Love Was My Regret

At my engagement party, my fiancee's male best friend pulled my pants down in front of over 500 guests. I desperately grabbed my belt and demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing. He thought I was making a fuss over nothing. "I just wanted to see what color underwear you're wearing." As he spoke, he held up the Besties Chat Group, which included my fiancee, Justine Severin. A poll was underway. "What color underwear will Henry Banks be wearing today?" There were eight people in the group, and seven had voted. Justine only replied, "Cut it out." I froze, then turned in disbelief toward my impeccably dressed fiancee standing behind me. Justine frowned. "Everyone was just messing around to liven things up. Don't take it seriously." She turned back and continued chatting and laughing with the other guests as if nothing had happened. At that moment, I suddenly realized just how rotten the woman standing before me was. I took off my engagement ring and dropped it into a champagne glass. "Let's call off the engagement." Chapter 1 Confirm With a sharp snap, the belt that had been yanked on suddenly broke. For a moment, time seemed to stand still. The venue fell into stunned silence for a second before unexpected laughter erupted. Elias Clarke doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "Well, now we can see clearly. It's blue. I guessed right!" Justine's group of friends burst into laughter as well. "Yeah, you really should call off the engagement, Henry! How mortifying, haha!" I desperately held my pants up, the veins in my forehead bulging. I could no longer feel anyone's eyes on me. Justine hurriedly borrowed a jacket and tied it around my waist. "He's childish—don't stoop to his level. You don't need to call off the engagement over this." Then, she shot Elias an annoyed look. "Cut it out." There it was again—that dismissive little remark, as though all he had done was step on my foot. I pulled my arm free from her grasp and faced all the guests. "Today's engagement ceremony is canceled." The concern in Justine's eyes moments ago disappeared, replaced by the reproachful look she gave someone being unreasonable. "Don't let something this trivial affect everything. Elias has always been careless and thoughtless. You'll have to get used to it sooner or later." This was far from the first time she had made excuses for Elias. Seeing that someone was backing him up, Elias muttered, "You were bullied by your classmates before, weren't you? Your photos were all over the place. What's wrong with letting us take a look?" My breath caught instantly. When I was in college, I was a student from a poor family, and the classmates who looked down on me bullied me without the slightest restraint. When Justine heard what had happened, she rushed over with her friends to save me. Then, she held me tightly and said, "No one will ever find out about this. I'll keep it a secret." I believed her. I told her everything that had happened. I opened up my wounds and showed them to her. And now, somehow, everyone in the Besties Chat Group knew. Justine finally turned cold toward him. "Not another word." She deliberately avoided looking at me. "Can we talk about this when we get home? Let's finish the ceremony first." I looked at my torn pants and broken belt, my heart aching as though it had been pricked by countless needles. The keepsake my father had left me before he died had been there to witness this entire farce. I stood there without moving. Seeing how grim I looked, Elias deliberately acted out of spite. He yanked off his belt. His pants slid straight to the floor, leaving everyone staring in shock. "There. Surely, we're even now. I'm not as petty." The next second, Justine instinctively grabbed the jacket from around my waist and pulled it away, covering his waist with it instead. Her reproach carried a hint of concern. "Why did you have to join in? Aren't you the slightest bit embarrassed?" The man immediately looked aggrieved, his eyes turning red as though he were the most innocent person in the entire room. And once again, I was left exposed to everyone's gaze. I didn't bother covering myself anymore. Instead, I looked down at my phone, where a message from my company had just arrived. "Congratulations, Henry. You have been granted eligibility for an overseas transfer. Please confirm as soon as possible." I looked at the two figures standing close together before me, smiled faintly, and lowered my head to reply. "Confirm." Chapter 2 The Marital Home By the time I took a cab home, it was already late at night. The moment Justine saw me, she started complaining. "Because you left without saying a word, my parents were furious. Call them later and apologize. Don't let them think you're being immature." Justine's parents had never liked me. They had always thought I was calculating and far too serious, nothing like Elias, who was easygoing, humorous, and never seemed to care about anything. They had even given him the family heirloom gold watch that was supposed to be passed down to their future son-in-law. No matter how hard I tried, it had never made a difference. The words caught in my throat for a moment before I swallowed them back down. "Okay." I carefully took off my pants and carried a bath towel into the bathroom, only to hear a man shouting from inside. I instinctively stepped back. "Who's in there?" Justine