I step out of the bathroom stall and wash my hands at the sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I adjust my hair to one side and tuck a strand of it behind my ear, exposing the butterfly earring that I love so much. A smile forms on my lips as I remember Mom giving it to me. It's a precious gift I'll treasure forever.
I push the door open and exit the restroom. While I'm walking down the corridor, something catches my attention. A little girl in a white dress is crying in the corner, wiping her tears.
Concern immediately strikes me when I approach her. I bend down next to her, and she shifts her gaze to me. Her big chocolate eyes are filled with tears. Worry skates all over her face.
"Hey," I whisper, holding her shoulders gently. "What's the matter, sweetheart? Why are you crying? What happened?" I study her, wondering if she has just gotten lost.
"I've lost my flowers." Her voice cracks, and her lips tremble. "If I don't find it, I can't walk down the aisle with my sisters."
I scan her appearance -- her white dress and the flower crown on her head. She must be one of the flower girls, and possibly from the bride's family.
"Don't worry," I assure her, wiping a tear in her eyes. "I'm going to help you. Where do you think you dropped it?"
She shakes her head and cries softly. "I don't know. I went to some room, but I can't remember. This place is too big. Mommy is trying to find it too, but she hasn't." She's trying to hold back her sobs.
"Where did you go? Maybe I can find it."
She points at a long hallway at her left, and I nod.
"And where is your Mom?"
She points at another corridor around the corner.
"Okay, listen to me. Everything will be okay," I whisper, trying to calm her down. "Just go back to your Mom now, because she must be looking for you. I'll find your flowers, okay?"
The little girl stares at me like I'm her superhero. She nods, her eyes glinting with hope.
I make my way in the direction she points at, looking for any sign of flowers and hoping that I would spot a few petals on the way as a clue for me to track it down. Unfortunately, I don't find anything.
I halt as I encounter an empty room. It looks like a waiting room. A few glasses of champagne are left half-empty on the table next to the couch. But after I scan the room thoroughly, I can't find the flowers.
When I resume my journey down the hallway, I find another door, which is closed but not entirely. Slowly, I step closer to it. The other side is silent, which gives me an idea that the room is unoccupied too, even though the door isn't widely opened like the previous one.
Just in case, I knock on the door. "Hello? Is anybody there?"
I hear nothing. I wait for a few more seconds, but still, there's nothing. I know that I shouldn't do this, but this is an emergency. I take a deep breath and push the door open. I find an empty room with a dresser, a bed, and a sofa.
This room is the same size as the one I encountered just now even though the previous one has more couches and chairs. I travel my eyes around, making sure that I scan every spot and corner to find the flowers. But my effort is to no avail, and disappointment starts to fill me.
I check the space by the window, hoping to find the flowers lying on the floor next to the bed. I spot another path to a back door and scan this area too, only to find a credence table, but no flowers.
When I step through the back door and arrive at the patio leading to a garden outside the building, I hear voices.
"This is it?" A man is speaking. Anger is evident in his tone.
My eyes widen in shock as I stare at the bride, wearing her white wedding gown, facing the man in this darkness, in this garden. Even though it's almost pitch black out here -- if not for the light coming from the patio where I'm standing -- I can still see her beauty. Olivia Stone is beautiful, but her expression is far from happy.
"Is this what you really want?" the man asks again, sounding like he's speaking through gritted teeth.
He's tall, and when he steps closer to her, the light from the patio hits his handsome face.
But he's not Aiden.
Of course, Aiden was there in the hall -- I saw him myself.
"Roman, please." Olivia's voice is shaking. "It was a mistake." She stares at the man in front of him with pleading eyes, begging him to stop whatever it is he's doing.
Roman's jaw tightens. "You can't do this." I'm surprised by the vulnerability in his voice. "You can't do this to us." He clenches his fist tightly at his side, as though he's controlling his anger. "Do you think that you can just go back to him after what happened?"
Olivia shakes her head in denial. "I'm sorry." Her voice cracks. "I'm sorry for what happened between us, but I can't do it anymore." She swallows, watching as Roman stares at her in disbelief. She then takes a deep breath. "I love him." Her voice is now filled with guilt. "I love Aiden."
Roman scoffs, but he can't hide the pain in his expression. "No, you don't," he hisses. "If you do love him, you wouldn't cheat on him with his best friend. Are you saying that what we have isn't real? Are you just going to ignore what we did in London?"
Olivia lets out a soft cry, while my heart breaks. Not for her, but for the man who is waiting for her at the altar. The world around me seems to stop. What is happening?
Did I just hear them right? Did they betray Aiden?
"Roman." Tears are now rolling down Olivia's cheeks. "I was stressed, and alone. I was confused. I made a mistake, and you did too. What we did was horrible."
Roman eyes her like she just said the most ridiculous thing in the world. He looks like he wants to break something. "Come on, Olivia. It wasn't just one time, you know it." His voice holds so much frustration, and danger. "I came to you. You came to me. You clearly didn't think about what you said just now when you were in my arms, on my fucking bed."
My stomach churns as a horrible feeling stirs inside me. I want to disappear from this place in an instant, but my legs are nailed onto the ground because of the shock consuming me. I feel paralyzed.
Get out of here now, Nevaeh. You shouldn't be seeing and hearing all of this. Run. Run away.
"You said that you love Aiden?" Roman scoffs again. "That's bullshit."
Olivia's tears are now streaming down her face. Hard.
"Please, don't do this, Roman. Please." She sobs, and I don't even know which man she's crying for. But then, her next words confirm, "I do love Aiden, and I made a mistake. I was on the lowest point back then, and I wasn't strong enough to accept that he wasn't there with me. It's always him my heart is longing for. He's the man I want to be with for the rest of my life. He's the one I want to marry. Please. You--" She chokes. "You have to forget everything about us."
