Home / My Fiancé Celebrated Seven Wedding Anniversaries with Another Woman / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of My Fiancé Celebrated Seven Wedding Anniversaries with Another Woman: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The room was so quiet that the only sound was ice clinking against glass.Ethan was the first to look away. Claire leaned back in her chair and took a sip as if nothing had happened. "Irene, we've all had a few drinks. We're just talking. Don't make this ugly."I stared at her. "What do you mean, your seventh wedding anniversary?"Before she could answer, Noah slammed his phone facedown on the table."Enough. Everyone's been drinking. Do you really have to question every word tonight like this is a trial?"I glanced down at the engagement ring on my finger.I'd worn it for two years.With the wedding nine days away, I'd already been to four dress fittings and redone the seating chart three times. I'd made dozens of calls just to arrange hotels and rides for our out-of-state guests. At that moment, my wedding dress was hanging in our guest room, and the designer and I had selected every pearl on the skirt all over again, one by one.But the man standing in front of me thought I was kill

Chapter 2

The next morning, our wedding planner, Tessa, came by with the final seating chart for us to sign off on.The tables closest to ours were reserved for both sets of parents, the wedding party, and a few of our closest relatives. I scanned the list and quickly spotted a name that didn't belong among them. That person had been assigned the seat closest to us.Claire Howard.I turned the tablet toward Noah. "Why is she sitting here?"Noah was answering emails and didn't even look up. "The tables for our other friends are all full. It'd be awkward to squeeze her in by herself. What's wrong with letting her sit a little closer?""Why does she have to sit next to our parents? That's the problem."He finally looked up, frowning, and lowered his voice. "You already humiliated her in front of everyone last night. Her stomach was killing her, and she kept asking me if she'd said something wrong. Irene, can you please stop making everyone out to be a villain?"Tessa, sitting across from us, looked

Chapter 3

When Noah and I first got together, he wasn't like this.Five years ago, my father had a heart attack and was rushed to the ER in the middle of the night. Noah was out of state on a business trip, but after I called, he drove for more than three hours through the night to get back.At four in the morning, he sat with me in the hospital hallway, put his jacket over my shoulders, and said just one thing. "Irene, don't be scared. I'm here."Those words stayed with me for five whole years.When my father had surgery, Noah took three days off work to help me deal with the insurance, pick up prescriptions, and drive my mother back and forth. The day my father was discharged, Noah carried two big bags in one hand and kept the other free to hold mine.Back then, I truly believed this was the man I'd spend the rest of my life with.That was exactly why, whenever he let me down, I'd instinctively excuse the man in front of me by remembering the man he'd been back then.One year, for his birthday

Chapter 4

On the morning of the wedding, Noah came to pick me up wearing a sharp, perfectly tailored dark suit.He stood at the door of my hotel suite, looking as relaxed as if nothing had happened in the past few days. For a second, he even looked like the young man who'd stood outside the ER five years ago after driving all night to be with me."Ready?"He smiled and pinched my cheek, completely sure of himself. "I knew you couldn't actually go through with calling off the wedding."I didn't answer.When we pulled up at the hotel by the river, I walked into the bride's dressing room. The first person I saw was Claire.She wore a long, pure-white silk dress and pearl earrings, her hair carefully pinned up.Anyone who saw her alone in a wedding photo would probably assume she was the bride.I stopped. "Who told you to wear white?"Claire glanced down at her dress with an innocent expression. "Is this white? I switched dresses at the last minute this morning. I didn't give it much thought."Noah

Chapter 5

After the wedding was called off, Noah didn't take it seriously at all.For the next three days, he texted me as though nothing had changed, just as he had after every other fight."You done being mad?""My mom wants to know what to do with the gifts our out-of-state relatives already sent.""Tessa says you paid the remaining balance in full?"I didn't answer a single one.We had bought the apartment together. I'd put one hundred twenty thousand dollars toward the down payment, and Noah had put in $90,000, but the deed listed us as equal owners.I called a real estate agent and put the place on the market, then hired movers to take all my things out.15 minutes later, Noah called."What's going on at home?""What do you mean?""Why is all your stuff gone? And the real estate agent just called and said you're selling the apartment?""I've moved my things out. I want to sell the apartment so we can untangle our joint finances. Once the mortgage is paid off, we'll split what's left accord

Chapter 6

Noah started asking our mutual friends to plead his case.Ethan was the first to call."Irene..." He hesitated. He'd probably been about to call me the future Mrs. Grant but caught himself. "Noah's in really bad shape. He's been holed up at home drinking for days. Could you go see him? He won't listen to anyone right now."I couldn't help laughing."Ethan, when I had a fever of 103 and begged him to come home, he didn't listen to me either."The line went quiet.After a moment, he forced himself to explain. "We really didn't mean to hurt you with that game at the party.""I know."They really hadn't meant to hurt me.Because they'd never thought of me as someone whose feelings they had to consider.To that crowd, everything was material for a joke: who Noah had flirted with, who had kissed him, and who had a key to his place. My feelings as his fiancée mattered least of all.I had no interest in hearing anything else, so I hung up.A few days later, Leah somehow got hold of my number.

Chapter 7

A month later, the apartment sold without a hitch.After the remaining mortgage balance, the broker's commission, and taxes were deducted, the proceeds were wired to our separate accounts under our ownership and contribution agreement.The day Noah got his share, he came looking for me again.This time, I agreed to meet him at a coffee shop near my office.Some things really did need to be said once and for all.He'd lost a lot of weight, and there were dark circles under his eyes. The first thing he did when he sat down was slide a cashier's check across the table to me."I don't want this money. It's yours."I pushed the check back. "It was split according to our agreement. Keep your share.""That was our home," he said, staring hard at me. "We lived there for three years. Don't you miss it even a little?"I picked up my coffee and looked up at him. "What is it you really miss? The apartment? Or the days when I kept everything in order so you could come home and not have to deal with

Chapter 8

Claire and Noah had their big falling-out two months later.Ethan, of all people, told me about it as if it were some awkward joke.Their whole group was at a friend's party that day, and Claire had been drinking heavily. Just before everyone left, she grabbed hold of Noah in front of them all. "Irene doesn't want you anymore. Why won't you give us a shot?"Noah's expression changed on the spot. He shook her off and turned to leave.Claire clung to his jacket and finally screamed, her voice almost hysterical. "You spent seven whole years with me. Seven years! Noah, what am I to you?"When I heard that, her words sounded strangely familiar.Back when Noah broke my heart again and again, I'd wanted to ask him that exact same question more times than I could count.Ethan said Noah was quiet for a long time. In the end, all he said to Claire was, "You crossed the line."I almost laughed out loud.The man who had always dismissed his girlfriend's boundaries as unreasonable was finally deman

Chapter 9

A year after I called off the wedding, I moved into a new apartment I'd bought myself.It wasn't big, but I'd chosen every single thing in it. No one else knew the door code, and my parents had the only spare key. The couch in the living room wasn't fancy, but for the first time, I had a home that belonged only to me.I rarely asked how Noah was doing after that.After dinner at the company's year-end holiday party, everyone started another reverse game of Never Have I Ever.A young coworker who'd only recently joined the company racked her brain for something that would win the round, then declared smugly, "I've called off my own wedding."The few people at the table who'd been around long enough to know my story went quiet.But I raised my hand without missing a beat. "What do you know? I've actually done that one."The new hire's eyes went wide. "No way. Do you regret it?"I thought about it. "No regrets.""What about the groom?""Dumped him. Didn't want him anymore."Everyone at th

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