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On Our Wedding Day, She Chose Her Male Best Friend Over Me
NovelShort
Completed
On my wedding night, still in the suit I hadn't had time to change out of, I stood at the door of our newlywed home and waited three hours for my wife. She said she felt unwell and wouldn't let me touch her. Yet the very next second, I watched her throw on a coat, rush out into the night, and get into her male best friend's car. I sat alone until dawn and never even opened the wedding favors. When daylight came, I printed out the divorce papers and booked an appointment at the county clerk's office.
Chapters (4)
Chapter 1
On our wedding night, still wearing the suit I hadn't had a chance to change out of, I stood at the door of our newlywed home and waited three hours for my wife.
She said she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't let me touch her.
But the next second, I watched with my own eyes as she threw on a coat, rushed out into the night, and got into her male best friend's car.
I sat alone until dawn. I didn't even open the wedding favors.
When morning came, I printed out the divorce papers and even booked an appointment at the county clerk's office.
I thought I was calm enough.
Until I pushed the papers in front of her. Her face went white, and she said only one thing.
Vivian Sutton and I met through a setup.
The first time I saw her was at an old barbecue joint.
She wore a light gray knit sweater, her hair tied low. She spoke softly, but her eyes were very clear.
The friend who set us up praised her as steady and sensible, with a respectable job and a decent family.
None of that boilerplate meant much to me.
What really made me remember her was that a waitress accidentally knocked over a bowl of hot soup that day, and it splashed onto the back of her hand.
The girl burst into tears right there, apologizing over and over.
Vivian's face had gone pale from the pain, but she still pulled out a napkin and handed it to the girl first. "It's fine. Don't panic. Just bring me some cold water."
In that moment, I thought she was soft-hearted, and that she knew how to handle herself.
We dated for half a year after that. It was nothing dramatic, but everything went smoothly.
She wasn't clingy, didn't make scenes, didn't check up on me.
When I worked late, she brought dinner down to my building.
When my mom was in the hospital, Vivian stayed with her three nights in a row. Even the nurse's aide praised how attentive she was.
The only thing that bothered me was the man who was always around her, a guy named Cole Harrington.
She said he was a friend she'd grown up with. They'd known each other for over twenty years.
She called him Cole.
Cole called her Viv.
The first time I met Cole was three weeks after Vivian and I made things official.
I'd gone to pick her up from work that day. The moment I reached her office building, I saw a tall, lanky man carrying her bag for her, his hand resting casually on her shoulder.
When I walked over, Vivian immediately stepped aside.
She introduced him a little awkwardly. "This is Cole."
Cole looked me up and down, his smile faint. "So you're the guy."
The words sounded harmless, but the tone was off.
It wasn't a greeting. It was an inspection.
I didn't react at the time. I just held out my hand. "Hi, I'm Ethan Sinclair."
He didn't take it right away. Two seconds passed before he reached out, saying, "Viv's taste isn't bad."
I smiled, but anger was already rising in me.
On the way back, I asked Vivian, "Is it always like that with you two?"
"Like what?"
"His arm around your shoulders, carrying your bag, talking to me like he's running a background check."
Vivian was quiet for a while, then said in a low voice, "He's been like that since we were kids. No sense of boundaries, but he doesn't mean anything by it."
"You believe that?"
"I'll handle it."
She said she'd handle it.
But every time after that, I was the one who swallowed it.
When Cole got dumped, she went to keep him company.
When Cole got drunk, she went to pick him up.
When Cole fought with his new girlfriend, one phone call from him and Vivian would cancel our movie tickets.
Once, on my birthday, we'd just set the cake on the table when Cole shouted over the phone that he was at the edge of an overpass and couldn't go on living.
Vivian grabbed her coat and left.
I stopped her. "If he can't go on living, why does he always call you?"
Something flickered in her eyes. "He's emotionally unstable. I'm afraid something will happen."
"What about me? It's my birthday."
"I'll make it up to you when I get back."
She left anyway.
That night I cut the cake by myself. By the end, the frosting just tasted bitter.
It wasn't as if I'd never brought up breaking up.
I did, twice.
The first time, she said with red eyes that she'd keep her distance from Cole.
The second time, she held me and cried so hard she shook. It was the first time I'd seen her cry like that.
She said, "Ethan, give me a little more time. I'll take care of it for good."
She rarely begged me for anything.
That day, the moment she begged, I gave in again.
I thought once the wedding was over, everything would be different.
I'd overestimated myself, and her too.
On the day of the wedding, Cole came.
He wore a black suit and stood off at the very edge, a smile on his face but not a trace of joy in his eyes.
During the toasts, he blocked my way with a glass in his hand.
"Ethan, congratulations."
"Thanks."
