I Exchanged His Bride

1
Before the Thanksgiving break, Ken promised he'd spend the entire break with me, helping with wedding preparations.
But the night before the holiday officially began, he called to say something had come up at the lab and he wouldn't be able to make it back.
Ken has always been the cool, aloof, scholarly type. I should have trusted him completely.
But just a few minutes before his call, I'd received a text confirming a hotel room booking in his name.
I stared at the message, stunned.
It was a well-known hotel for couples.
At first, I thought my stuffy, unromantic professor had finally learned a thing or two about romance. Then he called with his excuse about the lab.
Like hell I'd believe that.
I floored the gas pedal and sped over.
The room door was unlocked. A beautiful young woman, wrapped in a bath towel, was sitting cross-legged on the bed with a laptop.
She didnt seem surprised to see me. In fact, she offered a sweet smile.
"Hello, Ms. Bernstein."
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ken.
His back was to us, deep in a phone conversation, completely oblivious to my arrival.
"Ms. Bernstein, I'm one of Professor Miller's students. My name is Zoe," she said, her smile creating two charming dimples. "We had some data we hadn't finished processing. The professor was worried that being in the lab so late, just the two of us, might damage my reputation if someone saw us. So he brought me here to work. Please don't misunderstand."
She finished with a playful stick of her tongue.
My heart sank like a stone.
Ken was a man of few emotions, his world revolving around his experiments and his teaching. He'd never shown any particular concern for any woman.
That included me, his fiance of five years.
But now, Zoe was telling me that Ken had gone out of his way to book a hotel room, all for the sake of her reputation.
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
Suddenly, I didn't care about being poised and graceful anymore.
"If you're here to work, then work. Who are you trying to impress, sitting there with your bare arms on display?"
The girl froze.
She clearly hadn't expected my sudden outburst. Her beautiful eyes instantly filled with tears.
"I'm sorry, I'll get dressed right now."
As she stood up, I noticed she had Ken's jacket draped over her legs.
The commotion finally caught Ken's attention. He hung up the phone, his face a mask of surprise.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm here. What about it?"
My tone was sharp, and he realized I was angry.
With an almost imperceptible sigh, the man started to pack his things to leave with me.
"And get rid of that damn jacket," I snapped, pointing at the coat in his hands. "You know I'm a germaphobe. How dare you let some clueless girl touch my things!"
The tension in the room was thick. Zoe's face was as white as a sheet.
Ken frowned at me, but he put down the jacket and left with me.
It was the first time I had ever lost my temper in front of him.
In the past, a girl with a face as punchable as Zoe's wouldn't have escaped without a few slaps from me.
But Ken was a refined, well-educated man.
To fit the image of a professor's wife, I had curbed my temper significantly.
But he didn't see it that way.
"Zoe is just a kid. You shouldn't have been so harsh with her."
A kid?
I let out a cold laugh.
"What kind of kid goes to a couples' hotel with her professor? Ken, are you trying to sabotage your own career?"
Ken slammed on the brakes. The sudden stop sent me lurching forward.
"Audrey, watch your mouth! We were just there to process data!"
I couldn't remember him ever raising his voice at me like that.
Ken was perfect, the object of countless young girls' affections.
But his mind was always on his experiments, and he never gave anyone outside his academic circle a second glance.
That's why I'd always felt so secure with him.
But now, he had changed.
"Ken, this is the first time we've ever fought over another woman."
He pinched the bridge of his nose, his face etched with exhaustion.
"I don't want to fight. You're being unreasonable."
"I'm going to stay somewhere else for a few days. You need to cool down. We'll talk when you're ready."
The September night air in the city was chilly.
Without a moment's hesitation, my fianc left me on a deserted street and drove away.
I pulled my coat tighter around me.
Suddenly, I had a feeling this wedding was not going to happen.
I went home that night and came down with a high fever.
I slept for a full day and night before I remembered that today was the day Ken and I were supposed to try on our wedding dress.
But I'd been sick and hadn't reminded him, and he hadn't sent me a single message.
Instead, Zoe's social media was updated.
The first post was a picture of a table laden with desserts, captioned: [Master said that eating sweet things makes you feel better. So Master doesn't worry, I'm going to eat all of this!]
My breath caught in my throat.
I had asked Ken to take me to that dessert shop countless times, but he was always either "too busy" or he'd forget and stand me up.
An indescribable feeling spread through my chest.
I kept scrolling.
The second post was taken at a bridal salon.
She was wearing my custom-made wedding dress, a sweet smile on her face.
Behind her, Ken's gaze was tender.
