I Was Never Yours - Episode 1
01-09-25 (05:05)
I was brushing my hair in the penthouse suite when I
first heard the voices. Loud, panicked voices and the
sound of people arguing. Not again, I thought to
myself, rolling my eyes. People had been fighting all
day over the smallest of things. The flowers, the food,
the seating arrangements, the decoration, you name it
and there was a problem with it. I wasn't surprised
though, my mother and sister were perfectionists. I
pitied the wedding planner who'd taken up such a
Herculean task of satisfying not only Olivia but also my
mother.
Olivia's wedding was all anybody could talk about for
months, not that I was complaining. I loved weddings;
there was just something about the 'till death do us
part' line that got me every time. The idea of two
people deciding to spend the rest of their lives together
was so utterly romantic and everything about a
wedding symbolized that decision for me. It had
surprised me that my elder sister had agreed to the
wedding after dating Zach for only two months but
hey, I guess when you find the 'One' there isn't a lot
left to think about.
I giggled when I thought about finding the 'One'.
Hopefully I'd managed to find my soulmate too. Noah
was everything I could ever ask for and more. Sweet,
romantic, sensitive and compassionate, he was the
ideal boyfriend and I'd fallen for him hook, line and
sinker. He would be here today and the idea of seeing
him in a tux made butterflies appear in the pit of my
stomach. Oh I had it bad.
I got up to examine myself in the full-length mirror
placed in my room, ignoring the increasingly loud
voices that had started coming from the hallway.
Whatever it was that was wrong now could be
handled, just like it had been handled previously.
Seriously, they just needed to calm down.
I twirled a strand of my curled long brown hair around
my finger and fidgeted with my figure-hugging cream
dress. Of course it had been selected by my sister and
I wasn't one to argue; it was her wedding after all, I
couldn't just go about telling her that the dress she'd
picked up for me barely gave me room to breathe. I
was naturally curvy and the dress did a good job of
hiding that; I looked almost as thin as my sister and
that made our resemblance even more prominent.
Both of us had deep brown hair and the same green
eyes as dark as emeralds, and both of us were cursed
with the same pale skin which refused to get a shade
darker. Olivia often said people would die to get such
a clear, creamy skin tone but how I wished that my
hours at the beach paid off.
The dress was fitted at the bust, the sweetheart
neckline revealing only an appropriate amount of
cleavage. A bow right underneath the bust tightened
the grip on my waist and the skirt of the dress
skimmed my body, hugging the area around me hips.
It was hard being in it but if I do say so myself, it
made me feel and look gorgeous. Olivia did inherit our
mother's exquisite taste.
I was examining myself in front of the mirror for the
millionth time when suddenly an assortment of people
walked in, halting me in my tracks. My parents, Olivia's
in-laws the Prices and her fiancé Zach, along with my
Uncle Collin and Aunt Ophelia all stormed right in
without as much as a knock, but the look on their
faces made that thought go away immediately. Worry
was etched onto their features and my mother looked
pale enough to faint at any moment. Oh no, something
terrible's happened, I thought to myself, dread filling
my body. It was how defeated and haunted my father
looked that told me that the problem was bigger than
the usual wedding woes. He was never one to worry
about the small things and was generally a very
optimistic man; if something had managed to take a
toll on him then it had to be bad.
"What is it?" I found myself asking them, my heart
racing a mile a minute.
No one answered; they looked like they didn't have
the courage to answer my question. I looked around at
all of them, expecting someone to speak up. Mrs. Price
placed a hand on her husband's arm just as he was
about to say something. He looked red in the face, like
he was barely controlling his fury and I shuddered at
the thought of witnessing one of his famous tantrums.
After what seemed like an eternity, it was my Aunt
Ophelia who answered, her face contorting into a
mask of pain and sorrow. Okay, now I was officially
freaking out.
"Honey, we found this in your sister's room," she said,
holding up a piece of writing paper. I walked towards
her, my legs shaking as I did so and grabbed it from
her. On it, in my sister's perfect handwriting, were the
words:
I'm sorry but I can't do this. I can't go through with this
wedding, I don't love him. Please try to understand
that I'm doing this for the both of us. I'm going away
and I'm not sure if I ever plan on coming back. Don't
try to find me and please don't hate me.
A gasp left my lips as I held the note in my trembling
hands. This could not be happening, it had to be some
kind of a sick joke that everyone was playing on me.
My eyes searched their faces for any sign of
contradiction but there was none. Everyone was just
as shocked as I was and just as hurt. However, one
face confirmed the horrifying fact.
Zach. He looked so broken, so dejected and crushed
that I felt my heart ache for him. His shoulders were
slumped in defeat, his entire body tensed and stiffened
and his fists clenched. That however wasn't the worst
part, the worst part was how he was trying to be
strong and not give away the amount of pain he felt
but I could see it. His eyes told a story of their own
and there was nothing false in that story. How could
Olivia have done this to him?
"Ari we know that this must be so difficult for you but
the fact is that we have a wedding to go to in less
than four hours with over three thousand people
arriving."
I looked at my aunt like she had lost her mind. What
wedding? The bride had run away, she had made a
terrible mess and had left us all to deal with the
frightening consequences that were surely to follow.
There wasn't going to be a wedding anymore, how
could there be?
As if reading my mind, my father spoke up, his voice
completely lacking the confidence I normally
associated with it. "We can't cancel the wedding
sweetheart. It'll ruin us, all of us. If a wedding doesn't
take place today not only will we be utterly humiliated
but we could stand to lose everything," he choked out
and I stared at him stupidly not knowing where' this
was headed.
My mother, someone who would never allow herself
to be humbled by anyone, looked at me then, pleading
with me with her eyes.
"We need your help Ari. You're the only one who can
save this family now."
Approximately four hours later I was taken into the
church followed closely by my mother, my aunt and
the few cousins who had been told the truth. A long
veil covered my face and the corset I wore under the
dress molded my shape to fit into the dress. My sister's
wedding dress.
The music began to play and I fixed my gaze firmly to
the ground, begging myself to not let any tears escape.
My father linked his arm with mine as everyone else
left the room.
"Ari, honey you have no idea what this means to us,"
he whispered in my ear and I nodded my head
slightly, not trusting myself to speak.
It was to the beat of the traditional wedding march
that I walked towards the altar, my father gripping my
arm tightly, comforting me but all the while suffocating
me. He let go of me when we reached where' Zach
and his best man stood and after completing his duty
of giving me away, he left me alone to take the
biggest step in my life.
The vows were said, the lies concealed as I took Zach
Price to be my husband, for better or for worse. My
actions were mechanical, my tone robotic. I had
always dreamt of the day I would get married but
now I knew better. Those dreams hadn't been dreams
to begin with; they had been signs of the nightmare to
come.
One sentence, I whispered one sentence as the priest
pronounced us husband and wife, hoping the words
would somehow reach him.
"I love you Noah, please forgive me." Don't forget to leave a Comment 
