Swapping Out the Groom

Before the wedding, my fiancé disappeared while camping with friends.

I searched for him for an entire month, nearly losing my mind.

But on Valentine's Day, a week before our wedding, I saw him at a romantic restaurant, hugging and kissing his childhood sweetheart.

Jayden Corrick held the woman in his arms and said softly, "If this goes on, I don't even want to go back and marry Leah."

Sophie Muller asked if he regretted disappearing—if he truly didn't plan on going back.

He hesitated for a moment.

"No regrets. Let's stay one more week. Our parents will cover for us anyway. When she's completely driven mad with worry, I'll show up again."

I stood hidden among the crowd, watching their closeness, and gave a bitter smile.

The next moment, I called home. "Don't bother looking for Jayden anymore. I'm never marrying him."

"Leah, why are you suddenly not looking for Jayden anymore?" my mother asked, clearly shocked by what I had just said.

After all, after Jayden Corrick disappeared during a camping trip with friends, I spent an entire month searching for him—sleepless, worn thin, my body several pounds lighter, my face hollow with exhaustion.

I glanced at the couple still kissing in the restaurant across the street and gave a bitter smile.

I said, "Let's just say Jayden is dead."

Even though she knew I was speaking out of anger, my mother didn't ask for details. Instead, she instinctively tried to comfort me.

My father, quick-tempered as always, was delighted when he heard I was no longer holding on to Jayden. "It's about time you let go! What was ever so great about that guy, anyway? Leah, since you're finally leaving it to us, I will definitely help you find someone better. No need to stay fixated on someone I never approved of to begin with!"

Before I could say anything else, a sudden gasp rose from the crowd. Fireworks exploded overhead in brilliant colors. It should've been a romantic scene. But all I felt was cold.

I looked at the man who had just accused me of being controlling—right after embracing his first love—and suddenly felt my father might've been right.

Even though I had never been controlling with Jayden. Not once.

I knew him through an online chatroom when I was in college abroad. We fell in love, made it through the long-distance phase, and after graduating, I was the one who proposed.

Sophie Muller came back two years ago. I had always known she was his high school sweetheart. Over the years, Jayden never avoided the topic when mentioning her.

I thought we had come far enough that none of it mattered anymore.

But just one phone call—one "I'm back" from Sophie—and his heart flew out the door.

All these years, I gave him complete freedom. All the space he could want. And still, he kept lying to me, again and again.

I begged him to keep some distance from Sophie. I asked him not