How to break a heart

Chapter one

Today is the perfect day to start my day. It's the start of my new life. As a child, I always dreamed of having a big white wedding. I would have three little girls as bridesmaids, and my future husband would be waiting at the altar with a big smile, and that sparkle in his teeth. Mark is what I can explain as my dream husband.

"Oh, my only daughter is getting married," my stepmother cries. My dad put his arms around her and glanced over at my mom, who shook her head slowly and covered her mouth, not to laugh.

Mom and dad broke up when I was twelve. They had continuous fights and said that they're breaking up to give me a better life. I knew there was something more to it, of course. So they hated each other since then. Mom never remarried, but dad did. Perhaps that's why it took me so long to get married as well. I'm twenty nine, and I'm only getting married now. They say children learn from the mistakes of their parents, what if we're so scared of making them that we never learn?

"Oh, calm her down, Garth," mom says, annoyed to my dad and approached me. I inhale deeply and turn to mom. We look very much alike. Mom says it's a good thing I didn't inherit the genes on dad's side. Guess if I did, I'd at least would've been grandma Gertude's favorite. All my cousins won that spot. "Oh sweetheart, you look absolutely beautiful."

"As do you," I smile at mom. Her curly blonde hair is clipped up, and she's wearing a peachy pink dress. "Now, let's get going. I don't want Mark waiting on me."

"Rose, we have a slight bit of a problem," one of my bridesmaids says, bursting into the room. Right, so my bridesmaids are a little too old to be little girls, which I would've preferred. "Mark's not here yet, and one of the bridesmaids is missing."

"Mark was here just an hour ago," dad says with an odd look.

"He's probably around taking a break before the ceremony," Eileen, my stepmother, says and takes a tissue from her breasts and blows out her nose. Nervously, I look at mom, who seems a little scared for me. When she doesn't look right, nothing is right. Her eyes fall on mine. Quickly, she fakes a smile and touches me cheek.

"I'm going to take a break as well," I say with a little smile and look at Shirley, my bridesmaid. She nods slowly and gives her arm. I push my arm in hers and inhale deeply. My head is turning a little, and my mind is filled with many thoughts. "I hope he didn't get cold feet."

"Oh, he didn't," mom says. I look at her, who looks out the window. My heart starts beating fast. Angrily, she starts running down. Before I knew it, everyone started following her. I happen to be the very last one. Like an angry mob, we storm into the chapel. I go dead in my feet and look horrified at Mark.

"One woman not enough for you?" Mom asks him and grabs his clothes. No wonder this woman is still single. "Are you fucking serious now?"

Mark looks horrified at everyone that started yelling at him. My heart is beating heavily against my chest, till such an extent I can barely breathe. He's cheating on me. This is not the first time, and yet I'm still surprised. I look at my bridesmaid, Natascha, who came in looking horrified at everyone. Oh my gosh, it's her.
Suddenly, it all goes quiet. I look in front of me at everyone who looks at me.

"Baby..." he put his hands out to touch my shoulders.

"You're cheating on me with her?" I ask and grab my mouth. My heart breaks all over again. Well, you can never change a leopard's spots, can you? "She's my friend!"

"Rose, darling, this is all a big misunderstanding," he tries to defend himself.

"A big misunderstanding?" Mom asks him angrily. "You pulling up your pants while getting out of the backseat of the car you and your wife are supposed to be leaving in with one of her bridesmaids is a misunderstanding?"

"It didn't mean anything!"

"You piece of shit!" Dad was about to go off on him, but Eileen immediately grabbed him to stop him.

"Mark, I gave everything to you. I spend most of my life with you. I gave up my dreams, man! How dare you cheat on me for the millionth time and tell me that it meant nothing. Obviously, it meant something if you're gonna keep hurting me like this," I cry and start approaching him. Oh, I feel like ripping his face off his body, hitting the shit out of him, and celebrating in jail.

"This is not the first time?" Mom asks, giving me a faint look.

"Yeah, and keep out of it, both of you," I tell my parents. "That's why I could never talk to you about anything in this life. You only looked for the reasons to leave. I looked for the reasons to stay, but I'm stupid and naive." I shake my head with tears in my eyes and stop in front of Mark. "Thinking I can change you and make you choose me. I always make myself beautiful just so that you can compliment me and make me feel worthy, like I'm important to you and that I mean something to you. You know what? Go fuck yourself, you selfish, narcissistic little bitch."

I look him dead in the eyes and push him away from me.

"I'm sorry," Mark tries to apologize again. I step out of the way and look over at Natascha. Scared, she fiddles with her fingers and just stares at us. "Babe..."

"She's done talking to you, sir," Sherley says and takes the flowers from her dress and throws them out on him. "Congratulations on fucking our best friend. You may leave now."

Mark looks embarrassed around him before leaving. I watch him leave along with Natascha. Mom immediately took me into her arms.

"You don't need that. Men are idiots," mom comforts me.

"Not all men," dad corrects her.

"Oh, of course you're not you big mouth!" Mom gets back at him. I pull away from her looking painfully at them. I'm so sick and tired of them always fighting especially in times like these.

"I hate to say this, but Rachel is right," Eileen says, giving Garth a serious look. "You're not any perfect, Garth."

"Well, thank you for that, Eileen," Dad mutters and looks at me. I inhale deeply and look at everyone who was already seated in the church whispering underneath each other. I raise an eyebrow and look at mom.

"So what now?" Sherley asks. I inhale deeply and wipe my tears off. Mom grabs a napkin from her pocket and uses it to wipe under my eyes so that I don't stain my hands with the make-up.

"We didn't waste all the money just to walk away and move on with my life," I reply and look at my mother. "No, let's go to the venu and get drunk."

"Oh, I'm so in," mom says and claps her hands, grabbing Shirley's hand. "Come on."

"Wait, are we really just going to ignore the fact that your wedding is ruined?" Eileen asks. I swear this woman suffers from multi personality. Whatever she suffers from, I'm sure dad still loves her. "Shouldn't we be organizing counseling for her?"

"Sweetheart, the best counseling a brokenhearted woman can get is to get drunk with a slutty friend and a responsible person," mom says to her and grab my hand. "The slut already ran off with her fiancé and Shirley is responsible. So tonight I'll be replacing the slutty friend and we can regret this tomorrow."

"Mom," I gasp and look horrified at the priest that stood in the front with eyes stretched wide open. "I'm so sorry."

"Come on, let's get out of here," mom says and drags us out. "I hate weddings anyway."