Accidentally Married

“What do you possibly mean by that?” Jessica asked. She has been arguing over the phone in front of the courthouse for the last ten minutes. 

Today was her wedding day. She and her high school sweetheart, Burke, were supposed to meet up here by ten thirty am to have their wedding. 

“Burke, it is ten forty-five am, where are you?” she asked, her voice shaky. 

“Jessica, I won’t be coming today,” Burke said. 

“What do you mean by that? We are to get married today,” she said again. This time, she felt something was trickling down her face. She sniffled to drive away the tears so her makeup wouldn’t get ruined. 

“Jessica, I don’t think I love you enough to want to get married to you and live together in the same house,” he said. She felt her heart sink. 

They had been planning the wedding together ever since he popped the question. He knew of her dream to get married and live in a house that had a yard for the kids to play in. He had no house with a yard, but they planned to get one. 

“I won’t force you to get a house with a yard,” she said. Probably the financial burden was getting too much for him. The reason for the low-key wedding was the finances. They were both not rich, but if they joined hands, they could live comfortably. 

Because they were both orphans, they had no one to invite to the private wedding. They planned to do a private wedding and tell their friends later. 

“Burke, honey, aren’t you going to join me?” a voice echoed from inside the room. Jessica knew that the voice sounded familiar, but she just couldn’t place it at the moment. 

“Who is that?” Jessica said in a muffled scream. 

“Are you beginning to hear things?” Burke asked her. 

Jessica knew quite well that she had heard a familiar voice. She knew that voice. That was her best friend’s voice. 

“Is that Emma?” she asked this time, tears falling from her second eye. 

“Why would Emma be here?” Burke asked. 

Jessica had always been suspicious of her friend and her boyfriend, and finally, those suspicions were proving true. 

“Jessica, go home, and I will come to meet you at night,” he said. 

“I would wait here till you get here,” Jessica said. Her voice was pleading. “I would forgive you even if you cheated on me. Please just come over, do not embarrass me,” she added, begging. 

“Okay, yes, Emma is here, and you know what, Jessica? It’s over between us. I can’t marry you or stay with you. Let’s just break up here,” he said. 

“No, please,” Jessica begged, her face now drenched with tears. Her pleas were met with empty silence. Burke had cut off the call. 

Jessica yanked the phone from her ears and decided to call again, but she now discovered it wasn’t going through. Burke had blocked her line. 

She squatted right at the front of the courthouse. She did not care if people were watching her. She just had her heart yanked out and broken into several pieces and handed to her. 

She cried her eyes out but couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of the man standing near her: “I thought you said she would be here on time?” Xavier shouted over the phone to his assistant, Brian. 

The doctors had told him that his grandfather had barely two weeks left. Xavier had lied to his grandfather about having a girlfriend. 

His grandfather had said that his girlfriend would be wedded and presented to him before he dies so he transferred the company from a management specialist to his name. 

His grandfather knew what a responsible man Xavier was, but he feared that if he left the world, Xavier would be all alone, and later the company would leave the Delgado household. 

Dawson (Xavier’s grandfather) decides that, rather than Xavier giving up the company in the long run, he will be the one to leave it in the hands of those who can manage. 

It would make him roll in his grave if Xavier gives up on his hard work and sweat. He would rather do it for himself. 

Xavier knew he owed it to his grandfather. When his parents died in a ghastly motor accident that claimed their lives, he had been living with his grandfather, who did everything to take care of him. 

He wanted the business to remain within the household, which led him to marry. His assistant, Brian, had told him about a contract marriage service where you pay to have a wife for a set period. 

He had gone ahead and signed a contract with a random woman from the service for a year. She was to marry him with no strings attached and then divorce amicably after a year. 

He was in front of the courthouse, but the random woman was now nowhere to be found. He was confused and pissed off at the time-wasting. He needed to take his new wife to his grandfather today. He looked at his watch and sighed in annoyance. 

“I’m sorry, sir. Let me try and reach her again,” Brian said, cutting off the call. 

“What a waste of my precious time,” Xavier sighed out loud, annoyed. He hated time-wasters, and he could not believe that the girl had gone MIA after receiving a partial payment for the contract. 

The phone rang, and he paid no heed before picking up the call. 

“And?” he barked at his secretary. 

“Her company is unable to get a hold of her,” Brian responded. 

“She is currently unreachable. Why don’t you come back, and let’s reschedule with the company? They would send us someone else,” Brian said. He was lucky he already had a good rapport with his boss; otherwise, he would have peed himself already. 

“I am not going to be leaving this place without a marriage certificate,” Xavier replied. He was not intentionally mounting pressure on his assistant. He just needed results immediately. 

“I’ll marry you,” Xavier heard. He turned to see a beautiful woman with black running eyes. He looked at her and thought, “Why would she be doing this to a stranger?” 

“I will marry you,” Jessica said again. standing less than a foot away from her.