They Waited for My Sister to Wake, So I Called Off My Wedding Chapter 03
I was halfway through packing when a notification popped up. The project team had kicked me out of the group chat.
A close friend called, sighing over and over. “The Project Director saw the news online. He’s worried about the company’s image. He’s not letting you join this project.”
I froze for a long moment. I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
Right after I hung up, the news popped up.
Two hours earlier, Iris had been blasted as a scheming woman who’d ruined her own sister’s wedding. My mother spoke up for her.
She said I’d been jealous of my sister since childhood and had deliberately caused a scene at my wedding. She also said Adrian had never gotten over Iris.
In the video, Adrian stood right beside her and didn’t say a single word to defend me.
My fingers went white around my phone. I called him and demanded, “Adrian, you know I’m in the middle of a promotion competition. Do you have any idea what news like this will do to me?”
But he just cut me off calmly. “Elara, you’re capable. You can start over.”
“But if Iris gets dragged into this mess, there’s no telling what she might do… Just let her have this, okay?”
In that moment, all the strength drained out of me.
When I was little, my parents gave the research trip spot I’d worked so hard for to Iris.
It was Adrian who stayed by my side and told me not to give up.
He comforted me and said if I lost something, something better was waiting for me.
But now he’d become just like them. He was standing on the opposite side.
Thousands of words stuck in my throat. I couldn’t say a single one.
I just wanted to let it go.
I opened my laptop in silence and clicked into the company’s expat assignment portal.
I chose the five-year closed project no one wanted.
Because I volunteered for a demotion and transfer, the approval went through fast.
I changed my clothes and went straight to Seattle General Hospital for the expat physical.
During the exam, the doctor’s brows furrowed. “Ms. Kensington, you’re two months pregnant. There are many tests you can’t do.”
I was silent for a long time. Then I finally said, “I don’t want this baby.”
Lying in the cold operating room, I heard whispers around me. “Wait—isn’t she the sister from that viral story? The one who stole her own sister’s man? She had it coming.”
“She couldn’t use the baby to trap him, so now she’s trying a pity play?”
“Didn’t you see the news? The groom already showed up at the venue with the woman he actually loves. They went through with the ceremony anyway.”
“That’s real love. They don’t care if the pickup was late. If some people really wanted to get married, they wouldn’t have blown things up.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. Tears slid from the corners.
Only then did I understand. To protect Iris’s reputation, Adrian had completely disregarded my life.
I didn’t make a sound. I endured the pain in my body and my heart.
I kept telling myself it would all be over soon.
When I got home, it was empty. Strangely, I felt relieved.
I collapsed beside the sofa and passed out there.
I don’t know how much later Iris and the others came back.
I was in so much pain I couldn’t even lift my eyelids. She stood there and stared at me for a few seconds, then her eyes reddened.
“Elara, I know you blame me, but you don’t have to lie there and fake being sick, copying the way I can’t get up, just to disgust me.”
The moment she spoke, everyone’s eyes landed on me. My mother looked me over too.
“Elara, if you’re gonna fake sick, at least make it convincing. That frown isn’t fooling anyone.”
“Adrian, take me away. Seeing Elara like this makes me think of what happened today.”
When Iris started crying, my mother dragged me off the sofa onto the floor.
A red stain spread across the white sofa.
My mother was furious.
“No wonder you wouldn’t get up when I called you. You spilled wine on it.”
“I had an abortion.”
