9
401words
The night before the wedding,I rushed back.
Emily wasn't home.Stranger still,all her things were gone—nothing was left.
Panic rose inside me.I turned the house upside down,finding only a ruined wedding dress,a ring,and the gifts I'd given her,once treasures to her,now destroyed.
I didn't know what had happened.I called,but she'd blocked me.
Fear grew,but I clung to hope.Eight years of love,her unloving parents,her loneliness—she'd only had me.
She couldn't leave me,she just wouldn't.
I was delusional.At our wedding,with a room full of guests,I waited like a fool for a bride who never came.
The screen displayed our love story,photos Emily meticulously prepared.I couldn't think of why she,so in love,vanished.
Midway,what was on the screen changed.In a restaurant,I was holding Rachel,telling my friends,"I've been with her so long,I'm sick of it."
Laughter followed.
Then,our kiss in the car.The ring with Rachel's initials.Us toasting in a hotel.Our aurora kiss.
The crowd erupted.
"Scum like you?No wonder she ran away."
"You deserve it."
"Good for her—she escaped."
...
My mind went blank.Emily knew everything,endured silently,and left when disappointment consumed her.
Her background,her personality—I'd used them as leverage,certain she'd never leave me,even if she caught cheating on her.
I was despicable,treating her pain as my smug trump card.
I lost the girl whose only had eyes for me.
Regret consumed me.I cut Rachel off,scouring the city for Emily.
For two whole years,I searched and searched,finally spotting her in the news.
Tears of joy fell.I flew to Coastal City that very same day.
Seeing my Emily I longed to see so much in my dreams,I cried.
I spent everything to buy her painting,to prove my love.
But she treated me like a stranger.Even her hatred would've meant I still mattered.
How could I claim I still love her after hurting her so deeply?
I lost control,pulling her into my arms,but her boyfriend appeared.
I followed them,learning how much he'd done for her.
Compared to him,I was nothing—he was indeed a worthy man for her.
I'd lost,utterly.
My heart ached so much like it was stabbed.
They went to see the aurora.
At seventeen,I'd promised a seventeen-year-old Emily that too,but never kept my promise,taking someone else instead.
I defiled that sacred place.
Now,I was standing behind them,watching their aurora kiss.
The tearing pain taught me how Emily felt back then.
Later,Aurora Kiss became their unique wedding photo.
Emily was reborn from fire,while I'd never find peace.
