Chapter 2 Camila Prevents the Wedding

It should have rained that day, that very day, when I was minutes away from the church. Sebastian couldn't marry her if he loved me. I drove as fast as I could until I got stuck in a line of cars. There was no way out, no way back or forward. Even if I took the nearest exit, it would take a long time. I was about to leave the car in the middle and run; at that moment, a car moved, and I took advantage of it to pull over. Leaving the car unlocked, I ran with all my might.

A motorcycle braked when I suddenly crossed, and I was able to reach the sidewalk, but not before putting my feet in the puddles that lined the road.

Tears blurred my vision. My hands were shaking, my fingers stiff from gripping the steering wheel. Rage, pain, and emptiness were eating me up from the inside.

Squeezing into the crowd, I searched for him... desperately.

And then the memories flooded back: I saw him again, like the first time. Sebastian. A surgical resident, just like me. His impeccable gown, the confidence with which he walked through the hospital corridors, and that half-smile that seemed like a shared secret.

"Camila, I need you to help me," he asked one day, in that deep, confident voice that drove me crazy, as he handed me a folder. It wasn't what he said, but how he said it. As if he already knew me, when we had barely exchanged greetings in the past, as if, suddenly, I had stopped being invisible amidst the chaos of the ER.

Over time, the words I should never have heard arrived: half-promises, stolen walks, whispers during endless shifts, glances that burned hotter than any touch. Until one day, in a moment of weakness, he said it.

"I love you."

I had heard him, of course, without hesitation. I had loved him too, secretly, hopelessly. And I thought that had been enough. At that moment, as I ran up the stairs, through the hallways, tripping over pews, trying to make it in time to stop the wedding, that love had been the driving force.

I had left the hospital, determined, and because of my nerves, I had made a huge mistake. I should have gone straight to his house and not to the address indicated on the invitation card that someone had maliciously left in my locker. If it hadn't been for that time I'd wasted in traffic... I swear I would have convinced him to back out. At that time, he had been about to cancel, and all it would have taken was a push to back him out. But things hadn't happened that way. Señora Isabel, who had detested me from the moment she met me, had taken it upon herself to take him away from me to marry him off to the woman he liked.

"You old, traitorous woman! You traitorous, wretch! You took him away from me and my right to be his wife." What you don't know is that he loves me, he loves who I am, and you can't avoid that, even if you wanted to...

It was almost, very close, before I took him from your house to mine...

***

Sebastián, at that very moment, locked himself in his room and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the black tuxedo spread out in front of him. A beautiful memory had flashed through his mind: the day he gave Camila the ring and asked her to be his wife. He could feel the sweet kisses she had given him as she happily clung to his neck, shouting, "I do!"

His confusion increased with the pressure of the engagement, and he began to talk to himself.

"I don't want to marry Valentina. I love Camila, I gave her my word. I can't let her down."

Sebastián's tears soaked his shirt, while his gaze fell on the knot of his tie hanging on the same hook as his sash. The image had thrown him out of focus, and he was shaking, not knowing what to do.

"I have to escape this damn commitment. They can't force me. I'm not a child!"

He had thought about doing something crazy, thinking quickly, even trying to climb out the window, but downstairs were his father and sister, dressed and waiting impatiently.

He felt remorse, just thinking about causing them such grief.

"What the hell do I do?"

With restless hands, he reached for his phone, turned it on, and called Camila.

"Pick up!"

He tried two more times, but there was no answer.

"This can't be happening to me..."

The door trembled from his mother's pounding, as she called insistently, while he couldn't bring himself to open it.

"Sebastian, hurry up. We're all waiting for you. The Rivas family is already at the church! They've called me several times."

Doña Isabel's voice sounded more like a command than a plea. A crack in her voice betrayed her: she was nervous, trembling at her son's resistance.

He didn't respond. He stared into the mirror, observing a trapped man he didn't recognize. Forced to marry a woman he didn't love.

He closed his eyes, and in the darkness, she appeared: Camila. Her soft laugh, her eyes shining in the white hospital light, the way she listened to him as if every word mattered. And her voice, repeating that she loved him.

"How did we get here?" he thought, a pain tightening his chest. There was no answer. Only an imposed destiny.

Finally, he opened the door. As if accepting that fate was the only possible way out. There was his mother, her eyes brimming with tears, ready to take him to the ceremony. She hugged him tightly, asked him to change because everyone was waiting for him. And he, resigned, agreed.

***

In another part of the city, Valentina was adjusting the last details of her dress. She was surrounded by her family, who smiled proudly, celebrating the marriage as a triumph.

The bride looked at herself in the mirror. She looked impeccable: subtle makeup, her hair tied with precision, the white fabric hugging her silhouette like a symbol of perfection. There was no doubt on her face, only calm and certainty.

For Valentina, that day was the fulfillment of what she had hoped for. The consolidation of a name, of a life designed to never fail. She was blissful. Nothing disturbed her happiness.