Branch One

"What do you possibly mean by that?" Jessica asked. She had been arguing in front of the courthouse over the phone for the last ten minutes.

Today was her wedding day. She and her high school sweetheart, Burke, were supposed to meet up here by ten-thirty a.m. to have their wedding.

"Burke, it is ten forty-five a.m. Where are you?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Jessica, I won't be coming today," Burke said.

"What do you mean by that? We are to get married today," she said again. This time, she felt something trickling down her eyes. She sniffled to drive away the tears so her makeup didn't get ruined.

"Jessica, I don't think I love you enough to want to get married to you and live together in the same house," he said. She felt her heart sink.

They had been planning the wedding together ever since he popped the question. He knew of her dream to get married and live in a house that had a yard for the kids to play in. He had no house with a yard, but they planned to get one.

"I won't force you to get a house with a yard," she said. Probably the financial burden was getting too much for him. The reason for the low-key wedding was because of the finances. They were both not rich, but if they joined hands together, they could live comfortably.

Because they were both orphans, they had no one to invite to the private wedding. They planned to do a private wedding and tell their friends later.

"Burke, honey, aren't you going to join me?" a voice echoed from inside the room. Jessica knew that the voice sounded familiar; she just couldn't place it at the moment.

"Who is that?" Jessica said in a muffled scream.

"Are you beginning to hear things?" Burke asked her.

Jessica knew quite all right that she heard a familiar voice. She knew that voice. That was her best friend's voice.

"Is that Emma?" she asked, this time tears falling from the second eye.

"Why would Emma be here?" Burke asked.

Jessica had always been suspicious of her friend and her boyfriend, and finally, the suspicions were proving to be true.

"Jessica, go home and I would come to meet you at night," he said.

"I would wait here till you get here," Jessica said. Her voice was pleading. "I would forgive you even if you cheated on me. Please, just come over. Do not embarrass me," she added, begging.

"Okay, yes, Emma is here, and you know what, Jessica? It is over between us. I can't marry you or stay with you. Let's just break up here," he said.

"No, please," Jessica begged, her face now drenched with tears. Her pleas were met with empty silence. Burke had cut off the call.

Jessica yanked the phone from her ears and decided to call again, but she now discovered it wasn't going through. Burke had blocked her line.

She squatted right at the front of the courthouse. She did not care if people were watching her. She just had her heart yanked out and broken into several pieces and handed to her.

She cried her eyes out but couldn't help but overhear the conversation of the man who was standing less than a foot away from her.