Her Engagement, His Regret

When I went to the Marsden house to return the engagement gifts, I found Nathan Marsden lying in the arms of the young housekeeper, a post-coital cigarette dangling from his lips. He blew a playful smoke ring in my face. “Perfect timing. Wendy’s exhausted. Go wash the sheets for us, will you?” “The girl’s a little inexperienced. After the engagement party tonight, you can teach her a few of my favorite positions. I don’t want my nights ruined.” I didn’t answer. I just placed the bag containing the gifts on the coffee table. “Check everything. If it’s all there, let’s call off the engagement.” “I’ll send out a notice to cancel the party.” Nathan finally sat up, but the careless smirk never left his face. “How many times have you tried to scare me with this little act?” “Honey, a man gets tired of sleeping with the same woman. Sleeping with others is just my way of keeping things fresh with you.” “Can’t you try to understand?” He pulled a single rose from the bouquet of ninety-nine he’d bought for the housekeeper and offered it to me. He still thought a single flower and a cheap promise could win me over, just like all the times before. But this time, I shook my head. I was really, truly done with him.

1 When I didn’t move, he simply retracted his hand. He snapped the stem and tucked the rose into Wendy’s hair. “Honey, I promise you’ll be the one and only Mrs. Marsden. This constant jealousy over every little thing is really beneath you.” “Are you putting on such a show because I let Wendy try on your engagement ring?” He pushed Wendy away and stood up, wrapping his arm around my waist and whispering in a placating tone. “The girl has no status. She’ll never get to wear a real wedding ring in her life.” “You need to have the grace of the lady of the house. Just think of it as taking pity on her, letting her have a little fun.” I clutched the hem of my shirt, my heart turning to ice. Nathan’s first “wedding photo,” his first “honeymoon,” even his “first time” in our bed—it was all with Wendy. Every time I broke down and confronted him, he would just pinch my cheek with a look of helpless indulgence. “We’ll have a lifetime to do all those things. Why are you so obsessed with the ‘first’ time?” “So possessive, my little crybaby.” Wendy looped her arm through his, helping him persuade me. “Sophia, Nathan is so good to you. He never lets me wear lipstick or perfume, just so I don’t leave any trace on him that might upset you.” She picked up the bouquet of roses from the table, a blatant challenge in her eyes. “If one rose isn’t enough for you, you can have the rest. Nathan just bought me a rose garden a few days ago. I’m already sick of them.” Nathan cupped Wendy’s face and kissed her. “You’re being so thoughtful today, baby.” “Go get our gear. I’m taking you to the old cornfield. A reward for unlocking a new scene.” After Wendy went into the bedroom, he picked up a scarf and personally tied it around my neck. “It’s cold out. I’ll have the driver take you home.” “Just focus on getting ready for the engagement party tonight. I promise I’ll be there before it starts.” I grabbed his arm. “Don’t go just yet.” Nathan froze for a second, then relaxed. “See? You can’t bear to let me go.” “Let go, sweetheart. I’ll pick up some of your favorite farm-fresh snacks on the way.” “I don’t need them.” I shook my head and pushed a briefcase into his hands. “Before you go, check the prenup.” “So I can release the statement calling off the engagement as soon as possible.” The smile vanished from Nathan’s face. He stared at me, hard, and when he was sure I wasn’t joking, he spoke, his brow furrowed. “You don’t have a job, and your mother’s in the ICU. Her medical bills are five figures a day. Who’s going to support you two without me?” His voice turned cold. “Sophia, I’ve really spoiled you rotten all these years.” His words should have made me laugh, but my eyes stung with tears. I didn’t have a job because, in the first year of his startup, he had begged me on his knees to be a homemaker, to be the foundation that supported his career. The reason my mother was in a coma was because she had taken a knife for him from a business rival. I swallowed the sharp, stabbing pain in my heart and looked down, my voice flat. “I have my own ways of handling the money. I just… I don’t want to live like this anymore.” Nathan was about to say something else, but Wendy came bouncing out of the room. “Nate, let’s go! I was just practicing a new, difficult position in there. If we wait too long, I’ll lose the mood.” “You little vixen. Whatever you say.” Nathan swept her into his arms, playfully tapping her nose. But when he looked at me, his eyes were filled with displeasure. “Do whatever you want. Let off some steam.” “I’m not going to take your angry words seriously.” “But I will be stopping your mother’s medical payments for a few days. If you don’t get a taste of how hard it is to earn a living, you’ll never understand what I do for you.” With that, he turned and left, Wendy wrapped in his arms. As I watched them go, my breath caught, a bitter taste spreading through my mouth. I took out my phone and sent a cancellation notice to all our friends and family. Then, I made a call. “Mr. Peterson, you once said that if I took the overseas position, you would cover my mother’s medical expenses.” “I’ve made my decision. When do I leave?” “The sooner, the better. We can have you on a plane tomorrow.” I agreed and immediately went to the hospital to arrange for my mother’s transfer. When I