Chapter 3

After her fifth call with no answer from her fiancé, Rakia’s frustration reached its maximum. She squeezed her phone like she was going to crush it. She was furious with Ben, who never answered her phone and replied to her messages; she wanted to ask the man to explain the photo she found yesterday on one of the man’s social media. Lizzy opened the door to the room currently occupied by Rakia. Since yesterday, she has asked her poor friend to move into her house and live temporarily until she legally becomes someone else’s wife.

“Why? Have you managed to call Ben yet?” asked Lizzy in the doorway, her hand still perched on the hinge. Rakia shook her head in frustration. She brushed her hair in a state she bowed deeply. Lizzy joined her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Want me to contact him?” Lizzy offered, suddenly making Rakia raise her head and stare at Lizzy while nodding. She was ready to cry but managed to hold it in by biting her lip. Just as Lizzy was about to move to pick up her cell phone, Rakia’s cell phone rang an unfamiliar number. Rakia quickly picked it up and hoped it was Ben.

“Yes, Hello,” said Rakia.

“Hello, good night, right with Miss Rakia Adeline?”

“Yeah, right. Who am I talking to?”

“We, from the wedding organizer planning to handle your wedding, would like to confirm that Mr Benjamin Hudson has cancelled working with us; he asked us to confirm this to you.”

It was as if her world just collapsed at that moment. Rakia could only remain silent with a tense face.

“Thank you for your time, and good night.”

The conversation ended without Rakia responding to the caller’s farewell greeting.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Lizzy was confused when her best friend suddenly turned into a stone statue.

“Ben...” Rakia seemed to have lost half of her life now. Lizzy waited with confusion and curiosity. Then Rakia’s tears broke out; she covered her face and collapsed onto Lizzy’s shoulder.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you? Why? Accident?” Asked Lizzy with questions.

“Ben cancelled our wedding,” Rakia said between her tears.

“What?” Lizzy said that in a half-whispered voice and couldn’t believe it.

“Son of a bitch!” Lizzy cursed then. She hugged her and tried to calm her down. Rakia can only cry while her mind remembers Ben’s recent treatment. Starting with the man telling her he was going to Brazil suddenly, the communication slowly diminished until he finally got dumped. Rakia got up from Lizzy’s shoulder with a face wet with tears. She stared at her hands, whose fingers she twisted with slow and nervous movements.

“I’ll leave you alone,” said Lizzy, who tried to give space to Rakia to calm down. Before Lizzy left, Rakia quickly caught one of the woman’s hands.

“No, you stay here. I get sadder when I’m alone.” Rakia lifted her face, wiped her tears with her other hand, and tried to stop her sobs. Her heart was in a lot of pain right now; maybe if it were in the form of a human, it would look battered because it was hit here and there.

“I thought Ben was a man who would accompany me to spend the rest of my life in this world; after all we’ve been through, he managed to convince me that he is a man who keeps his promises, but the reality is not so,” Rakia spoke after she regained her composure. Her eyes were moist.

“Am I to blame for this bad fate? Am I the reason Ben left, chose another woman, and had the heart to do this hurtful thing to me?” The question seemed to add to his heartache, and she wanted to cry again, but she tried to hold it back.

“People change for various reasons; Ben must have a reason why he did this cruel thing; regardless of whether it’s a good or bad deed, there must be a reason behind why someone did it.” Lizzy took Rakia’s hand and held it.

“You don’t need to blame yourself first; I’ll try to call Ben to ask him to contact you,” Lizzy continued. Rakia lifted her face and looked up at the ceiling to drive away the tears in her eyes; a few drops managed to spill down her face. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. Although it can only slightly reduce the shaky scales, it is worth a try. Rakia turned to look at Lizzy.

“If he calls me later, I will say goodbye to him; even if he doesn’t tell me the reason for doing this, I won’t insist; sometimes painful things don’t need to be known.”

Lizzy smiled sadly, seeing her best friend trying to be strong in accepting this bitter reality. She knew her wound wouldn’t heal any time soon. Being dumped while still being sad is a heavy blow.

“Sleep, you need rest.” Lizzy caressed Rakia’s hair before leaving her best friend.

“Hey, can I have some cheesecake in the fridge?” asked Rakia, intending to ask permission to eat her friend’s favorite cake. Lizzy smiled and nodded.

“You need energy to be sad,” she said, to which Rakia responded with an expression between sad and happy. She followed Lizzy out of the room before the woman closed the door. Opening the refrigerator, Rakia looked at the cheesecake with a triangular piece that was quite large. She can’t wait to eat the cake; it must refresh her dry mouth and throat after crying. She left the kitchen with a plate of cake in her hand. As she passed Lizzy’s study, she stopped, turned towards the room, and opened the door. She stared at her wedding dress hanging on a hanger, still wrapped in grey plastic; only the bottom tassel was visible. Rakia stepped deeper into the dress; she put the cake she brought on Lizzy’s work table and took the dress from its place. Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind about the dress. She grabbed the cake she had kept on the table and walked into the backyard, which was not so wide but very neatly arranged by Lizzy. Her friend has expertise in managing plants but prefers a career as a web designer. Her talent for caring for plants has been seen since they were still in high school. During that time, they formed a friendship. She had different majors in college, but Rakia didn’t use that as an excuse to reduce her communication with Lizzy. So did Lizzy, who finally agreed to board at the same place.

Rakia opened the backyard door through the small kitchen. The moonlight was bright tonight, and the two garden lights provided ample light. Lizzy secured her cake on the dining table and returned inside the house to retrieve the coat hanger where she had placed the dress. Then Rakia put the dress in the middle of the backyard, already hanging in place.

“What are you doing?” Lizzy came when Rakia was just about to enter the kitchen.

“I’m going to put on a show; want to watch me?” Rakia looked at Lizzy enthusiastically, who looked even more confused. Rakia passed Lizzy into the kitchen and onto the room she had in this house to get her cell phone, stopped briefly in the kitchen to get lighter, and returned to the backyard. Lizzy stood waiting on the little porch that separated the backyard from the back of the kitchen. Rakia opened her social media and the camera to start the live broadcast. She trotted over to Lizzy.

“You’re the cameraman for tonight’s show,” Rakia said, handing over her cell phone.

“When I say start, start the live broadcast,” Rakia instructed as she stood by her wedding dress. Lizzy nodded and gave a thumbs-up. Rakia got ready and thought about what she would say on the live broadcast this time. Her experience as a journalist makes it easy for her to face the camera.

“Move forward a bit, Liz; it’s too far out there not to see me.” Rakia gave a suggestion. Lizzy complied and stepped into the backyard area with neat synthetic grass. Rakia motioned for Lizzy to stop after feeling her position was perfect for taking her picture. Then Rakia was called to start recording. She was intelligent at stringing words with the proper expression even though her eyes were puffy, but she didn’t care. Lizzy enjoyed her best friend babbling through the cellphone screen. As Rakia was about to start the show, Lizzy was wide-eyed when Rakia crouched near one hem of her dress, lit a lighter, and started burning the hem. The fire slowly grew, engulfed the dress below, and spread to the top.

“Enjoy the show!” closed Rakia before disappearing from the camera’s glare. She joined Lizzy’s side to watch the dress burn through her cellphone screen. Some comments from people who watched the live broadcast began to appear. Within minutes, the number of viewers for the live broadcast increased, and comments from netizens continued to appear. Rakia felt something was missing from the show until she got up to take a chair and her cheesecake, which had been forgotten. She dragged a chair and put it within reach of her cellphone camera, then sat there and watched the dress burn while enjoying a large piece of refreshing cold cheesecake.