"Stop, stop the wedding!" I snap my head towards the blonde haired man bursting through my mum's back door. Is that who I think it is? No, it can't be. Not after all this time. But it is.
"Ben, what the fuck!" I yell, earning a few gasps from the guests.
"Y/N, language." My mum chastises.
"Sorry, mum." I say before turning back to a red faced, panicked Ben. "Ben, what are you doing here?" Anger pulls at my chest as Ben takes a few steps towards Daniel and I. What gives him the right to come here and ruin one of my most important days? However, buried deep there is also longing wanting to wrap around Ben and hold him tight, as if to try and make him stay.
"Y/N, you can't marry him."
"Why do you say that?"
"I think you should leave." Daniel says, stepping up and I quickly place a hand on his chest to stop him from moving, my eyes still remaining on Ben.
"No, after three years of not speaking to me, I want to hear what he finally has to say." I cross my arms over my chest as Ben moves to stand directly in front of me.
"He's dangerous. There were other girls before you that he married. Please, just read this. It'll explain everything." He hands me an envelope and with one last suspicious look towards Ben, I open it and begin reading.
"Why would you trust a word he says, Y/N, after three years?" Daniel says from behind me. Before I could react, he reaches over and snatches the letter out of my hands, ripping it into tiny, unreadable pieces.
"Too late Daniel, I read all I needed to." I turn to face him with my heart plummeting to the ground. "So, is it true?" I ask as I try and fight back tears.
"Is what true?"
"Is it true that you were planning on stealing everything I own and run off after we got married? Like you have apparently done with four other girls?" I ask in a quiet tone.
"What? Of course not. Don't listen to him, he's just feeding you lies." He steps closer to me and I quickly step away, shaking my head.
"No, Dan. You're lying to me. I know your tell." I turn to Ben, quickly wiping away tears that had sprung free and once again, feeling my heart being shattered by someone who meant so much to me. "If you knew about this, then why isn't the police here?
"They are." Ben replies. "They're waiting outside for me to give a signal.
"But why did you come all the way back here? You didn't need to. Did you just want to break my heart again?"
"No, of course not. I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"But you already hurt me, Ben." Suddenly feeling like I'm being suffocated the longer I stand there, I run back into the house, up the stairs and into my old bedroom. A familiar sense of comfort hits me, making me collapse onto my bed and cry.
Why would Daniel want to do this? Why would he waste two years being with someone only just to leave? What goes on in that mind of his? I hear commotion down stairs and obscenities being yelled by the voice of my ex-fiance. Some obscenities he yells feel like knives in the heart.
I look up from my bed, towards the door and immediately regret it. Stuck onto my wall are old photos of Ben and I growing up together, laughing and smiling. Things seemed to be so much easier back then, so much nicer. I miss the times when we would take a weekend off from school work to go hiking, just to escape. I miss the coffees while sitting in the snow, even through we got wet for doing so. I miss seeing him everyday at school and smiling immediately whenever our eyes connected and he'd kiss me on the cheek every time I'm about to walk into class. I miss him.
How can I be feeling so much in such a short amount of time?
"Y/N?" Ben brings his head into my room, looking at me with sorrow filled eyes. "The police took him away."
"I know, I heard."
"How do you feel?"
"Like shit." I grumble as Ben comes into the room, shutting the door behind him and sits down on the bed beside me, but not as close as he used to.
"You're mum is down stairs, making sure to keep people away so to give you privacy. I'm sorry for ruining your wedding. You really do look beautiful, Y/N." I sigh and he reaches out to grab my hand. He starts to play with my fingers and I just watch as he does. I feel the closeness and familiarity of the touch, making me want to lean into him for more, so I quickly pull away as if I've been burnt.
"I should thank you for ruining my wedding." I say after a moment of silence. "If it weren't for you, I would have married him, and then I would have lost everything that took me so long to create. Especially the hotel. I don't know what I'd do if I lost that. "
"You would have found a way to start again. You're determined like that." He smiles.
"I can't live without Freddie. I would have hunted Dan if he took him."
"Freddie?"
"My cat. Doesn't mean I forgive you though. I mean't what I said before, you really hurt me."
"I know, and I am so sorry, and I'll keep saying sorry everyday for as long as I have to. I'm going to make up for it." He moves closer and wraps his arms around me and I allow myself to lean my head onto his shoulder, inviting the familiar scents and touches of Ben.
"Please, promise you will stay in contact with me this time."
"I promise. I won't leave you. Not again."