She Became Another Man’s Bride

I'd known Diana for fifteen years, and loved her for four.
She promised we'd get married on graduation day.
But on that day, she became someone else's bride.
I stormed into the wedding, demanding a reason.
The man beside her looked at me, his face a mask of pain. Ron, man... I have cancer. I'm dying. Diana is just... she's helping me grant my only wish.
My Diana, my love, stared at me, her expression hard. "I'll explain when this is over. Now is not the time for you to make a scene."
I laughed, wished them a long and happy life together, and walked away.

1
On the day of our university graduation, Diana vanished.
My friends were giving me strange looks, like they were holding back words that burned on their tongues. A knot of dread tightened in my stomach. I called Diana's phone again and again, each unanswered ring echoing in the hollow of my chest.
Then, a text from a friend popped up on my screen. It was a forward, simple and brutal. She's getting married. An address was attached.
At first, I thought it was a joke, some elaborate graduation prank. But the closer I got to the venue, the more a chilling certainty settled over me.
When I arrived, Diana's friends saw me at the entrance, their faces paling in panic.
"Ron what are you doing here?"
My voice trembled as I pointed toward the grand doors. "Who whose wedding is this?"

2
Diana and I were the definition of childhood sweethearts.
From kindergarten chatter to university cram sessions, we were inseparable, our lives woven together thread by thread. Our friendship blossomed into love so naturally, it felt like breathing. Everyone who saw us would smile and say we were a match made in heaven. I believed it with every fiber of my being. Diana was my destiny.
She used to say our love story was already written in the stars, a gift from the universe delivered to me early, so I'd never have to be alone. Her words made my world spin with joy. Without Diana, my life would be a colorless void. I saw our future so clearly: walking down the aisle, hand in hand, growing old and gray together.
Reality, however, was a sledgehammer.
On graduation day, the very day she promised would be our wedding day, she was marrying another man.
I shoved my way through the crowd, my world narrowing to a single point. And there she was. Dressed in a stunning white gown, Diana was breathtakingly beautiful, but she was on the arm of Caleb, clinking glasses with the guests.
My heart felt like it was being ripped in two. She was still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, but the sight of her was a dagger in my soul.
When she saw me, her face went ghostly white. A flash of panic and guilt crossed her eyes before Caleb cut in.
"Ron, man... I have cancer. I'm dying," he pleaded, his voice laced with a pathetic helplessness. "Marrying Diana was my dad's only wish. She's just helping me." He made it sound like he was the victim, and I was the villain for even being there.
Diana's gaze turned cold, her voice firm and final. "This isn't the time to argue. I'll give you an explanation when this is over."
"Don't bother."
A gaping hole tore open in my chest, the pain so immense I could barely breathe. I ripped the simple silver ring shed given meour promise ringfrom my finger and hurled it out a nearby window. It was once a symbol of our forever; now, it was just a painful memory.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the tremors in my voice to still.
"I wish you a lifetime of happiness. May you have beautiful children."
Then, I turned my back and walked away.
"Ron!"
Diana called my name, starting to follow, but her steps faltered as Caleb erupted into a fit of violent coughing.
A bitter, silent laugh escaped me. I didn't look back. I just kept walking.
She glanced frantically between Caleb and my retreating back. In the end, she chose to stay by his side.
I walked out into the blinding sunlight, hot tears blurring the world into a kaleidoscope of pain.

3
As I was about to leave, Diana's friends swarmed me, their words a useless, buzzing drone.
"Ron, she has her reasons, don't be mad at her."
"Ron, there's nothing going on between her and Caleb, you have to believe..."
"Yeah, Ron, just wait, let her explain."
I held up a hand, cutting them off. My gaze swept over their familiar, treacherous faces. A cold, hard laugh bubbled up inside me. They all knew. They had all been in on it, helping Diana lie to me for who knows how long.
How pathetic. I'd known these people for years, yet when it mattered most, they chose her side, conspired to keep me in the dark. If I hadn't shown up today, were they just going to let me keep playing the fool? Let me become the other man in my own relationship without even knowing it?
"Don't call me that ever again," I said, my voice flat and empty. "We're not that close. If we see each other again, let's just pretend we're strangers."
I slipped into a taxi. As I opened my bag, my eyes fell on the crisp envelope inside. An acceptance letter to a top international university. I was going to tell her today.
Now, there was no point.

