Too Late for Regret: The Fake Marriage That Ended True Love

One month after their wedding, Coralie Wright unexpectedly discovered that her marriage certificate was fake.

Her husband not only treated her as a stand-in for his ideal love but also secretly married a second wife abroad.

Upon learning the truth, her heart shattered, and she resolved to end this ridiculous marriage.

Yet, it was only after she left that the arrogant man realized his true feelings.

He regretted his actions, but by then, his beloved had already gone far away.

When he finally found Coralie, it was too late.

......

Coralie was watching her fan's live streaming room when she saw Kellan Griffiths, her husband of one month, hosting a wedding abroad.

"Perla Clarkson, I swear to protect you and our child forever." Kellan said, his eyes tinged with red and his voice trembling slightly, as he gently bent down to kiss the bride.

Coralie stared blankly at her phone. She was very familiar with the groom's features. It was the man she had loved for seven years.

With a chaotic mind, she dialed Kellan's number, only for him to frown at his phone and hang up immediately.

Shortly after, Coralie received a message from Kellan. "Honey, still in a meeting, will reply later. Love you!"

In the livestream, Kellan took the bride's hand and slipped a wedding ring onto her finger. Coralie instantly recognized it as the ring Kellan had hidden in his car a month ago.

She had thought it was meant to surprise her, but it turned out to be prepared for someone else.

"Folks, today I'm attending the wedding of a wealthy heir. They truly make a perfect couple, and I heard they were each other's first love and are getting married because of the baby!"

Hearing the last few words, Coralie felt as if she were falling into an abyss. Just this morning, Kellan had kissed her lips, saying he couldn't bear to leave her and didn't want to go on a business trip. How could he now be marrying someone else who was carrying a child?

With tears in her eyes, Coralie sent a private message to the streamer.

"I'll give you two hundred thousand dollars. End the stream now and follow the groom closely. I need to know his every move."

She had to find out what was really happening.

Within two seconds, the streamer received the transfer and replied, "Happy to help."

Ten minutes later, she received a secretly recorded video.

"Kellan, does Coralie know about you and Perla?"

The speaker was Denton Clayton, Kellan's best friend, who was also at the wedding, confirming to Coralie that she hadn't mistaken the person.

"Of course she doesn't know. With her personality, she'd go crazy if she found out." Kellan replied impatiently, taking a drag on his cigarette.

Denton nodded, knowing Coralie had been pampered by Kellan.

"You should just be honest with her. You accepted her pursuit back then because she resembled Perla, didn't you? Now that your ideal love is your legal wife, why keep a stand-in?"

Coralie finally realized that the bride bore a slight resemblance to her.

Kellan smiled slightly.

"Perla has no plans to return to the country. She's agreed to stay abroad for the pregnancy. As for Coralie, although she's a stand-in, we've been together for seven years. As long as she remains sensible, I won't ignore her."

Denton laughed heartily.

"You're quite the player, using a fake marriage certificate to deceive Coralie domestically while truly marrying Perla abroad. It's quite a rush just thinking about it."

Kellan gazed at Perla outside.

"The one I've truly loved has always been Perla. Of course, I will give her the best of everything."

Denton looked envious.

"If Perla knew you've been infatuated with her for so many years, she'd be overjoyed. After all, your love isn't something just anyone can have."

Kellan smiled and extinguished his cigarette.

"Enough of that. Open the window a bit. Perla doesn't like the smell of smoke."

......

The phone slipped from Coralie's hand as tears streamed down her face.

So Kellan had always seen her as a stand-in? His love over the years was just a facade, and even their marriage was fake?

A dull ache spread through Coralie's heart, like being hit by a hammer, causing her to choke on her sobs.

After a moment, she wiped her tears away with a cold laugh, feeling a strange sense of relief. Perhaps this was her fate.

After all, to her, Kellan was merely a stand-in for another man.

When she was eighteen, her childhood sweetheart Toby Rogers died in a car accident, donating his corneas to the then-ill Kellan.

