The Unholy Matrimony

YENISSE

The words that change my life forever tumble from my father's lips, "your sister is gone. You will have to take her place...at the altar." His voice is firm and commanding.

"Dad?" I gasp in disbelief. "Is this some kind of joke?" Because there is no way I am going out there to marry that asshole of a sister's fiance.

"No, sweetheart. It's not a joke. It's the only way to salvage our family's honor."

I feel like I've been punched in the gut. "What? No, Dad, I can't!" I protest, my voice is shaking.

My mother's eyes plead with me to reconsider. "Honey, please understand-"

It's no surprise how nice her tone is as she is about speaking to me and that's because she needs something from me. And I even feel more anger towards her for doing that.

But I cut her off, my mind racing. "How can you even ask me this? It's wrong on so many levels!" I think of my boyfriend, Oliver, who is seated already in the congregation. How will he feel seeing me walk down the aisle with another man?

My father's face hardens. "Your sister's actions have left us no choice. She humiliated our family by running away on her wedding day. You're the only one who can redeem our honor now."

I shake my head, trying to understand why my parents have failed to see reasons with me. "But that's not fair! And what about Oliver? I can't just abandon him like this."

"Worry about your family first. Think about how this would affect your life, our lives. Now is the time to show you're truly a Billing."

What does that even mean? Was being born into the Billing's family not enough to make me a Billing? This is exhausting.

I walk towards the door but my father's words stop me in my tracks. "Your efforts will be futile. There is no running away from this."

"I wasn't running away but there is no way I'm marrying Jude." That is impossible. I don't even love him.

"What's so wrong with marrying Jude?" My mother asks.

"Everything mom. Diana is my sister. Are you forgetting that fact? And he's Diana's fiance. Not just fiance. They have been dating for two years now."

"There is no big deal about that. After all, in the past, if a man's wife is dead, the late wife's sister can marry the husband," says my father.

"Dad!" I yell. "Really? Diana isn't even dead. That is totally not relatable to what's happening here. Besides, that was in the past, not now." I can't believe he is bringing something like sororate marriage up when it's not connected or linked to us, our time or our tradition in any way.

"The past makes way for the present," he voices. "I would love for you to see it like that because she is gone. She is nowhere to be found and you will do as you're told."

I frown, my stomach churning. What exactly is going on? Diana runs away on her wedding day and now I'm being informed that I'm marrying Jude in her stead? This is ridiculous, and there is no way either Jude or Diana would accept this.

I run a hand through my hair, confused. "Have you spoken to Jude yet? Does he even know?"

"Yes. I think he has been informed by his parents."

"And he is okay with this?" Jude hates me, his actions say it, and the way he looks at me says it, so there is no way he would agree to this. In that case, I'm sure of escaping this cruel fate.

"That doesn't matter. The point is, the wedding is happening and you're his bride."

Diana wouldn't do this to Jude. She speaks every day of how much she loves him and there is no way she would be okay with me being his wife. She would really despise that.

I glance at my parents, but neither of them can face me. This... this can't be real. What does this even mean? For me? For Oliver and I?

"Marry him, or our family's reputation is ruined plus there will be no money to fund your business if you try to do anything stupid."

Is he going to pull that card right? He knows how badly I need that investment. I can't believe him right now. My mind sprints with conflicting emotions of shock, anger, and guilt. How could my sister do this to us? To me?

My scolding voice pierces the room. "How could she be so selfish? Leaving us to deal with the consequences of her actions!" My words sting but they know I am hurting. This can't be right.

I grab my phone and ring Diana again for the umpteenth time today but her line is switched off. It was ringing earlier, I'm sure she saw my texts and messages before switching off her phone. Diana had disappeared on her wedding day leaving a "I can't do this. Sorry" note. She was really looking forward to this day so why would she do that? What does she mean by "she can't do this"? Why would she do this to me?

