Lahat ng Kabanata ng Petals in the Wind: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

Jeannie froze.Her eyes filled with tears, as though she never expected me to say something like that.Almost immediately, Eugene stepped in front of her."Melissa, Jeannie has been living overseas for years. She is just used to dressing like this."You are reading too much into it."I watched him shield her, and the whole thing suddenly felt absurd.Of course I knew Jeannie had studied abroad. I had been the one who sent her there.Back then, she could not gather enough money for her first year of tuition. I gave her every cent I had saved for two years so she could go. The day we said goodbye at the airport, Jeannie clung to me and cried so hard she could barely stand."Melissa, you are the best friend I will ever have."When I come back, I will be your maid of honor."Later, Eugene started traveling overseas for business all the time. I even asked him for a favor."Jeannie is all alone over there. She does not know anyone."If you have time, could you check on her for me

On the day of the wedding, I arrived at the hotel right on schedule.As the makeup artist finished my makeup, she smiled warmly."Ms. Smith, you look absolutely beautiful today."I looked at my reflection in the mirror.I truly looked like a bride eagerly waiting to marry the love of her life.However, I was the only one who knew the truth. I was not there to marry Eugene. I had come to give him and Jeannie the greatest gift of their lives.The makeup artist reached for my veil, then suddenly stopped."Ms. Smith, this veil..."I looked up.One corner of the veil was wrinkled. There was a faint smear of lipstick on it.My fingers clenched instantly.This veil had been sewn by my mother during the final days of her life.By then, she was already so weak she could barely hold a needle. Her hands shook constantly.Even so, she sat up in her hospital bed and spent an entire month carefully sewing every pearl and every tiny silk rose onto the edge of the veil.She had smiled an

Jeannie’s tears spilled down her face. She stumbled toward me and stopped right in front of me."Melissa, it is not what you think. I did not mean for any of this to happen."I never wanted to hurt you."I looked down at her."You did not mean to?"You showed up at my house wearing a spaghetti‑strap nightgown and used my bath towel. Was that an accident too?"You put on the veil my mother left me and got intimate with my groom in the bridal suite. Was that an accident as well?"With every sentence I spoke, Jeannie’s face grew paler. Her mouth opened and closed, yet no words came out.Eugene finally rushed back onto the stage and reached for my arm."Melissa, calm down. We have shown enough. Let us go downstairs and talk."I shook his hand off."Talk downstairs?"When you held her in that room, did you think about talking downstairs?"When you pinned the veil my mother left me beneath your bodies, did you think about talking downstairs?"Eugene froze.His eyes turned red,

Afterward, that wedding became the talk of everyone who attended.The Shaw family officially announced that the wedding was canceled, and the reception was called off as well.That very afternoon, Eugene’s mother arranged for every wedding gift the guests brought to be returned one by one. She never tried to make excuses for Eugene. Instead, she spent every phone call apologizing over and over."This is all our fault."We are truly sorry for putting everyone through this."I later heard that when Eugene got home, his father slapped him hard across the face. It was not because the wedding fell apart, but because several business partners saw the video.By that very night, they already canceled projects that were on the verge of being finalized. To everyone else, Eugene had always been the perfect gentleman. Kind. Steady. Respectable. Now, however, whenever people mentioned his name, the first thing that came to mind was the video of him with the maid of honor in the bridal suite