Michael never imagined he’d be this happy. After years of dating disappointments, he had finally found someone who made him believe in love again. Rachel was smart, funny, beautiful, and from the moment they met, he knew she was different. Their wedding day had been everything he dreamed of, and now, their honeymoon in Santorini felt like the perfect beginning to forever.
On their second night, after a long dinner overlooking the sea, they curled up in bed, laughter still lingering between them. Rachel scrolled through her phone before finally placing it on the nightstand and drifting off beside him.
The room was quiet, filled only with the sound of the ocean outside. Then her phone buzzed.
Half-asleep, Michael reached over. He thought it might be a late congratulations from a friend or family member. Without hesitation, he answered.
A man’s voice whispered on the other end, soft but intimate: “I miss you already.”
Michael’s heart slammed against his chest. He froze, gripping the phone tighter. “Who is this?” he asked, his voice sharp.
There was a pause. Then the voice broke. “Rachel?”
Michael’s blood ran cold. “No. This is her husband.”
The line went dead.
He sat in silence, staring at the phone as if it were a weapon. His eyes shifted to Rachel, peacefully asleep beside him, her hand draped across the sheets. For the first time since meeting her, she looked like a stranger.
“Rachel,” he whispered, shaking her awake. “Who just called you?”
She blinked, confused, then saw the phone in his hand. The color drained from her face.
Michael’s voice trembled. “Who is he?”
Rachel sat up, clutching the blanket around her. “It’s not what you think.”
His throat tightened. “Then what is it?”
She buried her face in her hands. “Someone I was seeing… before you. It’s over. I told him it was over.”
Michael felt his world tilt. “If it was over, why is he calling you on our honeymoon?”
Her silence was louder than any answer.
The waves outside kept crashing against the cliffs, steady and unbothered, while inside Michael’s life was splintering apart. The fairytale had ended before it even began.
He pushed the phone back toward her. “You should have told me before I said ‘I do.’”
And with that, he stood and stepped out onto the balcony, staring into the endless night sky. His marriage wasn’t beginning — it was already breaking.
