THE CONFESSION

Victoria followed Christian out of the venue as soon as she saw him leave. She excused herself for a minute and went after him. Christian, who was wiping the tears off his face, was startled when he heard Victoria call his name. He quickly wiped the tears off his face before she could notice anything. Victoria held his arm when she got close to him and stopped him from moving another inch.

“Christian, wait! What's wrong with you? You haven't been yourself for a while. Are you okay?”

“Victoria, you should go back to your husband. What are you doing here?” Christian said, trying to fight the incoming tears that were threatening to fall.

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Is something wrong?” she asked him again

“Nothing is wrong. Please go back to your guests. I have to go home and rest,” Christian said. He tried walking away from her but she held his arm again. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. He looked down, trying to hide the tears in his eyes. He was trying so hard to control himself and Victoria was preventing him from leaving.

She put her hand under his chin and raised his head up, slowly. She was shocked when he saw the tears fall from his eyes.

“You are crying. Why are you crying?”

“Victoria, please go back. I'm going to be fine.”

“No! I'm not leaving until you tell me what is going on. You are my best friend and today is my wedding day. If you are feeling sad, don't you think i deserve to know what's happening to you?”

“It's nothing. Just...just let it be…”

“You can't say it's nothing. Come on, Chris. Tell me please. I won't be able to leave with myself if you don't tell me what's happening to you.”

“You want to know what's wrong? Okay, I will tell you. I'm like this because of you, Victoria. Do you know how it feels when you stand and watch the woman you love with all of your might be in the arms of another man? You don't understand how i am feeling, Victoria. I have been in love with you for a long time. I have always wanted to be noticed by you for so long but the person who caught your attention was Franco. He is the one you love, that is why you married him.”

“Chris, why didn't you tell me?”

“You always saw me as a friend. And come on, how was i supposed to tell you when all you ever talked about was being the wife of Franco, huh? How was I supposed to betray the man who trusts me so much to make me his foreman? I could not do that to him and to you.”

The tears in his eyes began to fall freely. He felt very burdened by everything, so telling her this was like he was lifting a huge weight off his shoulders. Even with that, he still felt terrible. He walked towards Victoria and got close to her. Victoria remained standing where she was and watched him. He was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her skin. He held her arms gently and his face was so close to hers, like he wanted to kiss her rosy lips.

“Tell me, Vicky. What would you have done if you were to be in my position? Would you have betrayed your best friend just to be happy and be with the man of your dreams? Will you ever be able to do that?”

Having him close to her was doing something to her. Her breath began to go slower and she felt her chest tighten. Christian was whispering these words to her. And instead, it was making her want him to kiss her.

“Answer me, Vicky. Can you do that?” he asked her again but the words simply could not leave her lips.

He stepped back and let go of her. His eyes held something in them. It held fear. He was breathing heavily now and the tears kept falling down his cheeks.

“I'm sorry, vic. I did not want you to know about this. I wanted to keep this secret with me. I can't do this to you. I am sorry,” he left her alone before she could say anything.

That was when she realized that she was crying herself. What did she just feel when Christian was close to her? She had always had him close. They had always hugged and had kissed him on the cheek so many times but she never felt all these feelings she was feeling right now. She felt so confused. Christian’s confession had left her a mess than she ever thought it would. She felt so much pain when she could not even utter a word to Christian who was just pouring his heart out to her.

She wiped the tears off her face and turned towards the reception. She put on a fake smile and walked towards her husband. Franco smiled back at her and held her.

“Are you okay? Where did you go?” he asked her.

“I just wanted to see some friends off.” she lied.

“Oh okay. I was just missing you. You don't know how happy I am that you finally agreed to be my wife,” Franco said proudly and kissed her. Victoria kissed him back and smiled when they broke the kiss.

Christian returned home and went straight to his room even though his parents were seated in front of the TV, watching a program. They were at the wedding but had come home early to have some time for themselves. The look on Christian’s face gave them cause to worry.

“What could have happened to have Christian looking like that?” his father asked his mother.

“You know why, darling. Even though he tries to hide it, it is so obvious he loves miss Victoria with all his heart,” his mother replied.

“Maybe i should go and talk to him,” his father offered.

“No, don't worry dear. I will do it. Let me go and see what's wrong with him first.” She left the room and headed towards Christian’s room.