Chapter1
Aurora’s POV
Today was our fifth anniversary.
After three postponed weddings, the chapel on Marisol Island was finally booked. Two plane tickets. One simple silk dress, folded in the garment bag over my arm.
Ethan had left the apartment early. “Something to pick up,” he’d said. “Meet me at the airport.”
I believed him. I always did.
This time, I told myself, nothing would go wrong.
The taxi dropped me at departures just before noon. I pushed through the glass doors, searching the crowd for him, my heart beating a little too fast.
Then I found him.
And I saw who was standing beside him.
Across the departure hall, two people stood by the check-in counter, laughing like no one else was there.
One was my fiancé, Ethan Hale. The other was Chloe Ashford, the girl he had grown up next door to. He was lifting her suitcase onto the scale as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
By the time I reached them, the agent was handing Chloe her boarding pass. “Seat 2A, Ms. Ashford. Mr. Hale transferred it from Ms. Valenti’s booking this morning.”
2A. The window seat I’d picked out months ago.
Chloe tilted her head, her voice small and fragile. “All I said was that I’d always wanted to see Marisol Island, and you just left Aurora standing there. She’s going to hate me, isn’t she?”
Ethan glanced over his shoulder at me and lowered his voice. “Don’t think like that. Aurora knows what you’re going through.”
“But look at her face.” Chloe’s eyes glistened. “It breaks my heart.”
“She’s fine.” He hesitated, then softened. “You’ve had a hard two years. Of course I’m going to look out for you. Aurora has never once complained. I’ll say something nice and she’ll come around. Just focus on having a good time.”
He wasn’t wrong.
To Ethan, I was the sensible one. The easy one. However upset I got, a few gentle words from him were always enough to make it go away.
It didn’t matter that when he cooked breakfast, I got dry toast while Chloe got rice porridge simmered for an hour because her stomach was “delicate.”
It didn’t matter that on my birthday he gave me a scarf, and on hers he gave her a diamond bracelet.
As long as he said something sweet, I was supposed to let it slide.
And I always had. I loved him, and I didn’t want to be the reason his life got complicated.
But loving him didn’t give him the right to keep putting me last.
I looked at him steadily. “Ethan, if we don’t get married this time, we never will.”
He didn’t even pause. He used the patient tone people use on a sulking child. “Why are you being like this? We’ll have a hundred chances to get married. There’s no reason to fight over it.
“I’m taking Chloe to Marisol just this once. When I get back, I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Go home and wait for me. The wedding isn’t going anywhere.”
Chloe slipped her arm through his before he’d finished. “Ethan, getting to take this trip with you… I could live on that happiness for the rest of my life.”
Then she smiled at me. “Don’t worry, Aurora. I’ll take really good care of him for you!”
Ethan turned back. “Go on home, Aurora. I’ll text you when we land.”
I watched them walk toward security together. I didn’t call after them. Instead, I smiled faintly, took out my phone, and dialed my father.
“Papà, I lost the bet. I’ll come home, just like we agreed. But before I do, I’d like to borrow the jet for a few days. I want to see Marisol Island.”
There was a short silence on the line. Then my father’s voice came, low and unhurried. “Take whatever you need, cara. The Santoro boy has waited five years. He can wait a few more days.”
Not long after I hung up, Ethan’s message came through.
“You handled today so well. Thank you for not making a scene. Be good, and I’ll bring you something nice.”
I was still looking at it when an Instagram notification slid down from the top of the screen.
Chloe had posted a photo from the boarding gate, her head resting on Ethan’s shoulder, both of them smiling into the camera.
The caption read: “Maybe my last trip ever. So thankful the person who matters most is right here beside me.”
Someone commented: “Wait, where’s Aurora?? Her fiancé is on vacation with you and she’s okay with that?”
Chloe had replied with a smiley face. “She’s swamped at work, couldn’t get away!”
I scrolled past and closed the app, my face blank.
Another text from Ethan.
“Did you see Chloe’s post? She wants to hit 1,000 likes. She says she wants to know how many people are rooting for her before… you know. Go like it, okay? It’d mean a lot to her.”
I didn’t answer.
Five minutes later, three more arrived in a row.
“Hey, why so quiet? Asleep already?”
“Okay, get some rest.”
“I’m not there to tuck you in tonight, so don’t kick the covers off. Don’t catch a cold.”
I read them and nearly laughed.
There was a time I answered his messages before the screen even dimmed. Tonight, I left every one of them unread and turned his notifications off.
Tomorrow, the jet would carry me to Marisol Island, and I would take the trip of my dreams, alone.
As for being tucked in, I could manage that just fine by myself.