Coralie begged her father, Lowell Wright, to send her to Kellan, transferring all her love for Toby to him.

Everyone knew that Kellan was a rich heir, aloof and proud, with many admirers. Yet, he only treated the transfer student, Coralie, differently.

While he ignored countless confessions from other girls, Coralie only had to express her affection once to become his girlfriend.

Even though he had breakfast at home every day, he would still finish the sandwich Coralie brought him.

Throughout their three years in high school, he never allowed anyone else to sit beside him, except for Coralie.

As a top student, he found it annoying when others approached him under the guise of asking questions, yet he willingly copied notes for Coralie and explained problems countless times without complaint.

To everyone else, he seemed deeply in love with Coralie, and even Coralie herself felt fortunate that Kellan loved her so dearly.

So much so that she couldn't distinguish whether her love was for Toby or Kellan.

They endured their senior year together, attended the same university, and after seven years of love, they finally got married.

Coralie felt that Kellan was fate's way of making amends, taking Toby out of her life but giving her an almost perfect Kellan in return.

But who would have thought it was all a dream?

Her phone vibrated. It was a call from Kellan.

"Hello? Honey, I'm sorry, I've been a bit busy. What should I do? I've only been gone a day and I already miss you." The man on the other end expressed his longing for Coralie without hesitation, as usual. "Things at the company are a bit tricky, it will take at least three more days before I can return home. I really wish I could fly back to you right now."

Coralie smiled coldly, almost blurting out her accusatory thoughts. "It's okay, business is important."

Her voice, hoarse from crying, would have been noticed by Kellan in the past. But today, perhaps he was too happy to notice the change in her voice, let alone the detachment in her tone.

"But I want to be by your side all the time. Honey, I love you. I wish I could hold you in my arms right now!"

Coralie opened the next video sent by the streamer. She watched as Kellan spoke the most moving words to her while sending a kiss to the bride in the distance, and she suddenly felt pathetic.

"I'm tired. You should get back to work." Coralie said, holding back the bitterness in her heart before hanging up.

She thought to herself, "Kellan, if you told the truth, I would let you go."

When she first came to him, she was satisfied just by seeing his eyes daily. It was her greed that led her to steal a love that didn't belong to her.

In the video, after Kellan hung up, he scooped Perla into the lounge, locked the door, and eagerly removed her wedding dress.

"Perla, I finally married you. Do you know I've waited for this day for fifteen years?"

The woman smiled and leaned into him, watching Kellan lose himself in her embrace with a smug look in her eyes.

"Kellan... Be gentle, don't hurt the baby..."

Coralie had already bitten her lip hard, but she couldn't stop the tears.

So, eight years before she met Kellan, someone else already occupied his heart. What she thought was luck was merely her taking advantage of an opportunity.

She forced herself to stop watching the video and called a friend who worked at the court.

"Can you check if Kellan and I registered on the seventh of last month?"

The reply came soon after.

"I didn't find any registration information for you and Kellan, but I did find that he registered with someone named Perla that day."

In a daze, Coralie recalled that on the day of the registration, just as they were about to get their marriage certificate, Kellan asked her to go to the car to get the wedding gift he had prepared, saying he had forgotten it.

When she returned, Kellan handed her a marriage certificate.

It turned out he had deliberately sent her away that day to forge a fake marriage certificate.

Looking at the fake certificate with her beaming face, she thought the girl in the picture was truly pitiful.

Coralie opened her laptop and sent an email, accepting an invitation from a photography studio in Ostium.

As a photography whiz, Coralie had received offers from several foreign universities at the age of 18, but she turned them all down for Kellan.

Fortunately, she had remained active in the photography world over the years, or she would truly have had nothing left.

Since their relationship began with hidden intentions and she was never loved by Kellan, she would not cling anymore.

Half an hour later, she received a reply.

"Miss Wright, we warmly welcome you. We look forward to your joining us in a week."

Coralie shut down her computer. In a week, she would leave this place.

Kellan, you didn't have to weave any more intricate lies.