Something Blue, Someone New

The day after my fiancé abandoned me at our wedding, I boarded a plane to another city - Silverbrook Haven.

He comforted his “girlfriend”, saying, "Sarah's been spoiled since childhood. She'll calm down and come back in a few days. You don't need to feel guilty."

My friends were all worried I'd keep obsessing over Henry and cause another huge scene.

But what they didn't know was that I had already accepted someone else's proposal. This trip to Silverbrook Haven was to get married.

As the wedding day approached, I sent back everything Henry had given me over the years, without missing a single item.

Including that engagement necklace I once treasured like a precious jewel.

This is our final goodbye - what's done cannot be undone.

I still can't shake the memory of that humiliating moment when Henry Crawford abandoned me at our own engagement party.

The banquet hall was crowded, yet eerily silent.

The atmosphere was so tense you could hear every breath in the room.

The silence stretched on until Charlotte Reynolds, her hand firmly clasped in Henry's, finally broke it with a gentle plea:

"Henry, please don't... Sarah's still so young..."

"Young?" A scornful whisper drifted from the corner. "Isn't she pushing twenty-six?"

The growing murmurs only made the tension more unbearable. I desperately clung to the edge of Henry's jacket, refusing to accept what was happening. When I finally looked up at him, I couldn't hold back my tears.

"Sarah, don't force me to be cruel," Henry said, carefully setting down his champagne glass as he rose from his seat. "How many times must I repeat myself? We're nothing more than the product of our families' arrangement. I don't love you—I never have and never will."

Fighting back tears, I challenged him, "Then why did you never let me date anyone else?"

"Because you were my fiancée," he replied coldly. "Even it is in name only, any scandal involving you would have brought shame to both the Blackwoods and the Crawfords."

"What about that kiss at my graduation ceremony?" I pressed.

Irritation flashed across Henry's face. "You were drunk and threw yourself at me."

I let out a bitter laugh, even as tears continued streaming down my face. "But in all these years, I was the only woman in your life. Are you saying you felt absolutely nothing for me?"

"That's because I hadn't met the woman I truly love until now." Henry wrapped his arm around Charlotte's shoulders. "Listen carefully, because I'll only say this once: I love Charlotte, and she's the one I'm going to marry. Your usual manipulation won't work this time."

"Henry..." Charlotte melted into his embrace.

Right there, at what was supposed to be my engagement party, Henry bent down and kissed her. Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with equal passion.

As I watched them, I couldn't help but remember our graduation night kiss—the same tenderness, the same passion that had kept me lost in