He tipped his head back and drank, then looked at me. "Viv went through a lot growing up. If you don't treat her right, I won't let it go."
I looked right back at him. "She's my wife. I don't need you to remind me."
His mouth twitched. "Good."
My mom was standing right beside us, and her face darkened instantly.
Once he'd walked off, she lowered her voice. "Who is that man? Talking all snide like that."
I said, "Vivian's childhood friend."
My mom gave a cold laugh. "Since when does a childhood friend get to lecture the groom? You keep your eyes open."
I didn't answer.
The wedding kept me busy all day, and honestly, I didn't have time to think about it much.
Until that night, back in our newlywed home, when Vivian sat at the edge of the bed taking the ornaments out of her hair one by one, her face terribly pale.
I poured her a glass of warm water. "Tired?"
She nodded.
I went over and crouched in front of her, meaning to take off her heels for her.
But she suddenly pulled her feet back.
It was a small movement, but I still saw it.
I looked up. "What's wrong?"
Her lips moved. "Ethan, tonight... I can't."
I froze for a second.
"Don't read into it. I'm just not feeling well."
"Where? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No, I just need some rest."
She didn't look at me the whole time she spoke.
That uneasy feeling rose up in me again.
On my wedding night, my wife wouldn't let me touch her. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.
But she really did look unwell, and I wasn't going to push her at a time like this.
I got up, turned the thermostat up a couple of degrees, and went to the bathroom to run hot water.
I'd just finished filling the tub when her phone rang.
The instant the screen lit up, I saw the name on it.
Cole.
Vivian practically lunged at the phone to shut it off.
That lunge stung worse than any explanation could have.
I stood where I was and looked at her. "Answer it."
She didn't move.
The phone went quiet for a few seconds, then started buzzing frantically again.
Once, twice, three times.
Like it was out for blood.
Vivian's fingers trembled, but in the end she answered.
I didn't know what was said on the other end, but her face changed instantly.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"Cole, put the knife down first."
"I'm coming over right now."
My head roared.
She hung up, grabbed her coat, and headed for the door.
I caught her wrist. "Where are you going?"
"Cole's drunk. He's over in the old part of town, saying he's going to slit his wrists."
"So?"
"I have to go."
"Tonight is our wedding night."
Chapter 2
Panic filled her eyes, and pleading too. "I know. But he really might do something."
I stared hard at her. "Whether he does or not, why is that so much your business?"
She opened her mouth as if there were a lot she wanted to say, but in the end she squeezed out only one line. "When I get back, I'll explain."
That line again.
It was always "I'll explain later."
She never once explained anything clearly.
I let go of her wrist.
"Go."
She froze for a second.
My smile was cold. "Go save your male best friend."
Vivian went even paler. She seemed about to say something, but in the end she turned and left.
The moment the door shut, the whole newlywed home went frighteningly quiet.
Our enlarged wedding photo stood by the head of the bed.
In it, she leaned on my shoulder, smiling softly.
Here in the room, though, there was only me.
I didn't go after her.
It wasn't that I didn't want to. I just refused to make myself look even more pathetic.
I sat in the living room for ten minutes, my head a total mess.
Eventually I got up and went to the window anyway.
The lights below were bright.
Before long, I saw Vivian hurry out with her coat around her shoulders and stop beside a black SUV.
The driver's window rolled down. Cole reached out and grabbed her.
Vivian bent down and said a few words, like she was trying to talk him down.
The next second, Cole yanked her straight into the passenger seat.
The door slammed shut.
The car shot off.
I stood there on the twenty-sixth floor, watching the taillights disappear, and felt my chest go cold inch by inch.
I didn't sleep that night.
The wedding bed was scattered with rose petals, tacky and festive.
I stared at that sea of red until dawn, and all I felt was the irony.
At two in the morning, my mom called to ask whether we'd gotten home.
I stared at the phone and hesitated a long time before I answered.
"We're home."
"Where's Vivian? Did you two eat anything?"
My throat tightened. "She went out."
"Where?"
I didn't say.
My mom heard that something was wrong, and her voice shot up. "Ethan, tell me what's going on."
I couldn't hold it in anymore, and I told her everything.
There were three seconds of silence on the other end.
Then my mom exploded.
"She ran off to her male best friend on your wedding night? What does she take you for?"
"I said that man was trouble!"
"Pack up her things right now and don't let her in the door!"
I pressed my fingers between my brows. "Mom, stop yelling for a second."
"I'm yelling? Someone walks all over you and you're still protecting her?"
My dad took the phone. His voice, at least, was steady. "Son, is she back yet?"
"No."
"Then don't do anything rash. When she gets back, ask her and get a straight answer."
I said quietly, "Dad, some things you know without asking."
My dad was silent for a while. All he said was, "Marriage isn't a game, and divorce is even less of one. Just get through tonight."
