The roses mocked me
Their delicate petals, once symbols of love and joy, now felt like cruel reminders of everything I had lost. I sat on the edge of a bed dressed in crimson silk and white blooms — a bed meant for a bride and groom, for whispered promises and warm embraces. But I was alone. And not just in this room
In this life now.
The air was thick with silence. Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that screamed — screamed of absence, grief, betrayal, and blame. The kind of silence that weighs on your chest and sinks deep into your bones.
I hadn't cried. Not once.
People thought it was because I was cold, unfeeling, cursed. The black cat who devoured her husband before the wedding vows were even said. That's what they whispered. They looked at me and saw bad luck. A jinx. A walking omen
But none of them — not one — could see the truth.
I was in shock. Too broken to breathe, too hollow to even blink properly. Their words pierced through the numbness like poison-tipped arrows, but I stayed still. I took it. All of it. Because maybe... a small part of me had died too.
His name had been Aiden Walther. The man I was meant to marry. The man I loved with every cell of my being. The man I fought the world for
We weren't from the same world. I was Aria Whitmore, daughter of a wealthy Southern family — all prim and perfection, with a bloodline older than reason. He was Aiden — raw, kind, determined. We had spent years convincing our families, dragging our love through storms, surviving threats, insults, and ultimatums.
And finally, when the sky had cleared... fate struck its cruelest blow.
They said he died on the way to the wedding.
And just like that, the future we bled for vanished.
I remember standing in that hall, in my ivory gown. The music had stopped. My hands trembled as the whispers grew. One by one, they turned toward me with narrowed eyes and shaking heads. "She killed him." "She's cursed." "No man will marry her now."
None of them understood that I had loved him more than any of them ever could. That I hurt more than they ever would. That while they gossiped and stared and judged... my heart was still trying to remember how to beat without him.
Then came the moment that changed everything again.
Austin Walther.
Aiden's younger brother. Once, the wild one — full of trouble and laughter, the one I'd conspired with to tease Aiden, the one who always had my back, who made me feel like family long before I officially became one.
He tepped forward. Silent. Stoic.
And he announced that he would marry me.
There was no proposal. No warmth. Just cold duty. Just... obligation.
I hadn't spoken. I hadn't said yes. But before I could even find the words to protest, it was done.
Now, here I was — in his room.
Austin's room.
The place where we once planned mischief now reeked of finality. I stared at the familiar walls, now strange and haunting. Once, this room held our laughter. Now, it held only echoes and a bed I couldn't bear to lie in.
The door creaked open.
But i didn't turn around.
I already knew who it was.
He said nothing at first. Just stood in the doorway — tall, broad-shouldered, once the firecracker of the Walther family, now as silent as a grave.
"I didn't expect you to be here already," Austin said, his voice low. Distant.
I didn't answer. What could I say? That I didn't want to be here? That I didn't want this marriage? That the man I loved was dead and the world now blamed me for it?
"I... I'll sleep on the couch," he muttered after a beat, shifting awkwardly in place.
Still, I said nothing.
He sighed, the sound tired and old. "I know you're hurting, Aria. I know... you loved him. More than anyone else."
That made my throat tighten.
Then why didn't anyone else see it? Why was I the villain in this tragedy?
"I don't want your comfort," I whispered. "I don't want your pity. I want Aiden."
His name dropped into the room like thunder.
Austin stiffened, but didn't respond. His jaw clenched, but he nodded. "I'll leave you alone."
And just like that, he turned and walked away.
As the door clicked shut behind him, I felt the first tear finally slip down my cheek — not because I was alone in a stranger's bed... but because the world had stolen the man I loved, buried me in guilt I never earned, and forced me into a life I never asked for.
"I'm so sorry, Aiden," I whispered into the silence. "I don't know how to live without you."
The candles flickered. The roses wilted. And I sat in that room — not as a bride, not as a wife — but as a woman whose world had ended in front of a crowd that chose to blame her instead of mourning with her.