The Fake Engagement

1

The clock ticked as time moved in the city of New York. A grand cathedral was decorated and adorned for a wedding. White lilies were decorated on the aisle and the walls of the church as guests walked in and they all bristled with happiness. The air was filled with excitement for the big day. The guests started coming into the church filling up the church.

Victoria, the bride of the day, walked into the church with her father next to her, dressed in a beautiful white dress. She looked like a fairy as she walked with elegance as she moved. Her hands moved nervously as she held the bouquet of roses as time slowly began to pass by.

Her groom and husband had still not shown up at the wedding and time was passing by. Her best friend and bridesmaid, Evie, was also late too. She wondered where the two of them could be. How could they be late on such an important occasion.

The doors of the church suddenly flew open, and all the guests turned to see who it was. All eyes turned towards the door, but it wasn't Levi who appeared. Instead, it was Anthony, the best man, and her brother—his tuxedo looked disheveled, and his eyes were wide with panic. His breath came in rapid succession as he stumbled towards the altar.

"Victoria," he panted. “I am so sorry, but Levi... he's gone.

The world spiraled around her, and she suddenly felt weak. “No, this can't be happening. He wouldn't abandon me. I don't believe this,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

“It's true, see he left a note. He said he didn't love you enough to go through with the wedding." He gave the letter he was holding to her, and she recognized Levi's handwriting.

“I can't marry you, Victoria. I love someone else. Please forgive me.”

She could never forget his handwriting. it was definitely Levi's and he had written it. The pain suddenly came crashing down on her as it dawned on her that Levi had just abandoned her. Tears trickled down her face and she fell down to the ground. The guests watched, looking at her with pity.

“Where has it all gone wrong?" she wondered.

Victoria and Levi had first met as sophomores in college and had quickly became close. He'd asked her out a couple of months later and they'd been dating ever since. They were so close to each other that they were often voted as the most likely couple to get married to each other after college.

Victoria had gotten a very good job as soon as she'd graduated from college and they both moved to New York to start a new chapter of their life together. After so many years of dating, he'd finally proposed to her and Victoria had been so excited about it. Everything was going just as she'd expected, so what had suddenly gone wrong between them?

During the past few weeks leading to their wedding, he'd been acting really distracted and was always on his phone. At the time she'd thought that he was just having problems at work he didn't want to share with her so she'd overlooked it. How naive was she?

Victoria felt warm hands wrap around her, hugging her. It was her father. He pulled her towards him, wiping her tears. Her brothers all stood behind him, offering silent support.

“It was all her fault," she blamed herself. Her brothers had warned her not to rush into marriage yet, but she had ignored their warnings. Now she regretted it. The only thing left to do now was to leave with the rest of her dignity intact. She stood up, gathering her strength; she straightened her back and faced the guests, her voice remained steady.

“I am sorry for wasting your time. Please go home; the wedding is over.

The guests dispersed into groups, whispering in hushed tones. After that, everything else passed in a blur. Her brothers took care of everything. They brought her to a hotel to rest because she didn't want to go to the apartment she shared with Levi. Finally alone in her room, the tears came rushing down, and she cried all through the night.

The next morning, she woke up feeling sore all over her body due to lack of sleep, and she felt extremely tired. Her phone rang beside her, and she picked it up.

“I know where your fiance is. If you want to find out what he has been doing behind your back, come to Royalty Hotel Room 103, and you will see," a female voice said to her. She looked at her phone, it was not an unknown number .

“What do you mean?, look if this is a prank call I don't have the energy for any jokes right now” Victoria responded in anger. But the person had already disconnected the call before she could say more.