~ THREE ~

Walking down the pavement, with my bag on my hand and being dragged on the floor, having a sad look on my face, feeling like all hope was lost, feeling the need to get drunk. That was me right now.

I was extremely broken at the moment. No one was ever going to understand my feelings without being me. It wasn't good news to hear that the man you've loved for 7 years and had hope of him becoming yours was getting married to a who-knows-the-hell-she-is bitch.

I was starting to wonder if Kaiden had constant Memory losses because he had seen me countless times, and did things to lift my hope of having him up. How didn't he remember me?

Life was a total mess for me. This world was nothing but a shit hole.

I took my spare key from my bag then opened the door to our small bungalow. On getting in, I licked the door behind me. The lights were turned off so I flicked the switch to turn the lights on.

Most frustrating enough, the living room looked like a junkyard. It contained piles of clothes scattered on the green sofas with red throw pillows. I spotted spilled wine on the cream-colored walls and it made my brain throb in frustration. I was going to have to paint that later.

"Sweetheart, you're back." One of the alters I hadn't identified yet said. It was definitely not Adalyn, or Ella. "It's Traven." He clarified.

"Did Mia front a moment ago?" Mia was the child alter so she might probably have gotten the living room scattered.

Traven had washed every form of makeup from their body and was now wearing a beanie with a white singlet and grey sweatpants.

"No, I was looking for something." He clarified.

"I need Adalyn to front, please." I pleaded.

"Positive trigger for Adalyn?" He nodded. "Got that."

I thanked him then ran to the room to grab a towel and a nightgown. I left for the bathroom then had a nice shower. I needed to drown my disappointment with the shower but it wasn't working.

After wearing my nightgown, I had something to eat then returned to Traven— or Adalyn, hopefully.

"Hi, you summoned me?" She took off the beanie then started untying the previously packed bun.

"Yes. You owe me $700 with extra change. I confessed it all but Kaiden is getting married soon, next week!" I screamed.

The door made a clunking sound of keys by the other side of the door. Afterwards, the door was unlocked and opened.

Layla walked in, wearing a gloomy expression as she approached us. She got to both of us then scanned the living room.

"It was Traven." I clarified and she nodded.

"Did he actually act anyhow convincing for you when you said you liked him?" Layla's eyes grew wide at Adalyn's voice. "How can Kaiden be getting married next week?"

"Kaiden's getting married next week? Wow, someone's marrying that asshole?" She shook her head then froze as her head rotated to me, probably just heard Adalyn well enough. "You told Kaiden you liked him?!" She screamed. Her loud voice frightened me.

"Calm down, Sis." I held my hands out, "You don't have to yell."

"Kealey, you're out of your mind. Kaiden isn't right for you. How could you make yourself seem like a worthless whore by telling him you love him. You're really insane!" She spat.

"Watch your words." I cautioned.

"You're crazy. How could you?" She sounded softer now, more of concern than fury. Sarcastically speaking, Thanks to Adalyn for blurting that out at a time like this. She should be given an award. "Stay away from Kaiden. He has ruined a lot of Women's lives."

Was it stubbornness or an obsession? Layla had told me that same sentence a billion times but I wasn't ready to heed to her warning. I doubted if anyone could ever understand how I felt about Kaiden. It felt like I was going to die without him. He felt like my oxygen.

***

**WEDDING DAY**

~ KAIDEN ~

"I'm so glad my son is finally getting married." My dad, Simon Coleman, said. He was almost in tears as it seemed. He looked extremely proud of me.

"You mean the marriage you're literally forcing me into? Oh, great." I smiled sarcastically, holding my suit coat as I scanned myself in the dressing mirror.

"Will you shut the hell up? You're 30 years old for crying out loud. You had interest in Lizzy–" he was listing with his fingers.

— "just a little. Dad, I only had a little interest in Lizzy." I added.

"Shut up. You had interest in Lizzy, her parents are very rich, she's an extremely beautiful, intelligent, decent woman. She's of a marriageable age— so what?" He had a stern look on. "I didn't force you to marry her. We only made a deal with her parents."

Truthfully, I had interest in the dashing Lizzy Mark, my bride-to-be. I had nothing against her. This marriage was just too rushed by our parents. We weren't given the chance to let our pre-marriage relationship grow so we could love each other more.

"I'm not interested in your lecture." I scoffed.

***

"WAIT!" Scott Black, maybe he was my best friend, shouted as I was about to leave for the Wedding hall.

"What's it with you?" A line appeared between my eyebrows.

"Y–your… br–bride." He said, panting heavily.

"Lizzy? What's wrong with her?" I raised an eyebrow, tucking my hands into my front pockets.

"She wants to speak with you. I mean—she wants to run away. Escape." He was finding it difficult to make his irregular breathing steady.

"What?!" I frowned harder.

"If you leave now to wait for her in the Wedding Hall, you'll wait till eternity. She wants to speak with you first." He held his knee then held my shoulder with his free hand.

I brushed his hand from off of me then ran to the room Lizzy was. Not bothering to knock on the door, I burst it open.

Lizzy was clearly startled by my entrance. I wasn't interested in her state of emotion right now. I proudly and furiously walked to her.

She was sitting on a stool, looking like a fucking beautiful bride. I held her shoulders and aggressively lifted her up. I was boiling with exasperation.

"You wanna talk?" I asked.

She nodded. Her face was flooded with tears but that was the least thing that could affect me right now.

"I don't want to get married to you. I was obviously forced into the marriage. The same goes for you." She coughed a sad chuckle.

"So? I want to get married to you." I latrated. My saliva was obviously showering her face but I didn't care and it seemed like the same was for her. "If you make tracks of this wedding, you'll ruin my stupid reputation."

"Is that all you care about?" She looked disgusted by me.

"What? It's not like I wouldn't let you go if you had said this a few weeks earlier before I announced it to the World that I'm getting married. The Press, Billionaires, Celebrities, important people are here. Do you know how this would affect my reputation? Headlines will paint me as a terrible person or a Man that assaulted his Bride-to-be and scared her away." I said, waving my hands around. "Rumours will spread."

"That's seriously what you care about?" She frowned. "I'm disgusted by you. I love someone else, someone better and more romantic than your cold-hearted self." She spat.

"Excuse me? You can never find anyone better than me." I was beyond frustrated. It was an insult to me. If I had been the one to call off the Wedding, it'd have been way better.

Right before my eyes, Lizzy walked out of the room, holding a handful of her heavy-looking wedding gown in both hands.

I took my seat on a stool, massaging the sides of my head that kept throbbing and punishing me with a serious headache. What have I done? I could've convinced her to stay, make her think I was a very loving husband— that's all shit. I didn't care about that.

"Kaiden!" Who else could've screamed that much if not my Dad. I rolled my eyes then stared at the door, waiting for him to— yeah, he was in already.

He was being aggressive with walking as he came to me. I placed one of my legs on the floor, from the stool.

"Dad, I know—"

"Why did you say such hurtful words to Elizabeth. I've always known I have a foolish son. Everyone is waiting in the hall. What do we do now?" He was pacing around me, shaking his hand as he talked.

"Dad—"

Once again, he interrupted me. "You're right." I didn't say anything, did I? "We can find a replacement bride. It's a great thing I made sure the bride's name wasn't on the Invitation cards."

"No Bride's Name?" How didn't I know that?

"Yes. I kind of knew something like this was going to happen so I made sure the bride's name wasn't on the IC, which is something you'd have known if you had checked." He said the last words through gnashed teeth.

A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter. I love you for that❤️.

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