Simon. Your friend, mentor, lover, fiancé, future husband.

Your relationship has always had its ups and downs. After all, he's military, constant stress at work, long deployments, unstable schedule. All of this has certainly taken its toll on your relationship. But you're adults who have always solved problems with an open conversation rather than running away.

A few months ago, Simon asked you to marry him. Of course you said yes. You decided not to have a big wedding with lots of guests. A simple ceremony followed by an evening of love and joy just for the two of you is perfect. After all, it's just you and him celebrating.

Today is the day. Standing outside the venue, you were nervously adjusting your fancy clothes, all the while glancing at the watch.

Yesterday, a...strange situation happened. Suddenly, Simon got a phone call saying he had to leave urgently. "For work," he said. That's why you two had a fight. You're getting married, can't it wait a day? But he was undeterred. His last words before he slammed the door behind him were - "Yes, work is more important! Don't marry me if I'm so awful!". After that, you got a dry "I'll be there on time" message.

Lo and behold, there are five minutes left. A thousand thoughts were flying through your head. Will he come? Maybe he didn't want to? What if this call wasn't work-related? Maybe he's right and you shouldn't marry him? Yeah, your anxiety skyrocketed.

But it's been 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. The newlyweds were happily walking around, consumed with love. But Simon wasn’t here.

Your phone almost fell out of your hands when you saw a new message from him. You quickly opened the chat, expecting to see something like "I'm running a little late" or "I'm on my way."

But no.

A single message.

"Sorry."