But that night, nobody could get through it.
Sometime after three, I went out on the balcony and smoked half a pack of cigarettes.
At four-thirty, I opened my laptop and searched for a divorce papers template.
At five, I went over every scene from the past few years that had anything to do with Vivian and Cole.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt like a joke.
In our second month of dating, Cole sent her a photo of himself with a high fever in the middle of the night, and she brought him medicine in the rain.
In our fifth month, Cole said his company had laid him off, and she lent him the two thousand dollars she'd saved up for a class.
The day before our engagement, Cole got drunk, called, and cussed me out, saying I wasn't good enough for Vivian.
Vivian was right there next to me.
I told her to put it on speaker. She wouldn't.
I said, "If you don't deal with this, we're not getting engaged."
With red eyes, she nodded and said she'd cut him off.
But did she?
No.
One call from him, and she went, same as always.
I'm no saint.
I'm not that generous either.
I could accept her being soft-hearted. I could accept her being sentimental about old ties. I could even accept her not seeing things clearly for a while.
What I couldn't accept was her leaving me alone on our wedding night to go be with another man.
Even if nothing had happened between them, the act itself had already trampled our marriage into the dirt.
When the sky began to lighten, I printed out the divorce papers and signed my name.
The pages slid out of the printer with a faint rustling sound.
It wasn't loud.
But every rustle felt like something knocking against my skull.
At seven-twenty in the morning, the lock on the door clicked.
Vivian was back.
Chapter 3
When she came in, she still carried the chill of the night on her.
Her hair had come loose, her makeup was smeared, and there was a fresh scratch on the back of her hand.
I sat at the dining table with the divorce papers in front of me.
When she saw those few pages, she stopped short.
"You didn't sleep all night?"
"So you know it was all night."
Her lips had gone pale. She tried to come closer.
I raised a hand. "Say it from there."
She stayed where she was.
A few seconds later, she said quietly, "Last night wasn't what you think."
I laughed. "Then what was it? On our wedding night you wouldn't let me touch you, then you turned around and went to Cole. Vivian, you tell me. What am I supposed to think?"
Her eyes reddened, but her voice stayed soft. "I really did have my reasons."
"Your reasons are always about Cole. Never about me."
"That's not true."
"Not true?"
I pushed the papers across the table.
"Sign them."
She stared at the words, and her face suddenly changed. Even her breathing went ragged.
"Ethan, just hear me out first."
"I've been hearing you out for two years."
"This time is different."
"You say that every time."
Vivian gripped the back of a chair, her knuckles white.
She slowly pulled a neatly folded sheet of paper from her pocket, hesitated for a moment, then handed it to me:
"Take a look at this, Ethan."
I took it, suspicious. The questions I wanted to throw at her stuck in my throat once I saw how pale she was, and in the end I swallowed them.
I slowly unfolded the paper. The moment I read the first line, my mind went blank.
It was an exam report from a women's hospital, right there in black and white.
She looked at me and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Ethan, I'm pregnant."
I froze.
She said it again. "Yesterday afternoon I went back to the hospital for a follow-up. The doctor said the embryo isn't in a good position and there are signs of a threatened miscarriage. I was told I absolutely can't overexert myself, can't have sex, and need complete rest."
It felt like something had slammed into my head.
"What did you say?"
"I was going to tell you once the wedding was over."
Her tears spilled over.
"But last night Cole suddenly called. He said he had something, and if I didn't come, he'd send it to you, to your parents, and to the wedding group chat."
"What something?"
She bit her lip. For the first time, I saw a kind of fear in her eyes that I had never seen before.
"I couldn't talk about it over the phone. I didn't go last night to comfort him. I went to get it back."
My palms went numb.
The anger was still there, but the panic was just as real.
Pregnant.
Threatened miscarriage.
For an entire night, she had dragged herself, in that condition, to go see another man.
I shot to my feet. "Did you bleed last night? Does your stomach hurt? What did the doctor say?"
My questions caught Vivian off guard, and her tears came even harder.
She shook her head. "It hurt a little on the way back. It's okay now."
Nothing else mattered. I grabbed my car keys. "We're going to the hospital."
"Not yet."
"At a time like this, you're still—"
"Ethan."
Her voice trembled.
"I have to finish saying this first. If I don't say it now, I'm afraid it'll only get harder to explain later."
I stared at her.
Holding on to the chair, she slowly sat down, as if all her strength had drained out at once.
"Cole isn't just an ordinary male best friend."
"I figured that much out."
"My senior year of high school, my mom fell at the farmers' market. She had a brain bleed, and the emergency treatment cost money. My dad had already run off with another woman by then. It was just me and my mom."
She drew a breath, her voice strained.
