His Unwanted Bride

Today was our wedding day. 

D-day, big day, or whatever term other people called it. 

In fact, it was supposed to be the happiest day of my life…our lives.  

And yet the groom-to-be was nowhere to be found.

Little did I know he was on one knee in front of his supposedly dead ex-girlfriend when he should have been waiting for me at the altar as I walked down the aisle. 

Never I imagined that his haunted past would cause even the only thing we had to crumble before my eyes.

***

Margaux’s POV.

Flashes of camera, buzzing sound from the paparazzi and anxious looks from the guests filled my eyes when I started walking down the aisle.

My feet immediately stopped when I noticed one important piece was missing. 

“Where’s Clyde?” I asked the maid-of-honor the Monroes assigned for my wedding.

“Beats me,” she just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as if she didn’t care at all. 

My eyes roamed this grandeur wedding plaza  in search of him, but to no avail.

My eyes were welling up, and my legs were shaking. 

But what gave me away was a remark from the crowd, 

“Mr. Clyde Monroe was seen with another woman at Royce Palace Hotel. Let’s go!”

I felt a painful squeeze in my chest, “Clyde, of all the days, you dare do this on our wedding day?”

Tension built up in my stomach and I felt my consciousness escaping me while I watched reporters swarm around me trying to secure a big scoop. 

“Ms. Olsen, is the wedding still on?” asked one.

“Margaux Olsen, give us a statement…” said the other.

“Ms. Olsen, does he really have another woman? What are you going to do about it?”

For the first time in my life, I became the talk of the town.

When I woke up from that nightmare, I was already out of my wedding dress and was perfectly lying down in my own bed. 

“Oh, god!” I blurted out helplessly. I wanted to think it was all just a lie, but when I saw his figure sitting dominantly on that couch, I knew it was true all along.

He appeared big so I sat down in bed and quietly waited for his apology.

A whole minute passed but all I heard were the notifications from his damn phone. 

“You didn’t come to our wedding,” I started calmly. 

I noticed his eyebrows twitched and the first words I heard from him were, “Why state the obvious?” 

I clenched the blanket firmly to control my anger.

“Where have you been? Who were you with?” I asked as composed as I could.

But all I got in return was a smirk.

Unable to hold off my emotions any longer, “You…” with little energy in me, I yelled at him, “...selfish jerk!”

The tears I held for god-knows-how-long finally poured down like crazy. 

“Who is it this time?” my voice cracked but he seemed untroubled and continued scrolling up and down on his phone. 

“I, at least, have the right to know!”

I could tell he was not even paying attention to whatever’s coming out of my mouth. 

“Clyde, you knew what I sacrificed for you…for this wedding. Why?”

Yet, he remained quiet and unconcerned. 

My patience ran out so I threw a pillow at him so he could at least look at me. 

And he did look at me, to be precise, he disdainfully glared at me.

“I don’t need any of your drama,” said his domineering cold voice. 

So I lashed out in response, “Why are you doing this to me? I thought we had a connection. You were nice and all yesterday. But now…I thought you–” 

“–Know your place, woman! You were just a random babymaker to secure our bloodline.” 

***

A random babymaker!

Every word was now carved in my heart and it kept resonating far beyond. But the sad truth is, he was not wrong at all. 

I touched my belly as if I was trying to protect it.

Is that what you truly think of me?

Is that the only way you look at me, Clyde?

My thoughts were retaliating but my lips were tightly closed, not until I found the courage to speak up again, “T-Tell me, what could that woman possibly have that I don’t? Who’s that slu–” but the next thing that welcomed me was his brute strength forcing me back to bed. 

His heavy, muscular toned body mounted atop me.

It was unbearable to breathe.

Other than his dominating physique, his voice sounded like thunder, “Don’t you dare compare yourself to her! You are nothing!” 

His words may have cut deep in my heart, but his strong grip left a mark on my wrists as he pressed me against the bed.

“L-Let go of me!” I was startled. 

For the first time, I was afraid of him. 

God! Where has he been hiding all these monstrosities?

I thought it was over when he finally loosened his hold on me, but I was wrong. 

“So you think you’ll be a real Monroe?” he scoffed at me dismissively. 

He withdrew himself from the bed and stood tall on the edge of the bed, “Just because I knocked you up doesn’t mean I have interest in you.”

Then he looked at me with disdain and scorned, “I won’t even look at you!”

His insults penetrated down to my bones. “But you agreed to marry me, didn’t you? So why–” I cried but was cut off.

“–I don’t know if you are stubborn or just simply an idiot!”

Then he turned around and made a ridiculous remark, “I can easily discard you whenever I want. You are just here because of that stupid thing growing inside you.”

Rage rose inside of me, giving me the courage to stand up for myself. I charged at him, “Insult me all you want but don’t you dare talk maliciously about my child!”

“Do you really think the Monroes have approved of you?”

“They promised to protect me and our child. That’s why I agreed to marry you in the first place!” I fought back and countered him.

But he just laughed at my words and rebutted, “For all I know, they only cared about that thing inside of y–”

“A baby! A child! Our chi–!” I screamed. 

He topped my voice with dominion, “–Once you give birth, you will be out of our lives! They will raise that ‘THING’ to be my successor,” putting an emphasis to the most insulting word.

“This is your child I’m carrying!” I wailed. 

I was so fixated on not letting my child feel unwanted to the point of neglecting other factors–like the fact that I am disposable and just a mere tool after all.

My tenacious rage  just enraged Clyde even more. He threw my delicate body to the wall of the bedroom, and his eyes were locked on me. 

He sized me up and uttered, “Hadn’t you thrown yourself at me that night, we wouldn’t be in this situation. So I will call you and that ‘thing’ whatever I want.”

My tears fell uncontrollably in disbelief while his eyes lit up for no reason.

“But I will solve this for you. Terminate the pregnancy and walk out of my life,” he said it vindictively.

I covered my mouth and gasped for this turn of event. 

I could feel my face having a blood rush, yet it was nothing but anger flowing inside me. “Are you fucking out of your mind, Clyde? I will forget you even said that.”

We were in a heated conversation when all of a sudden, I heard an unfamiliar voice from our bedroom door, “You must be pretty stupid. Don’t you get it? Clyde doesn’t want you! Not here, not in his life. So why don’t you just get lost?” 

The voice was excruciatingly annoying, and though it was my first time hearing it, I knew I hated that voice. 

The silhouette finally came to light as she stepped inside my bedroom. Her body was second to none, her hair, her dress, everything about her was equally par with the likes of Clyde. 

Clyde seemed baffled by the woman’s appearance, but the tone of his voice changed as he spoke to her, “I told you to stay in the car, Beatrix. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Sorry babe, I was worried seeing her might change your mind, but I guess I have nothing to worry about,” she flirtatiously uttered while slowly clinging her arms around his waist.

I felt another tension building up around my abdomen, and a raging fire inside my heart. 

Babe! She called him, babe! 

She must be the woman that ruined my wedding.