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Home / Romance Short Story / The Night Before His Wedding, My Ex Found Out How I Really Died / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of The Night Before His Wedding, My Ex Found Out How I Really Died: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

11 Chapters

Chapter 1

“No way.”Someone broke the silence. “Wren? She loves her own skin too much. Don’t you remember the fire? James went in to save her, and what did she do? She ran. If it wasn’t for Sienna, he wouldn’t have made it out.”Sienna Shore was James’s fiancée.She’d had a crush on him for three years in high school, chased him for another three in college, and now she’d finally landed him. A sweet ending, really.James’s face darkened.“Tell her that no matter how much she plays the victim, I’m not seeing her. And I’m sure as hell not forgiving her.”His voice was ice.What kind of game was Wren playing now?Had she heard he was getting married, regretted it, and started putting on the heartbroken act?Zoe reached into her bag and pulled out a small, delicate ring.“I already saw her.”“James, she asked me to give this to you before she died.”When he took it, his fingers froze.It was the ring he’d bought to propose to me, the year he graduated from college.Back then, James was chasing the p

Chapter 2

Zoe stepped closer and gasped.After James and I broke up, I couldn’t find work anywhere.Eventually I ended up at this nightclub, hired on as cleaning staff.One night, some big, bloated guy started harassing me. He had his arm around my waist and backed me into a corner. He was huge, and I couldn’t push him off.Someone got it on the security feed and uploaded it. The caption read: Nightclub princess kept by a rich daddy.It hit our high school group chat and blew up.People kept tagging me, demanding that I explain.The pressure was suffocating, and I couldn’t breathe.I left the group chat and deleted all the messages.“Why didn’t you say something? Why are you such a coward?” Zoe was almost yelling.I tried to play it off and gave her a small smile.“Isn’t this perfect, though? Now James can really give up on me.”She grabbed my arm and I flinched, hissing through my teeth as my brow knotted up.“They do this to you?”“Wren, I’m taking you to James. We’re going to tell him right n

Chapter 3

James’s mother had handed me a check for half a million dollars and told me to walk away from her son.“I know your grandmother needs money for her treatment.”“I can help.”“But there’s a condition.”I didn’t have to think to know what it was.“Leave my son.”The air went very still.She sat across from me, calmly picking up her coffee as if none of this mattered.“You know Thorne Capital is waiting for him to take over.”“But all he does is fuss over those useless paintings. He’s going nowhere.”“You want what’s best for him too. Don’t you?”I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t say a word.I’d always known James had been born with a silver spoon. Thorne Capital had been waiting for him since the day he was born.But he didn’t want business. He wanted to paint.After college, he cut every tie with the family company and threw himself into his art.He was new, and nobody was betting on him yet. His apartment was stacked with canvases, and most of them never sold.I’d told him I’d wait. I’d

Chapter 4

After the emergency treatment, the doctor came out of the trauma bay and shook his head at Zoe.“Our department knows Wren’s case well. She’s the one who gave up. She had a last shot. There was a donor lined up, and she refused it, letting an eight-year-old girl have it instead.”While the doctor was talking, a small girl in a face mask peeked over at us, looking nervous.“Doctor, is Wren going to be okay?”Zoe didn’t answer, just reached out and gently smoothed the girl’s hair.Back in the room, the doctor told me I didn’t have many days left. Whatever I wanted to do, I should do it.By the time Zoe came in, I was already drifting and saying things that didn’t make sense.But I could hear myself.“James.”“James, please.”Zoe got it immediately and pressed the phone into my hand. “Wren, you want to call James? I’ll dial.”He picked up almost right away.“It’s... it’s Wren.”Just those two words took everything I had.Silence on the other end.Then his voice came through. “Wren? Why ar

Chapter 5

The mood in the reunion had turned heavy.James shot up out of his chair.He’d known Sienna took that call. Everything she said, he’d authorized.The thought hit him, and his chest went tight, like he couldn’t pull enough air.He bolted out of the room and ran toward the nightclub Zoe had mentioned.The whole way there, his head was a wreck.Wren.He couldn’t accept it. The girl he’d hated for two years had been loving him the whole time.These two years, he’d been bringing Sienna to galas and high-end dinners. But in the back of his mind, he kept going back to that little apartment and the days he and Wren had spent there.They’d been broke, but it was a good kind of broke.Wren had landed a job, and her first paycheck she’d spent on a whole set of paint brushes for him.He’d been heartsick and told her not to waste money on him like that.She didn’t see it that way.“Waste? Working for your dream is my dream too.”He’d held her so tight in that moment that he could barely let go.He

