He Cheated On Me, I End Our 3-Year Love

I caught my boyfriend of three years cheating. It happened while I was trying on my wedding dress. ***** My name is Violet Hayes. My boyfriend was Zane Wilde. We had been together for three years, and that day was our scheduled wedding dress fitting. Everything was perfect at first. If only I had not lost my damn phone. I would never have found out that the man I was just about to spend the rest of my life with was cheating on me. I never knew why, but I had always had a crappy memory. I lost my phone almost every single day, and that day was no exception. After I slipped into my dream wedding dress, I snapped a few pretty selfies, then tossed my phone aside without a second thought. By the time we had finalized the dress and were ready to leave, I realized my phone was gone. I blinked up at Zane, my face burning with guilt. Back then, I thought I was just a clueless i***t, always getting him into trouble. But instead of getting annoyed, Zane just looked at me with that soft, doting smile, ruffled my hair, and said, "My silly girl, this is exactly why I am here to take care of you." The second he finished talking, he rounded up everyone in the bridal shop to help me search for my phone. I froze in place where I stood, just staring stupidly at how seriously he searched for me. I was so moved I could barely breathe. I really thought I was the happiest, luckiest girl on the whole planet. But I never saw it coming. Barely half an hour later, the truth smacked me right in the face, my cheeks stinging. It was my phone after all. I could not make everyone else do all the work. I racked my brain for where I had left it last, and figured it must have slipped under one of the racks while I was browsing dresses. I dropped to my knees and crawled between the rows, searching under the long hems of the gowns. You could not see me at all from outside the racks. And that was when all the messy, cliché drama unfolded. I had been searching for a few minutes when I heard it—a voice I knew so well it was like second nature—stepping into the fitting room. "Baby, don't be mad, okay. Trust me, you are the one I love the most; no one else compares." It was Zane. My face lit up. I was just about to crawl out from under the dresses when another woman's voice rang out, one that also sounded oddly familiar. "Hmph, you are lying. If you love me so much, why are you still marrying that old hag?" Oh. So the "baby" Zane was talking about was not me. I was the old hag. "Baby, of course I love you more than anything. That old bore could never be half as fun as you. I am only marrying her for her money, okay. Once I have drained every last cent from her, I will dump her immediately. Then we can take all her cash and live the good life together. Sound good?" "Mmm..." The woman let out a soft, breathy moan, her voice unsteady and heated. "Stop that. There are still people here." A soft clatter of scattered items echoed through the room, then Zane's voice drifted through. "Relax, I locked the door on purpose just now. No one is going to walk in on us. Come on, baby, I have missed you so bad. Let me get a kiss. Hurry up..." The twenty minutes that followed were twenty minutes I would never, ever forget for the rest of my life. Even thinking back on it now, I still could not understand how I had managed to stay perfectly still and hidden under those wedding dresses. How I had kept myself from bursting out. Only long after I heard the door click open and shut did I scramble out from my hiding spot, my entire body soaked through with cold sweat. I slipped past every single person in the shop and bolted out of the bridal boutique as fast as my legs could carry me. That was right. I ran away. It was not even my fault, but I was the first one to run. I got back to our apartment first and grabbed all my ID documents right away. I had fully planned to just up and leave for good, but some unaccountable impulse drove me to leave a note for Zane anyway. I said I was staying at a friend's place. But I did not actually leave town. I rented a room in a hotel right across the street from my apartment. From the window, I could see the entire front of our apartment building. Of course, I also bought a telescope and set it up right there in the room. If I were being honest with myself, I still could not believe it. How could the man I trusted with everything actually cheat on me like that? I just had to go and humiliate myself by seeing it with my own eyes. Zane texted me back. Zane: Okay, get some rest. I have been busy lately. I will make time for you soon. I stared at his message and let out a cold, bitter snort. On the first day, all I saw through the telescope was Zane. No one else was there with him. A tiny, stupid flicker of hope ignited in my chest back then. But that hope was crushed to dust before the second day even ended. I had stayed up all night. I was just about to take one last look through the telescope before crashing when I saw Zane walk out the door. Right behind him was a tiny, petite woman, and they were touching each other so openly, so affectionately. I jolted awake instantly, every last trace of sleep vanishing from my body. I grabbed my key card and sprinted straight down to the street. I was ready to scream at Zane, demand to know who that woman was, why she was walking out of our building right behind him, why they were being so goddamn affectionate with each other. But as I watched them draw closer, finally pressing their bodies together and cuddling up, every last bit of strength drained clean out of my body. I dragged what little energy I had left back to the hotel room. And then I completely lost it. I smashed every damn thing in that room to bits. When it was all over, I lay there gasping for air, completely still, not moving an inch. I stayed that way for two whole days. I did not drink anything, I did not eat anything. I did not move at all. After those two days, I pulled myself up off the floor, grabbed the only bottle of water left in the room, and chugged it down as fast as I could. Over those two days, I had turned everything over in my head a thousand times, but I still could not wrap my mind around why Zane had done this to me. Even so, one thing had become crystal clear by the end of those two days. No matter what his reason was, no matter what he wanted from me, I would never let him win. I was an orphan. I grew up in an orphanage, and I had seen every side of this world, both the good and the cruel, and I knew one truth better than anyone else. Even if I broke down crying, no one was going to show up to wipe my tears for me. When Zane first started chasing me, he told me straight up that what he loved most about me was how tough I was. But he never stopped to think that that same tough personality he claimed to love would be exactly what pushed me to make him pay for what he did. I checked out of the hotel, took a long, soothing shower, and crawled into bed for a proper, full night's sleep. The next morning, I headed to the mall to buy a new phone, then took my time fixing myself up and looking my best. Ever since we got engaged, I had pinched every penny, saving every cent I had to build our little future home together. Well, it looked like that was not happening anymore. If it was not happening, there was no reason for me to keep skimping and shortchanging myself.