NOTHING BUT A BAD TASTE. (✓)

01. FOREVER DON'T LAST.

( unedited )

"I DO!"

A tensing silence had befallen the church.

The loud blurt from the man with a glib mouth had caused the sanctuary, that was revered as holy, to be party to loud gasps and gossip. The tone from his throat sounded strained, almost, but was sonorant enough to command her attention. Sympathy was not borne on the face of the male intruder, nor those that bore witness, as camera lenses distended, itching to snapshot Maya and Ebén's misfortune.

Maya's face was scrunched in with bitter calm as she evaded Ebén's deep but solicitous glare that was anchored to her, in the event that she needed his support. She needed him now more than ever, but those words were not forthcoming from her lips.

"Is that...?" She couldn't finish her damn sentence but her face was as pale and pallid as a ghost.

She stood there motionless, wondering whether she had upset God for Him to do her like this.

There, he sat in the third row, attempting to unnerve her with his silent but ubiquitous eyes and a slightly arrogant slouch, posturing a man that was determined to shake her table and leave her in ruins.

Reuben Smalls, Maya mentally shuddered as she said his name, with such bitterness, such venom.

He was the single cause for her life upturning the way it had. His presence on what was supposed
to be a day of starting over, was a reminder why she learnt not to trust men in the first place. She had loved him, blind and with everything, and somehow he seemed to vilify her for it — compelling her to remain utterly faithful whilst he remained faithless. She wondered why he had come, but she knew why. The motive of his attendance wasn't to send well wishes to the happy couple, but to confuse and disrupt — something he was painfully good at.

She had spent three awfully long years sabotaging any good man that had showed any interest in her, fearing that they would fall out of love with her just as quickly as Reuben had. After years of internal work, she had finally reached the point of being over him and had started to begin her life anew.

But, seeing him here, so willing to gatecrash her happiness, brought back a flood of thoughts. She wasn't one to be rendered speechless, but right now, she hardly had any words.

Ebén noticed her shock, it was dressed on her body and her face and asked the question, "Do you need a minute, baby?" She needed way more than a minute. But a minute was what she couldn't have, as she was forced to deal with this, here and now.

Maya's plump lips were still stuck in an unintended pause; feeling the physical courses of disbelief. Today of all days, surely not? Her back was encumbered by an involuntary sag that seemed to weigh down her shoulders, leaving her usual airy voice brittle and her teeth stuck in a permanent clench even after she had closed her mouth. She was tense all over.

"Congratulations, Pooh" jested the man, but it was painstakingly obvious that he was here to offer his condolences and laud Maya's heart with what ifs.

Shock had crowned her lips with an acute stammer and she hated it, as he would be left to assume that he had been successful in disconcerting her.

"R-Reuben?"

"You look surprised to see me?" he spat out, as the entire form of his body began to sag in a cocksure slump, so uncaring and so villainous.

"I am." She grounded out with clenched teeth, surprised but equally horrified that he had picked a day like today to reappear from the shadows. Her tulle veil obscured most of her visible disgust but Reuben knew her well enough to know she was incredibly pressed, inside and out.