“Anyway, I just need a temporary bride just to play the part for tomorrow afternoon. No need to sign papers or anything. I just can’t let my grandma down. If you’ll excuse me, I have some urgent things to do,” John told me.
‘Like finding a bride,’ I thought to myself. Then blinking twice, I came to realize what he said. No need to sign papers. It was more like acting. Hey, I could do that much. If that would do me any good, I think I could do it.
“There’s no marriage contract or anything?” I asked him just as he was about to say goodbye.
“Yes, of course. There are important people who will attend tomorrow and I just can’t simply call off the wedding. I think I can manage to handle it after that,” he said.
Narrowing my eyes, I thought hard about it. I had my own dream wedding and it was nothing like this. I wanted to walk down that aisle and be met at the altar by that one person that I loved. The whole place would be crowded with people whom I knew, not with total strangers. But given the situation, I guessed that was it or I’d die the minute he’d be out of sight again.
But even this? A wedding? Be fake or not, it was still a wedding. But what other choice did I have? None. I knew that.
I let out a long sigh and finally said, “Alright, I’ll play the part. But no strings attached after the wedding, okay?”
“You will?” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
I nodded.
“Oh, okay then. It’s a deal. You’ll be my bride and I’ll give you that forgiveness you were talking about earlier. Though I’m not so sure what that is… really,” he said, stalling with the words and scratching the back of his neck.
“It’s a deal,” I echoed back. This was just a role play. There were no strings attached whatsoever. I would just think that I was an actress who was shooting for a movie.
“I’ll lead you the way then,” he said as he lifted his one arm and pointed to the end of the hall.
“Where to?” I asked.
“To my grandma’s room. My grandma is waiting for you. She doesn’t know who the bride is yet so just play the part well. Don’t give her a hard time. Please do promise me that,” he told me earnestly.
I gave him a nod and told him, “Sure, no problem with that.”
Did I ever tell him that I had the perfect attitude and easily got along with people? Do I need to remind him again? Well, I guessed he already knew about that fact. We were kind of close back then.
“Wait. Are you really sure that you want to do this?” He turned around to ask me.
“Yes. Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“No.” He shook his head lightly. “I know you were kind of superstitious before. I just never thought that—“
“I’m going to do this, okay? I’m dead serious that I want to ask your utmost forgiveness and make it up with you. Lead the way. Let’s go meet your grandma.”
He led me to a room down the corridor. I stared in awe when I got inside. The place was finely furnished not to mention that everything seemed to be sparkling. This was the first time I had seen a luxury room. I suddenly wanted to just freeze in place and not touch anything. I might not be able to afford it if I’d break something.
“My grandma is in the other room,” said John, snapping me off my thoughts.
“Huh?” I said, caught off guard. “Oh, right.”
Then he opened the door of one room and greeted someone. After a while, a figure came out of the door. She was an old lady with face drawn upon by the road map of time. Beauty was eminent in her gray eyes. Her stance was well off compared to women of her age. She walked straight to me and cupped my face with both of her hands.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” she said in a warm voice.
She was the epitome of the word ‘grandmother’—ideal, kind, and gentle. If my grandmother was alive, I was certain that she would have had treated me this way.
“Uhmm... hi,” I replied, feeling awkward with all the sudden warmth of her touch.
She took off her hands off my face and started to laugh. I was quite startled by it, especially the fact that I had no clue why she was laughing. I turned to John for some help but I saw that he was also laughing quietly on one side. Laughing must have had run in their family. It was like they loved to laugh out of nowhere.
“I’m sorry, kiddo. I just wanted to try that and see how you will respond,” John’s grandma said to me in between the laughs.
“Pardon?” I asked, clueless.
“My name is Dorothy Brooks. I’m this little punk’s grandmother,” she said as she pointed to John.
Okay, so her warm and loving grandmother aura a little while ago suddenly disappeared to netherworld. And here I was, standing in front of a spunky old lady.
“I’m Kayla. Kayla Wilson. Pleasure to meet you, Madam,” I told her.
She laughed again before she answered, “Call me Dorothy. No need to sound all formal. We’re soon going to be family!”
I nodded and said, “Right. And it’s nice to meet you, Dorothy.”
“So she’s the one, huh. I can say that you’ve made a good choice. That’s why you kept your relationship a secret. I can now see why,” she said while examining me.
“Yeah, I guess it has been that way, Grandma,” answered John.
“So dear, you have your passport with you?” asked Dorothy.
“Passport?” I asked. Why did she suddenly ask for my passport? Were we going to travel somewhere? And the wedding was up tomorrow.
Downstairs.
There wasn’t really any need for passports.
“And driver’s license,” she added, holding one hand in the air asking me to give it to her right away.
“What for?” I asked, confused.
“Your marriage license, you two will be wed tomorrow. We’re running out of time. We need that license,” she reasoned out.
Oh, wait! What marriage license? There were no papers in our agreement earlier. I turned my gaze to John who was standing behind Dorothy. He mouthed the words, “Don’t give it to her.”