explained casually, "Elias came over to get some clothes to change into. He happened to take a shower here." I froze. Elias walked out wrapped in my bathrobe. He'd changed into a short-sleeved shirt inside—the exact same style Justine was wearing. He grinned at me. "Best-friend matching outfits." They were obviously matching. … Back when we were dating, I bought plenty of matching couple clothes, but she threw every single one away without a second thought, saying they were childish and uncomfortable. I let out a bitter laugh. He suddenly turned his back toward Justine out of habit. "I think the bathrobe got caught in my underwear. It feels uncomfortable. Can you fix it for me?" Justine gave him an exasperated smile and, as though it were something she had done countless times before, slipped her hand inside. I froze for a moment before asking in disbelief, "What are you two doing?" Only then did Justine realize what she had done. She quickly withdrew her hand and, for once, apologized. "Sorry. We've been doing things like this since we were kids. I forgot you were here." Was she suggesting that if I hadn't been there, they'd be even more inseparable? I turned around, walked into the bathroom, and locked the door. … When I came back out, Elias' wet foot stepped directly onto my pants, causing the section that had already been torn open to rip even further. I immediately lost my temper and rushed over, shoving him aside. "My dad left these to me." Elias fell to the floor, sounding completely innocent. "I thought they were a rag. I was just wiping my feet." Justine hurriedly helped him up, her expression darkening as she looked at me. "Couldn't you just talk things out? Did you really have to get physical?" "My dad left these to me," I repeated. "I know that." Her voice softened. "But you shouldn't have pushed him either. What if he got hurt?" She placed Elias' foot on her lap and carefully examined it from every angle before deciding to take him to the hospital. Just before leaving, she said, "Don't wait for me tonight. He's injured, and it wouldn't be safe for him to be alone." I watched her hurry away and swallowed my plans to go abroad once again. … An hour later, Elias updated his social media. "Sprained my ankle, but I got to move into my bestie's marital home ahead of schedule." The photo showed the bedroom of the marital home Justine and I had bought together. In the picture, she was making the bed. The comments section was lively. "Put up some wedding decorations, and it'll look even more like a bridal chamber." "Everything about it looks like your style. Justine didn't decorate it according to your preferences, did she?" "No wonder Justine was asking everyone in the group about interior design styles. So the marital home was actually for Elias." I finally understood why Justine had insisted on taking complete control of the marital home's renovations, and why she had rejected my suggestions time and time again. I smiled and clicked Like. Then, I closed the app and decisively booked a flight overseas. Chapter 3 The House That Was No Longer Mine Just because Justine said no one lived here, Elias had an excuse to move into our marital home. Elias took over our master bedroom and threw out the few things I had personally chosen—the lamps, matching couple's mugs, curtains, everything. As he tossed them aside, he complained, "Your taste is so outdated. Just looking at it for too long is enough to give me nightmares." He knew perfectly well that I was allergic to pollen, yet he filled the living room with vase after vase of fresh flowers. Before long, I started having trouble breathing, but Justine was completely oblivious to my predicament, still discussing with him which bouquet looked the best. It wasn't until she noticed my face turning red that she finally helped me sit down. For a moment, I thought she might finally feel sorry for me. Alas, to my dismay, after a brief pause, she said, "Maybe you should stop coming here for now. You're allergic, and Elias likes having flowers around. There's no way to make both of you happy." Once again, she made her choice without even realizing it. Thinking about how much money I had put into the house, I was almost too angry to do anything but laugh. "I paid for part of this place too." Justine, however, only grew even more impatient. "Elias studied interior design in college. You don't know anything about this. You should have listened to him from the beginning. You're being too stubborn." Under Elias' design, my marital home had turned into his home. Even the door lock no longer registered my fingerprint. However, she didn't see anything wrong with that. "Elias said he was worried about burglars," she argued. "Having too many fingerprints registered isn't safe. Just put up with it for now. We'll register yours again after we get married and move in." I stood at the doorway like a stranger who had accidentally wandered into the wrong house. It was as though there was no room left for even the slightest trace of me in our marital home. I stopped arguing and turned to leave. … On my last night in the country, I planned to stay at the old house my father had owned and say goodbye to him while I was there. However, the moment I unlocked the door and stepped inside, a skull dropped straight down from above. I jumped in fright and stumbled back outside. While I was still trying to make sense