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"Look who's here!" I announced my arrival and stepped into what I assumed was the bride's room.
However my smile wavered away as soon as I saw the sight of the room and a weeping Lindsay, my dear friend, in the middle of it.
A worried frown occupied her face when she first looked toward the direction I walked in from, but soon recovered when she realized that it was me.
"Lindsay, what's wrong?" I asked as I rushed to her. Her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.
"I'm so glad you came," Lindsay spoke through her wobbling lips. "I really needed you."
"Tell me what the matter is." I spoke impatiently. "And why is there no one here? And where is the wedding happening?"
"In the backyard." She wobbled. "Skylar, I don't want to get married."
I was not surprised.
When she called me a couple of weeks ago saying she was going to get married to someone, I was taken aback. It came out of nowhere, and I could decipher from the tone of her voice that she wasn't happy with it.
I was aware that Lindsay's father has a better say in her matters pertaining to her personal life than she does. Everything was a matter of business to him and Lindsay has warned me several years ago that she would have to marry somebody her father chooses for her. And worst of all, that she has very little choice in the matter, if not nothing.
"I begged my father not to do this, I told him I was in love with someone else. That's why he called for the wedding early." She said, wiping her eyes with her hands. "Skylar, I don't love him. He isn't the one for me. I love someone else."
"Lindsay," I said, trying to cool her down. "If you stay here any longer, people will come looking for you. So it's better if you call your father and explain it to him before things get out of hand."
"I'm not going out there." She said, removing my hands from her shoulders. "I'm not going to get married to someone I don't love."
"I'm not asking you to get married. I'm asking you to discuss it with-"
"I'm going to run away."
My jaw almost dropped on the floor when she said that. "What?"
"I don't have a choice." She said, "Please Skylar, you need to help me."
"I can't let you make a mistake you'll regret for life." I said, trying to shake some sense into her.
"I'm not going to regret it."
"You will." I said. "Do you think running away solves the problem? It's just a temporary escape!"
"Skylar, I'm already in love with someone else. Do you think my father will listen to the end of it?
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