2 Wedding Bells-2

Lilith stood in front of the altar, her face hidden behind a veil. Her to-be-husband stood in front of her.

She felt a bit disappointed. She had thought that he would be handsome and young, but the man in front of her was, for one thing, very fat and he definitely was not good looking. He, in fact, looked older than her father.

The man, whose name was Gibson Torrance, looked at her in a weird way. No, looking wasn't the right word, he was staring at her with a strange glint in his eyes. She didn't understand why, but his stare made her feel uncomfortable.

So, instead of looking at the man in front of her, her eyes drifted to the beautiful paintings on the walls of the altar. People could enter the altar only if they were priests, or on the day of their marriage. That was also part of the reason she wanted to get married. For she had read that the altar was the most beautiful thing one could see in their life. Her mother had told her that exchanging vows in the altar meant that you will never break them and that the gods would bless your marriage.

The colours seemed to bring the art on the walls to life. As she looked at the mural depicting The Godess of Fate crowning the first King and Queen of the world, she felt as if she had gone back in time to the Age of the Gods.

"Ahem, Miss Lilith," coughed the priest. "please pay attention."

She quickly turned her attention back to the priest.

"Henceforth, you belong to Mr. Gibson. Do you object this marriage?" he asked her.

Lilith remembered her brother's warning, and while she was curious as to why he had asked her to object the marriage, she would never disobey her mother. Her mother wanted her to marry Mr Gibson, so she would do so, afterall, her mother would never ask her to do something wrong or bad.

And so she answered--"I do not."

The ceremony ended soon after. The bell-ringer rang the bells, declaring the marriage of another couple.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

There had been a grand party to celebrate the marriage at Gibson's house. Several of his friends showed up. But only Luke came from Lilith's family.

He had talked to her for a long time, about things called periods and what happens on the wedding night. She had not believed him at first. But at the end, she had to.

"Are you sure it's true, Luke?" she asked, a bit afraid.

"Yeah, that's why I told you to object the marriage." he answered. "I'll take you away from him once I set up my own business and don't need to depend on mom and dad."

She nodded, but he could tell that she wanted to ask him something, something that he wouldn't like to answer.

"I'll be going then." he said, heading to the door, trying to leave before she asked.

"Luke, then why did mom send me here? Does she still hate me?" she asked half whispering. She knew the answer, but she wanted him to say no, that she had really loved her.

He just gave her a painful smile, leaving her all alone in a room filled with people.