The Twisted Wedding Night

My eyes scanned her rumpled dress, the slit by the side looking unnaturally long, almost like it had been ripped higher with force. She shrugged and grabbed her bouquet from the planner, coming to stand beside me.

"Have you been waiting for long?" she drawled, a smile etched on her features. "There was so much traffic on the way here. You would have died in it."

"Traffic?" I whispered, looking back at Zane. "But there wasn't any on my way here, and ..."

"Of course, this happened much later," Sophie continued, cutting me short. "We had to make a quick stop at a breakfast spot to get something to eat. You know how Zane can get if he doesn't have breakfast before starting his day."

And then, my cousin paused dramatically before adding, "You should have thought about that before opting for a morning wedding."

I tried to understand what was going on, but it only left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and a building headache.

It made no sense.

Nothing made sense.

"Sophie," I breathed, my voice coming out shaky, far from what I intended. "What were you doing with Zane? Why were you both together on the morning of our wedding?"

"Don't push it, Lily," Zane muttered under his breath. His hand reached for his tie, tugging gently. There was a faint smear of red on the white shirt, under the tie. It looked like lipstick.

And I didn't own a red lipstick.

"Zane... I was...."

The guests had begun to return, the hall gradually filling up again.

"You were the one who wanted a morning wedding, Lily," Zane muttered, shaking his head. "I told you my friends were throwing me a bachelorette and that I was bound to be hungover, but you didn't listen to me. Even Sophia..."

I shook my head slowly, careful not to make the curls unravel. I couldn't let Zane see me imperfect, not even for a second. "It was the planner, not me, remember? She wanted us to be done with this on time because you told her you had something else to do at night. Zane..."

"Oh!" His lips moved, and something shifted in his eyes. "Then, you should have reminded me that I'm not a morning person. Sophie was kind enough to help me today while you ran around trying to be perfect for your big day."

I felt something sharp hit my chest, so hard that I almost doubled over from the pain. Instead, I looked between them, a crease settling between my brows. "Sophie .... was with you throughout the night?"

He shrugged. "Unlike you, who had to have her beauty sleep, Sophie decided to go for the bachelorette with me. Now, don't go blaming her because she was actually doing you a favour. Would you rather I'd attended with some whore?"

"My cousin..."

Sophie rolled her eyes beside me, blowing out a stream of breath, like I was the one doing too much right now.

"Don't be so dramatic, Lily," she sighed. "Nothing happened, okay? I was just there for your fiancé to keep him out of trouble."

"You were supposed to be with me throughout the night, Sophie. That was the arrangement we had. This morning, random strangers had to get me ready for my wedding because the one person assigned to the task decided to go for a bachelorette that would have happened without your presence."

Sophie looked at Zane, and in that split second, something seemed to pass between them before she brought her attention back to me. "Of course, blame me for everything. It's what you always do."

"Sophie..."

"Stop it, Lily," Zane snapped harshly, just as the minister walked in through a side door. "Your cousin was only looking out for you. You should be thankful, rather than lashing out at her."

My lips parted, but before my thoughts could form anything coherent, the minister beat me to it.

"You have arrived," he muttered, not looking at either of us. "Shall we begin?"

The orchestra started with the song that should have been used to walk me down the aisle. There was tension in the room, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that I had done something terribly wrong.

I waited impatiently for the exchange of vows, and I guessed Zane did too, because he slipped the ring onto my fingers so fast, like he had somewhere else to be. I noticed he didn't allow his hands to linger on my body, almost like I revolted him.

Was this because of what I said earlier?

"You have now become man and wife," the minister announced after a couple of minutes. "You can now kiss your bride."

I raised my face eagerly, wanting this to be the moment that melted all the tension between us. But my lips landed in thin air as he planted a chaste kiss on my cheeks before turning around to face the crowd, leaving me no choice but to do the same.

I plastered a smile on my face, even though I was hurting deep down. Still, I had to make this day perfect for him. It was the least I could do after choosing not to follow him to his bachelorette.

We walked out to the entrance of the chapel, with the rest of the guests behind us. I barely knew any of them, but that was fine because my husband had a large army of friends and family.

My husband. It sounded so good and surreal.

At the entrance, while we posed for pictures, I tried to talk to Zane and Sophie, who had managed to push me to the edge of the pictures, with Sophie standing in the middle.

I didn't mind. They had every right to be upset.

"Thank you for looking out for my husband," I whispered when I had the chance.

She didn't look at me. "I thought you were still blaming me for all the misfortune in your life."

"You know if you had just told me..."

"Can we end this session?" Zane muttered suddenly, pushing away from the rest of the crowd, eager to take pictures with us. He turned around to look at me.

"I'm sorry, honey, but I am going to have to run along right now." It was hard to read the sincerity in his eyes. It felt like a robot talking. Like every bit of emotion had been tossed away.

"But...but the reception..."

"Yeah, about that," he breathed, shaking his head slowly. "We both know parties like that aren't really my thing. The ceremony is what is important, and we have gotten that out of the way. I have a meeting to attend."

"So what should I do?" I called out loud as he walked down the cobbled steps. "And where are you going to, Sophie?"

"The meeting is for both of us," she replied, waving her dainty little fingers in the air. "And you can go to the reception alone. I'm sure you can represent your husband well. It is the least you could do, after making him have a horrible bachelorette."