December 23rd. The day my girlfriend, Chloe, and I were supposed to get our marriage license. I waited at City Hall until the clerks started packing up for the holiday, but she never showed. Just as I was about to call, a message from her lit up my phone. “Hey honey, something came up. Can we do this another day?” Something came up? My eyes fell to the post she’d just made on her private social media account. “A lifetime with you, Mr. Cole.” The picture was a sweet, close-up shot of Chloe and her high school sweetheart, holding a freshly issued marriage certificate. My world turned to ash. I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I threw the ring in the trash, canceled the wedding venue, and went home to pack, methodically erasing every trace of myself from the apartment we shared. Later, she called, sobbing and indignant. “You promised you’d love me no matter what I did! Why are you breaking your promise?” “Leaving without a word like this… does it mean you don’t love me anymore?” The day I left for good, she chased my car down the street, a frantic bride in a white wedding dress, crying and begging me to marry her. 1 The main hall of City Hall was a sea of festive red decorations. Couples were everywhere, clutching their new marriage certificates, hugging, kissing, and snapping photos to announce their new status to the world. I was lost in a daze, staring at the pictures on my phone, when my own documents—my ID and a photo of Chloe and me—slipped from my numb fingers and scattered on the floor. I bent to pick them up, but another hand got there first. A flicker of hope sparked in my chest. I looked up. It was a stranger, his own new bride smiling at his side. He handed me my things with a friendly grin. “Hey man, you here to tie the knot, too?” I nodded, a bitter laugh catching in my throat. Chloe was off living her happily ever after with Cole. Why would she be here with me? The man glanced around. “So… where’s your fiancée? It’s a zoo in here today. You don’t want to lose her. She might get mad and call the whole thing off.” He and his wife exchanged a look, their happiness a tangible thing. A pang of nostalgia hit me, sharp and painful. Chloe and I used to be just like that. At sixteen, Chloe’s skin was so pale it was almost translucent in the sun. When she looked at me, her eyes were filled with stars, and her voice was like a melody. “Lucas,” she’d said, “when I grow up, can I be your wife?” It felt like yesterday. But the image on my phone—the two of them, so blissfully happy—dragged me back to the brutal present. I shoved my phone into my pocket, forcing a grim smile. “Her? Oh, she’s getting married to someone else.” Without waiting to see the shock on his face, I turned and walked away, terrified I was about to fall apart. I collapsed into the driver’s seat of my car. The ceiling was a collage of photos of Chloe and me, and memories washed over me like a tidal wave. A month ago, at my birthday party, Chloe had appeared in a flowing white wedding dress, a bouquet in her hands, walking towards me through a crowd of our childhood friends. “Mr. Hayes,” she’d said, her voice trembling slightly. “I’m twenty-seven now. Will you… will you finally marry me?” My eyes burned. I took the flowers from her, dropped to one knee, and pulled out the ring I’d been carrying for years. As I slid it onto her finger, my own voice shook. “Miss Collins… I… I will.” The joy of that moment, the culmination of eleven years of love, had been so overwhelming I couldn’t sleep that night. I remembered every anniversary, every birthday, planning for days in advance just to see her happy. I picked her up from work every single day, and we’d go to the supermarket together, choosing groceries, planning our meals. Her colleagues were green with envy. “Wow, Chloe, your boyfriend is perfect!” “You must have saved the galaxy in a past life to find a guy that thoughtful.” Whenever she heard that, she’d blush, and the look she gave me was pure, syrupy sweetness. “Mr. Hayes,” she’d whispered that night, her lips brushing against mine amidst the cheers of our friends, “here’s to the rest of our lives.” I thought our eleven-year marathon had finally reached its perfect finish line. I never imagined it would all turn to smoke. A profound sadness bloomed in my chest. I had to see her. This had to be some kind of mistake. A lifetime of shared memories couldn’t possibly lose to some ghost from a decade ago. I pulled up to our apartment and saw the door was ajar. Through the crack, I could see Chloe talking to her best friend, Zoe. “Zoe,” she said, her voice a strange mix of tears and triumph, “I did it. I married Cole.” A hammer blow slammed into my chest, stealing my breath. On the drive over, I’d clung to the fantasy that this was all some elaborate, cruel prank. But it was real. I was the one fooling myself. Inside, Zoe’s voice was sharp with disbelief. “Chloe, are you insane? Why in God’s name would you marry Cole?” Chloe’s reply was choked with sobs, yet strangely defiant. “He’s back, Zoe. He has terminal cancer. He only has three months to live. We were in love, back in high school. If my parents hadn’t interfered, I would have been