‘Why, if that’s the case, do something!’ I wanted to shout to him but I couldn’t since Dorothy was standing in front of me right now.
“Well, you must surely have it knowing that you two don’t have your marriage license yet,” she said while raising one of her eyebrows.
“I don’t...” I was about to say when her cellphone rang and she picked it up.
“Yes, Nate. She’s here. Come up this instant,” she ordered the guy on the other line. I put down my bag on the sofa and slipped away to the corner, pulling John with me.
“What is this about? I thought that there are no papers,” I hissed, demanding for an explanation.
“Once my grandma sets her mind into something, she won’t stop until she gets it. I still haven’t figured out how to get out of this one. But don’t give it to her. At all cost, don’t let her get your IDs. She already has mine,” John whispered back to me.
“Oh, here it is,” said Dorothy from behind.
Startled, we both looked back quickly. I gasped when I saw the small booklet she was holding in her hand together with my driver’s license. My innocent passport and unused driver’s license.
“Wait, that’s my...” I protested.
“I just got it out for you. Save you all the trouble,” she said as she zipped back my bag. For freaking out loud, who gave her the permission to look into my bag? Dorothy turned back and answered the door which was ringing for quite a while.
I hastily looked at John who was also shocked at what his grandmother did. “Hey, snap out of it! Why did she do that? Doesn’t she know the meaning of the word privacy?”
“I’m sorry, Kaye. My grandma can be horrifying at times. Can you just let it pass? She’s really in a fragile condition right now. Her health is unstable. But don’t worry. We’ll tear that marriage license apart once the ceremony is over so just pretend some more. For a while,” he muttered back to me.
“Fin
e. You just make sure that the freaking marriage license won’t be taken back to the clerk’s office after the wedding,” I grumbled. And unstable? Who was he kidding? Look how lively the old lady was.
He silently nodded.
Then after a while, I saw a man came in. After which Dorothy motioned for us to move along. She didn’t leave our side all the way out, holding our precious IDs in her hand. As the engine revolted, next thing that happened was that we were already on our way to where office might be. John was silent but you could see that he was still shocked especially with all those unbelieving stares he gave his grandmother. And for me, I squished the handle of my bag to contain my annoyance with what was going on. Her grandmother was singing wedding songs all the way, and didn’t even notice what John and I were doing at the back seat of the car.
“Aren’t you two excited for tomorrow?” she happily chirped as we entered the clerk’s office.
No. Clearly not.
And the next thing I knew, we were down at the clerk’s office and filling up the form. I annoyingly tapped on the paper as we filled in the necessary details. John was quite unmoved by now. There was no more tint of shock on his face. He was now calm and composed. Oh, I forgot that he even did consider marrying a stranger. So maybe he didn’t mind all this.
But surely I did. If this wasn’t necessary, I wouldn’t be doing this at all.
I took another peek at the papers we were filling and convinced myself that this was just a license and it was not a marriage contract yet. And John said that we would tear this one apart after the ceremony. No harm done.
I breathed in and exhaled.
‘Relax,’ I constantly reminded myself as the papers were being processed. After several minutes, the marriage license came out. Of which both John and I grabbed with a shrug. I looked at him and he smiled apologetically. I rolled my eyes but pulled it back—reminded of my luck.
I gave him a half-smile instead.
As we were all walking out, I saw the lady sitting beside us left her newspaper. It was opened at the horoscope section.
This is the least favorable times to make any sort of decision. Don’t sign a contract, as your communication with other people is likely to be filled with nothing but plain misunderstanding.
Chapter 7
“No one who’d recognize me was invited, right?” I asked him again for the hundredth time by now. His ears might already be burning from my endless inquiries. But I hadn’t got a care. First thing was first. I needed to make sure that I wouldn’t be recognized by anyone.
“Yes, all of them are my business colleagues,” he answered.
Well, I already figured that one out. I was pretty certain that no one from our common circle would go to John “Nerd” Brooks’ wedding. It was a huge, like all the way top of the highest mountain, favor that I was going to attend his wedding. And not to mention a bonus that I would be playing that bridal part. Well, he must have had gone handsome over the years. But really, what he used to do way back then was horrifying. Sometimes, when I looked at him, I was still seeing a bow-tie in place of the neckties he now used.
“No media whatsoever. I can’t afford to be the cover of the newspaper tomorrow morning,” I said to John who was on the other line, twisting the hotel phone in my hands. If I would be the cover of the newspaper, I would like it to be someone else—not a replacement bride. Like for example: Kayla Wilson Saves the World.
You know, that kind of stuff.
“Of course. It is a private wedding after all. I’ll make sure of that,” he replied, typically irritated this time around.
“Good, as long as you do it right,” I said before hanging up. I put down the phone on the table and lay myself down on the sofa once more. After a while, I heard that knock on the door again.
“Miss, are you ready?” asked a courteous voice coming from outside.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” I said as I continued sulking on the sofa.
I was still refusing to come out for about fifteen minutes by now and the wedding was supposed to start in about five more. The pounding on the door became heavier as the one who was supposed to pick me up was probably worried that he would be cut off his job if he wouldn’t bring me on time.
