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The Missing Bride
Novelix
Completed
"Ever since I was little, I'd loved telling Peregrine Vale about the funny things that happened to me. Even though he never once replied. I never got tired of telling him. Then, days before our wedding, the local police asked me to come in and give a statement. That was how I learned Peregrine had filed a complaint, claiming I'd been harassing him with messages. The police reviewed our texts and brought no charges. By the time I left the station, it was dark. I gripped my phone, about to ask why he'd done it, when he said, ""We need some distance. Stop sending me every little thing."" A moment later, his administrative assistant texted him. He pulled out his phone and replied without hesitation. Only then did I notice their messages going back and forth. From good morning to good night, from work to their personal lives. He answered every little thing. Just not when it came from me. Fine. I wouldn't tell him anything anymore."
Chapters (3)
第1章
Ever since I was little, I'd loved telling Peregrine Vale about the funny things that happened to me.
Even though he never once replied.
I never got tired of telling him.
Then, days before our wedding, the local police asked me to come in and give a statement.
That was how I learned Peregrine had filed a complaint, claiming I'd been harassing him with messages.
The police reviewed our texts and brought no charges. By the time I left the station, it was dark.
I gripped my phone, about to ask why he'd done it, when he said, "We need some distance. Stop sending me every little thing."
A moment later, his administrative assistant texted him.
He pulled out his phone and replied without hesitation.
Only then did I notice their messages going back and forth.
From good morning to good night, from work to their personal lives.
He answered every little thing. Just not when it came from me.
Fine. I wouldn't tell him anything anymore.
...
"I've got something to do. I can't drive you back."
Outside the police station, Peregrine kept his head down, typing. He didn't even look up when he spoke to me.
I could clearly see that the latest message was from his administrative assistant, Linnea Moreau.
"Peregrine, I'm at the restaurant. Drive safe. I saved you a table by the window."
Then she sent him a playful selfie.
He wrote back: "Almost there. Order dessert if you're hungry. Don't wait for me."
Then Peregrine walked straight to his car at the curb without looking at me.
He moved so fast that by the time I reached for him, my hand closed on empty air.
Before, I would have called again and again, demanding he drive me home.
I would have kept asking when he was coming home, too.
This time, I stood still and watched him drive away.
I remembered the officer who had taken my statement. Once she learned Peregrine and I were engaged, her expression softened.
"You've explained what happened," she'd said. "Don't spend your life chasing someone who won't listen to you. You have a life of your own."
She'd seen our message thread while taking my statement.
The entire screen was filled with messages from me.
What time was he coming home? Had he eaten? How was work?
I'd told him what had made me laugh that day, who I'd gone to dinner or a movie with.
He hadn't replied to a single one.
When the officer spoke to me, I brushed it off.
I'd thought Peregrine had read my messages and simply didn't feel like texting back.
Only now did I understand.
He answered everything when the message came from someone he wanted to talk to.
I stared down the street long after his car disappeared. My eyes burned, and my chest felt so tight I could barely breathe.
My mother called.
"Wen, your wedding dress came in. When can you and Peregrine go for the fitting?"
My voice caught. "Mom, I don't want to marry Peregrine."
"What? Wen, what happened?"
She sounded stunned. I'd followed Peregrine around since we were children and had once announced to both our families that I was going to marry him someday.
"Can I tell you when I get home? I need a little time."
She heard me fighting tears. "Of course. We'll talk when you're here."
I hung up, and the tears came anyway.
Peregrine had told me to stop following him. He'd called me a shadow he couldn't shake. Even then, I hadn't cried this hard.
I couldn't understand it.
If he didn't like me, why had he dated me? Why had he proposed?
Why give me hope only to take it away?
No one answered that question.
第2章
I sat in a park near the station until morning.
By the time I stopped crying, my eyes were swollen and I had no tears left. Then I went home.
I reached our apartment and stopped. The door looked wrong.
The old lock had been replaced with an electronic one.
I stared for a couple of seconds, then raised my hand to knock.
The building manager stepped out of the elevator.
He looked surprised to see me. "Marwen, Peregrine ended the lease yesterday afternoon. Didn't he tell you?"
He hadn't. While I'd been at the police station, Peregrine had hired movers and emptied the apartment we'd shared for two years.
I was his girlfriend, and I hadn't known a thing.
It was like the time he'd gone on a business trip without telling me. I'd waited for him to come home, then gone to his office to find out where he was.
The manager looked at my swollen eyes and lowered his voice.
"There are two boxes in the storage room downstairs. See if anything in them belongs to you. I can hold them for a while if you need me to."
"Okay. Thank you."