Chapter 6

When James came to, he was home, in his own big, soft bed.Half-conscious, he heard his mother talking to somebody.“I said he shouldn’t find out the girl was dead. Look at him. What is this? It’s undignified.”“I know, I didn’t expect it either. Someone brought her up at the reunion yesterday.”That was Sienna.“Mrs. Thorne, don’t worry. I’ll get him through this. I promise.”“Oh, and one more thing.” She paused. “Mrs. Thorne, James knows the bone marrow donor was Wren.”His mother sighed.“Don’t take it to heart. If you hadn’t told Wren about his illness when you did, she wouldn’t have had the chance to donate at all.”“You’re the one who pushed the match through with NMDP back then. We should be thanking you. James has no reason to be upset with you over this.”“He should be clear on this. You saved his life.”James lay there, eyes shut, not moving.His body had started to shake.For two years, he’d been grateful to Sienna. She’d stayed, she’d taken care of him, and even though ther

Chapter 7

Sienna’s eyes welled up instantly.“James, I know Wren dying has hit you hard. But we still have to move forward, don’t we? How can you just throw away our engagement like that?”Her voice was rough, and her whole expression was careful, breakable.He let out a small laugh.A laugh at her acting, and a laugh at how blind he’d been.“What you did, I can’t pretend I don’t know.”She froze.Her lips moved, but nothing came out.These two years, James had punished himself.My leaving had broken something in him. He worked like he’d lost his mind, as if he were trying to spite me, as if he were trying to say: Look, Wren. I have money now too. I’m not the James you looked down on anymore.Even when he hated me, it broke my heart.But Sienna paraded around with his money and spent it on display.That was when I realized she didn’t actually love him.But I’d given up my right to weigh in on his love life a long time ago.Sienna burst into tears and ran out.And James finally let go of the last

Chapter 8

I stood next to James and shook my head, but he couldn’t see it.The wind in the leaves was the only answer I could give him.“Let it go, James.”“If there’s a next life, it’d be better if we didn’t meet again.”“This one was too hard, too bitter.”I was talking to myself. If there really is another life, I’d rather be the wind around you, or a cloud, just there quietly. That would be enough.He left.He wandered the street with no purpose. A car came barreling toward him, and he didn’t move.“Watch where you’re going, you idiot!”The driver yelled out the window, but James didn’t even register him. He walked straight to a little cart on the corner selling caramel apples.I loved caramel apples.Because I always felt life was bitter, and when something tasted bitter, I would eat something sweet.He stood at the cart, staring at the rows of them on sticks, and said softly, “Wren loved strawberry.”“Ten strawberry caramel apples, please.”The vendor wrapped up ten.“Not enough. Ten’s not

Chapter 9

Those two sentences finished him.He’d been hating me, hard, that whole time.When he was unconscious, I had snuck in to see him.He was murmuring my name in his sleep.“Wren, don’t go. Wren.”“You’re so cruel. You’re just so cruel.”I stood next to him in sterile scrubs and watched his face. His brows were knotted tight, and there was a sheen of sweat at his temple.It was like a hand reached into my chest and tore something open.I told him in my head: James, if I can keep you alive this time, then we’re even.He got up slowly and walked with no direction.Sienna was panicking. She ran after him and threw her arms around him, but he shoved her off.She did it again, and he shoved her off again.Until he turned and roared, “Get away from me!”She froze. Tears dropped like a string of beads coming apart.The next day, he fired her from the company.Sienna clung to her office chair and wouldn’t let go. Security dragged her out by force.She was screaming, crying, clawing at the door, sp

Chapter 10

That was the gift I’d prepared for him before the breakup.I never got the chance to give it to James.When I left, I put the box there, with one small, last hope: that one day he’d see it.If the landlord cleared it out and threw it away, that was fine too.James choked on a sob and wiped the album clean.He sat down hard on the floor, hugged it against his chest, and kept talking, half to himself.“Wren, you fool.”His fingertips moved over the cover.“Honestly, when I organized that reunion, I had this thought that if you came, maybe I’d get to look at you one more time.”“I miss you so much. Every day, every minute, every second of it.”“I don’t know why I’m this pathetic. You walked out on me so cleanly, and I still can’t let you go.”“Wren, I love you so much.”My soul was floating next to him, and suddenly something in my chest stabbed.I winced and sucked in a sharp breath.So even when you were dead, it could still hurt.I tried to touch his face, but my hand passed through ai

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