Chapter 3: A New Kind of Business

After getting home with her things from the office, she unpacked and took the wedding invitation again, probably to check if it was all her mind playing games on her. She sat on her bed, the wedding invitation still clutched in her trembling hands. Her ex-boyfriend. Her best friend. Getting married.

She had stared at the words for an hour, reading and rereading them, as if the ink might rearrange itself into something more believable. Four years with him, and he never proposed. Six months with her, and he was ready to walk down the aisle.

It was laughable.

It was humiliating. Very humiliating!

She tossed the card onto the nightstand and curled into herself. She had already lost her job. Now, she had lost the last shred of certainty she had in her personal life.

For weeks, she drifted—drinking and sleeping too much, eating too little, avoiding calls, and ignoring texts. She had built a life around stability, control, and success. And yet, here she was, stripped of all three.

Then one day, while scrolling mindlessly through social media, something caught her eye—a high-profile influencer getting married, but not to the man everyone expected.

The caption read:

"Sometimes, love isn't the answer. Sometimes, the right partner is."

A thought struck her. A ridiculous, absurd thought.

She opened a new browser tab and started researching.

What If Marriage Was Just a Business?

Fedora had spent years closing business deals, negotiating contracts, and handling clients who needed results, not emotions.

What if marriage-or, at least, the idea of it-could be handled the same way?

People got married for different reasons: love, companionship, family expectations, social status, business mergers, and even immigration. But what about those who didn’t want love—just the illusion of it?

She knew marriage well—not because she had experienced it, but because she had seen it unfold in her family. Four siblings. Four different stories.

Her eldest sister, Vivian, had married her university sweetheart. They built a life together, balancing careers and family, raising two children in a home filled with love and laughter. They weren’t the richest, but they were partners in every sense—rooting for each other, solving problems together, and holding hands through the storms.

Then there was Melvin, the second-born, who married the woman his parents chose for him. At first, Fedora thought it was ridiculous—how could he just accept a wife chosen for him? But over the years, she watched them grow together. Respect turned into friendship, and friendship became a deep, steady love. It was practical, built on shared values rather than passion, and yet it worked.

Her third sibling, Mandy, was different. Her love story was straight out of a fairy tale—passionate, romantic, full of surprises. She and her husband traveled the world together, posted beautiful pictures on social media, and seemed to glow in each other's presence. They fought sometimes, but somehow, their love always found its way back to joy.

And then, there was Myles.

His marriage had been a disaster. What started as a whirlwind romance quickly turned into a war zone. His wife, Jemimah, had once been the love of his life, but within five years, they were strangers who barely spoke without shouting. Infidelity, financial struggles, and trust issues tore them apart.

The divorce was ugly. Two kids were left in the middle of the wreckage.

Jemimah struggled alone, working multiple jobs to provide for them because Myles—the same man who once promised forever—had completely abandoned his responsibilities. Though he was her brother, and she had meddled in his divorce with her sister-in-law, he didn't listen and chose to do things his way.

Fedora saw the pain it caused. She saw how her sister-in-law aged overnight and how her niece and nephew grew up too fast, learning early that promises didn’t always mean security.

Marriage was not just about love.

Sometimes, it was about survival. Stability. Convenience.

Not everyone had the luxury of a fairy tale. Some people just needed the right partner for the right situation.

That’s when it hit her.

She could create that.

Fedora had spent years helping businesses form the right partnerships to succeed. What if she applied that same strategy to marriage? Temporary engagements. Fake weddings. A service that provided the illusion of love when people needed it most.

People needed convenient partners. Someone to silence meddling relatives, impress conservative employers, or fake stability for their own reasons.

She wasn’t in the business of love. But she could be in the business of fixing problems.

She grabbed a notebook and began jotting down ideas.

* Temporary relationships.

* Fake engagements.

* Wedding stand-ins.

* Social credibility for the wealthy.

It sounded insane. It sounded brilliant.

And just like that, The Bridal Fix was born - amidst a life devoid of hope.

This time around, she's determined that no Tyler, Cynthia, nor Rombosco Construction Co. will take it away from her.