I went to the storage room. One box held the gifts I'd given Peregrine over the years.
The other held my clothes and personal things.
They looked like trash someone had set aside.
Linnea texted me.
"Marwen, Peregrine moved into the new condo last night. I didn't want to decide what to do with your things, so I put them in boxes."
She sent me the address.
"You'll need a key fob to get into the building. Peregrine won't be back tonight, so let me know if you want to come over. I can come down and let you in."
When Peregrine and I set a wedding date, his mother had suggested buying a condo of our own instead of continuing to rent.
"Home is wherever we are," Peregrine had said. "It doesn't matter where we live."
He didn't want the hassle of moving. "Ask the landlord if he'd sell us this place. Then we can stay put."
I'd thought he wanted to turn the apartment we'd shared for two years into a home that belonged to both of us.
When I learned the landlord might sell, I'd been thrilled. I replaced the furniture piece by piece and spent each day making the place ours.
And then Peregrine moved out without a word.
I hadn't even known there was a new condo. Another woman had known all along.
She even had a key fob.
I put my phone away and told the manager, "I don't want any of it. Please dispose of the boxes according to the building's policy."
I left and called a cab to take me to my parents' house.
I'd barely gotten in when Linnea texted again.
"Marwen, are you upset with me? Is that why you aren't answering?"
"I shouldn't have said I was scared to live alone in this building. Peregrine bought the condo next to mine and moved in so quickly because of me. Blame me if you're angry, not him."
Her message took me back to our first year together. I'd rented an apartment in Peregrine's neighborhood just to be closer to him.
I lived there alone.
One night, a thunderstorm frightened me. I called him in tears and asked him to come over.
He'd said only, "Marwen, can't you call your parents?"
Back then, I didn't understand why he was always so distant with me.
I did now.
I wasn't the woman he loved.
Nothing I did would ever matter to him.
第3章
I didn't answer Linnea. I went to my parents' house.
Mom saw my red, swollen eyes and kept asking what had happened. I couldn't hide it, so I told her everything from the night before.
Her voice changed with anger.
"What was Peregrine thinking? You're about to get married, and he reported you to the police for harassment? Then he moved out behind your back?"
Dad was furious, too. "The wedding's off. You don't need to see that man again."
They supported my decision to end the engagement.
The next day, they returned the engagement ring to the Vales, along with the money his family had put down for the wedding.
Peregrine called soon after. He almost never called me first.
"Marwen, what's wrong with you now?"
His voice was flat, as if he were talking to a stranger.
I tightened my grip on the phone. "Peregrine, the wedding is canceled. We—"
Linnea's voice cut in before I could finish.
"Peregrine, is she still upset that you filed that complaint? I never would've suggested it if I'd known she'd take it so hard."
"It worked. She finally stopped flooding my phone last night."
Then his tone softened in a way it never had for me.
"Don't blame yourself. She was the one who wouldn't stop. This isn't on you."
His words hit hard. He went on comforting Linnea, apparently forgetting I was still on the line.
Or maybe he simply didn't care.
I swallowed the sting in my eyes. "Peregrine, we're breaking up. I won't bother you again—"
The call ended before I could finish.
I thought he'd accepted what I'd said.
Then Linnea sent another message.
"Marwen, Peregrine went into a meeting. He's going to be busy, so tell me if you need anything. I'll pass it on."
"Also, I helped him choose the furniture and oversaw the renovations at the new condo. Have a look. If you don't like it, I can tell him."
Photo after photo arrived, showing every corner of the place.
I spotted an open bag of chips on the couch.
Peregrine was obsessed with keeping things clean. He'd never let me eat snacks at home.
Once, I'd bought a small bag of chips anyway.
He'd caught me, picked up the bag, and snapped, "Marwen, how many times do I have to tell you not to eat on the couch? If you want chips, eat them somewhere else. Don't bring them in here."
In Linnea's photo, the open bag lay on the couch with crumbs scattered around it.
My finger shook as I swiped to the next picture.
Several strands of hair lay tangled on the clean bathroom floor.
When Peregrine and I had first moved in together, I'd once forgotten to clean my hair out of the bathroom.
He'd stared at it and said coldly, "Marwen, can you clean up the hair you leave in here?"
I didn't answer Linnea.
She texted again.
"Marwen, I stayed at Peregrine's last night. I remembered to take photos for you on my way out, but I didn't have time to clean up the chips or my hair. Hope you don't mind."
That was when I understood.
All his exceptions were for the person he liked.
He liked Linnea, so he answered every message she sent. He let her do whatever she wanted.
Even his years of fussing over a spotless home disappeared for her.
