His Wedding My Exit Chapter 05
He didn’t see it until 5:12 PM. I was in a meeting then. The first call came through. I hung up. The second. The third. By the fifth, I got up and stepped into the hallway.
The instant I answered, his voice slammed through. “Did you really cancel the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Freya, are you out of your mind?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to get married anymore.” The line went dead silent.
A few seconds later, he actually laughed. “Just because of that crap from yesterday?”
“No.”
“Then because of what?”
“Figure it out yourself.”
His tone regained its certainty. “Fine, throw your tantrum. I’ll cover the penalty fees and I’ll rebook the hotel. Once you’re done being mad, we’ll get married just like normal.” I wanted to laugh a little.
“Hayden, what I’m saying is, I don’t want to marry you anymore.” This time, he went completely silent.
It was a long while before he asked, coldly, “Six years together, and you’re really ending it over such small things?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t regret this.”
“I won’t.” I hung up.
“Don’t regret this.”
“I won’t.” I hung up.
After work that night, I went back to our apartment to pack my things. I’d only just pulled out my suitcase when Hayden walked in.
He stopped in the bedroom doorway. “What are you doing?”
“Moving out.” The look on his face finally shifted.
He crossed the room in a few strides and pinned down my suitcase. “Freya, enough.”
I looked up. “What isn’t clear yet?”
“I can treat canceling the wedding as you acting out in anger, but what is moving out supposed to mean?”
“Breaking up.” He stared at me, as if it were the first time those two words had truly landed.
After a moment, he sneered. “Do you really think I’m going to keep coaxing you?” I looked at him, and all at once I was back in our second year together. We’d had a terrible fight. I’d packed my suitcase and left. He didn’t come after me.
At midnight, he’d simply sent one line: “Come back when you’re done being mad.”
The next afternoon, I went back on my own.
When the door opened, he didn’t apologize.
He only said, “Finally decided to come back?” Back then I’d actually been relieved. I was grateful he still wanted me.
After that, every time we fought, I was always the one to lower my head first. And so, bit by bit, I had trained him to be sure I’d always come back.
I pushed his hand off the suitcase. “You don’t need to coax me.”
“What do you mean?”
I pushed his hand off the suitcase. “You don’t need to coax me.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll never need to again.” I pulled my suitcase and walked toward the door.
When I reached the entryway, he said coldly, out of nowhere, “If you walk out this door today, don’t come back on your own tomorrow.” I paused.
“Don’t worry.”
“Freya, I mean it.”
I looked back at him. “So do I.” In the last second before the elevator doors closed.
He was still standing in the doorway. There was no panic on his face, only anger. He probably genuinely believed that, by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, I’d come back on my own the way I always had. But this time, I wouldn’t.