He Married Her, I Disappear Forever

Chapter 2

The ceremony reached the ring exchange. Noah pulled out a blue velvet box. Inside sat a three-carat diamond ring. Chloe gasped and covered her mouth. "Isn't this the exact ring I was looking at before?"

He smiled, indulgent. "It's your wedding. You should wear the ring you love."

I'd seen that same ring in a magazine once. I said it was beautiful. He said it was tacky.

Turns out the ring wasn't tacky. I just wasn't the one who deserved it.

But at eighteen, things were different. A sudden blizzard trapped us in the mountains. Noah was buried up to his chest in snow. I dug him out with my bare hands in the freezing cold. By the end, my hands had lost all feeling. The frostbite went deep enough to show bone. After they pulled us out, Noah held my hands—raw, bloody—and his eyes went red. "Elena, I'm going to buy you the biggest diamond ring, I'm going to make you the bride everyone envies."

Now that ring was on someone else's finger.

I felt a sting behind my eyes. But no tears came.

That's when Noah's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. His expression flickered, like the number looked familiar. My number, maybe. Someone must have found my body. Unlocked my phone. Dialed my emergency contact.

He hit decline. A few seconds later, it rang again. And again.

Beside him, Chloe put on her most understanding face. "Noah, maybe you should pick up. It's fine, really. Sister Elena wouldn't call unless it was urgent."

Noah declined the call again. This time he turned the phone off completely. "We're at the most important moment of the ceremony. Nothing is more important than you right now."

The guests cheered and whistled. Chloe sneezed. Noah immediately, gently, adjusted her veil. His voice was soft. "Cold?" Without waiting for an answer, he tucked a hand warmer into her palm. Then he took off his own jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

Chloe shook her head. When she looked at him, her eyes were full of adoration. "I'm not cold. Thinking about how our wedding was here in the snowy mountains—just ours—I don't feel cold at all." She paused. "Noah, thank you for going along with this. Thank you for helping me fill that emptiness."

What a coincidence. Three days ago, he'd stood in this exact spot and made me a promise. "Elena, once you bring back Scout, we'll get married."

Scout was Chloe's pet. A week ago, she'd insisted on bringing the dog up the mountain. Halfway up, she fell. The dog went missing. After that, Chloe cried day and night. She wouldn't eat. Wouldn't drink.

One day, Noah pulled me aside where no one could hear. "Elena, go up the mountain. Find Scout for me. Even if it's just the body, bring it back. Chloe's been crying nonstop. I'm afraid she'll make herself sick."

I stood there, frozen. I opened my mouth to say something. From inside the house came the sound of muffled sobbing. Noah turned and walked away without looking back, just throwing a sentence over his shoulder. "Elena, don't worry. Once you bring Scout back, we'll have the wedding. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

I watched his back. The hole in my heart seemed to gape wider.

Yeah. Isn't that what I always wanted? So why, now that I was finally getting it, did I feel no happiness at all? Just a fine, dense ache spreading through my chest, so sharp I could barely breathe.

That was the first time I hadn't followed him. The first time I turned and walked away.