All Chapters of Groom Chose the Bridesmaid, so I Left: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I froze for a moment. "I'm making a scene?"Charles nodded, his tone dismissive. "Winnie's just touching up her makeup. You're the one insisting on making everything awkward. You're embarrassing everyone here."I laughed.So, in his eyes, Winnie wasn't making a scene by making an entire roomful of relatives wait while she touched up her makeup. Instead, I was doing that by reminding everyone about the lucky moment.At 8:49 am, the wedding emcee, who was waiting downstairs, called.My cousin, Jack Cruise, answered. After listening for a few seconds, his expression shifted.Jack said, "The emcee says the lead car has already started its engine. If we don't head downstairs now, the whole procession is going to fall apart."The tension in the room instantly grew heavier.I looked at Charles and enunciated every word slowly, "Charles, I have to leave the house at 8:58 am."Charles frowned, looking increasingly irritated.Suddenly, Winnie let out a little gasp. Holding up her eyeli

The minute hand pointed to 8:55 am. I pinned on my bridal corsage and picked up the groom's.Charles' pupils contracted. "Natalie, what are you doing?"I glanced at the clock on the wall. "I told you, I wasn't going to miss the lucky moment. So, I'm leaving now."Charles' expression darkened, and he reached out to grab me. "Natalie, stop messing around! If I don't go out with you, who's going to escort you there?"I took a step back. "Then you don't have to."With that, I picked up my bouquet and turned toward the door. Behind me, my relatives let out a series of hushed gasps."Is Natalie really going to leave the house on her own?""She can't do that!""The groom is still upstairs!"Winnie was getting anxious, too, though mostly because she couldn't understand what was happening. She exclaimed, "Natalie, what are you doing? I was just fixing my makeup. Is this really necessary?"I didn't look back. When I reached the stairs, I heard hurried footsteps behind me.The next sec

I suddenly found the whole thing ironic. I'd been holding that bouquet, waiting for Charles to come to me. Instead, he'd stood beside Winnie, holding her makeup bag for her.Shawn reached over and took the bouquet from my arms.I looked up at him.He rolled down the window and casually handed the flowers to a woman standing by the roadside with a child in her arms who was waiting for the traffic light to change."Here, ma'am. These are for you."The woman froze for a moment before flashing us a delighted smile. "Oh, thank you! Congratulations on your wedding!"Shawn nodded solemnly. "Thank you. We'll be happy together."The window rolled back up.I looked at him. "Isn't it bad luck for the newlyweds to give away the wedding bouquet?"Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Bad luck comes from the person, not the flowers."Then he reached beside his seat and took out another bouquet. White roses and lily of the valley were mixed with a few sprigs of pale pink freesias tucked among the blo

The moment Charles answered the call, his mother's frantic voice came through. "Charles! Where the hell are you? A group of people just showed up at the hotel and took all the bride's relatives away! They said the wedding was canceled. What on earth is going on?"His father's voice followed. "Weren't you supposed to be picking up the bride? Where is she? Everything's in chaos at the hotel! All our relatives and friends are asking questions!"Charles gripped his phone so tightly that his knuckles turned white.After a long silence, he finally managed to say, "Natalie… left."His mom froze. "What do you mean, she left?"Charles said, "She left with another man. The wedding's off."Silence fell on the other end of the line.A few seconds later, his mom's voice rose to a shrill scream. "How could she leave with someone else? What the hell were you doing?"Charles closed his eyes. "I'm coming over now."He hung up and turned to leave.Winnie still had no idea what had just happene

I went on, "I'd have to put up with Winnie calling you in the middle of the night, turning to you whenever she got sick, running to you every time she got her heart broken, and treating you like someone she could summon whenever she wanted."And you'd keep telling me she didn't mean any harm. You'd keep saying I was overthinking things. Charles, just imagining a life like that makes me feel suffocated."Charles' face grew paler by the second. "No."He shook his head and said, "It won't happen again. I'll keep my distance from Winnie. I promise."I gave a faint, humorless smile. "You're making that promise now because I'm leaving. But I gave you chances. I asked you at my home. I asked you again at the door. And in the final minute, I asked if you wanted to leave with me. Every single time, you chose her."Charles' eyes reddened. "I just didn't think you'd really leave."The moment the words left his mouth, even he seemed stunned by them.I looked at him, and the last trace of em