All Chapters of Perfection Was Never Love: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The ballroom went silent for a moment before Miles Corbett's voice cut through it."That line isn't in the program. Remove it."He glanced at me as though I had committed some irritating mistake by adding a sentence of my own.I froze, my eyes stinging.Even now, he thought I was still playing along with his game of creating a perfect wedding.To him, my ideas and opinions were nothing more than glitches he could delete whenever he wanted.And it was not only that one sentence.He had removed my favorite tulips and replaced them with the white roses Audrey Sloan preferred.He had cut my closest childhood friend from the wedding party and made Audrey's coworker my bridesmaid instead.Even the heirloom wedding dress passed down through three generations of my family had been replaced by a gown Audrey liked better.Whenever I objected, Miles said Audrey's choices suited his wedding theme better.He chose perfection and discarded everything I loved.Yet whenever Audrey made a m

Chapter 2

Back in the bridal suite, I took off the wedding gown.The moment I changed into ordinary clothes, I finally felt as though I could breathe again.I was packing my things when Miles and Audrey walked in.Miles looked at me and immediately began his usual lecture."You left the stage five minutes early, and your vow timing was off. That's five points off your wedding score."Learn from it. Before the next ceremony, practice another five months on your own. Stop making the rest of us pay for your mistakes."Miles measured the perfection of our wedding through scores.One point lost meant one more month of practice for me.Month after month after month.Across eighteen canceled weddings, I had waited seven full years for him.If seven years had not produced a marriage, the eighth would not be different.I did not have many seven-year stretches to waste, and I no longer wanted to wait.When I stayed silent, Miles took it as agreement.Audrey, however, looked genuinely curious.

Chapter 3

When I got home, I booked my flight and packed everything I truly needed.Then I took down all thirty-six clocks Miles had installed throughout the apartment to announce the time.I threw those away too, along with the clothes and jewelry he required me to wear.All those things I had put on to satisfy his definition of a perfect girlfriend felt like restraints I would never need again.I zipped my suitcase and let out a long breath.I was about to call Miles and end the relationship when my phone rang."Is this Mr. Corbett? Building 3, Unit 501 at Cedar Ridge Residences. Your hangover-food delivery is here, but security won't let us upstairs. Could you come down for it?"My stomach tightened as doubt rose inside me.That was the condo Miles and I had bought seven years earlier as our future marital home.But because of his obsession with perfection, he refused to let either of us live there until the wedding succeeded.So for seven years we had remained in a rented apartment

Chapter 4

When I went downstairs, the car I had driven there was already gone. Miles had taken it to urgent care.He had not bothered to think about whether I needed transportation or how I was supposed to get home in the middle of the night.The rideshare app searched again and again, but no driver accepted.My injured finger had already begun to swell.I gave up on the hospital and walked into a small twenty-four-hour clinic nearby.After checking the wound and my vaccination history, the doctor recommended a tetanus booster. The injection stung badly enough to drain the color from my face.Without thinking, I opened social media, and Audrey's latest post appeared first."First tetanus shot of my life. It hurts so much!""Good thing somebody is helping distract me from the pain."The attached picture showed a bite mark on Miles's cheek.He was still smiling at her with obvious indulgence.Miles always said a perfect girlfriend needed to learn independence.So when my cramps once go

Chapter 5

Miles stared at Gwen in disbelief. "That's impossible.""The wedding date was set a week ago. Why would Celia cancel it?"He paused, and a look of dawning certainty crossed his face."Did she pay you to help with another tantrum?"She gives up after a few cancellations and now uses this ridiculous overseas story to force me to break my principles and finish the wedding?"Tell her that if she hasn't put this entire mess back in order by ten o'clock, the wedding gets postponed another ten months."Gwen looked at him strangely.Before he could answer, noise rose behind Miles.Audrey had arrived with a large group of relatives."Miles, has the wedding started? We're not late, are we?"Her eyes moved around the empty ballroom, and a knowing smile touched her mouth.Miles did not notice. He assumed she was simply concerned about her friend's wedding.Suppressing his irritation, he reassured her. "No. Celia is late."Audrey's uncle, Ray Sloan, had rushed over with the rest of the

Chapter 6

Miles gripped his phone and ordered Audrey to contact me.But I had already blocked everyone connected to either of them, and he could not find a path back to me.When he rushed by taxi to our rental apartment, he discovered that everything belonging to me had vanished.The place was so clean it looked as though no second person had ever lived there.The landlord arrived and asked in confusion, "Did the two of you throw away all that stuff downstairs? Some of it looked expensive, so I told the cleaners not to remove it yet."What happened? Couple's fight?"Miles clenched his jaw without answering and ran downstairs almost frantically.There he found the things I had once treasured scattered in a heap.Dress after dress, piece after piece of jewelry, all of them chosen personally by him.Back then, I had accepted each gift happily, looking at him with trust and affection.No matter what he selected, I always said, "I love it."Then I wore exactly what he wanted and avoided ev

Chapter 7

Miles eventually sent Audrey away.He cut off the relatives who had shown up expecting a free wedding meal too.He tried to ask my relatives where I had gone, only to discover that most of them had stopped speaking to him years earlier.By the third year of repeated canceled weddings, they had stopped attending entirely, choosing to avoid the people and situations that kept humiliating me.That included the man most responsible for it.Miles went to my company next.All he learned was that I had resigned and taken another job.I had not even worked out my notice period. I paid the buyout in my contract and walked out the same week.Miles searched the whole country, sick with regret.Meanwhile, I had already started work at my new company's international branch in Toronto.The new position paid more and demanded more.I loved it anyway.Seven years of waiting beside Miles had never produced the wedding I wanted.At work, effort could still create results I could actually se

Chapter 8

After that, I continued going to work, walking through the city, and joining coworkers for dinner exactly as I always had.The only change was the unwanted shadow that kept its distance but rarely disappeared.At first Miles simply followed and watched my life in silence.Later he tried sending flowers on Valentine's Day and ordering a cake for my birthday.Eventually he began talking to me without invitation, sharing little stories from his day or complaining about whatever problem he had encountered.I never answered, yet he continued as though persistence itself were some form of joy.Then, on what would have been our eighth anniversary, heavy snow began falling over Toronto.For the first time, Miles knocked directly on my door.Hope made him look almost cautious."Celia, do you remember? Today would have been... our eighth anniversary."I folded my arms. My voice stayed cool."I remember that we broke up."Miles shook his head quickly. "I'm not trying to force you to t

Chapter 9

The next morning, I opened my apartment door.It struck something solid.Miles appeared to have spent the entire night sitting outside. When the door woke him, he tried to scramble to his feet.His body was stiff from the cold, and after several attempts he dropped back to the floor.All he could do was move awkwardly aside and clear a path for me.I looked down at him. "Did you sit here all night hoping I'd feel guilty enough to forgive you?"He shook his head rapidly, almost frightened by the accusation."No. No."I only want to make amends. I know I owe you more than I can repair, but at least give me one chance to try."I understood what he really meant.He did not want to leave.He still believed apologies offered afterward could somehow fill the damage between us.I was done tolerating that.Pain from the past should eventually be allowed to remain in the past.It should not be dragged back into the light every day just to remind me how badly I had once been hurt.

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