The Longing Too Late

Still Lying in the Rain

The servers' laughter slowly disappeared beneath the roar of the rain.

When I stepped outside, my suit was completely soaked. Mud covered my dress pants, ruining any attempt I made to look presentable because of the storm.

Passersby looked at me with strange, pitying expressions, as if they knew I had just become the joke of the night.

That was when my phone rang.

The engagement party was already over, and only then did the missing female lead finally decide to call.

"Caleb," Samantha said, sounding perfectly calm, "my team-building event just ended. I’m on my way now. Wait another half hour. I’ll be there soon."

She was already three hours late, and even now, she was still lying.

There was a thunderstorm raging around me, but on her end of the line, it was completely quiet.

I wiped the rain from my face and let out a cold laugh. "Are you really on your way here, Samantha, or are you still in some hotel bed?"

She went silent.

For a long moment, she stammered without managing to form a proper answer.

"The engagement party is over," I added. "What's the point of showing up now? Stay where you are and keep having fun with your boy toy. I'm not in the mood to listen to another one of your stories."

I no longer had even the smallest hope left for her. After saying that, I was ready to hang up.

Before I could respond, Samantha suddenly burst out, "I told you my company has a last-minute team-building event today, so I forgot about the engagement party. Can you stop making things so difficult for once? Just tell me one thing, Caleb—are we getting married or not?"

The more defensive she sounded, the more certain I was that I had hit the truth.

I did not hesitate.

"No," I replied flatly. "I'm not marrying you. Do whatever you want."

Samantha's voice turned cold. "Fine, Caleb. Just remember, you're the one who said it. Don't come begging me to take you back later…"

I didn't wait to hear the rest, so I hung up.

A few minutes later, a new message appeared on my phone.

It was from Ryan Cole.

I opened it and found a photo of a hotel room. A large bed filled the center of the frame, its sheets wrinkled and messy. Right in the most obvious spot, a piece of women’s lingerie had been placed where I could not possibly miss it.

I recognized it at once. It belonged to Samantha.

Ryan sent another message right after.

'Caleb, don't get the wrong idea. The company hike was exhausting, and Samantha and I were both drenched in sweat, so we got a room for an hour just to shower.'

Then another message came in.

'She's quite careless, though. She left her bracelet here with me. Should I bring it to you, or…'

It was the same tired act as every time before.

The last time, Ryan had supposedly suffered a sudden medical emergency. Samantha claimed she had missed the engagement party because she had to rush him to the hospital.

Her excuse had sounded serious enough, but I still could not swallow the humiliation. I got into a huge fight with her afterward.

The next day, she threw a hospital report in my face and made me look like the unreasonable one.

"Caleb, do you really think I would lie about someone's life being in danger?" she snapped. "All you care about is getting married. Does Ryan's life mean nothing to you?"

Then she gave me an ultimatum. "If this is how you're going to treat me, we're done talking about the engagement. I'm not building a life with someone this selfish and heartless."

I thought I was in the wrong.

I was so scared Samantha would get truly angry and cancel the engagement that I kneeled on the floor and wrote a ten-thousand-word apology letter. She even recorded the whole thing on her phone before finally forgiving me.

A week later, I saw Ryan sharing his discharge papers on Instagram.

It was just appendicitis—nothing life-threatening or as serious as Samantha had claimed.

The hospital report she had shown me was fake.