The Wife He Never Chose Novels & Stories

Jason wore that smirk—arrogant, almost dominating—while Ayman stayed composed for a moment, his lips moving briefly before a delicate smile lit up his face. He then returned straight to the front door. The more I saw him, the more I realized how lucky I was to have gotten out of that marriage of convenience. I had turned a blind eye to so much, simply because I kept telling myself it was my duty as a wife, and also because I wanted to see him as my father saw him. That marriage represented his greatest achievement. But now, the masks were gone. The new Claire could live her life and make her own choices, as she wished.

It was because he never loved her that way. A faint smile slowly appeared on her lips. Broken. Empty. Inside the restaurant, none of them noticed her standing there. Not her husband. Not her daughter. Not even once. Alina turned around quietly and walked away. That evening, the villa felt colder than before. She sat alone at the desk in the master bedroom. A stack of papers rested neatly in front of her. Divorce Agreement. The words looked calmer than she felt. Seven years. She spent seven years loving a man who never chose her.

Her hand was on his arm, her face tilted up toward his. They weren't touching inappropriately, but the intimacy in their posture made my chest tight. I turned away before they could see me and walked back inside on with my legs shaking. "Isn't that Jason Hartley's wife?" someone whispered behind me. "Poor thing. Everyone knows he never got over Isabelle Brown." "I heard he only married her because his family pressured him to move on." "She must know she's just a replacement." I kept walking, head high, dying inside.

I stood on the sidewalk with the bag in my hand and the November cold around me and two lives inside me that nobody had chosen yet but me, and I understood, standing there, what this moment actually was. In three years of marriage, I had not made a single decision that was entirely my own. Every choice had been shaped by the contract, by Tristan's needs, by the fear of what happened if I stepped outside the lines that had been drawn for me. This was the first one that belonged only to me. I picked up the bag and walked through the entrance into the warm lobby and did not look back at the street.

The other half was tired, like he was already exhausted just from looking. "Because it's a wedding," Sophia said. She did not even look up at first. She was busy picking up a thick flower catalog. She flipped through it quickly. "We have to choose flowers. We have to choose colors. We have to choose music. We have to choose food. We have to choose everything. That is how it works." "Can't we just... get married?" He leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. He looked at her over the mountain of papers. "Like last time. Simple. Just you and me. No stress."

"Have you ever seen a bloated corpse? Do you know what a crushed skull crawling with maggots looks like? I saw one from a distance once, and I had nightmares every night. I could barely drink water. But to get away from you, Wrenn spent every day around bodies like that! "Danny, I know you hated me for using my husband's sacrifice to pressure you into marrying my daughter. But if you didn't want to, you could've said so. If you didn't love her, you could've said so! Why keep another woman in your heart and still refuse to let my daughter go? "She had your child. She ran your whole household for years, and all of you looked down on her because she didn't have much education. Your entire famil

"How could she hit you so hard? And you just stood there and watched, Jesse. Have you forgotten Sinead is your wife?" I was already a little upset. "She has already married someone else with your approval. Have you forgotten that?" Sinead's mother choked on her words and fell silent. After a while, she spoke again. "But that wasn't real. It was only an act. You're the only one taking it seriously." I rolled my eyes. They had all treated those solemn wedding vows as an act, but I couldn't. In fact, I found it filthy. Besides, it had been five years, and they had never told me about Zachary.

Never discusses his personal life. Napakunot-noo ako. "How can he be publicly single if we're married?" Napatingin ako kay Grace. Nagkibit-balikat siya. "Baka tinatago ka niya." "Alam mo, Grace." "What?" "Stop watching dramas." Tumawa siya. Pero sa totoo lang, pareho kaming nagtataka. Kung totoo ang marriage certificate, bakit wala ni isang balita tungkol sa asawa niya?

I just said it. His expression changed, brows knitting together. “You’re my wife.” “But being your wife didn’t stop me from feeling like I was alone in our marriage.” He went rigid, quiet at the bitter truth. I took a shaky breath. “For months, I watched you choose Sadie. I watched you look at her like she was the only woman in the world who mattered to you. I knew you believed she was your mate, so I tried to accept it. I tried to accept that there would never be a place for me.”

"Did he promise to marry you?" Sarah stared at her for a long time.Then she slowly shook her head. "No." Jessica frowned. "But." "I was the one who hoped."Sarah's voice cracked. "I convinced myself that taking responsibility meant eventually choosing me."She laughed once. It carried no joy. "I was wrong." Jessica lowered her eyes. The anger she'd carried into the apartment no longer felt as solid as it had a few minutes ago. Sarah leaned forward. "When I heard he was getting married." She stopped. Her eyes filled with tears. "I thought he had chosen someone else over me."