Just an Hour Before the Wedding, the Bride Read a Text on His Phone and Froze… But Her Answer at the Altar Left Everyone in Tears!
Maddie remained frozen in the middle of their spacious
Maddie remained frozen in the middle of their spacious, sunlit bedroom, as if she had suddenly been paralyzed by a potent poison. In her pale, trembling hands, she gripped that wretched blouse so tightly her knuckles turned a stark, ghostly white. The fabric was weightless, almost totally transparent, and beautifully decorated with a tiny, incredibly delicate floral pattern. A deafening, roaring buzz instantly rose in her head, as if an entire, furious swarm of wild hornets had suddenly taken up residence right inside her skull, aggressively pushing out all rational, logical thoughts.
She mechanically fingered the soft, expensive fabric, desperately and vainly trying to find at least some logical, innocent explanation for how this could have possibly ended up here. Her panicked brain feverishly sorted through the options. This was definitely not her piece of clothing — she absolutely despised such overly romantic, frilly styles. It wasn’t her late mother’s vintage blouse, and it certainly wasn’t Olivia’s, since her best friend strictly preferred much more practical, sporty, and casual clothes. Whose was it, then?
Suddenly, the heavy wooden door of the bathroom clicked open with a dull thud, releasing a thick, billowing cloud of warm steam into the cool bedroom. Nate stepped out, vigorously rubbing his wet, dark hair with a fluffy white towel. Seeing Maddie standing completely motionless in the center of the room with the strange item clutched in her hands, he looked genuinely surprised for a fleeting, almost imperceptible fraction of a second. His dark eyebrows twitched slightly, but a mere moment later, his handsome face melted back into his usual, familiar, self-assured smile.
— What, are you actually jealous of me
— What, are you actually jealous of me? You know, that’s actually kind of sweet, I’m flattered, — he tossed out casually, with the effortless, breezy lightness of someone simply discussing tomorrow’s weather forecast. — Oh, don’t let it get to your head, babe. That’s probably just my sister’s top. You see, things in Louisville were so incredibly chaotic, I had to pack my stuff in a massive hurry, just throwing things into the suitcase randomly. Looks like I accidentally grabbed it along with my own shirts. So please, don’t invent unnecessary drama where there is none.
He calmly walked closer, briefly and dryly pecked her on her freezing cold cheek, and, without waiting for any sort of verbal response, headed straight for the unmade bed. Nate muttered something quietly under his breath about how thoroughly the long highway drive had exhausted him and how badly his feet ached. But Maddie just remained standing in the exact same spot, convulsively clutching the strange, floral blouse in her trembling hands.
A sister? Sure, Nate actually did have a younger sister back in Kentucky, he had briefly mentioned her a few times in passing during their early dates. But for some inexplicable reason, his hasty, casual explanation just now sounded incredibly hollow and deeply fake. It felt exactly like the pathetic, transparent excuse of a failing high schooler standing before a strict teacher without his homework. Sleep completely evaded Maddie that agonizing night.
She lay paralyzed in the heavy
She lay paralyzed in the heavy, suffocating darkness with her eyes wide open, listening to Nate’s steady, rhythmic breathing right next to her. Anxious, poisonous thoughts ruthlessly chased each other in endless circles, violently colliding in her exhausted brain like the loud, screeching cars of the Chicago “L” train rumbling outside her panoramic window during rush hour.
The very next day, barely waiting for Nate to finally step into the shower, she snatched her phone from the nightstand and slipped out onto the freezing, open glass balcony. The crisp morning air sweeping off Lake Michigan was bitterly cold, but Maddie’s numb body didn’t even register the chill. With trembling, clumsy fingers, she desperately dialed Olivia’s number, barely managing to suppress the rising, hysterical panic in her throat.
— Liv, please, just give me five minutes of your time. I am begging you, it’s incredibly important, — Maddie whispered feverishly into the receiver, constantly glancing back over her shoulder at the sliding glass doors to ensure Nate couldn’t hear a single word.
— Oh my God, what on earth happened now? You are an absolute nervous wreck, your voice is shaking violently, — her friend instantly grew concerned on the other end of the line.
— I was unpacking his travel bag yesterday… And I
— I was unpacking his travel bag yesterday… And I found a strange woman’s blouse tangled up in his clothes, — Maddie exhaled the terrifying words all in one desperate breath, as if finally dropping a massive, crushing boulder off her fragile chest.
— And what exactly did he say to you about it? — Olivia’s voice suddenly sounded a bit too even, completely devoid of the shocked gasp Maddie had naturally expected.
— He casually claimed it belonged to his sister. He said he was packing in a massive hurry in Louisville and accidentally grabbed it. But, Liv, I honestly don’t know if I can trust him. Every single instinct in my entire body is screaming that something is terribly wrong here. I can literally feel it in my bones.
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