Amelia’s POV
“Are you sure you want to marry him?”
My mom asked me for the hundredth time that night. She sat in her favorite armchair by the window, the soft moonlight spilling across her face and making the worry lines around her eyes look deeper than usual.
I looked at her and forced a small smile. “Yes, Mother. I am sure. Charles is the one for me.” My voice sounded confident enough, but even I could hear the tiny shake in it. It must be the wedding jitters, I told myself. Every bride feels this way the night before, right?
She sighed, a long, tired sound that carried all her doubts. “Okay, honey. If that is what you want. I am just looking out for you, that is all.”
“I know, Mom. Trust me on this one. Charles is a good guy. He would never hurt me.” I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around her. She smelled like lavender and the same rose-scented cream she had used since I was a little girl. That smell always meant home.
She patted my back gently. “Alright then. Try to get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mummy.” I kissed her forehead softly and picked up the headache medicine I had come to her room for in the first place.
As I walked out of her room, my mind kept replaying the same thing. My entire family had been against my relationship with Charles from the beginning. They said they didn’t trust him, that he was only after our family’s money. They never said it to his face, but I heard the whispers, saw the looks they gave him whenever he came around.
I met Charles last year when he came to our company looking for a job. From the first day, something clicked between us. We started talking, laughing, and before I knew it, we were dating. My family kicked against it strongly at first, but when they saw how happy I was, they decided to let it go. They wanted me to be happy, even if they didn’t like my choice.
When Charles proposed two months ago, my brothers almost lost their minds. They shouted, they begged, they even threatened to cut me off. But I stood my ground. I told them I would kill myself if they didn’t allow me to marry him. I didn’t mean it literally, but at that moment, it felt like the only way to make them understand how serious I was. In the end, they gave in, though I could see the sadness and disappointment in their eyes.
Tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day. I was going to become Mrs. Charles Uba. The thought used to fill me with so much joy, but tonight, with this pounding headache from all the planning stress, a tiny seed of doubt had started growing in my chest.
I swallowed the pills with a glass of water and decided I needed to see Charles. He had his own spare room at the hotel where most of the wedding guests were staying. Maybe talking to him would calm my nerves. Maybe hearing his voice tell me he loved me would push all these silly thoughts away.
The hallway was quiet, the thick carpet swallowing the sound of my footsteps. As I got closer to his door, I heard something. Soft moans. Rhythmic thumps. A woman’s gasp.
I stopped for a second. Maybe he was watching a movie. Charles did that sometimes when he couldn’t sleep—some action film with loud scenes and dramatic sound effects. I smiled a little to myself. Silly man. I would tease him about it when I went in. Tell him he should be resting for our big day instead of watching explosions at midnight.
I knocked lightly on the door, then pushed it open without waiting for an answer. We were getting married tomorrow anyway. What was there to hide?
The world stopped spinning.
I stood frozen in the doorway, my hand still on the door handle. My brain refused to understand what my eyes were seeing. It couldn’t be real. This was not happening. Not to me. Not tonight.
There, on the bed, naked and tangled in the white sheets, was Lisa—my cousin. The girl I had grown up with, the one I loved more than anyone else in the world. The sister I never had by blood but chose with my heart.
And on top of her, moving with her, breathing hard, was Charles. My fiancé. The man I was supposed to walk down the aisle with in less than twelve hours.
For a few terrible seconds, none of us moved. We were all statues, trapped in the worst nightmare I had ever lived. Then reality came crashing down like a wave.
They scrambled apart. Charles reached desperately for his boxers on the floor while Lisa pulled the rumpled sheet up to cover her chest, her eyes wide with shock and guilt.
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” My voice came out flat and cold. It didn’t even sound like mine. The silence that followed was so loud it hurt my ears.
“Amelia…” Charles started, his face pale as death. He looked small and pathetic, sitting there naked with his hair messy and his eyes darting around like a trapped animal. “Let me explain.”
Explain?
The word tasted bitter in my mouth. I repeated it in my head. Explain what exactly? That he had been f*****g my cousin a day before our wedding? That while I was stressing over flowers and seating arrangements and trying to convince my family he was a good man, he was here doing this?
My legs felt weak, but I didn’t fall. I just stood there, staring at the two people I trusted most in this world, now looking like strangers.
“Amelia, please,” Lisa whispered. Her voice was shaking. Tears were already filling her eyes. “It’s not what you think. It just… happened.”
“Just happened?” I let out a short, bitter laugh that burned my throat. “You are both naked in his bed the night before my wedding and it ‘just happened’? How long has this been going on?”
Charles finally managed to pull on his boxers and stood up, taking a step toward me. “Baby, listen. I love you. This was a mistake. A stupid, one-time mistake. I had too much to drink and—”
“Don’t you dare call me baby,” I cut him off sharply. My hands were starting to tremble now. The headache was getting worse, pounding behind my eyes like a hammer. “One-time? You think I’m stupid? I saw the way you were moving. That wasn’t the first time.”
Lisa was crying now, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked so small and broken under that sheet. Part of me wanted to go comfort her like I always did when she was hurt. The other part wanted to scream at her until my voice gave out.
“I’m so sorry, Amelia,” she sobbed. “I never meant to hurt you. You’re like a sister to me. I swear it didn’t mean anything.”
“Didn’t mean anything?” My voice cracked. “You were the one person I trusted more than anyone. I told you everything about him. I showed you the ring. I asked you to be my maid of honor, Lisa! And you… you let him touch you?”
The pain in my chest was so sharp it felt like something was tearing inside me. I had loved Charles with everything I had. I fought my family for him. I defended him when they called him a gold-digger. I ignored all the small signs—how he always asked about my father’s business, how he got angry when I wouldn’t give him money sometimes, how he never seemed to have real friends of his own.
And Lisa… she was family. Blood or not, she was my person. We had shared secrets since we were kids. We had cried together, laughed together, dreamed together.
Now both of them had taken those dreams and smashed them into pieces.
Charles tried to come closer again. “Amelia, please. Let’s talk about this. We can fix it. The wedding—”
“The wedding?” I stared at him in disbelief. “You think there is still going to be a wedding after this? Are you mad?”
He looked desperate now. “I made a mistake. One mistake. Don’t throw everything away because of this. I love you. You know I do.”
I shook my head slowly. Tears were burning in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of them. Not yet.
“Get out of my sight, both of you.”
“Amelia…” Lisa reached out a hand toward me, but I stepped back like her touch would burn me.
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
I turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind me. The click of the latch sounded so final. My feet carried me down the hallway, but I didn’t know where I was going. Everything felt far away, like I was watching myself from outside my body.
When I finally reached my own room, I locked the door and leaned against it, sliding down until I was sitting on the cold floor.
The tears came then. Hot, angry, painful tears that wouldn’t stop. I cried for the future I had planned. I cried for the man I thought loved me. I cried for the cousin who had been my best friend. I cried for my family, who had tried to warn me and who I had fought so hard against.
My phone was ringing somewhere in the room. Probably Charles. Or Lisa. Or my mom checking if I had taken the medicine.
I didn’t answer.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Instead, it felt like the day everything I believed in had died.
I hugged my knees to my chest and whispered into the empty room, my voice broken and small.
“What am I going to do now?”
Aksara