with him all along. Lucas would have never even been in the picture.” “I lost him once. I can’t lose him again!” “So, yes, I am perfectly calm. I’m going to have a wedding with him. I’m going to be his wife. Because… I love him!” It felt like a thousand needles were being driven into my skin. The pain was so intense, so all-encompassing, that my whole body started to shake. Twenty-seven years of friendship. Eleven years of love. All of it erased by a fleeting, teenage crush. “Chloe!” Zoe’s voice was a raw, furious roar. “Even if you wanted to give him some peace, you could have done it secretly! Why did you have to broadcast it to the entire world?” “Don’t you see what a horrible person you’re being?” I thought, maybe, Chloe would finally see the enormity of her mistake. That she would break down, consumed by guilt. But what she said next ripped my heart to shreds. “Do it secretly? Are you kidding me? That would be an insult to the pure, true love Cole and I share! Our love transcends time and space! The whole world should be moved to tears by our story. What have I done that’s so wrong?” My fist clenched. I slammed it into the concrete wall beside me. Your love is pure and true. Your grand, tragic romance. Then what were our eleven years? What the hell was I? Zoe stamped her foot in frustration. “You love Cole?! What about Lucas? He’s the one who’s been with you your entire life! You’ve been together for eleven years!” “How could you do this to him?” I slowly raised my head, feeling as if I could see Chloe right through the door. Her voice was full of arrogant certainty. “How is this hurting him? I’m only marrying Cole. It’s not like I’m going to sleep with him or have his children. My body, my heart… they’ll always be Lucas’s. I’m not cheating.” “Besides, Lucas swore he’d never marry anyone but me. A man can’t go back on his word, can he?” “So, even though I married Cole, I know he’ll still marry me. If he doesn’t, then he was lying when he said he loved me.” 2 I don’t know how I managed to leave that place. I pulled the car over to the side of the road, leaned back in the driver’s seat, and lit a cigarette. The sharp, minty scent of the capsule I’d crushed filled the small space. I closed my eyes and laughed, a bitter, broken sound. I don’t even like smoking. But the acrid smoke stung my eyes, giving me an excuse for the tears that streamed down my face. Chloe’s words echoed in my head. “I lost him once. I can’t lose him again!” “I’m going to be his wife. I love him!” Chloe and I were born in the same hospital, just hours apart. We were the definition of childhood sweethearts. Our fathers co-founded what is now the country’s largest electronics corporation. She was the one person I had always, unabashedly, adored. If the story had ended there, it would have been a perfect happy ending. But then, in high school, Cole appeared. He was a transfer student with bleached-blond hair and a swaggering, devil-may-care attitude. To Chloe, who had always been a rule-follower, he was an irresistible anomaly. He was the first boy to ever make her blush when he told her he liked her. Her grades plummeted. Just as she was about to fall completely under his spell, her father found out. He gave Cole’s family a substantial sum of money to send him abroad, and just like that, my story with Chloe was back on track. But who could have guessed that a ghost from a decade ago could reappear and shatter our eleven-year love story so completely? Three months ago, during a meteor shower, I had shouted at the heavens, “I, Lucas Hayes, will never marry anyone but Chloe Collins!” And she had shouted back, “I, Chloe Collins, will never marry anyone but Lucas Hayes!” That night, we made promises under a blanket of stars, pledging our lives to each other. I never thought the person I loved most in the world would be the one to drive a knife into my heart. Over and over again, like a slow, deliberate execution. I was down to my last cigarette. I got out of the car to walk to a convenience store just as a light rain began to fall. The street was full of couples in matching red outfits, holding hands and laughing as they ran for cover. They were soaked, but they were happy. I didn’t run. I had no home to run to anymore. My phone rang. Chloe. I rejected the call without a second thought. She called again. I rejected it again. Finally, I just turned the phone off. I didn’t know how to face her. Should I yell? Accuse her? The weight of twenty-seven years of memories paralyzed me. After what felt like an eternity, a soft voice broke through my stupor. “It’s raining so hard. You should find some shelter. You’ll catch a cold.” I flinched. The rain wasn’t hitting me anymore. I slowly looked up. Chloe was standing beside me, holding an umbrella over my head. I instinctively took a step back. I would rather feel the icy sting of the autumn rain than accept the warmth of her pity. She followed me, keeping the umbrella over me. Her eyes were red, full of a painful tenderness. She gently took the cigarette from my fingers and tossed it into a nearby trash can. “You should smoke less. It’s bad for you.” “What’s it to you? Who are you to me?” I moved away again. I