"Let's give it time. It's probably just cold feet. She will get back into her right senses and show up." I try to fight my way out.

"I'm sorry," My mother says. But is she truly sorry? Or is this just her way of disguising her selfish desires? The only thing she cares about is the benefits this marriage provides. "I'm concerned about your sister's behavior, and I hope she doesn't look back on this with regret."

"She will, mom, there is no way Diana would agree to me marrying Jude," I speak with a firm but gentle tone. Of course, they know that. They're just too selfish to let their mind think about that.

"It will be alright, Yenisse," she squeezes my hand.

I scoff. Will it be alright if after the wedding she comes running back to Jude? What would be my fate? Is this another way to sabotage me? No, those questions shouldn't pop into my mind. I am not even entertaining the thought of marrying Jude, not even for a second.

"Can I at least talk to Oliver about this?" I plead with my parents.

"No! There is no time. Jude has been waiting for so long and the congregation is already spewing gibberish."

I feel trapped like my whole world is crashing down around me. Because of Diana's actions, I am going to lose and hurt the only person I ever loved. He is the only man who sees my worth and loves all parts of me. And how could my parents do this to me?

The mirror before me arrests my reflection, encouraging me to run away but there is no way to save myself. No, not with my parents here telling me what to do. Their reputation can as well burn to the ground. I will not sacrifice my life or the one I love for these selfish people who never loved me. I am ready to lose everything, but not Oliver.

"Please, I need a minute to think."

"There is no time." My mother's sharp response.

"Really? This is overwhelming. I just need a moment to myself."

My father looks at my mother and then returns his gaze to me. "Take your one minute and don't try to do anything stupid."

I smirk and nod in response.

"Your phone?" He holds out his palms in front of me and I roll my eyes before handing my phone to him.

As soon as they exit the room, I lock the door. Without even taking a breath, I look through my window and jump out of it - fleeing my fate.

JUDE

What's more embarrassing than your bride abandoning you at the altar on your wedding day? My heart sinks at the news of her disappearance. I couldn't understand why she would do that.

"I'm sorry Diana abandoned you but this wedding must happen with or without her." Mother says.

"What are you talking about?" I am perplexed.

"Thankfully, the Billing family has a second daughter to clean up their mess. You will wed her. She will be your bride."

My eyes widened in shock. She can't be saying I should marry that "I'm too good for everyone," daughter. Yenisse and I are opposite.

"No way. This can't work." Because we are not in love and it's common knowledge that we are always at each other's neck. Let the fact be known, in her world of definitions, I represent the word "hate".

"It will work. If the Billing fails to make this wedding happen today then all our deals with them would be rendered void."

"That should be their problem to be fixed. It doesn't even affect us. We were just doing them a favor. But you need to know Mom, I... I can't marry Yenisse." I have always imagined Diana to be my wife, not Yenisse.

"Why?" Mother asks.

"She is not in love with me."

"Then make her. Love can be taught. Show her what it means to be loved. You can learn to fall in love with someone. So if you treat her right, I don't see why that's not possible."

"What about me? Your son? Do you care about how I feel about this?"

"This marriage has always been an arranged marriage. We just gave you both time to get to know each other better before getting married. So what makes this one so different?"

"Because there is no time for us to get to know each other. Give us time and I'll show you why this wedding shouldn't take place."

"I won't make that mistake again. Not today. I won't give out the opportunity to make a fool out of myself again."

"Are you really going to say that?" I rake my hair with my fingers. "Yen would never agree to it," I add. "I dated her sister for two years, so I don't see how she would even consider this?" I am sure she is sane enough to not accept this decision.

"So should we embarrass our family by canceling the wedding in front of all these people?"

"These people are family, mom! We didn't invite outsiders. It was strictly family and close pals so it doesn't matter. I'm sure they will understand. Things like this can happen to anyone."

Diana and I had agreed for the wedding to be private so it was just a close gathering of family and super close friends.