4
Looking back, the signs were all there.
In the weeks leading up to graduation, Diana started coming home late, sometimes not at all. Our small apartment often felt empty, haunted by her absence. I rarely saw her on campus. Whenever I called, it was always noisy in the background. Her excuse was always the same: "Work is swamped. I'm just so busy."
She promised she'd make it up to me once this busy period was over.
Now I know. She wasn't busy with work. She was busy planning a wedding.
That afternoon, I made an appointment to finalize my travel documents. By a cruel twist of fate, I ran into Maya, one of the few friends of Diana's I hadn't seen at the wedding.
She looked at me, her expression a mix of pity and frustration. "Does Diana know you're leaving?"
I just shook my head. "Did you know she was getting married today?"
Maya sighed, a heavy, weary sound. "I tried to talk her out of it. I told her you wouldn't stand for this. But you know Diana, she's too soft-hearted. That guy, Caleb, he's been chasing her for years. She always shut him down, firmly. But then he showed up a while ago, told her he was sick, that he didn't have long. His 'dying wish' was to marry her. She wrestled with it for ages, but in the end, her pity won."
Rage, hot and blinding, surged through me. A wedding isn't a game! You don't just do it for someone. Did she even think about me? What did she think I was?
A wedding is supposed to be one of the most sacred moments in a person's life, and she'd used it to grant some other guy's dying wish. She had betrayed not just me, but everything we had promised each other.
Whatever her reasons, she gave something that was meant only for me to someone else.
And that was a betrayal I couldn't forgive.

5
The sharp edges of my heartbreak slowly dulled into a numb ache, as if even my sorrow had grown exhausted.
"Are you sure about this?" Maya's voice was soft beside me. "No second thoughts?"
I nodded, my voice hard as stone. "No second thoughts. Let's get this done."
After all the paperwork was finished, I closed my eyes, a wave of weariness washing over me. The world faded, my body felt weightless, and my mind drifted back to a hazy afternoon in my childhood.
I remember coming home from kindergarten. The house was quiet, too quiet. Mom was sitting alone in the living room, one hand resting on her still-flat stomach, tears silently tracing paths down her cheeks. I ran to her, and she pulled me into a hug that felt both gentle and sad.
"Ron," she whispered, "let's not have this baby brother or sister, okay?"
I was confused. Just a few days earlier, she had told me with a radiant smile that I was going to be a big brother. This sudden change was a mystery to my young mind, but I trusted my mom, even when I didn't understand.
Then one day, she was gone.
The next time I saw her, Dad was with her, looking defeated and exhausted. Mom tossed a phone at him, her eyes colder than Id ever seen. "What are you doing back here? Weren't you busy picking out a ring for your new girlfriend?"
Her voice was sharp, cutting through the warm memories of our family. "I'm not the type to make a scene. I've already had the divorce papers drawn up. We can end this right now. I'm taking Ron. After all, your mother never truly accepted him anyway."
Dad was crying, begging, but Mom had already lifted me onto our suitcase and was walking out the door.
She leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Deceit, Ron, once it starts, it never stops. A crack can't be mended to look new. I hope you find happiness, a person who loves you with their whole heart. But more importantly, I want you to be the one who knows best how to love yourself."

6
Life as a single mom wasn't easy, but she never let me feel the weight of it. Whenever she was tired or stressed, she would just stroke my cheek and say, "As long as I have you, I have all the strength I need."
Not having a dad around made me different. Some kids at school started whispering that I was the "son of a mistress," and the whispers turned into taunts. Kids can be cruel; they repeated the poison they heard from adults and gave me nasty nicknames. I never fought back in front of the teachers, but I remembered every face. When I found one of them alone, I'd make sure they learned I wasn't an easy target.
But none of that mattered after I met Diana.
I was hiding in a corner after a fight, dabbing at a cut on my lip, when she found me. She held out a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton swabs, a small, amused smile playing on her lips. "You're so skinny. How do you hit so hard?"
She cleaned my wounds so gently, I forgot all about the sting. Her smile was it was everything. From that day on, whenever I got hurt, she was there to patch me up.
We became inseparable. Through elementary and middle school, we were a unit. Mom started her own business and our lives got better. She saw the unspoken thing growing between me and Diana but never said a word. Our families grew close, too, all of us quietly watching our bond deepen, waiting for it to ripen into what it was always meant to be.

