Vows of Misfortune

2.

It was a video of a guy and a girl in one of the disabled toilets. The door was shut but from the high gap, I could see their legs. The woman was standing in front of him. "Arshia still doesn't know, right?"

"She won't if you don't tell her." And when the man spoke, I knew it was him. His husky voice dripped with lust that I could hear from through the phone. If them saying my name wasn't any confirmation then I didn't know what was. My jaw clenched as I glared at the screen. "This has to be a secret between us."

"I've kept it a secret for this long." Then they both spread their legs. I shut my eyes, trying to get rid of that image, trying to stop the tears from even being created in my ducts. My chest physically ached, my ears buzzing. God, I hoped it wasn't true. I really, really did.

"I stopped recording after a while," the friend said, face a little red. "I didn't know if confronting them was the best idea so I let it be. But now..."

Now that he wasn't here, he thought it was for the best. "And if he had come? You were just going to let me marry a cheater? Someone who fucked another girl?"

Jade pulled me away. "Babe, calm down."

Calm down?! How did she expect me to calm down when the guy I loved for nine fucking years didn't even hesitate in flushing that down the drain?

My tears did well up then, because I was helpless. I couldn't do anything. Had I done something wrong? Why did Varun think I wasn't good enough that he had to turn to another girl?

I wrapped my arms around Jade's neck and buried my head into her shoulder. Her warmth comforted me. I felt another hand on my arm and saw my dad's red-rimmed eyes looking down at me.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"It's not your fault, dad." His huge frame engulfed me as I rested my head against his chest. "It's mine."

"No. It's Varun's."

Was it though? Wasn't it mine because I couldn't fulfil his happiness?

A scream made us pull away and my mum was on the floor, unconscious. A huge commotion began then, with some of the bridesmaids, groomsmen and my relatives rushing forward to see what was going on.

I glared at the guy that showed me the video through my wet eyes. "Did you show that to my mum?!"

"She snatched the phone from me! I di—"

For God's sake! I tried to push through the people to get to my mum but Jade shook her head. "Your dad's with her. I think your cousin or something is calling an ambulance."

Seeing my mum so pale and weak on my dad's lap made me crumble down on the red, Church floor. This was all my fault. No, like dad said, it was all Varun's fault. No, my heart whispered to me.

My whole body was quivering and I wanted to punch something. I wanted to hunt Varun down and sock him right in the face and hope he cried. I didn't know. But I wanted to hurt something. Jade rocked me back and forth in her arms as if I was a baby. I didn't try to stop her.

I wanted to scream and cry and rush to my mum but me being there, a mess, would only make things worse and my dad already had so much on his plate. No, I was going to sit on the floor right here with my best friend.

We were going to be okay.

***

The adrenaline had long ago coursed out of my body but I still wanted to hurt something. I couldn't stop chewing my nail as I paced outside the hospital room. I was getting a lot of weird looks because I still hadn't changed out of my wedding dress. Who cared? My mum was in the hospital.