Dying on Our Wedding Eve: Too Late for Your Regrets

After loving Ethan for three long years, I finally got the ending I had been waiting for.

But on the night before our wedding, I couldn't fall asleep. Toss and turn as I might, my mind was racing.

I grabbed my phone and sent him a text. Ethan, I'm so nervous. I can't sleep!

His reply came almost instantly.

"Go to sleep, babe. You need to be the most beautiful bride tomorrow."

A sweet smile spread across my face. I was just about to close my eyes and drift off when my phone buzzed again. It was a text from an unknown number.

"Ethans heart has only ever belonged to me."

Attached was a photo of two people sharing a bed.

The man in the photo was someone I knew all too wellmy fianc, Ethan.

A sharp pain stabbed through my chest. I couldn't believe that the man who had just texted me so sweetly was currently lying in bed with someone else.

I forced myself to stay calm.

"Who is this?" I texted back.

"This photo is obviously photoshopped!"

I sent several messages in a row, but the other side went completely silent.

Frantic, I called Ethans number.

It rang and rang, but nobody picked up.

What was he doing?

Why wasn't he answering me?

Anxiety clawed at my chest like thousands of ants eating me alive.

A few minutes later, a text finally came from Ethan.

"What's wrong, Val? I was fast asleep."

I let out a shaky breath. Maybe it was just an old photo sent by an bitter ex to mess with my head on my big day.

But just as I was typing a reply telling him it was nothing, the unknown number sent another photo.

This one was crystal clear.

Ethan was lying in bed, staring at his phone screen. On the screen was our Snapchat chat box.

The exact message he had just sent me was visible on his screen.

My vision went black. Aside from pure, blinding rage, only cold dread remained.

Ethan and I were college classmates. Back then, he was the golden boyhis smile was bright and dazzling, like sunshine reflecting off the ocean.

He had countless admirers, but he treated everyone with a cold, polite distance.

Except for one night at a party, when his eyes met mine, and he smiled.

Because of that single look, I naively believed I was special to him.

I simped for him for six months, doing everything I could to get his attention, before he finally agreed to date me.

But right when I was falling head over heels, I accidentally saw his phone lock screen.

It was a photo of a girl. She was beautiful, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ethan, smiling so brightly it hurt my eyes.

What caught my attention most was the tiny mole just beneath her left eye.

I had the exact same mole in the exact same place.

Maybe I was just a substitute for the girl he actually wanted. Maybe that was the only reason I was allowed to be his puppy dog.

Even though I had guessed this heartbreaking truth, I never dared to confront him. I was terrified he would break up with me without a single regret.

But shortly after we started dating, his first love, Chloe, came back.

That day, Ethan and I were playing video games at his apartment. Just as we were having fun, the doorbell rang.

"Val, play by yourself for a minute."

Ethan put down his controller, gently ruffled my hair, and went to answer the door.

I thought it was just delivery, but after a few minutes, there was no sound from the hallway.

I walked over to the foyer to check. My heart stopped when I saw a pair of slender, pale arms wrapped tightly around Ethans waist.

"Who is she?" I asked softly.

Ethans back went visibly rigid. The girl stiffened too.

Then, her sweet, fragile voice echoed through the hallway. "Ethan, can we talk? Just the two of us?"

I finally saw her face clearly. My breath caught, and my mind went blank.

Ethans calm, detached voice broke the silence. "Val, you should head home first."

My nails dug deep into my palms as I fought to keep my tears from falling.

I grabbed my coat and walked past them.

While waiting for the elevator, I couldn't help but look back.

Ethan was gently guiding Chloe into his apartment. The door shut with a heavy *thud*, without him throwing a single glance my way.

The late autumn wind felt like knives scraping against my skin. Standing outside the building, I could still see the lights shining brightly from Ethan's living room.

Why did she come back?

Was Ethan going to break up with me?

...

I sat on a park bench in the courtyard, staring up at his window, my thoughts spinning out of control.

I waited from eight in the evening until midnight. She never came out.

Finally, the lights in Ethan's apartment went out.

And with that, my heart died too.

I stood up to leave, but just as I turned around, I heard their voices. "Chloe, about what you said... let me think about it."

Under the dim streetlights, Ethan was standing face-to-face with his first love.

"Please help me, Ethan. Please," Chloe pleaded, looking incredibly fragile. The sheer adoration and pity in Ethans eyes were practically overflowing.

"Im pregnant," Chloe said, grabbing his hand. "If I told you the baby was yours, would you believe me?"

"Yes."

I didn't know what that single word meant for them.

But I knew, with absolute certainty, that I meant nothing to him.

*Ha.* I laughed bitterly at myself in the dark.

In the freezing night, I walked away quietly. The beautiful dream I had so carefully tried to protect was completely shattered by the wind.

After that night, I actively avoided Ethan.

He tried to contact me multiple times, but I didn't have the courage to face him.

I wasn't throwing a tantrum. I was just terrified that the next time we spoke, he would say the words *'Let's break up.'*

But our campus wasn't that big. We eventually ran into each other.

"Val, wait! Listen to me," Ethan called out, chasing after me.

I admit, I was a coward. I only knew how to run away from reality.

