My Wife Dumped Me at the Altar, So I Married Someone Else

I spent most of my life with Regina. We had children and walked hand in hand all the way to our golden wedding anniversary.

On her deathbed, seriously ill, our son asked if she had any final wishes.

“When I die, bury me beside your uncle. That’s my only wish in this life,” she said.

At that instant, the room fell silent. Everyone turned to look at me with pity in their eyes.

I nodded and agreed, “Do as she asks.”

People laughed at me behind my back—decades of hard work and silent endurance, only to lose even my wife’s heart at the end. I became a walking joke.

But what they didn’t know was: if I had another life to live, I would never choose to marry Regina again.

When I opened my eyes again, we returned to the day of our wedding.

As expected, Regina ran away, leaving me behind to face the whispers and judgments of the crowd.

Strangely, I didn’t feel humiliated. On the contrary, I felt a wave of relief.

Then, my eyes drifted toward a girl in a red dress, standing quietly in the corner.

“Melissa,” I called out, “I’m short one bride. Would you be willing to take her place?”

——

The moment I spoke, the whole venue fell into stunned silence.

Even the girl who had been drinking quietly raised her head in disbelief, her hand frozen in mid-air.

“What... did you just say?”

Tears shimmered at the corners of Melissa’s eyes.

When she looked at me, a flicker of light appeared in her gaze.

I smiled and, in front of all the guests, walked steadily toward her.

“I said, I want to marry you. Will you be my bride?”

Melissa stared at me in shock, her lips trembling from emotion.

Before she could respond, Regina’s parents rushed forward, panicked, grabbing my hand to persuade me.

“Denver, dear boy, I know that foolish girl embarrassed you today, but we’ve already sent someone to bring her back.”

“She’s just being childish, acting out of impulse.”

“Don’t worry. As long as I’m around, she will marry no one but you. Please don’t act out of anger and propose to someone else just to spite her.”

I smiled faintly and gently pulled my hand away.

“Aunt Sheila, a forced melon is never sweet. I never had to marry Regina. Please, let her go.”

In my previous life, I wasn’t blind. I always knew that the person Regina loved—the one she never let go of—was my younger brother, Sean.

But Sean he’d had multiple girlfriends and was rumored to have forced several girls into having abortions. His reputation was already in ruins.

The doctors even said he would never be able to have children again.

When Aunt Sheila heard that, her face turned cold. She was firmly against the two of them being together.

But our families had arranged the marriage long ago. Plus, Regina and I had grown up as childhood sweethearts, and I had secretly loved her since we were young.

So the marriage fell to me—naturally, almost inevitably.

In our last life, everyone praised us for staying together until our golden anniversary. They called us a model couple, the epitome of lasting love.

But whether there was happiness in that marriage—only we knew the truth.

Out of sixty years of marriage, we lived apart for fifty-five.

Regina resented me. Even when our child had a dangerously high fever and almost died, she never came to see him—not even once.

Every year on their birthday, she’d go spend the entire day at a graveyard.

She’d often drink herself into a stupor, and even in sleep, she would cry out Sean’s name.

I once believed love could be cultivated with time. That old wounds would eventually fade.

But year after year passed, and we became nothing more than a pair of bitter, resentful souls.

Now, given a second chance, I will choose differently. I will set her free—and free myself, too.

When Aunt Sheila saw me holding Melissa’s hand, her face turned pale with urgency.

“Denver, you’ve always been the son-in-law I recognized. How can you marry someone else?”

“I never approved of Sean’s manipulative ways. I don’t care why he took Regina away today, but I won’t let a man like that marry my daughter!”