of what had happened, Elias' booming laughter came through the surveillance system. "I knew you'd get scared. I forgot to tell you—I turned this place into a haunted house! It's way more fun than an escape room." I looked at the house, every familiar furnishing and decoration completely transformed beyond recognition, and trembled with rage. It wasn't long before the two of them arrived. He pointed at me, laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath. "You should've seen your face! You went white as a sheet!" Justine's eyes were filled with nothing but indulgence toward him. She merely said, "The place was just sitting empty anyway. At least this gives it some life." Then, she noticed the luggage behind me and frowned. "Why did you suddenly decide to move here?" I ignored her and walked straight up to Elias. "Put everything back the way it was. Now." His smile faded, replaced by irritation. "You're seriously no fun. We've already come here several times to play, and it's thrilling inside. You can go in and have some fun too." Then, he suddenly gave me a provocative smile. "Who knows? Maybe you'll actually get to see your dad. You should be thanking me." I could no longer hold myself back and shoved him. To my dismay, he deliberately threw himself backward and went tumbling down three steps, his screams echoing throughout the house. Justine hurried after him and looked back at me with undisguised disappointment. "You're making such a big deal over a lousy old house. Is this how your father taught you to behave?" I froze. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. For a brief moment, Justine seemed torn. But then, she immediately helped Elias to his feet and threatened, "If anything happens to Elias, I'll never forgive you." But where Justine couldn't see, a triumphant smile flickered across Elias' eyes. Chapter 4 The Last Tie I was halfway through cleaning out the house when a real estate agent suddenly arrived with several people. "This property has already been sold. Unauthorized personnel need to leave." I stared at them in confusion. "You have no right to sell this house. It was left to me by my father as an inheritance." Still, they forcibly drove me out. Just as I stumbled onto the street, Justine's car pulled up beside me. "Elias had more than ten stitches in his calf. He won't be able to walk for three months. This time, I have to teach you a lesson for your unreasonable behavior." My ears felt stuffed with cotton—all of a sudden, I couldn't hear anything. Before my father died, he had been afraid that others would look down on me. So he had transferred the house my mother had left him to Justine, repeatedly reminding her to treat me well. Justine had knelt beside his hospital bed and promised him over and over that she would. And now, she had sold the only inheritance my father had ever left me for a fraction of its value. "No!" My voice was firm, but Justine only grew more impatient. "Your father transferred the house to me, so I have every right to decide what to do with it. I'll say this one last time—Elias has been like a younger brother to me since we were children. He even saved me from drowning in a lake once. I have to protect him." I suddenly remembered when Justine had accidentally fallen into the lake. I had jumped in without hesitation to save her, but when she woke up afterward, the first person she saw was Elias. So, all this while, she believed that Elias had saved her. I was about to explain when her phone suddenly rang. His sobbing voice came through the call, sounding utterly devastated. "I'll never be able to compete in street dance competitions again! The organizers just kicked me out. Justine, I'm never getting involved in your stupid messes again!" The call ended immediately, and Justine spiraled into complete panic. The real estate agent approached hesitantly and gave her the offer. "The buyer wants to purchase it as a burial site. They're only offering 50 thousand…" "Sell it!" She stared at me the entire time, her eyes bloodshot. "You ruined the biggest dream of Elias' life. A lousy old house means nothing compared to that. When you finally admit you were wrong and apologize to me, I'll buy it back for you." With that, she quickly got into her car and drove away. I watched helplessly as a construction crew arrived with a bulldozer and scrambled to block their path. "Stop! This is mine." The foreman impatiently kicked me aside. "This isn't a place for you to cause trouble. Get lost!" I crashed hard onto a pile of broken stones. The next second, a sudden warmth spread from the back of my head, and blood began streaming down. A kind passerby took me to the hospital, where the doctors performed brain surgery on me. The doctors and nurses were all frantic, but I was totally calm, for the final tie between Justine and me had finally been severed. … Meanwhile, Justine was sitting outside Elias' hospital room, texting me. "Henry, come to the hospital and apologize to Elias now. I might consider giving the house back to you." To her dismay, the message did not go through, leaving her stumped. She got up, about to head to my old home, when a young nurse came running after her, breathless. "Ms. Severin, I finally caught up with you. Mr. Banks has a surgical document that needs your signature." Justine impatiently took it from her. But after just one glance, all the color drained from her face.