The Wedding Bet: You Changed The Venue I Changed The Groom Chapter 10
Moving On
“I know I was wrong about everything I did. I shouldn’t have ignored your feelings or turned our relationship into one stupid bet after another.”
“Look at this ring. Love of my life, Aria. You are the only woman I’ve ever truly loved.”
I look down at the ring in his hand.
It’s beautiful.
But no matter how beautiful it is, that doesn’t change the fact that he put it on another woman’s finger.
I raise my left hand, showing him the wedding ring on my finger.
It is bigger and brighter than the one he is holding.
“I don’t need it anymore.”
“As for your so-called love…”
I pull out my phone and play the video Serena sent me before the wedding.
As the video plays, Julian watches himself take the ice cube from Serena’s lips.
Then his own voice comes through the speaker.
“It’s just marriage. It’s the same no matter who it is.”
The video ends.
Julian’s body goes rigid.
“If this is what you call love, I want nothing to do with it.”
Seeing me turn to leave, Julian grabs my hand in a panic.
“Aria, listen to me! We were just playing a game! I didn’t mean what I said!”
“I told them afterward never to talk about you like that again!”
“And when I said, ‘It’s the same no matter who it is,’ I… I was just acting tough!”
“I’ll change! I’ll fix everything! Please, just give me one last chance. Let’s start over, please?”
I look back into his eyes.
He looks at me the same way he did ten years ago.
“Julian, there are no more chances. We were over the first time you and Serena decided my feelings were something you could bet on.”
“I only hope I never have to see you again.”
His hand slowly falls.
I pull my arm away and keep walking without looking back.
Through the glass doors, I see Julian standing frozen in place. Then he slowly crouches down and covers his face with both hands.
This time, he finally understands that I’m not coming back.
Three years later.
I move back to the U.S. with my mother and Ethan.
Returning to this city doesn’t make me sad. If anything, it feels like a fresh start.
After finishing the transition, I am officially promoted to Technical Director. My boss even throws a welcome party for me.
At the party, I hear about Julian from a few former colleagues.
After returning from Ireland, he falls apart and stops showing up for work for months. Several major projects collapse under his watch.
The board finally removes him as CEO.
His father, deeply disappointed, publicly distances the family from him and begins grooming someone else to take over the company.
Meanwhile, Serena, no longer able to rely on Julian’s money, starts chasing other wealthy men and eventually becomes a joke in their social circle.
Somehow, she and Julian eventually find their way back to each other and get married.
But without their former wealth and power, their “love” quickly becomes miserable.
Julian resents Serena for spending money they no longer have. Serena resents Julian for losing his fortune and failing to give her the life she wanted.
Not long ago, Serena left him for a wealthy businessman from Hong Kong.
Julian barely reacts. He spends his days alone in a cheap apartment, drinking himself numb.
After telling me all this, my colleague shakes her head.
“Aria, thank God you got out when you did.”
I smile, nod, and take a sip of my wine.
Yeah.
Thank God I left when I did.
That life belongs to someone else now.
Mine is already moving forward.