Chapter 4

"What!" Stephen couldn't believe his ears. "Why? She just changed her mind just like that? On our wedding day?" Stephen asked. He could feel his strength slowly leaving him. He suddenly felt weak and needed something to lean against for support, and as if noticing, Jerry quickly grabbed him and kept him upright.

"I'm sorry...but it's not in my place to explain... I'm so sorry, Stephen..." Anne quickly said, eager to be far away as fast she could from the scene. She couldn't bear the hurt in Stephen's eyes, so she quickly hopped on the bike and the bikeman zoomed off without hesitating.

As if the life had been drained out of him, Stephen slowly lowered himself and sat on the ground near the gutter bordering the church's fence despite Jerry's effort to keep him standing on his feet. He was now surrounded by his men-in-suit.

Somehow, the news about what was going on outside had reached the guests inside the church and in a minute, people began to curiously walk out of the church to see for themselves. His mother rushed over to him now when she saw him sitting on the ground and even when passers-by and drivers stared at them, Stephen didn't mind. He was too shocked to respond to his mother who kept shaking him to get his attention as she asked several questions on the verge of tears.

From afar, he heard Jerry tell his mother the news and his mother stood up and began to wail. She removed her headgear and threw her arms in the air as she lamented about how Susan and her family had just embarrassed her and her family. Stephen just continued to stare morosely. He tuned out everything around him, every sound. From his mother's Lamentations, the murmurings of the guests that had swooped out of the church and to the honks and sounds from vehicles driving by. His men-in-suit put hands together and helped him to his feet then they led him back into the church to a private corner where they sat him down. Jerry removed his suit and began to speak to Stephen's father who stared at his son and shook his head in pity before walking out of the church.

A lot of questions as to why Susan had decided to call off the wedding ran through Stephen's mind now and he had no answers to all of them. His Susan, his darling-darling Susan... Why had she betrayed him so? Why had she put his family to shame? Why had she chosen to break his heart on the day that would have been the happiest day of his life? She could have chosen any other day but why today? Why had she refused to come for the wedding? Was it because of the fact that his parents never initially supported their union from the onset, or was she still pained that his mother had labeled her a call-girl because of the way she was dressed on her first visit to his family house? Was it because she had found someone else? Was it because he had been unable to afford her dream wedding gown?

So many questions kept flitting through his mind but he couldn't answer any. He was lost and he came up blank each time he tried to figure out her reason for ditching him on their wedding day. Susan was the best person to give him the answers he needed and he had to get to her. As he stood up to leave, his men-in-suit quickly pushed him back down because they thought he was yet to be in his right senses. Well, they were right, he wasn't, because he didn't know what he would do if he saw Susan, he could go into a fit and strangle her.