I pulled my legs up and placed it on the table. I gathered my wedding gown and pulled it above my legs. No one was around anyway and I was starting to feel uncomfortable with this big dress that hovered around my body. My elbow suddenly nudged something and it fell on the floor. I looked at the opened page of the magazine. And just as if it was directly speaking to me, it was unfolded to the horoscope section.
Try to reach out a little further than usual today. If you’re feeling low today, all you need to do is to explore new territory and do something unusual. Your urge to resolve things will be rewarded richly today.
I forced back a laugh as I read the last part. I realized that I could be rich if I would go on with this wedding for real. We didn’t sign any prenuptial agreement anyway. The offer was tempting but I had no plan to take it. I just wanted a real wedding and a real husband for myself.
Was it that hard for my earnest wish to be granted?
The pounding on the door grew heavier again. And by now, the crowd must be wondering where the bride was. Well, if they really wanted an answer, here she was—eating a bar of chocolate and chilling out. I flipped the pages of the magazine some more as I happily sipped in the orange juice that was delivered to me a while ago.
“Miss, you should be down in a minute,” the voice said for the third time by now.
I let out a long sigh and picked myself up. I checked myself in the mirror just to make sure that I was still perfect. Well then, just a little more and all this madness would be over. I pushed my phone inside my gown, squeezing it in my chest. Whoever invented the wedding gowns should have had thought that sometimes the bride needed a place to put her phone.
It was an existing demand that my phone should be in my reach because Aaron, my ex-boyfriend who would soon plea for my attention, would call me any moment soon. And in the near future—I was talking about three hours at the most—my curse would be lifted off and everything would be back to normal. I even changed Aaron and Sandy’s ringtones. Their calls were of prime importance. I also thought about changing Claire’s or my previous boss’ numbers, thinking that maybe my job would come back too. But then I realized that they were the last person on earth who I wanted to talk to right now.
Especially Claire. She fired me... recently.
I trod my way downstairs and was welcomed by a total stranger who was supposed to play the part of my ‘dad’. He greeted me with a warm smile to which I replied with a scowl. He seemed displeased but nevertheless kept a poker face afterwards.
‘Play the part well, Kayla,’ I heard John Brook’s words echoed in my mind.
I took a deep breath and forced a wry smile. ‘Dad’ nodded his head in approval. Everyone was just playing a part in this charade anyway. Well, most of them. I just happened to get the lead role alongside my soon to be fake husband. Given my part, I should at least act well. I figured that maybe I would even get a bonus and win the lottery or something afterwards, due to all this madness I was getting through for him. And it was for turning him down years ago?
This was insane.
I put my veil down and prepared myself to walk. The lobby was carpeted in a dark shade of red and covered the length of the foyer all the way to the conference hall. Flowers flooded both sides and their fragrance filled the atmosphere with an exquisite aroma. I heard the band played on, signaling the start of the procession. And so I forced my feet to move against its will and paced up.
Now, I realized that maybe being an actress was such a hard job after all. You got to do things that you didn’t want to, talk about the horror of doing such. I felt relieved for the first time in my life that my mom dragged me out of that teen star audition years ago. Who knows, if I actually auditioned for that event, I might be the most spectacular star in t
he industry by now.
Then suddenly, I was blinded by the flash of lights that came from the photographers. But instead of smiling perfectly, I scanned the crowd to see if there were any media around. I was so busy looking around that suddenly they stopped taking pictures. Maybe I looked horrible? Sometimes when I was frantically searching for something, my perfect face faded off.
“Smile,” ‘Dad’ told me. I forced one up and put a rest to my relentless worries. John already assured me that there wouldn’t be any media in the crowd.
If this was my real wedding, maybe I already freaked out a moment ago. Everything a girl could wish for was right here—long red carpet walk that made the guests swoon at the absolute elegance of the bride, beautiful flowers of all sorts were scattered around making this part of the hotel a garden in itself, and the scent that lingered in the air which filled the place with the love-love aroma. And if half of the crowd would fall in love with each other after this wedding, that would be the answer why.
As the procession went on, an overly romantic music played in the background. And as soon as I reached the entrance of the hall, all eyes turned its gaze on me. I straightened my walk and headed down the hall. I saw John standing at the altar. He was dressed in tuxedo and his dirty blond hair still kept in place like the way he did before. He had a poker smile on his face. It was all business for him. With the sight, a bit of remorse for who he turned out to and the warmth he lost along the way, I remembered the entry I had made years ago.
March 5, 1998
Dear Diary,
John Brooks had some new glasses today and the first thing he did this morning when he saw me in the cafeteria—he made me wear it. I mean he plunged it into my eyes against my will. And worse, the whole school was looking at us! I fiercely took it off and threw it to the ground. If that thing ever breaks, it’s his fault and not mine. And guess what he did as I was about to walk away? He said the annoying words, ‘I still like you, Kayla’. I felt a snap in my head as if one of my veins broke out that instant. The whole cafeteria laughed at us and I walked away in total shame.
My Kind of Perfect Page 7