One

Jasmine's POV

Where was my husband to be?

I was in my pure, beautiful wedding dress and felt ashamed in front of the priest's questioning eyes.

Everyone was waiting for Jake to arrive with the rings he had claimed he wanted to pick up, but he never showed up, and the fear that he wasn't going to was beginning to taunt me.

"Ava, is there something I should know? The guests are beginning to get tired," the minister asked discreetly. No one needed to tell me; it had been over four hours. It was funny, especially since my stepmom seemed so calm, and surprisingly, Gwen, my step-sister, was absent.

That's when Sarah gasped and brought my phone.

"Is that Jake?"

Looking at her eyes, my heart fell before I took steps backward. "What is it saying, Sarah?" I heard my stepmom yell, and the others around her seemed to concur.

"Jake won't be coming here," she shakily said, gasps filling the hall; while still shaking, I snatched the phone from her hand and called him.

"Jasmine baby... Please don't tell me you are still there?" Jake asked as if he didn't have our wedding to be present before anything with a familiar voice in the background.

"Wait, you thought I was going to get married to FAT PIG like you?" he burst into laughter; my hands trembled as I clutched the phone, and slowly, the tears dropped down my eyes. "Jake? Are you okay?"

"What is going on?" I whispered in confusion while holding back my sobs.

"You're a fool for thinking I'd ever marry you," his voice sneered on the other end.

"You're nothing but a pathetic, clingy, desperate—"

"Jake, please, not today or now? I would do anything," I pleaded, falling to my knees.

"No, look at yourself in the nearest mirror. The dress you are wearing now doesn't even fit, and you want to compress me like you have compressed your belly rolls… not happening!"

"It's over. I'm done with you, and don't even bother trying to reach me."

The line went dead, leaving me stunned and humiliated.

Upon looking up, I could see everyone's pitiful stare, making me realize they had heard my call.

As Jake's words rang in, the room began to spin as I realized the truth: she'd been stood up, rejected, and betrayed. It was funny how it had been a day after I signed everything for him.

The guests' murmurs grew louder, their faces filled with pity and curiosity.

He had no right to do that to me!

With tears rolling down my eyes, I stood and heard a tear. Without caring which part of the gown had torn, I fled the altar, Sarah calling after me.

"Take me to Jake's place," I ordered my driver. Jake couldn't do this to me—at least not after making me wait five years of my life, then pampering me with love talks and singing about how he didn't care about my weight.

I looked like a mess. I could feel my mascara and mascara become smoggy because of how messy I was crying, but I didn't care!

Was this his surprise?

Jake was a monster to have done this to me!

It's incredible that after signing over my mom's company to him yesterday, I paid for the home we were to live in with him as the sole signatory and then borrowed money for the car he bought.

I had reduced myself to nothing for him. What did he do?

Dump me on our wedding day!

As I walked into the house we were both supposed to enter today, the dirt word he had called me over the phone kept ringing. Something was wrong….

Jake had never been like that, and I am confident he loved me. I dragged my dirty gown inside as so many good memories caused more tears.

There was no way; he was in his right state of mind.

I mean, he loved me. A loud giggle caused me to pause. I was sure that that voice sounded so family, and I prayed it wasn't what my heart was already screaming at me.

My heart began thumping so loud I feared he heard.

"She would be so broken, and you can't imagine how much I would kill to see her break," Jim mocked as I approached the door.

"How she could think she would end up with me…We are opposites, and to think that without me asking, she had handed me everything I wanted on a fucking platter of GOLD!"

"You did good, baby; I never knew she was so ignorant… losing her mom's property because you merely said you loved her?" a very familiar voice moved, and I almost lost my flooring as my heart missed a beat.

What was this I was hearing?

"My ignorant and, I have to say, foolish step-sister would probably be…"

"Gwen?!"

"Jake?! What the fuck is going on?"

As soon as their eyes met mine, they burst into laughter, and I felt my whole world crumble around me as their cruel laughter echoed in my ears. I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, my breath knocked out of me. The insults cut deep, each word a razor-sharp blade slicing through my heart.

"Why?" I begged, my voice shaking with tears. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Jake sneered, his eyes glinting with hate—an emotion he had never shown me. "You're just so gullible, Yas. You thought I loved you? Ha! You were just a means to an end—a way to get your money and your house."

Gwen snickered, her voice dripping with venom. "And you're so fat and ugly, no one else would ever want you, not even your mother did." My heart shattered into a million pieces, and I felt like she was drowning in a sea of despair. How could they be so cruel?

Jake's voice cut through my thoughts, his words like a death sentence. "Pack your things, Jasmine. You're no longer welcome in this house. You signed everything over to me, remember? You're nothing now."

My eyes widened in horror. I had trusted and loved Jake, and he was betraying me in the worst possible way.

"I will help her to the door, baby; I already packed up her clothes and disposed of the rest that looked like rags." Jake laughed and spanked her, causing her to giggle almost as though I wasn't there.

As she walked past me, she leaned in and whispered, "You deserve this bitch!"

The reality hit me as I rushed to him before falling down unceremoniously, "I can't do without you; I would die... please don't do this to me!" I sobbed harder, but his following words had me stunned, "Then DIE bitch!"

I let her drag me down the stairs and push me out of the gate of MY HOUSE!

Outside, the rain poured, mirroring the storm inside my heart. I stood at the side of the road with my thumb raised in a desperate escape bid as the rain soaked through my gown, which I was supposed to wed in.

Tears mingled with raindrops on my face as I cried out my pain and betrayal. The universe seemed to be conspiring against her, mocking me with cruelty.

Finally, a car stopped, and I stumbled in, but as I arrived at my parents' home, I was met with a slammed door and a hail of insults.

"You won't be entering this house, Jasmine," my stepmom yelled while standing at the door.

"Please... Today..."

"It has been nothing but an embarrassment, and it is all because you are so stubborn... Your dad asked you to make him the signatory, but you... you had to make us go through Jake."

"You're a disappointment!" The tears flowed down as I didn't dare raise my head; all I could hear were their words, each forming a heap.

"You're a failure, Jasmine!" my father's voice boomed, and without saying anything, he left me still standing under the rain.

My stepmom's voice said, "You're just like your mom, always making poor choices!"

"Gwen had always been his; you were just too blind. In case they did tell you, she is pregnant! So you should go far away to where you blog, the gutters, or better still, die! The world would be a better place."

My fragile heart, already shattered by Jake's betrayal, was further crushed by my parent's rejection. The people who should have loved and supported her unconditionally instead chose to inflict more pain.

With their thoughts ringing repeatedly, I found myself standing at the edge of the bridge. The river below seemed to call to me.

A disappointment

Gwen pregnancy!

Fat Pig!

Pathetic! Clingy!

Those words made jumping seem much more effortless. I did nothing to deserve this level of embarrassment and betrayal.

DIE BITCH!!. These words kept chanting in my head.

Without hesitation, I jumped, the onlookers' screams and shouts fading into the distance as I plummeted towards the water. The impact was swift, the river's icy embrace enveloping me.

I felt a sense of peace as the water closed over my head.

"Jasmine..." I heard someone call, but it was too late; I chose this darkness.