Chapter 4 03

Nicole

I used to think that I was someone that couldn't be angry for too long, but after the situation with Elena and Martin, I've come to realize that I've just never been in a situation where I needed to be angry for a long time.

Presently, I was watching Elena walk down the altar to where Martin stood with a massive smile on his face, and every fiber of my being was boiling with so much anger that I felt like I could explode any moment from now.

I wanted to avoid standing up too much, so I made sure to wear something casual that wouldn't bring any attention to me because the last thing I wanted was to get caught in this place.

I didn't even want to imagine the look people would have on their faces when they saw me here, attending my sister and my ex-husband's wedding. I knew I was already a laughingstock to many people, but I certainly wasn't ready to get caught and watch them laugh at me to my face.

The fact that nobody seemed to see anything wrong with what was happening here made me even more upset because it was public knowledge that he and I had just divorced four months ago. Now all of a sudden, he's marrying my sister, and the typical moral police that usually see a problem with anything and everything are suddenly quiet and supportive?

The fucking hypocrisy!

When Martin and I first got married, I saw several news outlets and articles questioning my character and claiming that I simply married him because of his money, even when they had no idea how we got married in the first place.

Our marriage happened so suddenly because neither one of us had expected that we were going to be getting married to each other. Because of this, everybody else assumed that I rushed the marriage because I was a gold digger that wanted to cement myself into his family and have a taste of his family fortune.

It was very upsetting at first because I didn't even want to marry him of my own free will and yet, I was getting dragged by people that had no idea who I was over something that I had no control over. Martin was always reassuring me that the issue was going to die down eventually and that people would learn to mind their business, but then he goes right ahead to cheat on me with my sister, and he even dares to marry her.

I haven't seen any article, not one, criticize the fact that these two people were getting married and for every article that I've read in the last few days, they kept praising Elena, and indirectly shaming me by writing that she was nothing like me cause that she was a genuine person who fell in love and helped Martin get out of his previously loveless and forced marriage.

How ridiculous, am I right?

So, right now, my father, who walked me down the aisle about a year-and-a-half ago, to marry Martin, was walking my younger sister down the aisle to marry the same man that his first daughter had married not too long ago. Not only is it embarrassing that none of them sees a problem with this, but it's also very painful that he had the audacity to smile in this situation, knowing very well that it was entirely wrong.

I was way behind, but I could see every one of my family members staring at Elena with massive smiles on their faces, and it reminded me of the day I was getting married and how they all had similar smiles on their faces like they were genuinely happy for me.

The situation just made me realize that they weren't happy that I was getting married, they were just happy because of who I was getting married to and how my marriage to him was going to elevate their status in society.

It took me a while to realize it, but now I know that the only thing they wanted was to keep Martin Beckett as their son-in-law even if he has to divorce one daughter to shamelessly marry the other daughter. They didn't care what people thought, and people also weren't concerned with the weird situation because Martin's family was a big shot family in the country and no one would want to get on their bad side simply because of their unsolicited opinion.

Elena and my dad continued making their way down the aisle, and I just kept watching them with the feeling of emptiness and hurt growing inside me.

After what felt like a decade, she finally arrived at the altar and I watched my dad place her hand on Martin's with the same smile he had on his face on my wedding day.

"Dear beloved...," the priest started. "We're gathered here today to witness the lovely union of two wonderful people who are about to be joined in holy matrimony," he announced and heading him using the words, 'lovely' and 'matrimony', made me have the sudden urge to puke.

He kept going on and on about how God had brought them together and blah blah blah, and my eyes kept rolling and rolling continuously. I'm pretty certain that anyone who sees me right now would think that I was a bitter witch that wasn't happy for them, and even though it's true that I'm the farthest from being happy for them, I have very valid reasons not to be.

The more I heard him speak and the more I saw the reaction on people's faces, the more it dawned on me that everybody in this hall except myself, was a bloody hypocrite because about 80% of the people here right now, were also present for my wedding, and they were simply repeating the same reaction that they had when Martin and I were getting married.

The fake smile, the fake gasp, the teary eyes, and the most common one of them all, the showering of comments on how they envy you, how they wish to be in your shoes, how beautiful you look and how happy they are for you. The comments and the lies are just never-ending.

Bloody hypocrites!

"Now, you shall recite your vows to each other, promising before God and man, what your partner will always mean to you," the priest encouraged, and my heart clenched a bit when I realized that I would have to hear him making vows to my sister, just a year and a half, after vowing to always be with me.

"I, Martin Beckett, take you, Elena Hendricks, to be my lawfully wedded wife, my best friend, my companion, and the love of my life from this day forward. In the presence of God, our family and friends, I vow to be a faithful partner to you, to love and to cherish you in sickness and good health, in the good times and in the bad, to love and support you unconditionally and to respect you for as long as we both shall live," Martin recited and hearing it directly from his lips, broke my heart even more.

It made me sad but even more than that, I was mad because he didn't even put any effort into his vows. He repeated almost the same things that he said to me when we got married, and it pissed me off just to realize just how much he didn't regard me or our wedding, that he even went ahead and repeated the same vows he made to me, to my sister.

"I, Elena Hendricks, take you, Martin Beckett, to be my lawfully wedded husband. To love and to cherish you, to be with you through the good and the bad times, to support and encourage you in everything you do and to respect and honor you for as long as we both shall live," Elena said her vows and I couldn't help but scoff at both of them.

Two liars, cheats, bastards, fools, idiots, and betrayals, that deserved to rot in hell were getting married, and I was unfortunate enough to witness such a disgusting event.

I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier and I knew that was my cue to leave so that I don't end up reacting in a way that would expose me because the last thing I wanted was for everybody here to find out that I also attended this sham of a wedding.

When the priest announced that anyone who wasn't happy about their union should either get up and speak out or forever hold their peace, I contemplated for the first few seconds but then pushed the thought aside, knowing that my objection wasn't going to stop the wedding, it was only going to make me even more of an object of ridicule.

I stood up quietly after a while and proceeded to walk out of the hall. I bowed my head, carefully covering my face with the scarf over my head while walking briskly out of the place.

I had successfully managed to leave their wedding hall but just when I'm about to heave a sigh of relief that I didn't get caught, a hand grabbed my arm suddenly and when I looked up to see who it was, I didn't recognize the face.

"Who–," I was about to ask, but he cut me off.

"Come with me," he instructed, and before I knew what was happening, I was getting pulled away by some strange guy.

Sadly, I couldn't scream for help because that would only call attention to me, and I'd get caught, so I had no other choice but to allow myself to get dragged to heaven knows where.