I Canceled Our Wedding the Day Before, He Was at His Ex’s Somewhere in the Alps Chapter 06
The moment the door opened, the apartment was as silent as a tomb.
No wedding decorations. No balloons. No flowers or candles I had stayed up late picking out. Even the closet was empty.
The only thing left was the coffee table in the middle of the living room, and on it, a lonely engagement ring.
Caleb stood at the doorway, still holding the bouquet he had planned to give me. The smile on his face slowly froze.
His relatives behind him were the first to react.
“What’s going on here?”
“Where’s the bride?”
“Weren’t we supposed to pick her up at 8:00? Why isn’t she here?”
“Why does this place look completely emptied out?”
The groomsmen were confused too. Someone asked quietly, “Caleb, did you and Emma have a fight?”
“Did you change the venue last minute?”
“Say something, man.”
Caleb didn’t seem to hear any of them. He walked past everyone and slowly stepped into the living room.
His shoes made soft sounds on the empty floor. Each step landed like a knock against his ribs.
Caleb’s best friend Derek stood at the back of the crowd. When he saw the apartment, his face changed instantly.
He walked quickly to Caleb’s side and lowered his voice. “Caleb. Does Emma know?”
Caleb whipped his head around. “Know what?” His voice was tight, like someone had their hand around his throat.
Derek stared at him. “What do you think? About you and Jessica getting married in Cancun.”
The moment those words left his mouth, the whole living room went dead silent.
Caleb’s face turned pale in an instant. But he quickly shook his head, like he was denying Derek and himself at the same time.
“No way. She can’t know. I handled everything. The article only ran in the local Cancun paper. I didn’t tell anyone to tell her.”
His voice got quieter as he spoke, because he was starting to realize how ridiculous that sounded.
If I didn’t know, why was the apartment empty? If I didn’t know, why was the ring taken off? If I didn’t know, why did I disappear on my wedding day?
Jessica stood in the crowd, wearing a light pink dress.
She looked beautiful today. Her hair was softly curled, her makeup delicate, and on her hand was the diamond ring I recognized.
She looked at the empty apartment, and the corner of her mouth lifted just slightly. The smile disappeared so fast that almost no one saw it.
But Derek saw it. He shot her a cold look. Jessica immediately put on an innocent expression and walked over to Caleb, gently tugging at his sleeve.
“Caleb, do you think Emma… ran away from the wedding? Everyone came today. How could she do this? I know she’s upset, but she can’t just joke around with the wedding like this.”
Caleb didn’t say anything.
Jessica bit her lip and softened her voice even more. “Caleb, I know this is hard for you right now. But the guests are waiting at the hotel. If we really can’t find Emma…”
She paused, like she was making a big decision. “I could help you. It’s not like we haven’t already-”
“Jessica.” Derek’s voice was cold as ice.
Jessica froze.
Derek looked at her coldly. “Do you think everyone here is an idiot?”
Jessica’s face went pale. “Derek, what are you trying to say?”
“I’m saying stop pretending.” Derek pointed at the empty apartment. “Emma and Caleb were together for seven years. Every single one of us saw how she treated him.”
“When Caleb’s stomach acted up, she ran three blocks in the middle of the night to get his medicine.”
“When he was starting his business and couldn’t make ends meet, she handed over three years of her savings.”
“When his mom was in the hospital, she took time off work to stay by her bedside, and she didn’t even mention that she had a fever herself.”
He laughed coldly. “And you? The second you came back, you had him go to Cancun to marry you. And today, you wanted to show up in a cheap dress and stand in the bride’s place? Not a chance.”
The room erupted.
“What wedding in Cancun?”
“Who married who?”
“I thought Caleb was getting married today?”
“I thought Jessica was just a classmate?”
Caleb’s cousin was the first to figure it out. She stared at Jessica’s ring. “That ring on her hand… isn’t that a wedding ring?”
Jessica instinctively hid her hand behind her back. But it was too late. Everyone’s eyes were locked on her hand.
That diamond ring was too bright. It hit everyone at this wedding like a slap in the face.
But Caleb never looked at Jessica. His eyes were fixed on the coffee table. The engagement ring sat there quietly. On the inside of the band, two letters were engraved.
E&C.
Emma and Caleb.
I had begged him for a long time before he reluctantly agreed to engrave it. Back then he said, “It’s just a ring. Engraving it doesn’t mean anything.”
But I told him seriously, “It does mean something. I want it to prove we’re really going to be together forever.”
Now I had left it behind. Like a silent verdict.
Caleb walked over slowly and picked up the ring. His hand was shaking.
“How did this happen… How could Emma leave me…”
He pulled out his phone and called me. The first time, it didn’t go through. The second time, nothing. The third time, just the same cold automated voice.
He texted me like a madman.
[Emma, where are you?]
[Don’t scare me like this.]
[Today is our wedding.]
[Can we talk? Please?]
The message sent. Then a red exclamation mark appeared. He had been blocked.
Caleb stared at that exclamation mark, frozen in place. Like all the strength had been drained out of him.
Jessica saw this and something flickered in her eyes. She stepped forward and tried to take his arm. “Caleb, don’t be like this.”
“She’s just throwing a tantrum. She loves you so much. She’ll come back. Just ignore her for now and we can-”
Caleb suddenly yanked his arm away. The force was so strong that Jessica stumbled back two steps and nearly fell.
“Get out.”
Jessica froze. “Caleb?”
Caleb looked up at her, his eyes bloodshot. “I said get out. If it weren’t for you, Emma wouldn’t have left.”
Jessica stared at him in disbelief. “You’re blaming me now?”
“You’re the one who agreed to go to Cancun with me. You’re the one who said it was a promise we made when we were eighteen. You’re the one who said Emma would never find out!”
Her voice rose sharply as she lost control. Everyone in the living room heard it. Caleb’s face went even whiter.
Derek bent down and noticed