It was raining.
Not the kind of cinematic romance that lingers on windows but the kind that drowns you, seeping into your skin.
A kind that matched exactly what I felt inside.
I stood across the street from the church, watching from afar, my body trembling not from the cold but from something deeper.
The ceremony should have started thirty minutes ago.
Instead, chaos had already begun.
"Where is my bride?!" His voice crackled through the earpiece I was wearing — loud, angry, frantic. I didn't have to be there to feel the tremor in it. In my mind I could already see him pacing, sweating, trying not to lose himself.
He was breaking, but not the way I was.
A family member inside the church had tucked her phone away so she could give me a front-row seat to a moment I was never meant to witness.
"Dex, she's coming, okay? Please calm down," Festin said. His voice trembled with worry, but he tried to hide it.
"What?! Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down? Damn it, Festin! She's thirty minutes late! Our wedding has been delayed for half an hour and you're telling me to calm down?"
I bit down hard on my lower lip and folded my arms tightly across my chest. The drenched fabric of my black shirt clung to me; my cap was already dripping. But I couldn't move. I didn't want to.
Not yet.
"Chillax bro. It's your wedding day," one of his friends said.
"How can I chill, Leno?! Ha?! Tell me!" he snapped back.
"Dexter, what is wrong with you?! Can you please calm down?!" a woman's voice shouted. I knew it was Ate Dailyn, his older sister. "I don't know if you're going crazy or you're just extremely nervous, but—" she paused before continuing. "Look, brother… the wedding will go on. The parents of your bride are already here. And knowing your fiancée, even if we haven't seen her yet, we know she loves you enough that she wouldn't refuse to marry you." I gave a bitter smile at that last line.
"Right, bro. Didn't you tell us she's crazy about you? So what are you so worried about?" Festin added.
Dex's voice went suddenly quiet on the other end.
"Dex…" Ash called. He was another friend. "Is there something wrong?"
Honestly, I had never met them in person. I only knew them from photos in Dex's condo album.
"N—nothing," Dex stammered, obviously trembling.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
'Yeah. You have no reason to worry, Dex. This is your wedding now. Because it was never ours to begin with… was it?'
I clenched my fist at my side as the noise around him grew — fear, questions, whispers, shouts.
And then—
"The bride is here!" someone said on the line.
I froze.
Through the crack in the church doors I saw her.
The woman in white.
She walked slowly and carefully, as if she truly belonged. She was beautiful. I couldn't deny it. But… she wasn't me.
I stopped paying attention to the murmurs inside the church because my gaze was fixed on the woman standing at the heavy closed doors.
She wasn't a stranger. Her name wasn't unfamiliar. She was the woman who played a part in breaking what we had. And now she wore the gown that should have been mine.
But this… all of this?
I had written this scene.
So she wasn't a replacement. She was who he had always chosen, even if he never admitted it.
I only decided to make it official.
To hand him the lie he'd built — wrapped in white, set on a silver platter.
When the church doors opened and the bride began to walk down the aisle, I heard Dex's voice again.
"W-What's happening?" he asked, stammering, clearly confused.
"Why?" his friends asked him.
"Tell me! What's happening?!" he shouted.
I could hear whispers around them.
"Dexter Wisken!" a man's voice boomed. "What is wrong with you, huh?! Are you crazy?"
"Bro, is something wrong?" Festin asked, worried.
"S-she's…" he began, voice shaking.
"She's what?" Leno demanded.
"She's not my bride!"
There it was. The truth clawed its way out of his lips — too late.
"She's not Autumn Coleen Contreras!"
My name echoed through the earpiece, louder than the thunder, heavier than the rain.
Inside, he was breaking. Outside, I was already broken.
"Tito, Tita…" he called to my parents. I couldn't see their faces, but I imagined the cold look they must have given him.
"She's not my bride. I—I swear," Dex stammered.
My mother stood silent for a moment, then spoke flatly. "She will not be marrying you. Not in this lifetime, nor in the next." Her voice was icy, unwavering. "So be glad I still have the strength to face you."
"Wait? What's happening?" Dex's mother demanded, bewildered.
"Ask him," my mother said.
"I—I did nothing wrong," Dex murmured. I shook my head in disbelief.
"Oh yeah?" my mother shot back, challenging. "Think again."
Dex had no answer, and the murmurs swelled louder.
"Won't you go inside and explain what's going on?" The man next to me asked. His clothes were soaked through by the rain too.
"This is what he wanted," I said, almost to myself. "He never thought I'd be the one to hand it to him."
"You didn't fight for him," he whispered.
"No," I replied. "Because he never fought to keep me." My voice was cold.
"So you'll just let everyone wonder?"
"Sometimes explanations don't matter anymore especially when the pain speaks louder than the truth ever could." I didn't look at him, but I knew he was staring.
"If only I'd known this is how it would end," I whispered, "I wouldn't have loved him so hard… so blindly."
I stayed a few more seconds, long enough to see the man who had once sworn I was the only one he would love crumble at the altar where we should have begun.
"I guess this is how it ends… not with closure, but with courage." Then I turned away. I didn't need to watch the rest.
This wasn't my ending. This was my exit.
I tried to let go of the weight in my chest, but I wasn't ready yet.
And in that moment, I didn't look back.
Not at the church.
Not at him.
Not at the future that once held my name beside his.
Goodbye, Dex. You chose her long before you admitted it… I only gave you the ending you deserved.
Still, I'm grateful you loved me. Our love was a rollercoaster — highs and lows, laughter and tears, ten unforgettable years.
But not every ride ends in forever. So today… I finally chose to step off.