"Cole's mom lent us fifty thousand dollars. That money saved my mom's life."
"And then?"
"Later his mom passed away. On her deathbed she held my hand and asked me to look out for Cole. She said he'd always had a difficult temper, and she was afraid no one would keep him in line."
I frowned hard. "And you just agreed?"
"I was seventeen."
She looked up at me, her eyes empty.
"I thought looking out for him meant checking in on the holidays and lending a hand if something happened. But later I realized he'd taken those words to mean I owed him for the rest of my life."
I said nothing.
She kept going.
"In college I dated someone once. When Cole found out, he made a scene outside the guy's dorm, saying he was two-timing me. The guy decided I was too much trouble and broke up with me."
"After I started working and switched departments, Cole showed up outside my office building with flowers, deliberately making everyone think we were a couple."
"When I got angry, he brought up the fifty thousand dollars from back then. He said if it weren't for his mom, my mom would be long gone."
"I paid the money back, with interest. Over a hundred thousand dollars."
"But he didn't want it. He said what he wanted was never the money."
When that last sentence landed, a chill ran down my spine.
Chapter 4
I clenched my fists, my voice low and heavy. "So why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Vivian gave a faint smile, her face ashen.
"How could I say it out loud?"
"Why couldn't you?"
"Because it's too ugly."
Her eyes were red-rimmed.
"I wanted a normal life with you, and at the same time I had someone I'd known for over twenty years clinging to me. Every time he used the favor against me, used my mom against me, used all that old garbage from the past against me, I felt dirty."
My chest seized up.
She lowered her head, her voice dropping lower and lower.
"Before our engagement, Cole got drunk and almost forced a kiss on me in his car. I slapped him."
"Then he started filming the blood at the corner of his mouth. He said I was ungrateful, that he'd send the video to you so you could see how vicious I was."
"Later he said that as long as I didn't cut him off completely, he wouldn't make a big deal of it."
"I was afraid you'd do something rash if you found out. I was afraid you'd think I was tangled up with him. And more than anything, I was afraid your parents would look down on me."
My throat bobbed.
"And last night? What actually happened last night?"
Vivian slowly took her phone out of her bag, opened the photo album, and handed it to me.
I looked down, and my face went dark in an instant.
In the photos, Vivian was slumped against the side of a bed with her eyes closed, her collar askew. Cole sat beside her, and from that angle it looked like she was leaning into his arms on her own.
Seven in total.
Each one worse than the last.
There were also two edited chat screenshots full of flirty lines. At a glance, it really did look like they'd been seeing each other behind my back for years.
I could tell right away something was off.
Vivian never talked like that, and the lighting in the photos didn't match.
But once something like this got sent out, who would stop to calmly sort out what was real?
On the wedding day, friends and family from both sides were all in the group chat. So were people's bosses from work.
He meant to ruin her in front of everyone.
"Where did these come from?"
"Last year at a company dinner, I drank too much once. When I woke up the next day, I was on the couch in a hotel suite, fully dressed. I thought some coworkers had brought me there to sleep it off."
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Last night he admitted it. He took them secretly that day, then had someone edit them and fake the chat logs."
My temples throbbed. "Where's the stuff now?"
"When I got there last night, he started by acting pitiful. He said he just wanted me to spend one last night with him."
"I said no."
"So he took out his tablet and showed me all this. He said as long as I kept in touch with him and kept seeing him after the wedding, he wouldn't send it."
"I tried to grab the tablet, and he shoved me."
She touched her lower belly without thinking, and her voice dropped.
"My stomach hurt so badly I had to crouch down for a long time."
My chest clenched tight.
"Then what?"
"Then, while he went to the kitchen for water, I used his phone. He was drunk and hadn't locked it. I deleted part of his cloud storage, and then I smashed the tablet."
"But I'm not sure whether there's a backup."
"Before I left, he grabbed me and said that even if I got married, I'd never get rid of him."
By the time I heard this, my hands were shaking uncontrollably.
Not out of anger at her.
Out of anger at myself.
Last night she'd risked her pregnancy to deal with something like this, while I sat at home thinking she just couldn't let go of her male best friend.
I really had wronged her.
But the thorn in my heart couldn't vanish all at once either.
Because she'd hidden it for too long, so long that it had grown into a disaster.
Vivian looked at me, her eyes full of exhaustion.
"If you want a divorce now, I'll accept it."
"I don't blame you."
"But the baby is innocent. Could you come with me to the hospital first? Once the baby is stable, then you can decide."
As soon as she finished, her hand suddenly braced against the edge of the table, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
Before I could react, her legs gave out and she toppled sideways.
I lunged forward and caught her.
On the inside of her pant leg, a small, glaring patch of red was seeping through.
In that instant, my whole back went numb.
