Chapter 1
"You promised me forever!"
Sophia's voice echoed through the stone chapel.
The heavy wooden doors slammed against the walls.
Every guest turned.
The organ music stopped.
Even the priest lowered his Bible.
At the altar...
The groom slowly closed his eyes.
He had been expecting this.
Sophia stood at the end of the aisle.
Her black dress was soaked from the rain.
Mascara streaked down her face.
Her chest rose and fell with furious breaths.
Three months.
Three months since Ethan had disappeared from her life without explanation.
Three months since he returned her engagement ring in a plain envelope.
Without a letter.
Without a goodbye.
Without even looking her in the eyes.
And now...
He was marrying someone else.
She began walking toward the altar.
Each step echoed across the silent church.
Guests whispered.
Some reached for their phones.
Others looked away.
No one dared stop her.
"Ethan."
Her voice cracked.
"You looked me in the eyes."
"You asked me to spend the rest of my life with you."
She pulled the engagement ring from her purse.
"You said forever."
She threw it onto the marble floor.
The ring spun...
Then stopped at his feet.
"So tell me."
"When exactly did forever become three months?"
Ethan didn't answer.
He simply stared at the ring.
The silence hurt more than any excuse.
Sophia laughed bitterly.
"Nothing?"
"Not even one lie?"
Only then did she notice the bride.
She hadn't looked at her before.
The young woman in the white gown wasn't smiling.
She wasn't glowing with happiness.
She stood unnaturally still.
Her skin was almost translucent.
Dark circles surrounded her eyes.
She held her bouquet tightly...
As if it were the only thing keeping her standing.
And...
She was crying.
Sophia frowned.
This wasn't the face of a woman stealing someone else's fiancé.
It was the face of someone saying goodbye.
As she moved closer...
Her foot brushed against a leather folder resting on a pew.
It fell open.
Several papers slid across the floor.
Sophia instinctively bent to gather them.
"I'm sorry..."
she murmured automatically.
Then her eyes caught the bold letters at the top of the first page.
ONCOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Her heartbeat slowed.
She turned the page.
A hospital seal.
Medical charts.
Blood results.
Then...
One diagnosis printed in large black letters.
"TERMINAL CANCER"
Sophia stopped breathing.
"No..."
she whispered.
She looked again.
Stage IV.
No curative treatment.
Estimated survival...
Less than six months.
The patient's name matched the bride.
Claire Bennett.
The church disappeared around her.
The whispers.
The music.
The guests.
Everything faded.
Only those two words remained.
Terminal Cancer.
Sophia slowly lifted her head.
Claire stood at the altar.
Still crying silently.
Not because someone had interrupted her wedding.
But because...
She already knew she would never celebrate her first anniversary.
Sophia looked toward Ethan.
His eyes were filled with exhaustion.
Not guilt.
Not shame.
Just unbearable sadness.
She remembered every unanswered phone call.
Every canceled meeting.
Every cold goodbye.
She had believed he had fallen out of love.
Now...
For the first time...
She wondered if he had been trying to protect her.
Her voice became barely audible.
"Ethan..."
"Tell me..."
"Please..."
He finally spoke.
Only five words.
Words that shattered her heart.
"She's dying, Sophia."
Claire quietly lowered her bouquet.
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
"I asked him..."
she whispered.
"...to marry me."
Sophia stared at her.
Completely unable to understand.
Claire forced a weak smile.
"My last wish..."
"...was to wear this dress."
"...just once."
The bouquet slipped from Claire's trembling fingers and fell onto the altar steps.
Before anyone could react...
She suddenly coughed violently.
Dark red blood stained the white lace covering her hand.
The entire chapel gasped.
Ethan rushed forward and caught her before she collapsed.
Sophia stood frozen...
The anger she had carried for months dissolving into horror.
But she still didn't know the truth.
She still didn't know...
May you like
Why the man who had once begged her to marry him...
Had chosen to spend the last months of his life beside another woman.
