Arabella drank the remaining drink of hers and turned her head to look beside her. There, her best friend Andrea had passed out.
Though she was still in her wedding suit, no one could say she had married today. Her dark brown hair was in a mess and her makeup was smudged all over her face. Blame it on the alcohol but Arabella had already cursed her best friend several times.
No matter how precious Andrea was to her, she couldn't deny her obsession with perfection. And now, she had really done it.
Marrying an alpha? And the stranger at the top of it all?
She rubbed her temples as she felt a headache. Not because of the alcohol, of course. She hadn't drunk much, just enough such that she wouldn't lash out at Andrea.
On the other, Angelica—
As she was thinking of her best friend's fiancé—ex-fiancé? Suddenly, her phone vibrated in her purse and when she took it out, a deep frown appeared on her beautiful face.
There was a name displayed on her screen that read as
...Angel.
As soon as she picked up her phone, a cheerful voice resounded from her phone.
–Ellllaaaa!
And after that, she heard her laughter with the loud music coming from the background.
"What are you doing, Angelica?"
Yes, it was her best friend's ex-fiancée, Angelica Bell. But why was she calling Arabella, then?
–I heard she married someone else?
She kept laughing and it was enough for Arabella to know that she was drunk too.
–So, I got replaced again. Hehe, are you also with her right now? Will you also not come if I ask you to come to me?
This was the reason why Arabella felt the headache. She looked at Andrea and again massaged her temples and against her will, she replied.
"Send me the address."
If Andrea wanted perfection, then Angelica needed reassurance. And just to do it, she was more than ready to settle with even the disastrous situation.
She should have said something when they started to date, because they were like oil and water.
And anyway, right now, she would do something like that—disastrous—and Arabella had had enough of that for today.
–Come quickly,...sister.
At the end, her cheerful voice turned soft before she ended the call.
Arabella inhaled deeply before letting the air out from her mouth as she glanced at Andrea with seriousness.
***
Ahh, too cold.
I hugged the sheet tightly as I felt cold wind on my skin.
I had just woken up from the shock of a very dreadful dream about me marrying an alpha.
"Damnit, an alpha?"
I mumbled with a sneer before suddenly opening my eyes.
Strange bed, strange room...
And, the same white clothes. Fuck, that wasn't a dream? Then, why was I sleeping on a strange bed? With my clothes on, no less?
It took some time but after I saw the message from Ella about how she was the one to take me to the hotel after I passed out, I sighed in relief.
The deed hadn't been done yet, thank God. And then I saw the time.
"Oh, crap..."
Quickly getting out of the bed, I rushed to the bathroom. I didn't know what I did to make myself look presentable and quickly run back to the hotel as soon as possible. Did my appearance really matter at this point? No...
Because after the wedding night, I had planned on going on the honeymoon with my newlywed wife and right now, there would be a car waiting at the hotel that I prebooked. So, if people were to find out that I didn't spend the night with my wife then...
No, no,
I didn't know when I arrived but there was still no sign of any car and after I peeked inside the hotel, the atmosphere was also peaceful.
Did I arrive early? No, I had already passed the time I had given for the booking. So, what? Did my—
As I was secretly watching the people inside the room, a hand landed on my shoulder.
I flinched and quickly turned around.
"What are you doing?"
There, a girl with dark brown hair trimmed just to hang above her shoulder was looking at me from head to toe. If someone were to see both of us, they would soon find some resemblance between us.
"My god, Clara. What are you doing?"
It was my younger sister, Clara.
Anyway, that gave me a fright and I put my hand on my chest to calm my rapidly beating heart.
"Me? I don't know. But what are you doing?"
Though she asked that question, there was no interest in her eyes. She even looked bored.
She usually had no interest in me, so thank God it was her.
"Nothing. But do you know if a car came looking for me?"
She raised her head in confusion but quickly replied after remembering.
"Oh, yeah, it did. Ella said to send it away."
"Hmm? Ella is here?"
Listening to Ella's name, I remember to thank her but...
"No, she is not. I called her when Mom told me to not disturb you."
She chuckled and suddenly showed a little interest after thinking how I should not be here—maybe.
"By the way, why are you looking like that? Did my sister-in-law run away or something?"
Akhh!
That was really brutal...
A shudder ran down my spine as I froze for a moment. Then after glaring at her, I smack her back before scolding her.
"N—no, she is not. And don't say such things, you brat,....and mind your own business."
She hissed from pain and I felt like she didn't believe me, but like I said, she soon lost interest.
"Alright."
Though she had just said that in a joke, it was enough to give other people an idea. So, better keep her quiet.
Anyway, she turned around and headed inside the reception hall, where several guests were sitting and chatting with each other and among them was also my mother.
"Mom, I found Sis."
What the—?
My breath stuck in my throat as Clara shouted in the reception and soon I could feel several eyes on me, even though I was not in their sight.
"Hmm? ...Rea? ...What happened?"
And then suddenly I heard my mother's voice coming from the inside. And despite my blood boiling, I forced myself to enter with a smile.
"H—hey, Mom, did you sleep well last night?"
What a stupid question…
My mother's eyes widened as she looked at me. Quickly, she came close to me and put her hand on my forehead.
"Are you okay? Did you have a fever?"
No, I was not okay. But also I didn't have a fever. Why would I have a fever, though?
After feeling my forehead, she sighed.
"I guess you are okay. But..."
And then she looked at my state.
"Why are you here? Like this? And is Angelica okay?"
Angelica? I got confused for a second but understood—she was talking about my substitute bride but my mother's face was filled with genuine worry. Not for me but for my newlywed wife...
Did something happen to her?
"I am fine. But what happened to Angelica?"
"Hmm?"
With all of the things happening, I completely forgot about the most important thing about a marriage...
"What do you mean, 'What happened?' Didn't you mark her?"
Yes, Marking.
Honestly, I had done everything by myself, so there was no one to tell me about these things. I doubt if I were to marry the real Angelica, I would still remember to mark her. Maybe she would—but what did that matter now?
"Do you know how worried I was when I heard Angelica is an Alpha? But thank God, you decided to mark her at least."
"What? I did not..."
Marking wasn't something I could do with the stranger and definitely not someone who I didn't even know the name of...
Seeing me refusing in a loud voice, my mother flinched back in surprise.
Right. But my mother was probably thinking she was the love of my life as I had told her before. And there was also her finding out about that woman being an alpha.
I nervously scratch the back of my head with an awkward laugh as I explain—lie.
"…Y—yet. Our honeymoon will get ruined...so, w—we decided to...not do that yet."
This was the first time in my life that I was doing something that I didn't plan before. Now that I think about it, there were many things that happened such as this.
"Right."
My mother nodded and I decided to leave—I didn't know how much longer I could keep up. But as I was heading to the bridal room, my mother called me out.
"Oh, Rea, could you also bring the marriage certificate? I asked the officiant but he said that the bride had taken it."
Hmm, Marriage Certificate? Why would I take that thing of all things? But I didn't say anything to Mom.
First of all, I needed to get out of here as I saw some people started to come my way. And I started walking, only stopping when I was standing in front of the bridal room.
I took a deep breath as I prepared to head inside and knock on the door.
Nothing. No reply came at my first knock and then I knocked again.
Was she still sleeping? After the third knock I headed inside and what appeared before my eyes was a clean room with no sign of that woman.
I searched the room thoroughly and also checked the bathroom but she was nowhere to be found.
It took me some time but I realized that I wasn't the only bride that could have taken that marriage certificate. And after my fiancè, my wife—now—had also run away with our marriage certificate.