walked into her room, I found her awake. “Mom!” Overjoyed and shocked, I rushed to her and hugged her tightly, my voice choking with sobs. My mother cried too, squeezing my hand. “I’m okay, sweetheart. Is Nate treating you well?” “As long as you two are happy, taking a little stab for him was worth it.” Seeing the hopeful look in her eyes, I slowly lowered my head. I didn’t know how to tell her that Nathan was cheating on me with our housekeeper and that I had called off the engagement. As I struggled for words, a familiar voice came from the doorway. “Mom, I’m here to see you!” Nathan walked in, followed by his assistant carrying boxes of expensive supplements, practically filling the room. “You woke up just in time. Sophia and I have our engagement party tonight. You have to be there, Mother-in-law.” He draped his arm around my shoulders intimately, as if nothing had happened between us. A wave of nausea washed over me, but I didn’t say anything. My mom was beaming. She pointed to Nathan’s neck and winked at me. “It’s good that you two are so close, but you need to take it easy. Nate has a lot of work to do.” I looked up and saw a clear bite mark on his neck. We had been living apart for six months. It was obvious who had left it there. Nathan’s face stiffened for a moment before he quickly recovered, his eyes full of adoration for me. “What can I say? I’m completely whipped. I love it when Sophia gets clingy. Don’t you worry about a thing, Mom.” My mother looked relieved and content. “As long as you two are happy, I can rest easy. Now go, get ready for your party.” I forced a smile and nodded. The moment we were out of the room, I slapped him, hard. My eyes were full of scorn. “Putting on such a good show for my mother. Aren’t you tired?” A red mark quickly appeared on his face. His eyelashes trembled, but he said nothing. Still furious, I raised my hand again, but he held up his phone. “This is Dr. Evans’s contact information. He’s a top internal medicine specialist. I was going to schedule a comprehensive check-up for Mom.” My hand froze in mid-air. As if drained of all strength, I slowly lowered it. I closed my eyes, an overwhelming exhaustion washing over me. I turned to leave. But Nathan wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Let me lean on you for a minute, honey. My stomach suddenly hurts.” I felt a strange sense of deja vu. When we first started dating, a client was giving me a hard time at a business dinner. Nathan chugged a whole bottle of hard liquor to defend me. The client never bothered me again, but Nathan ended up in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer, a problem that still plagued him. “It was wrong of Wendy to leave a mark on my neck. I’ll have a word with her.” “I was wrong, too. Usually, after a date, I’d shower for three hours before seeing you. I was just so happy to hear that Mom was awake that I didn’t even look in the mirror.” I turned to look at him. His eyes were red, pleading, like a guilty puppy. “If you’re still not happy, I’ll make myself clean right now.” With that, he picked up a fruit knife and aimed it at the red mark on his neck. He was actually going to cut that piece of flesh out! It wasn’t until I saw the blood that I snapped out of it. I lunged forward and knocked the knife to the floor. “Are you crazy? That’s your neck! What if you seriously hurt yourself?” The blood was flowing freely now. Terrified, I tried to pull him toward the emergency room. But he just smiled, a happy, triumphant smile. “Sophia, you do still care about me.” “Now, go get ready for the engagement party. Do it for Mom.” I clenched my fists, then abruptly let them go. Finally, I heard my own strained voice. “Okay.” Nathan spared no expense, booking the most luxurious hotel in the city for a million-dollar engagement party. My mother, wanting to witness my happiness, insisted on attending in her wheelchair, despite my protests. I stood on the stage, lightly holding Nathan’s arm. He sensed my distance and forcefully intertwined his fingers with mine. The guests below looked on with envy. “So many men ditch their wives after they make it big. Mr. Marsden is still so devoted to his original partner. Mrs. Marsden really bet on the right horse.” “Just a few hours ago, the future Mrs. Marsden sent us a cancellation notice. I wonder what that was all about.” “Just a little lover’s spat. Only a guy like Mr. Marsden would put up with it. If my wife tried to pull a stunt like that, I’d have to teach her a lesson!” Their words were like needles, piercing my heart. Nathan had slept with Wendy countless times over the years, yet he could still act concerned and loving toward me without batting an eye. His calmness only made me look like the crazy one. Just then, a server rushed onto the stage and snatched the microphone. The moment she took off her mask, I realized it was Wendy. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m the one Nathan truly loves! If it weren’t for Sophia using the fact that her mother saved his life, we would have been married long ago!” My mind went blank. I instinctively looked at my mother. She was staring at Wendy in shock, her body trembling uncontrollably. “Mom!” I gathered my dress and ran to her side, screaming at the staff. “Call 911! Now!” When Nathan finally reacted, his eyes burned with fury. “Wendy, are you tired of living? You’re just a housekeeper in my home! Get the hell off this stage!” But Wendy pulled out a pregnancy test, kneeling before my mother and me. “But I’m carrying Nathan’s child.”