A Toast To A Love That Never Was Chapter 17
When Dustin walked out and saw the group of men talking amongst themselves by the table, he immediately frowned.
The men looked visibly frightened by the sound of Dustin’s voice.
Harry instinctively hid the invitation behind his back. Then, smiling sheepishly, he replied, “It’s nothing at all…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, he realized that his hands were empty.
He turned around to check. Just as he’d expected, the invitation he was holding had vanished without a trace. When he glanced back at Dustin, he saw the man holding the very invitation that they were trying to hide from him.
Before anyone could stop him, Dustin opened the invitation and saw the two names that were printed on it–Melanie Wright and Zachary Carter. Then, he took a look at the wedding date, which was October 21st.
He pursed his lips and didn’t say a word, but everyone else around him started to grow anxious. They could tell that his mood had taken a turn for the worse.
“Uh… We still have other matters to tend to, so we’ll be taking our leave now!”
Upon noticing how displeased he was, no one had the guts to stick around any longer. So, they started coming up with a reason to excuse themselves from the situation.
Harry was the only person who stayed. After everyone had left, he noticed that Dustin was holding a ring box.
Over the last three years, Harry had often noticed Dustin holding the same ring box. Every now and then, the latter would take out the box and caress it, as though he was thinking of someone from his past.
As for who Dustin was thinking about, the answer was incredibly obvious.
“When did Melanie return to the country?” staring at the invitation, Harry asked quizzically.
After a long period of silence, Dustin let out a self–deprecating laugh and replied, “Three days ago.
I ran into her at the airport.”
Harry’s eyes widened in shock.
Melanie sent Dustin a wedding invite three days after they had run into each other. It was painfully clear that she wanted to distance herself from him.
After a brief pause, Harry asked again, “What did the two of you talk about? How did-”
Before he could finish his sentence, Dustin cut him off with a shake of his head. “She said she only returned to the country because of her wedding.”
Harry fell silent. He wanted to say something, but ultimately decided against it and simply let out a sigh.
What else could he say to him? None of this would have happened if Dustin hadn’t broken Melanie’s heart in the first place. Despite that, talking about their relationship always brought about a sense of regret.
Everyone who knew Dustin and Melanie had always assumed that the pair would end up together eventually. Moreover, they could tell that Melanie liked Dustin, too. There was no way she was able to put up with his nasty temper if she didn’t have any feelings for him back then.
All of a sudden, Dustin declared determinedly, “I’m not going to give up like this.”
He was the one Melanie initially liked–she should be with him instead.
Upon hearing this, Harry, who’d always rooted for their relationship, froze. A moment later, he stared at Dustin with a complicated expression and asked, “Is this really necessary?”
He didn’t cherish her when he had the chance. Why wouldn’t he let her go now that she was planning to marry someone else?
“I don’t care about all that. I like her, so I’m not going to just sit and watch as she marries someone else.”
Despite feeling taken aback by Dustin’s response, Harry still tried to talk him out of his decision.”
But she likes someone else now…”
Harry didn’t finish the rest of his sentence. At this point, he didn’t think there was anything Dustin could do about the situation. But despite that, he chose not to voice his opinion.
Although Dustin seemed to have picked up on what Harry wanted to say, he didn’t look concerned at all. Instead, he smiled and said, “So what? If I could make her fall in love with me once, I can make her fall for me again.”
When Harry realized that he couldn’t change his mind, he shook his head with a sigh and didn’t say anything else. “Fine. Do whatever you want, then.”
Harry had very little faith in Dustin’s plans. He wasn’t sure if the latter was aware of it, but Melanie was not the type to change her mind once she had decided on something.
How she took care of Dustin while he was paralyzed from the waist down was a perfect example of this. No matter how much he berated her or tried to chase her away, she’d never thought about giving up on him.
Then, when she found out that she was no longer welcome after he’d made a full recovery, she quietly made plans to leave the country before disappearing from their lives for good.
Sometimes, lessons had to be learned the hard way. Some people would never know what they had until it was gone for good.
After everyone had left, Dustin took the ring out of the ring box. Staring at Melanie’s initial, he gently caressed the ring and mumbled, “I won’t give up like this, Mel.”
