She Bet on Love, I Married Another

Alex

I glanced at my wristwatch for the umpteenth time that day. It had been over an hour since I’d been waiting for my fiancée.

And now, I was starting to worry.

What if something had happened to her on the way?

Or maybe not.

Julie had done this before, though there had always been tangible reasons behind it.

But what if she was in an emergency right now?

I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed her number again, for the third time since I’d gotten here.

She hadn’t picked up my previous calls, but I mentally prayed she would answer this time.

I was starting to panic for real.

Just as I dialed, a familiar ringtone sounded nearby, startling me for a moment.

It sounded exactly like Julie’s phone.

I slowly looked up.

Julie walked inside, arm in arm with John, her childhood sweetheart.

She was dressed in black suit trousers and a white T-shirt that hugged her curvy figure. Aside from that, she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.

But seeing her walk in with John like this made them look like a real couple, even though Julie had always tried to convince me otherwise.

John noticed me first, his teasing eyes swept over me before he leaned closer and whispered something into Julie’s ear.

She burst into laughter, only then did her attention finally turn toward me.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought John had just gossiped about me to her.

I don’t trust that guy one bit, and he annoys the hell out of me.

But apparently, I was the only one who felt that way.

To Julie, John was the perfect man who had ever lived.

Sometimes, it made me wonder why she had agreed to marry me in the first place.

“Alex,” she called, the playfulness still evident in her voice. “You can’t believe I won the bet!” she announced excitedly.

I regarded her for a moment, completely confused.

“I don’t understand. Besides, where were you? I’ve been calling you.”

“Oh, I heard that.” She shrugged casually. “But we were already here, so I didn’t find it necessary to answer.”

Not necessary?

She said it like I hadn’t been standing here worrying myself sick over her.

“So, what about the other times I called you?” I asked, unable to hide my frustration. “I’ve called you three times since I got here.”

Julie sighed. “I’m sorry, but it was probably when I was helping John with his emails.” She suddenly brightened. “But guess what?”

The gloomy expression that had briefly appeared on her face vanished, replaced by an excited smile.

“I just won the bet! And guess what? It’s a one-month paid trip with John, courtesy of him!” she revealed.

I stared at her and my confusion deepened. “I don’t understand.”

She paused for a moment, seemingly gathering her thoughts.

“John and I actually made a bet,” she explained. “It was about how long you could wait for me. I had no idea it would actually work. I mean, I knew you would do anything for me, but I didn’t think you’d wait this long.”

I stared at her, stunned.

For several seconds, I couldn’t process what I had just heard.

“You mean to say you intentionally kept me waiting because of a bet between you and John?”

“Not only that,” John cut in smoothly.

He wore a smug smile as he looked at me.

“The first nine times were to see if she could stand you up. Well, she did.”

Shock rendered me speechless.

I stood there, staring at the two of them as their words replayed inside my head.

The times Julie had told me she was busy with work, the times I had waited for her.

All of it had been a game to them?

When I finally opened my mouth, my voice sounded foreign even to me.

“Are you saying you intentionally stood me up all those times?”

Julie pouted. “It was just a harmless joke.”

“Harmless?” I stared at her skeptically. “You mean all those times we could have registered our marriage, but you stood me up, were just a joke to you?”

Back then, I had believed her.

Every time she told me she was occupied with work, I believed it because I knew she loved me. At least, I thought she did. Why else would she have agreed to marry me?

But was all of that a lie?

Had I been deceiving myself this entire time?

“Don’t think of it like that,” Julie said suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. “We were just joking around. And considering you helped me win this bet, I’ll definitely register our marriage with you next time.”

What?

My heart seemed to stop for a second.

She didn’t even plan to register our marriage today?

“And when is this next time?”

Julie thought about it briefly. “Next month. I’m leaving with John now, and we won’t be back until then.”

Anger immediately surged through me.

“What? You’re saying we have to wait another month before we can register our marriage? Why can’t we just go ahead now?”

Julie frowned. “Come on, Alex. Don’t be like that. John already made some arrangements, and I’m leaving very soon. So, I need to go get ready.”

I scoffed, finding it so unbelievable. “You mean the trip is more important than registering our marriage?”

“What?” she exclaimed, her face twisting with disgust. “Why are you such a buzzkill? Why must you compare the two?”

She shook her head disapprovingly as though I was the one being unreasonable.

“I’ll be back in a month, and then we can register our marriage. I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry anyway.”

I blinked rapidly, unable to process what I had just heard.

Could this really be the same woman I had planned to marry?

Someone who would leave me like this simply because of a stupid bet?

“Come, John. Let’s go.”

Julie turned away, not even bothering to consider how much her words had affected me.

John, however, turned toward me as though he actually cared.

“I’m sorry about that, Alex. Just give her some time,” he said, almost convincingly.

But as he walked past me with Julie, he hesitated beside my ear.

“Who knew you would actually endure it nine times?”

He scoffed before finally walking away.

Yet, the moment he caught up with Julie, his expression changed again.

He began acting concerned again, trying to convince her to come back and talk to me.

“Don’t worry about him,” Julie responded dismissively. “He can’t live without me. I’ll just coax him when I get back from the trip.”

I watched them for a while, my mind refusing to accept what I was hearing or seeing.

She didn’t even seem to care.

She didn’t even remember that my birthday was next month.

And she would still be away on that trip when it came.

I closed my eyes for a moment before I reopened and dialed a number on my phone.

“You won the bet,” I muttered.

My voice was calm now.

“On my twenty-seventh birthday, I’m coming to register our marriage.”