I’m thirty-eight, and in less than a week, I’m getting married to my beautiful girlfriend of four years. This is my second engagement. Twelve years ago, I almost married my high school sweetheart.
We’d been together for almost ten years, lived together for five, and I was ready. From the looks of it, so was she. My family loved my ex, Elara, and they were thrilled when I announced the engagement.
But it didn’t happen. Just one day before the wedding, Elara was intimate with my brother, Leo. Elara had insisted I spend the night before the wedding at a hotel while she stayed home, believing we needed to stay separate to avoid bad luck.
I did what she asked. Unfortunately—or perhaps, fortunately—I’d forgotten my wedding shoes at home and had to go back for them. When I returned, the house was dark, which was strange since Elara hated leaving a room without the lights on.
I went straight to the bedroom where I’d left the shoes. But when I opened the door, I was greeted with the worst sight I’d ever seen. Elara was in bed with my own little brother, so caught up in their act that they barely noticed I’d entered.
When they finally saw me, I’d already frozen, unable to process the scene. My world came crashing down. As soon as I realized what I had just witnessed, I ran, ignoring Elara’s calls behind me.
I drove back to the hotel, hyperventilating, refusing to believe what I’d seen. I was supposed to get married the next day. This was insane.
It took me a while to compose myself. When I finally calmed down, I sobbed for at least an hour. Thankfully, I hadn’t told Elara which hotel I was in, so she could only text me.
She sent a barrage of apologies, trying to convince me it was a one-time thing, but I highly doubted that. She said the wedding was freaking her out, that she needed to “blow off some steam,” and that my brother had always been there for her. I could hardly believe she was even trying to explain herself.
I blocked her immediately. I also blocked my brother. It took a while, but I managed to pull myself together and canceled all the arrangements for the wedding.
No matter how much money I lost, I was getting out of this mess. Elara had just wasted ten years of my life; I didn’t mind wasting a few thousand as long as it meant I wouldn’t have to be with her anymore. The next thing I did was call my parents and tell them what had happened.
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