Guilty

Juliette

"Okay, how's everything feeling?" The bridal assistant asks me, as she tucks the veil into my hair.

"Everything feels good actually," I say to her.

"Okay, we'll just get you to walk out of this room and step into the main part of the shop so you can look at yourself from all angles," She explains to me, as she lifts the train of my dress and prompts me to walk.

I have no idea what I look like, I'm not sure why but I'm nervous. The dress is beautiful, I've seen it on numerous occasions on Emery. And luckily, it fits perfectly.

I walk outside and step up on the tiny raised panel as I watch myself in the mirror. My breath hitches as I look at myself, I do look bridal. It's not my dress, or one I'd have picked for me but a wedding dress is still a wedding dress.

My cheeks heat at the thought of me standing here one day, wearing the dress I had always dreamt of.

"You're fiance is here," The assistant says, glancing behind her. I raise my eyes in the mirror and freeze when I see Zane walk into the boutique.

He's focused on his phone as he strolls into the room. He's wearing a suit, with a silver watch on his wrist. My heart races as I look at him, he looks almost edible.

No longer a devil in disguise, but instead a regal prince. Zane Ivory has long since stepped out from the shadows, he now stuns in a beam of light.

He looks up from his phone and those stormy eyes immediately catch mine, I have the misfortune of watching his expression as he takes in my appearance. His mouth falls open as he stares at me.

And then I realised, you could be homesick for people to.

Because I was suddenly overcome with the realisation that I wanted to be standing here in my own dress and I wanted Zane to be in a tux because he was a groom. And we were engaged and deliriously stupidly happy and in love.

Instead, we were miles apart from one another. Broken and ruined with violence and lies and deception. And I had very little faith we'd be able to claw our way back to one another.

"How does she look?" The assistant asks, smiling at Zane as he briefly slides his gaze to her.

"You look like the rest of my life," He says, grounding his jaw before turning on his heel and walking away from me. My stomach drops and I lift my dress, walking after him.

"Zane," I call out, the sound of my voice stops him in his tracks immediately.

"This feels like a cruel, demented joke," He says, eyes raking over me. I crack him half a smile as I nod in agreement.

"The universe doesn't seem to like us very much, does it?" I ask him, looking down at the floor as I blink back the tears swelling in my eyes.

This all felt like a tragic, shattered fairytale.

And before I can breathe or finish my thought I feel Zane's hands on my chim as he tilts my chin up to look at him. And then he's pressing his lips to mine.

Softly, like a secret or the ghost of a memory.

He pulls away almost as quickly as he kisses me, "I had to kiss you in a wedding dress once."

And then he's walking away from me, dissapearing around a corner and I wipe the tears from my eyes.

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I walk around central park, letting Kevin off the lead so he can run around freely as I sit on a bench watching him. Today is a pretty hard day, I'm always grateful to know I can survive it but my heart always hurts today.