"We can talk later. I'm really busy right now."

I quickened my pace, terrified of hearing him end things.

"Val, stop for a second!"

I kept walking.

"Valerie!"

He caught up to me and grabbed my wrist, forcing me to stop. "I need you."

He needed... me?

What did that mean?

His eyes were shining with an intensity I had never seen when we were alone together.

"That girl from the other night, Chloe... you know who she is, right?"

I nodded slowly.

"Shes pregnant." I was shocked by how easily he admitted it.

"Whether the baby is mine or not, I want to help her."

So, he wasn't trying to break up with me?

"How do you want to help?" My heart rate slowed down slightly.

"Shes staying at my place for now. But I don't know how to take care of a pregnant woman on my own. Can you help me, please?"

Seeing Ethan beg so humbly made my stomach turn.

In our relationship, he had always been the one on the pedestal. I was always the one trying to please him, making all the compromises.

I never imagined the first time he lowered his head to me would be for the sake of his first love.

A sudden surge of anger boiled up inside me.

"Ethan, what do you take me for?!" I screamed at him.

Passersby turned to stare. Ethan looked stunned.

Ever since we started dating, I had never raised my voice at him. I had never even frowned. Every time I was upset, I swallowed my pride and let it go.

But this time, it was too much.

"Are you really not going to help?"

His brows furrowed, and he immediately started looking for other options. My feelings didn't register with him at all.

To him, only Chloe mattered.

"Fine. Forget it."

With that, Ethan turned and walked away. Just like he had shut that apartment door, he didn't hesitate for a second.

After I rejected him, he stopped reaching out.

He didn't ask to get back to normal, nor did he officially end things.

My anxiety only grew. Was he really at home, playing house and taking care of his pregnant ex?

One evening, I bought some groceries and went to his apartment.

When I rang the bell, Chloe opened the door.

She was wearing Ethans oversized hoodie, her belly showing a tiny bump. She paused when she saw me, then smiled warmly, welcoming me in like she owned the place.

"Ethan, Val is here!" Chloe called out.

I stood there, feeling like a complete stranger in my boyfriend's home.

Ethan walked out of the bedroom. "What are you doing here?"

His tone was sharp and annoyed, as if I were an intruder disrupting their peace.

"Can we talk? Just us?"

At the end of the day, I still didn't want to lose him.

Ethan glanced at Chloe. "Just say it here."

He didn't care about keeping secrets from Chloe.

To him, she was more important than anyone.

"Fine," I said, turning to Chloe. "Ill help you take care of her."

Only then did the tension in Ethan's face soften.

Chloe played innocent, murmuring, "Oh... Ethan didn't tell me about this. I'd feel so bad putting you out, Val."

"It's no trouble," Ethan said, looking at Chloe. "Val is great at taking care of people. Shell do a better job than me."

*Ha. Of course.*

Even if the baby wasn't his, he cared so much. Even if it meant using his own girlfriend to serve his ex.

After that, the three of us lived together. I was the only one who felt the suffocating awkwardness. Ethan and Chloe lived like a happy, newly married couple.

Chloe never directly ordered me around. Instead, she would whine to Ethan.

"Ethan, Im craving fruit. Can you ask Val to wash some strawberries for me?"

"Ethan, stay and watch TV with me. Val can go grab the groceries by herself!"

"Ethan..."

I really was just their maid.

But one night, Chloe wanted steak, but she complained that her hands were too sore to cut it.

I sat there and cut her steak into tiny, bite-sized pieces for her.

My eyes and hands were aching by the time I finished. Ethan finally took the plate from me. "Take a break. I'll do it."

I managed a small smile.

He still cared about me.

But after a few more instances like this, the cold truth sank in. Ethan didn't care if I was tired. He was just worried I wouldn't cut the pieces small enough for Chloe.

There was a scale between Chloe and me.

And Ethan always, without hesitation, tipped it in her favor.

This torturous routine lasted for two weeks before Chloe lost the baby.

That afternoon, Ethan had to go out, leaving Chloe and me alone in the apartment.

"You know Ethan loves me, right?"

The sweet, gentle Chloe was gone. She looked at me with pure disgust. "How can you be so pathetic?"

*Pathetic?*

Shocked by her sudden transformation, I quickly tapped the screen of my phone in my pocket, quietly starting a voice recording.

"What did you say?"

"I said you're pathetic. Are you deaf?"

Chloe sneered, stepping closer. "Let me tell you a secret. This baby wasn't even Ethan's. But so what? He still dropped everything to serve me!"

I stared at her stomach, swallowing the lump of anger in my throat. "I'm leaving."

"Did I say you could leave? Aren't you afraid I'll tell Ethan you mistreated me? One call from him, and you'll come crawling back like the good little dog you are. You were born to serve me."

My chest tightened. She was right.

"So what if he took care of you? So what if he loves you? I am his actual girlfriend now."

I grabbed my coat to head for the door.

But those words seemed to trigger something in her.

She lunged forward to stop me.

But she moved too fast, her foot slipping on the slick hardwood floor. With a loud *crack*, she crashed hard onto the ground.

She let out a bloodcurdling scream. When I turned around, a pool of crimson was already spreading beneath her.