never planned to cheat.”

I didn’t believe him.

But I wanted him gone. So I said, “Okay. I believe you. Goodbye.”

After he got back, he kept finding ways to contact me.

He’d remind me of all the memories we’d made over twenty years.

Maybe he thought our history was so deep that I’d eventually come around.

He was wrong. I don’t make major decisions based on sunk cost. I’d completely moved on from him.

Six months later, Daniel and I flew back to the States with both our families.

We wanted to have the wedding at home.

We sent an invitation to the Whitmores.

The day came. Ethan walked in, helping Grandpa Arthur find a seat.

I stood on the stage. Our eyes met from across the room.

He’d clearly made an effort with his appearance. But he looked like an empty shell. No life in him.

I nodded politely.

Daniel slipped the ring onto my finger.

“I do.” A vow.

Fireworks exploded across the sky, celebrating our perfect day.

When I was little, I always knew I would grow up to be Ethan’s bride.

But nothing in life is guaranteed.

Now the man standing next to me is the one who spent years watching me from the shadows.

That hidden, enormous love and crushing loneliness had finally found its happy ending.

Ethan stared at Claire in her wedding dress. She was more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen.

The pain in his chest grew sharper.

He’d seen her like this in his dreams for more than ten years.

He had come so close.

And then he’d thrown it all away. The girl who looked at him like he was the only person in the world.

Ethan knew it with absolute certainty.

He would never get over this. Not for the rest of his life.