took out another cigarette, but she snatched it away before I could light it. “Do you want me to die of a broken heart?” she whispered, taking off her own jacket and draping it over my shoulders. Our eyes met, and for a dizzying moment, I was lost. How I wished none of this had ever happened. “Have you eaten?” I shook my head, numb, still clinging to the ghost of her tenderness. Back at the apartment, she immediately ladled a bowl of hot soup and handed it to me. “Here, drink this. Warm yourself up before you get sick.” I didn’t take it. I just stared at the girl I had cherished my entire life, the girl I had devoted my past to. A storm of emotions churned inside me, and I could barely control it. After a long moment, I managed to steady my voice, my heart a frozen lake. “Chloe, let’s break up.” Her hand jerked. Hot soup splashed onto her skin. Before, I would have rushed to get a napkin, to soothe the burn. This time, I just sat there, motionless. Finally, her lips began to tremble. Her voice was a choked, tearful whisper. “Lucas, are you still mad about me and Cole getting the license today?” “Please don’t be mad, okay? He only has three months left. After three months, as long as we still love each other…” “Don’t say another word!” I wrenched my hand away, my face a cold mask. “Miss Collins, you are now legally married to another man. You are his wife. So please,” I said, my voice dripping with ice, “have some self-respect.” 3 “…Lucas.” A complex emotion flickered in Chloe’s eyes, and she swallowed whatever she was about to say. Her eyes grew redder, and fat tears began to roll down her cheeks like pearls. My entire life, I had done everything in my power to make her happy, to never let her shed a single tear. I believed that to love someone was to strive for their happiness, no matter the personal sacrifice. But now, I watched her cry without a flicker of emotion, my heart turned to stone. “Miss Collins, if you didn't hear me clearly, I can repeat myself. We are over.” I turned and went to my room to pack my clothes. Chloe snatched the clothes from my hands and threw her arms around me, holding on so tightly it felt like she was trying to merge our bodies into one. Her voice was a hoarse, panicked whisper. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Lucas, I’m so sorry.” I was so tired of hearing ‘sorry.’ I just wanted to be done right by. “Lucas, I’m begging you, please don’t leave me. You know I love you. I love you so, so much.” “Didn’t you promise my grandmother on her deathbed that you would take care of me for the rest of your life, that you would never leave me?” “Just wait for me for three months. After three months, I’ll be yours again, okay?” She looked up at me, her eyes shimmering with tears, the picture of pitiable beauty. Without hesitation, I pried her hands off me. As her eyes widened in panic, I slowly shook my head. “Chloe, you say you love me, but you married Cole. So why should I wait for you?” “Is it because you’re so sure that I love you that you feel you can do whatever you want?” She froze, then shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “No, it’s not like that…” Just then, her phone rang. She saw Cole’s name on the screen and quickly wiped her tears, forcing a smile. “Hey, sweetie. What’s wrong? You don’t like the suit for the groom?” “Don’t worry, I’ll be right there to help you pick one out. For the wedding tomorrow, you’re going to be the most handsome groom in the world.” “I love you, Cole!” She hung up. She looked at me again, her eyes pleading. “Lucas, you used to always go along with whatever I wanted.” “Why have you become so fragile? You can’t handle even a little bit of hardship?” “Besides, even though I’m marrying him, I will never sleep with him. I’ll keep myself pure for you. After he’s gone, I’ll spend the next few decades with you, have your children. Isn’t that enough?” “Lucas, I love him, but I love you, too! Please don’t make this so hard for me, okay?” It was so absurd I almost laughed. She claimed it was hard, but she had made her choice without a moment’s hesitation, and now she was trying to justify it. I wanted a love that was exclusive. Even an emotional affair was a betrayal. It was just as dirty. “You have to come to the wedding tomorrow!” she said. “I want you to see me at my most beautiful.” “Our wedding can be just like this, okay?” Without waiting for my answer, she rushed out the door to find Cole. The moment the door closed, I took the photo of us from my wallet, flicked open a lighter, and held the flame to the corner. Eleven years of love, as fragile as this photograph. It went up in flames in an instant. I let go, watching our youth turn to ash, and let her fly free. Sitting on the floor, I lit another cigarette and looked at the anonymous text that had just come through on my phone. “Don’t forget to come to my wedding with Chloe, Lucas. Even though I’m dying, I still won.” It had to be Cole. The old me would have flown into a rage. Now, I just stared at the screen, my face blank, and typed a single word in reply. “Okay.”
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393277", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel