Swapping Out the Groom

Before the wedding, my fiancé disappeared while camping with friends.

I searched for him for an entire month, nearly losing my mind.

But on Valentine's Day, a week before our wedding, I saw him at a romantic restaurant, hugging and kissing his childhood sweetheart.

Jayden Corrick held the woman in his arms and said softly, "If this goes on, I don't even want to go back and marry Leah."

Sophie Muller asked if he regretted disappearing—if he truly didn't plan on going back.

He hesitated for a moment.

"No regrets. Let's stay one more week. Our parents will cover for us anyway. When she's completely driven mad with worry, I'll show up again."

I stood hidden among the crowd, watching their closeness, and gave a bitter smile.

The next moment, I called home. "Don't bother looking for Jayden anymore. I'm never marrying him."

"Leah, why are you suddenly not looking for Jayden anymore?" my mother asked, clearly shocked by what I had just said.

After all, after Jayden Corrick disappeared during a camping trip with friends, I spent an entire month searching for him—sleepless, worn thin, my body several pounds lighter, my face hollow with exhaustion.

I glanced at the couple still kissing in the restaurant across the street and gave a bitter smile.

I said, "Let's just say Jayden is dead."

Even though she knew I was speaking out of anger, my mother didn't ask for details. Instead, she instinctively tried to comfort me.

My father, quick-tempered as always, was delighted when he heard I was no longer holding on to Jayden. "It's about time you let go! What was ever so great about that guy, anyway? Leah, since you're finally leaving it to us, I will definitely help you find someone better. No need to stay fixated on someone I never approved of to begin with!"

Before I could say anything else, a sudden gasp rose from the crowd. Fireworks exploded overhead in brilliant colors. It should've been a romantic scene. But all I felt was cold.

I looked at the man who had just accused me of being controlling—right after embracing his first love—and suddenly felt my father might've been right.

Even though I had never been controlling with Jayden. Not once.

I knew him through an online chatroom when I was in college abroad. We fell in love, made it through the long-distance phase, and after graduating, I was the one who proposed.

Sophie Muller came back two years ago. I had always known she was his high school sweetheart. Over the years, Jayden never avoided the topic when mentioning her.

I thought we had come far enough that none of it mattered anymore.

But just one phone call—one "I'm back" from Sophie—and his heart flew out the door.

All these years, I gave him complete freedom. All the space he could want. And still, he kept lying to me, again and again.

I begged him to keep some distance from Sophie. I asked him not to lie about "hanging out with the guys" when he was actually out with her, not to go clubbing with those old friends of his.

I had given him more than enough freedom. And yet, he was the one who betrayed us first.

In the beginning, he listened to me. But with time, he reverted—nights spent out, lost in neon lights and noise.

What I didn't expect was that, eventually, he would turn around and call me controlling. And disappear on me right before our wedding.

"If this goes on, I don't even want to go back and marry Leah," he had said.

'But when I proposed, weren't your eyes filled with tears when you said yes? While I spent a month searching for you—were you really that happy, Jayden?' I thought bitterly.

"No regrets. Let's stay one more week. Our parents will cover for us anyway."

'No wonder your parents wouldn't let me call the police. No wonder they stayed so calm and insisted you'd show up. From beginning to end, I was the only one panicking.'

"I don't want to go back and be manipulated by her. I'll show up when she's completely lost it."

'Jayden, I really did lose it. Do you know how long it's been since I last had a decent night's sleep? I even went to a fortune teller, hoping it would bring you back. And sure enough, you reappeared—but with another woman. So this is what it means to be heartbroken.'

I didn't want to keep watching them stare into each other's eyes with such affection. I turned and left without looking back.

Once I got home, I pulled out a burlap sack and my suitcase. I packed up everything of Jayden's from the past six years and dumped them all by the door.