7
The summer after we graduated high school, Diana presented me with a simple silver ring. Her eyes, shining with a love so deep it stole my breath, met mine.
"The day we graduate from university," she promised, her voice a soft whisper, "we get married. Ron, I can't wait to be your wife."
In that moment, cherry blossoms drifted around us like pink snow, a beautiful, fleeting illusion I could never recapture.
I woke up with a start, realizing I'd fallen asleep in the waiting area. My cheeks were damp with tears.
Maya was looking at me with concern, suggesting we go get a big meal. I shook my head. Right now, all I wanted was to go home to my mom.
On the way, my luck ran out. I ran into the last two people I ever wanted to see.
Diana was hovering over Caleb, fussing over him as if he were made of delicate glass. Our eyes met, and the air crackled with awkward tension.
"What a coincidence, seeing you here," Diana said, forcing a tight smile.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "Looks like I'm interrupting something. My mistake, I'll be on my way."
I turned to leave, but her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, a grip both gentle and firm.
"Don't misunderstand," she said, her voice pleading. "I'm just here with Caleb for a check-up. He's not feeling well."
I nodded slowly, carefully pulling my hand from her grasp. My voice was calm, distant. "Diana, you're a married woman now. You should be careful about appearances. Let's just delete each other's contacts. It's only fair to your husband."
I then turned to Caleb, my eyes narrowing slightly. "Right, Caleb? In a marriage, making your partner feel secure is the most important thing."
Caleb just flushed with embarrassment, clutching his chest and starting to cough again.
But this time, Diana didn't rush to his side.
I gave them a small, cold smile and walked away.

8
Back at the apartment, I moved with a cold efficiency. I packed every single thing of Diana's into boxes and left them by the door. Every gift she'd ever given me went into the trash.
A headache throbbed behind my eyes as my phone buzzed relentlessly. I ignored it, blocking and deleting Diana from every app, every contact list, until it was as if she'd never existed in my digital world.
It was seven in the evening when I got back to my mom's house. She took one look at my pale face, said nothing, and just pulled me into a tight hug. She told me to get some rest.
I spent the next three days in a fog, drifting in and out of a heavy, dreamless sleep. Dark thoughts flickered at the edges of my mind, but the clean, familiar scent of the linens on my bed, my mom's scent, kept them at bay.
On the fourth day, I finally had the strength to get out of bed.
On the fifth day, Moms face lit up when she saw me. She brought me a bowl of warm chicken soup.
I took a sip of water and looked at her. "Mom, Diana and I broke up."
Her smile froze. Her face was a canvas of confusion, but she kept her voice even, not wanting to pressure me.
"She got married."
One sentence was all it took. Understanding, then a fiery anger, flashed in her eyes. She went into her room and returned with a small, velvet box.
"Good," she said, her voice firm. "You deserve better. But since it's over, we should return what belongs to her family."
That's when I learned the full story. Diana's mother had adored me. She and my mom had already been talking, planning for us to get married right after graduation. Diana's mom had even given my mom a family heirloom, a beautiful silver locket, as a clear sign that she saw me as her future son-in-law.
But life had other plans.
The sun was high in the sky when we arrived at Diana's house. Her mom greeted me with a smile as bright as a flower, though her son, Leo, just shot me a dirty look and stalked off.
Diana's mom led me into the living room, where Diana and Caleb were already sitting.
She was still blissfully unaware, grabbing both our hands. "What's this, did you two plan to come back together? Now that you've graduated, have you thought about the next step? Like, maybe, a wedding?"
She tried to place Diana's hand in mine, but I pulled away instantly. A flicker of hurt crossed Diana's face, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I looked at my mom, who knew exactly what I was thinking. Diana's mother had always been so kind to me; I couldn't bear to be the one to tell her.
My mom spoke up for me.
Diana shot to her feet, rushing toward me, her voice a desperate whisper. "Ron, it's not what you think. Just give me some time, I'll explain everything."

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