"No! Not to the Wellingtons. Family or not, I'm sure they would be the happiest to hear the precious son of the Wellingtons, the most eligible bachelor in the country, was abandoned at the altar."

"So, is that all you care about?" Disappointment crowds me.

"Have you thought about how this can affect your inheritance?" Mother throws that at me.

That hits me so hard. That inheritance is important to me yet all I manage to voice is, "don't do this to her," I plead. I don't know why. I don't even care about her.

"Why don't you care about your family?"

"Of course I do." There is no doubt when it comes to that. I love my family.

"No, you don't." Mother's response put me in a maze.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"If you did, you would think about your father, my husband. He is in a critical condition and you know how happy he was to know that today his son was truly getting married. What do you think this news would do to him? Are you trying to kill him for me?" Her voice is wrapped with emotions and her eyes reeks of tears.

She has me there. Her words become my prison and there is no way to escape. All doors are sealed by that information. Anyway, my mother is right. This can send my father off to his grave. He was very happy when he heard I was getting married today and couldn't wait to meet the newlyweds. He showed a bit of life just by hearing that. I didn't want to be the cause of my father's death.

"Diana will show up, I won't disappoint Dad," I assure her, but even I somehow didn't believe that.

Mother smiles at me, "She won't. Forget about Diana for a second. Get ready to go out there and marry Yenisse. She will make a good wife. I'm sure of that."

"But what would the people think?"

"Like you said, those people out there are family. It won't matter to them as long as the wedding goes on. But if you're still worried, I'll take care of it. They will understand. Trust your mother." She smiles.

I blink rapidly, clearly doubting her words. Understanding is far from those people out there.

"This is an arranged marriage. It was always going to be between the two girls of the Billing family." She adds and walks out of my room as if that was supposed to help me get through with the wedding.

****

My best friend stands by my side as I take my place again at the altar in the beautiful garden Diana and I had chosen. A garden that belongs to my family of course, the Wellingtons. For some reason, she really wanted this garden to be our wedding venue but now she is not here and I don't even know if she is coming.

The wedding was supposed to start before now but it was delayed thanks to Diana. I don't know why I'm still standing here. I should have left when my mother informed me about Diana's disappearance. But I couldn't. This is my way of saving my family's name and my father's life. So I take my chances.

My breath seizes when Yenisse appears at the end of the aisle, on her father's arm. I am supposed to be disappointed it's not Diana but strange enough, I am not. I am smiling at her. She radiates beauty in a wedding dress that isn't hers. I wonder if Diana would have been able to pull it off like her. No, she wouldn't because she didn't even go through with the wedding.

How does it feel for Yenisse approaching a man to whom she has no claim? Perhaps, walking on broken glasses? Nothing about this day, not even the moment itself, belongs to her. Today is a farce, just like her dress is a mask that hides the truth, a life-long disguise that she must wear and none of it is truly hers to keep.

Then I heard whispers from the crowd and she paused mid-way. I could see her trembling. Will she run away? It looks like she is about to. My heart raced like a runaway train, I am super scared, I will not be abandoned for the second time. God, please!

YENISSE

The audience gasps in stunned silence, looking at each other as I come into sight.

"Family drama at its finest!"

"Oh, the shade!"

"This is going to end badly...."

"That's her sister's man!"

"I thought she has a boyfriend, I'm all in for the disaster."

Hearing all the ill whispers and seeing all the wrinkled faces of our supposed well wisher called family has my feet glued to a spot. I can't move any further. I look around and what I see is enough to send me to hell. How am I supposed to go ahead with a wedding I never agreed to in the first place?

To make it worse, upon hearing the chatter, my boyfriend, Oliver, who is sitting in the second row, turns his head back to check what's happening and as soon as his eyes land on me, his jaw drops to the floor. The love of his life is Jude Wellington's bride. How amazing! He had dressed up handsomely just to come witness his worst nightmare.