"No, you don't mean that." The pain in Roman's shaking voice is too much to bear. "I chose to study in London too because I cared about you. I did the thing that Aiden failed to do. And now, you're saying that you only used me? That you could just run into my arms when you needed me and then came back to your fiance, just like that?" he shouts, his voice so loud that it almost makes me jump, taken aback.
Both Olivia and Roman abruptly snap their heads toward me as soon as they feel my existence, and darkness engulfs me. My entire body is shaking with fear.
The three of us are too shocked to absorb what's happening, but surprisingly, I'm the first one to open my mouth, "I'm sorry," I stutter. "I didn't mean to--"
"How much did you hear?" Olivia cuts me off, her eyes wide in horror.
I can't answer that, because I practically heard everything I shouldn't have. I swallow hard.
"Who are you?" Olivia asks.
"I was just trying to help the flower girl." My voice is trembling.
"Who are you?" she raises her tone, almost shouting. She looks like she could die anytime. Her chest is heaving up and down.
I take a deep breath, trying to calm my heart, which is beating like a drum in my chest. "I-I came--" I almost choke because of the sudden difficulty to breathe. "I came as a part of Max's family."
Olivia stares at me like I just shot a bullet in her head. "Max?" Her voice is barely a whisper. "You mean, Luna's fiance?"
I feel like crying. I can sense the disaster I'm about to cause, the chaos that will happen because of witnessing all of this. I shouldn't have dragged myself into this mess.
"You're Max's family?" The fear skating all over Olivia's face is palpable.
"Please just forget about this," I quickly say. "I'd pretend that nothing happened. I didn't see nor hear anything," I say firmly and walk back into the building, but I know that they don't buy it.
No matter who I am, whether this secret would reach Aiden's ears or not, Olivia wouldn't get over the fact that someone just heard their conversation. Even if I weren't Max's family or close to Luna, it would still be harmful to her.
When I step back into the room, I can hear her talking again to Roman, distinctly. Her panic voice echoes in the air.
"Oh, God," she cries. "What should I do? What if she tells someone about this? What if Aiden hears about this?"
I keep walking, wishing that this is just a nightmare and forcing my shaking legs to drag me away from them.
"How am I going to face them?" Olivia sounds hysterical, like her world is crumbling. "How am I going to face Aiden if he knows about this?"
Her sobs break, and that's when Roman speaks again, "You don't have to face them." His voice is firm.
"There she is," a loud voice startles me when I step out of the room.
I snap my head to find the flower girl walking toward me with a woman by her side, probably her mother. Abruptly, I shut the door behind me, not wanting to cause more chaos. I've already caused too much trouble tonight.
I'm fully aware that the most anticipated wedding of the year will probably turn into a disaster, just because I stepped into this forbidden room.
I quicken my pace when the little girl runs in my direction. I don't want anyone else to get through that door.
"I've got my flowers back." The girl grins from ear to ear as she halts in front of me. She pants, carrying a small basket of flowers in her hands. "Thank you for your help, though."
I plaster a nervous smile and pats her hair gently, then resume my steps. I just nod slightly as I pass her mother, who gives me a warm smile. She thanks me for trying to help.
I don't look back as I hear her telling her daughter, "Go to your sisters. I'm going to tell Olivia to be ready. It's time for her to walk down the aisle."
My head is spinning. All I want to do is to escape this place as soon as possible and to deny everything that has happened. I don't have any idea about what's going on behind that door now.
Is Olivia still talking with Roman in the garden?
Or has she come back into the room without him?
But the answer that comes up in my head is the worst, and I refuse to believe that.
When I sit back in the hall beside Sienna, she squints at me. "What took you so long?"
I focus on my lap, on my sweaty hands. "I got lost," I say weakly, and Sienna chuckles, returning her attention to the altar.
"It's almost time." I hear Luna squeal.
I brace myself to look up, and the sight before me makes my heart bleed. Aiden Klein is standing there at the altar, his gaze locked on the aisle. His eyes are filled with his longing to see his bride, happiness skating all over his face.
I've never seen such joy on a man. That's the expression of a man ready to take his vows with the woman he loves with all his heart, to finally have their 'forever'.
"I can't wait to see the bride. She must be stunning." Sienna giggles beside me. "Right, Nevaeh?"
I don't answer her. My mind is busy playing too many scenarios in my head.
"Nevaeh?" Sienna elbows me, and I abruptly turn to her. "What's wrong?" She scrutinizes me. "You look pale."
I shake my head, plastering a fake smile.
A few minutes pass, followed by more minutes. The air starts to become thick with wonder. People are holding their breaths.
Aiden Klein is still waiting patiently at the altar. His eyes never leave the aisle. I tear my gaze away from him, looking down at my lap again.
A big lump is stuck in my throat. My chest tightens, and I can't help the tears pooling in my eyes.
You said you love him. You said you're going to marry him.
Please, he's waiting for you.
I scream in my heart, cursing myself for how stupid I was, how reckless I was.
Aiden's smile gradually fades as more time passes by. Confusion begins to cross his expression.
Still, his bride is nowhere in sight.
People begin to murmur. They're whispering, wondering about what could have happened.
A soft cry escapes from my lips as I feel my heart shatter.
Please, come back.
I pray, pray, and pray in my heart. If she doesn't come back to him, I don't know what I'm going to do.
Please, come back for him.
You said you love him.
Please, come back.
Come back.
But Aiden Klein's bride never comes, leaving him at the altar alone.