Naya
"Caleb, I know it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, but I couldn't—"
The words died in my throat as I walked into my fiancé's house.
Caleb stood in the living room dressed in nothing but his briefs, but he wasn't alone. Melissa—my stepsister—was there too, wearing one of his shirts, the particular one I'd bought for him for his birthday last month that did nothing to hide her naked form.
They both turned to look at me, and I waited for the panic, the scrambling or even the explanations, but both of them were staring at me calmly.
"Naya," Caleb said quietly. "You're just the person I wanted to see. We need to talk."
I stood frozen in the doorway, my overnight bag slipping from my numb fingers and hitting the hardwood floor with a dull thud. Melissa jumped and moved closer to Caleb, slipping one of her hands into his as she leaned against his chest.
She looked so pale. She'd always been the delicate one, the one everyone rushed to protect.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this," Caleb continued. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way."
Find out what? Take what the wrong way?
"Caleb?" My voice came out small, and I hated how I sounded. "What's going on?"
He ran a hand through his dark hair, a gesture I'd always found endearing. Now it just looked like impatience.
"The wedding tomorrow is still happening," he paused, and a sense of dread filled me. "But not with you."
My head grew bigger.
"What?"
"I'm marrying Melissa instead."
His words didn't make sense. What was he yapping about? We'd sent out three hundred invitations. The venue was booked. The dress was hanging in my closet at home—my wedding dress. Just yesterday, we visited the Marriage Registry to obtain our marriage license. Did he forget already?
"This is a joke." I looked between them, "Right? This is some sick joke?"
"Melissa is dying, Naya." Caleb's voice was gentle now, like he was explaining something simple to a child. "She has six months, maybe less, and her last wish is to be my wife, to have that one perfect day before—"
"So, you're going to marry her?" The hysteria was building slowly in my chest. "Tomorrow? At our wedding?"
"It's just a formality," Caleb said quickly. "Once she…once her time comes, you and I will get married properly. The way we planned."
I stared at him. At the man I'd loved for six years. The man I'd worked three jobs to support through business school. The man whose company I'd helped build from nothing, sacrificing my own dreams to be his rock.
"So, you want me to wait for my stepsister to die so I can have a secondhand marriage?"
"Don't be dramatic," Melissa spoke for the first time. She sounded weak, but I didn't miss the disdain in her voice. "It's just a piece of paper. You know Caleb loves you. This is just giving a dying girl her final wish," her eyes glistened with tears. "You've always been so strong, Naya. Not weak like me. Surely you can be understanding just this once?"
"Wow!" I chuckled dryly and turned to face her. "Haven't you taken enough from me, Melissa? You stole my father's love, stole the peace in my home, now you want to take my man too?"
"For God's sake, Naya," Caleb growled. "How can I say no to a dying woman?"
"By saying no," I yelled. "By choosing me. By honouring the six years I gave you. By remembering that tomorrow is supposed to be our day."
"And it will be! Eventually." He moved closer, "It's just a few months' delay."
"A few months' delay," I repeated, as if the words were a foreign language. "You want me to wait while you play devoted husband to my stepsister?"
"It's not like that—"
"What's it like, then?" My anger finally got the better of me. "Tell me, Caleb. What's it like when the man I've sacrificed everything for decides I'm not worth keeping a promise to?"
"You're being unreasonable." His tone shifted. "This is bigger than us. Melissa is dying, and your family agrees this is the right thing to do—"
"My family?" A cold shiver ran through my spine. "You talked to my family about this?"
The guilt on his face told me everything.
"They think it's noble," he said quietly. "Your father said—"
"My father." The man who'd remarried six months after my mother went into a coma. The man who'd brought Melissa and her mother into our home and slowly abandoned I and my mother. "Of course, he agrees. He's always chosen her over me."
"That's not fair—"
"Fair?" I laughed again. "You want to talk about fair? I gave you the money I raised for my mother's treatment. Fifty thousand dollars from the WeFundMe campaign, where I begged strangers for help. I gave it to you to start your business because you promised we'd pay my mother's hospital bills together. As husband and wife."
Caleb's face paled. "I'll pay you back—"
"With what? How about the grant money we were supposed to receive after our wedding? Oh, wait—there won't be a wedding, which means no grant. Which means my mother dies because I chose you over her."
"Don't put that on me." He gritted his teeth. "I didn't force you to give me that money. You offered."
"Because I loved you!" The words ripped out of me. "Because I believed in us. Because I thought—" My voice broke. "I thought I mattered to you."
Silence filled the apartment as we both stared at each other.
Caleb looked at me with something that might have been regret. Or maybe just discomfort.
"You do matter," he said finally. "That's why I'm being honest with you. I could have just left. But I'm telling you the truth. I'll marry Melissa, grant her last wish, and then I'll come back. We'll have our life together. Just... later."
"Later." I nodded my head with a scoff. "After you've given her everything that was supposed to be mine. After you've played the devoted husband, while I wait in the background like a mistress. After she's dead and buried, and you need someone to comfort you through your grief."
"It's not—" He stopped. "Why are you making this so difficult? You know what? I think you should leave now. Melissa is exhausted, and all this back and forth isn't good for her condition."
That shattered whatever was left of my heart.
"Really?" I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. "You want me to leave?"
"Yes, and it'll be better if you don't come to the wedding tomorrow. It'll be easier for everyone if you disappear for a while."
I stared at him for a long moment, not knowing what to do. Then I bent down and grabbed my overnight bag from the floor, and I turned to leave.
"Naya," he called out again, but I didn't turn around. "This doesn't change anything between us. I still love you. This is just temporary."
I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby, still too numb to speak. Just as I arrived at the lobby, my phone rang; it was the hospital rep from where my mother was admitted.
I stared at it for a few seconds before I cleared my throat and answered.
"Ms Rivers? This is Apex Memorial Hospital calling about your mother."
My mother. The only person who'd ever truly loved me has been in a coma for three years after a car accident.
"Yes?"
"I'm calling to remind you that the outstanding balance of $847,000 is due in four days. I'm so sorry, but if payment isn't received by Friday, we'll have no choice but to…" she paused delicately. "We'll have to take her off life support."
I felt my heart stop beating. Four days. I had four days to come up with nearly a million dollars, or they'd let my mother die. Where on earth am I supposed to get that?
"I understand," I heard myself say. "Thank you for calling."
I ended the call.
For a moment, I just stood in the lobby, staring at nothing. If I hadn't been foolish, I'd have paid off the hospital's debt and still have change, but I'd stupidly given the two million dollars I'd raised through the WeFundMe Campaign to Caleb.
The other money I'd saved was nearly $30,000, from my three jobs that I was hoping to use as a down payment. Caleb had called me last week, saying something urgent had come up and he needed the money. I hadn't hesitated, I'd sent him the money.
After all, couples always came through for each other, right?
I was a big fool.
My legs gave out and I sank to the ground, not caring about how dirty it was and pressed my hands to my face. The sound that came out of me was something between a laugh and a scream.
I had nowhere to turn.
I'd built my entire existence around Caleb; he made all the decisions, and now I hadn't the slightest idea what to do.
Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and a text notification appeared on the screen. I thought it was the hospital and was about to turn off the phone when the bold letters on the screen caught my eye.
WHAT COULD A MILLION DOLLARS DO FOR YOU RIGHT NOW?