1
1350 Words
Sophia
I stood beneath the large blue sign of the Civil Affairs Office, my eyes fixed on the elegant white letters as if reading them again would make time move faster.
Marriage Registration Office, it read in bold strokes, almost gleaming under the warm sunlight.
The scene around me bustled with joy and laughter.
Couples entered the building hand in hand, some stepping out moments later with beaming smiles and red certificates in hand. A proof of promise made. Proof of a life just beginning.
Their laughter rang out, light and melodic, brushing against my ears like a soft breeze.
Each smile was contagious, a glimpse of the happiness I hoped to grasp in a few short hours.
A slow, content smile spread across my lips as I clutched the bouquet of lilies in my hand. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life.
I looked down at my wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time.
Three hours.
He was three hours late.
I swallowed hard, forcing the tightness in my throat back down into my chest. Caleb had promised to be here by nine. It was noon now. I had called and texted him more times than I could count, and yet nothing.
No response.
Not even a single message to explain his delay.
Still, I waited.
I pulled my phone out of my purse once again, desperate hope fluttering weakly in my chest.
One more call, I told myself. Just one more time.
It rang once.
Then twice.
My heart pounded louder with every second. On the fourth ring, the call connected.
“Hel—” I began to speak, but the word caught in my throat.
There was no voice on the other end, only the sound of ragged, heavy breathing. Strange, almost desperate gasps of air that sent a chill up my spine.
I pressed the phone tighter against my ear, brows furrowed, lips parted.
My palm began to sweat as my instincts screamed that something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
And then I heard it.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
The unmistakable sound of flesh against flesh.
No. No. No.
I ripped the phone away from my ear as if it had burned me, but the sound followed. Still audible, still painfully real.
“Say it…” a woman’s voice echoed through the speaker, sultry and coaxing. “Say you love me.”
“I love you, Sonya,” came the deep, masculine voice that had once been my everything. My breath hitched. The world tilted.
“I love you so… argh… so much.”
Caleb.
The name thundered in my head like a warning bell, like an omen.
Caleb Kingston.
My bossom friend.
My first love.
My fiancé.
The man I was supposed to marry today.
And Sonya… Sonya Collins. My best friend. My confidante. My sister in everything but blood.
They were…
My knees weakened.
They were together. In the most carnal, intimate way possible. And they didn’t even bother to hide it.
The phone trembled in my hand, and I could do nothing but listen as their moans filled my ears, as my world cracked open beneath me.
“Tell me, Caleb,” Sonya murmured between ragged breaths. “Who does it better? Me or her?”
Please, don’t answer. My desperate heart begged silently.
“Tell me, Caleb. Who makes you feel alive?”
Silence stretched, and I prayed—begged—for him to stay quiet.
But he didn’t.
“It’s you, of course,” Caleb groaned. “Sophia is just… a log of wood.”
The words slammed into my chest like a freight train. I gasped as if he’d slapped me. The pain was sharp. Piercing. Unrelenting.
I clutched my stomach and doubled over, trying to breathe past the burn in my lungs. My heart felt as though it had been ripped from my chest, stomped on, then handed back to me in broken pieces.
How could he? How could they?
“You were right,” Caleb continued, his tone casual, almost amused. “She’s just so… boring.”
My tears fell freely now, streaming down my cheeks without shame. The bouquet slipped from my grasp, petals scattering across the pavement like forgotten dreams.
“So, when do you plan on telling her?” Sonya asked, her voice now softer, but no less venomous.
“Tonight,” Caleb replied without hesitation. “I’ll tell her tonight.”
Tonight? Tell me what?
“The sooner you let her know, the better.” Sonya’s voice was laced with smug satisfaction. “I can’t wait to announce to the pack that I’m carrying your heir.”
My blood ran cold.
Heir?
My breath caught, and I froze, staring blankly at the ground.
She was pregnant. And the child was his.
No. No. No.
This couldn’t be real.
“I can’t wait to announce it on the night you become Alpha,” she continued. “Our child will be the future leader of the Moonlight Pack.”
I felt like vomiting.
“What about Sophia?” Sonya asked. “Will she still stay in the pack?”
There was a long pause. Then Caleb’s voice returned, sharp and cruel.
“No. She can return to whatever hole she crawled out of. I want nothing to do with her.”
That was it.
The final nail in the coffin.
I stumbled back, the shock crashing into me like a violent wave. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the bench behind me, my breath heaving, tears blurring everything around me.
How long? I wondered.
How long had they been doing this behind my back? How long had I been a fool?
Ten years ago, I was rescued from a gutter by Caleb. Left for dead after an attack I barely remembered. He saved me, gave me shelter, and brought me home into this pack.
Thus, I gave him everything I could. I gave him my heart, my body, and my soul.
And now, he cast me aside like I was nothing.
Why?
What had I done to deserve this?
I sat there for what felt like an eternity, numb, broken, barely holding on. The bouquet lay at my feet, its once vibrant petals now trampled.
Laughter and joy still filled the air. Couples still walked past me with their certificates, oblivious to the storm tearing me apart from the inside.
And then, a voice broke through the haze.
“I can’t believe she ran away! Right before the ceremony, too!”
I blinked, turning slowly toward the sound. Two men stood a few feet away, one in a crisp suit, the other holding a clipboard and pacing furiously.
“What are we supposed to do now?!” the suited man snapped. “We can’t just call off the wedding. You do know what this means for the family name, right?”
“I—I don’t know what to do!” the assistant stammered. “I’ve tried calling her, but she’s gone. Vanished. No explanation!”
My heart pounded.
An idea. No, a dare sparked inside of me.
I stood abruptly, wiping my tears and marching straight toward the pair. They turned, startled by my sudden appearance.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
The assistant blinked. “I’m sorry—what?”
“I said,” I repeated, stronger this time, “I’ll marry him.”
“You… what?” The man stared at me like I’d grown two heads. “Do you even know who my boss is?”
I raised my chin. “I don’t care who your boss is.”
He opened his mouth, no doubt to mention some important name, but I didn’t give him the chance.
I needed this.
I needed to prove to Caleb and to myself that I wasn’t some discarded, worthless woman. If he didn’t want me, someone else would.
Even if it meant marrying a stranger.
I stared the assistant dead in the eye and declared with finality,
“I don’t care who your boss is. I will marry him.”
- Writer
