The courthouse smelled like paper and disappointment.
Jade Carter stood silently in an ivory dress that wasn't hers, holding a bouquet she didn't pick, beside a man who wouldn't even look at her.
Cole Blaine's jaw was locked tight. His eyes, fixed on the wall, never once drifted her way, not even as the officiant began the ceremony.
She barely heard the words.
"Do you, Cole Blaine, take Jade Carter to be your lawfully wedded wife…?"
There was a long pause.
Too long.
Even the clerk shifted nervously.
Jade's throat dried as she glanced sideways. Cole exhaled sharply through his nose, like someone forcing themselves to swallow poison.
"…I do."
The words fell flat. Hollow. Like a legal concession.
He didn't even blink.
When it was her turn, Jade hesitated.
Not because she didn't love him.
But because she was starting to realize,
He didn't just not love her. He might actually hate her.
"…I do," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
The pen trembled in her hand as she signed the certificate. Her signature wobbled.
Cursive doesn't matter, she thought numbly. Nothing about this matters anymore.
Justin didn't attend.
Her parents didn't come.
Neither did Cole's.
There was no wedding march. No cake. No photos.
Just cold ink. Cold stares. Cold silence.
The drive to their new apartment was quieter than the ceremony.
Cole didn't even turn on the radio.
Jade stared out the window, watching the blur of the city pass her by. Her fingers played absently with the ring on her finger, thin, silver, impersonal.
She used to imagine their wedding when she was younger. Lace, music, flowers. His hands on her waist. A kiss that meant something.
Now? She didn't even get to hold his hand.
"I'll take the master bedroom," he said once they arrived, barely waiting for her reply.
"That's fine," she whispered.
The door clicked shut behind him.
Jade stood in the living room, surrounded by unopened boxes and unspoken pain. A single wedding bouquet sat on the coffee table, its petals already beginning to brown at the edges.
She sat on the floor beside it, knees to her chest, and pressed a hand to her belly.
A child. There was a child growing inside her. Alone, like her. Unwanted.
Her first tears fell without warning.
It wasn't the loneliness that broke her.
It was the way he looked at her like she was a mistake he couldn't erase.
That night, she didn't sleep.
She stood by the kitchen window, arms wrapped around herself as she watched the rain streak down the glass.
In the distance, city lights shimmered.
Somewhere out there, girls were being kissed by the men they loved. Held, celebrated, cherished.
And here she was, a wife in name only.
At some point, she heard the soft knock of Cole's footsteps behind her.
She straightened instinctively, hopeful, heart skipping.
But he walked right past her to the fridge.
Grabbed a bottle of water.
Didn't say a word.
Didn't even meet her eyes.
And in that moment, Jade Carter realized something far more painful than rejection.
She didn't just marry a man who didn't love her.
She married a man who didn't even see her.