His piercing glare drills into my soul and it is enough to kill me, to kill him, to kill the wedding. A chill runs down my spine and my skin crawls with goosebumps. I am about to run. I can't stand it. How in the world did I do this to the world's best boyfriend?

I am like leaves in a hurricane. My father notices and smiles at me, then caresses me. With that I was able to move forward to where Jude was standing at the altar.

Never in a million years did I think I was going to marry my worst enemy and not the man I love. But here I am, forcing a smile to my face and entertaining the idea of marrying into a loveless union.

My father guides my hand into Jude's and his fingers close around my hand, wrapping around it like a lifeline. His eyes are sweeping over my face. I am shaking as the pastor, who is the officiant, starts the wedding.

"We are gathered here today to witness the sacred union of Yenisse Billing and Jude Wellington," he says and I inhale deeply, close my eyes, look down and tears escape my eyes with freedom.

The "sacred" in the sentence he utters should be replaced with "desecrated". It is a mistake from the officiant because there is nothing sacred about this union.

Jude tightens his grip on me and whispers, "Yen."

Yen! He is the only one who managed to craft a nickname from my name and I love it. That's the only thing I love to hear escape from this man's mouth.

I look up and my eyes meet his.

"You look beautiful."

Not what I am expecting. He has never complimented me before or seen me as beautiful. But the way his lips curated these words tells me they were sincere. It kind of makes me smile.

"I promise to spend every day of my life making sure your tears are only tears of joy from now on."

For reasons I can't define, these words comfort me and I find myself smiling, this time, sincerely.

"Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace," the officiant continues.

This is the perfect time for Oliver to do what he was supposed to do from the moment he saw me in this wedding dress. An ideal but dramatic way to end this misery.

My eyes run across the congregation and look at Oliver with expectation and hope, wishing that he or someone will speak up and interrupt this unholy matrimony but no one did, not even Oliver. He betrays me. Traitor! How can he be so calm about this? This is his chance, our only chance at love but he is not taking it. I wonder why?

My heart breaks into tiny million pieces. Fucking hypocrites! No one seems to care.

The officiant proceeds and gets to the part where he tells us to exchange rings and I hold Jude's gaze with the pains that take over my eyes as he slides the ring onto my fingers. The ring almost falls off my wobbling fingers as I try to do the same for him.

I couldn't even look Jude in the eyes. I couldn't even look the man I was marrying in the eyes. I always thought this day, my wedding day, was going to be the most beautiful and happiest day of my life but I was wrong. It is torment and Jude sees it as well.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," the officiant says, and I freeze. Eyes narrow.

I never really thought about this. I was worried about some many wrong things about this marriage that this detail didn't cross my mind. Why on earth should I kiss Jude Wellington? I know it is a marking of the official beginning of our married life together and it's a very important part. But can't this part of the wedding be omitted for heaven's sake? It is already unholy, why try to make it abominable and nefarious?

The vows were hard but this is much harder than the vows that escaped my mouth earlier.

Jude takes a step closer and gently cups my cheek. His face is an inch closer, I say to myself, "it's just a kiss, a show, an act for the audience, nothing serious. You can do it. You're a star, stars don't dim even in the darkest of situations."

Just then, his lips land on me and my eyes almost leave the socket and his fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me close as if he never wanted to let go. He deepens the kiss and I find myself, giving into it. In this split second, all the turbulent emotions I have been feeling dissipated and a kiss that was originally meant to be a few seconds emerges into a minute of magic and the crowd cheers.

"This is bullshit!" Oliver's bitter and thunderous voice breaks our souls from the kiss.

My heart starts dancing in my chest! Too late, Oliver. He had the chance but didn't take it. Was this supposed to make me think he truly fought for our love?

"Rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish! This is total trash!" He declares loudly and lets out a gowl that makes my body and the rest of the audience quake and enough to destroy the rings, the vows that bind Jude and I together.