Wedding Countdown: My Two Lunatic Exes Won’t Let Go Novel – A month before the wedding, Julian went missing, and I searched the whole city but couldn’t find him. On the seventh day of his disappearance, I received news that he had appeared in Santa Monica. I flew there overnight. On a cruise ship, I finally saw him. Just as I was about to knock and enter, I heard his sneer: “I only went after Charlotte to intentionally disgust Arthur.” “Now that I have her, I actually find it boring.” I stopped in my tracks.
He didn’t sound drunk; rather, he was completely sober. Therefore, the cruelest words came out of his mouth: “Besides, after getting a taste of her, I found it quite dull.” An ambiguous wave of laughter echoed around him. “Only Julian could conquer such an untouchable flower.” Julian seemed to enjoy the flattery and continued: “Even though she chased Arthur like her life depended on it, she was incredibly pure. What a pity…” “A pity about what?” Julian slowly exhaled a puff of smoke: “It’s a pity that although I was her first man, I wasn’t the first man she loved.” “She loved Arthur for ten years.
Who knows if her heart is truly clean of him?” “If Arthur wasn’t my sworn enemy, and if I didn’t want to get Charlotte just to spite him, I wouldn’t have bothered playing the role of the deeply affectionate man silently guarding her.” Someone teased: “You’ve had her for three years now. Why is Julian suddenly getting sentimental?” Julian looked annoyed, his voice turning cold: “It’s exactly because I chased her for so long that I feel unsatisfied.” Someone in the crowd continued: “I heard she’s looking everywhere for you, going half-mad. You’ve been gone for so many days, is it really okay?” Julian took a drag of his cigarette, exhaling a cloud of smoke with a sneer: “Wouldn’t it be fun to ditch the wedding and humiliate her?” I didn’t see a single trace of guilt, pity, or love in his expression. Instead, it was the look of a grand revenge achieved. The look of finally reaching this very day. My fingertips dug into my palms, and my heart felt like it was being pierced by needles, an agonizing, suffocating pain.
I had always thought Julian would be my salvation and my final destination. I had even made sure my feelings for him were true love, not just gratitude, before I said yes to him. That day, he was so happy he set off fireworks across the entire city. After three years together, he bought an island in my name to propose to me, filling the sky with fireworks. I thought it was love, that it was romance. I never expected it was all just an act to take revenge on Arthur.
So, were those ten-plus years of deep affection and support all just a performance? Chapter 2 In a daze, I recalled some memories from the past. At twelve, I was brought back to the Bennett family from a small southern town, feeling restless, inferior, and timid. Back then, Arthur merely shielded me from bullying, and I fell hopelessly in love with him. I chased after him until everyone knew about it. But he was utterly disgusted by me. Later, I finally found it entirely pointless, and I gave up on him. I finally saw Julian, who had been silently protecting me all along.
It was raining heavily that night, and he held an umbrella over me the whole time. He said: “Charlotte, I don’t ask for you to see me. I only ask that you live freely and follow your heart from now on.” How ridiculous. I swept my heart clean to welcome Julian’s arrival. Just as I was sinking step by step into his tenderness. Just as I started to fantasize about a sweet future with him. I never expected that I was merely giving him the chance to slice my heart to pieces.
Cut by cut. Dripping with blood. A sour sting rushed to my nose, and an uncontrollable ache filled my eyes. A tear fell, which I quickly wiped away. The voices inside continued, all offering him ideas: “To take revenge on a woman, naturally you have to let her fall hard into the abyss right at her happiest moment. Isn’t that much more interesting?” “Exactly, so Julian, you should go back. You need to go back and accompany her to pick out a wedding dress, you need to send out the invitations with her, you need to act completely normal.
Then, on the day of the wedding, leave her all alone to be humiliated. I bet Charlotte will definitely go crazy.” It was full of disgusting laughter. I fought back my nausea and waited for Julian’s reply. How I wished to hear from his mouth: Stop joking around, I love Charlotte. Or perhaps: Doing this to a girl is taking it too far. But after a long silence. I heard Julian agree in a deep voice: “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s go with that.” The boundless anger pressed down on me until I could barely breathe.
I forced a dismal smile, but the tears still fell recklessly. Julian, you want to play, do you? Then I’ll play along with your act. I’d also love to see the look on your face on our wedding day when you realize I’ve run away. Chapter 3 I erased all traces of my trip to Santa Monica and returned to the marital home I shared with Julian. I took out all the gifts he had given me over the years and destroyed them one by one with scissors. How strange. Even though I wasn’t thinking about anything at all, why were there still so many tears falling? I once heard a saying.
A broken heart is like catching rheumatism; on sunny days, everything seems fine. But at night, the damp cold seeps into your bones, and the pain is excruciating. Perhaps this is just my withdrawal symptom. I stood up and laid the custom-made wedding dress flat on the floor. Expressionless, I sliced a jagged tear into it with the scissors. I needed to remind myself. Relationships are the same; once a rift appears, no matter how you try to mend it, it can never go back to the way it was. After cleaning everything up, I put these things in the study, a room Julian rarely entered. Lying in bed with no desire to sleep, I was scrolling through short videos when I came across a recommendation for someone I might know. The username was [Me Who Loves Julian]. Driven by some inexplicable impulse, I clicked on it. It was a record of a girl’s secret crush on a boy. In her latest post, her location was set to Santa Monica.
The caption read: [The man I’ve loved for ten years is getting married next month. I want to gather the courage to confess my feelings. Wish me luck.] In the accompanying photo, I saw a familiar hand. There was a wedding ring on the ring finger. It was Julian. Chapter 4 I didn’t get any news from Julian, but I received a call from Arthur instead. “Guess who I ran into in Santa Monica?” “Arthur, I don’t care. Stop calling me from different numbers.” Just as I was about to hang up, I heard the suppressed smugness beneath his voice: “Charlotte, don’t you know why Julian has been missing for so long? He doesn’t want to marry you. He minds the fact that you used to chase after me.” “He only approached you on purpose to get back at me. He’s not someone you can rely on at all.” “What exactly are you trying to say?” I was already getting a little impatient. “Charlotte, at least besides you liking me for ten years, there are no other girls around me…” I sat up and raised my voice: “Arthur, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” “Five years have passed, and you’re still so keen on driving a wedge between him and me.” “But let me tell you, no matter what, this is my choice.