They looked like a loving couple.
The caption read: [A little birdie told me to help out~ Master asked me to try on the wedding dress and give my opinion. Everyone, help me out, is there anything wrong with this dress?]
My mind went blank.
When I came to my senses, my hands and feet were cold.
Trembling.
A wave of nausea washed over me.
It was like finding a swarm of cockroaches in a garden I'd lovingly tended for five years.
The flowers were still there.
But it was disgusting.
For a moment, I wanted to march right up to Zoe and tear that dress off her.
But you can't just swat at cockroaches.
It only makes things messier.
I called my brother and asked to borrow one of his handsome friends.
Then I instructed my housekeeper and driver to prepare some expensive gift baskets.
Finally, I made a reservation at the most famous restaurant in the city.
The next morning.
I treated Ken's students to a meal, and as a reward for their hard work, I gave each of them a gift basket.
Everyone except Zoe.
University students love to gossip.
I answered all of their questions truthfully.
The looks on their faces were a mixture of shock and disgust.
Before the meal was even over, the story about Zoe was all over the campus confession page.
After lunch, my brother's friend, Leo, picked me up right on time to go to the bridal salon.
Leo was handsome, with perfect model-like proportions.
Compared to Ken's cool demeanor, Leo had the eye-catching presence of a cover model.
Most importantly, Leo was patient.
No matter how many dresses I tried on, he was happy to change into a new suit for a photo with me.
Thirty-two wedding dresses, and every single photo was perfect.
It was an experience I had never had in my five years with Ken.
Afterwards, I posted all the photos on social media.
The caption read: [My fianc was busy eating dessert with someone else, so I had to find a stand-in. Everyone, help me choose, which one looks best?]
By the time I was done, Zoe's world had imploded.
Someone followed the clues from her social media posts and exposed her on the campus confession page.
Zoe's two-faced behavior at school had already earned her a fair share of enemies.
This incident just gave them a reason to pounce.
The situation escalated quickly, and Zoe was called into the dean's office.
She came out after a three-hour meeting, pale and with red-rimmed eyes.
On her way back to the dorm, she was met with open jeers and laughter.
Zoe couldn't take it. She called Ken in tears, threatening to drop out of school.
And so, two days later, Ken once again set foot in our marital home.
"Audrey, do you really have to target my student like this?"
"Causing such a scene right before the wedding, do you even want to get married anymore?"
This was the second time in five years I had seen Ken truly angry.
Both times, it was because of the same woman.
I'm not one to get angry easily. By this point, I was just tired of it all.
"Ken, I need you to understand something."
"I didn't do this on a whim, and I'm not making things up."
It was a reminder.
This whole mess started with him.
When he realized this, he was the first to back down.
"I don't understand all that social etiquette stuff. I just do what I think is right without thinking too much about it."
"You told me that girls like to eat sweets. She was crying all night because of you. As your fianc and her professor, I felt I should make it up to her."
"As for the wedding dress, the designer is going abroad. You were sick, and I was afraid you wouldn't have time, so I asked Zoe to help."
His calm, steady eyes didn't seem to be lying.
For Ken, offering an explanation was a concession.
He hadn't made any unforgivable mistakes, so I didn't need to keep pushing.
Otherwise, our relationship would be over.
"If there's something you don't understand, I can teach you. But I don't like you creating conflict between us because of another woman."
With a man as dense as Ken, throwing tantrums was useless.
Stating my needs was more effective than arguing.
"And one more thing."
"You may be stuffy and boring in the eyes of the world, but I love that your emotional world is clean and untainted."
"Ken, I don't tolerate any gray areas. I hope you don't lose that quality."
The air was finally cleared.
A smile spread across Ken's face as he pulled me into his arms.
"Don't worry. You will always be my only wife."
Ken was never one to procrastinate.
As soon as I made my feelings clear, he transferred Zoe to another professor's supervision.
I also went to the school and cleared up the rumors to save her from further embarrassment.
Life returned to normal. We went back to the bridal salon to try on the dress again.
I don't like second-hand clothes.
So I arranged with the designer to have an identical dress made after the alterations were complete.
When I finally put on the wedding dress I'd been waiting for for over half a year, the gloom of the past few days vanished.
Every detail of the dress was exactly as I had designed it.
The perfect skirt accentuated my figure flawlessly.
Ken was mesmerized.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind, looking at our reflection in the mirror.
"Audrey, you are the most beautiful bride."
Belatedly, Ken became jealous of the photos I'd taken with Leo and insisted on having a photo shoot with me that very day.
The dressing rooms were separate.

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