Fiona's POV
"You looked splendid today, congratulations!" A couple said to me as they walked out happily from the wedding reception.
"Thank you so much." I smiled back at them with my plastered-on smile that was way too convincing for anyone to notice it was just a mask hiding how I truly felt inside.
I turned away and sighed heavily as they disappeared into the crowd.
The ceremony was finally over and I'd just escaped from speaking too kindly with one of the guests when I looked around and realized Adam was nowhere to be found. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, he always seemed to have better places to be than his own wedding reception.
With an exasperated sigh, I decided to search for him and adjusted my ridiculously oversized dress to move more easily.
Lost in thought about where he could have disappeared to, I collided hard with someone and their drink spilled all over my dress. The cold liquid seeped through the lace and chilled my skin instantly.
"Oh my gosh. Crap. Holy crap," I muttered under my breath.
Then I looked up and realized it was my beloved sister, Serena.
Double holy crap, my subconscious groaned.
"Oh my gosh Fiona, I didn't see you there!" Serena exclaimed in mock sympathy while her pouty lips curled into a barely hidden smile. I could detect clear excitement in her voice and it made my blood boil.
I attempted to wipe away the soggy red stains from my dress, but with each swipe the stains just worsened and spread even more, further ruining my already hideous wedding attire.
My subconscious let out a frustrated sigh. This day literally couldn't get any better.
I looked up and tried desperately to blink back the tears threatening to spill.
"You know, you should really learn to watch where you're going next time," Serena said with a nasty smirk playing on her lips.
I looked at her and decided right then and there that I'd had enough. Between Adam's horrible attitude toward me and now this deliberate attack from Serena, I was completely done.
Not thinking clearly at all, I immediately shoved her aside hard and her butt collided with the floor with a loud thud as I stormed off in pure irritation and frustration.
"Fiona!" Serena screamed my name with complete anger and surprise lacing her tone. I'm pretty sure she didn't expect me to actually fight back. "No, you didn't just push me to the damned floor, you bitch!"
"Oh, my leg!" She exclaimed dramatically like she'd just been shot in a war zone. "You've hurt my leg, you sick bitch!"
Of course she was blaming it all on me. Typical Serena, always playing the innocent victim card.
"Serena!" I heard Nathan call out and that sound broke my heart all over again as I turned to see him rush to her side in obvious worry.
He squatted beside her and examined her legs carefully like she was made of glass. Anyone watching would think Serena had been actually shot with the way she stayed there in mock tears.
"Are you alright?" I heard him ask her in the most worried voice I'd ever heard from him.
I watched my mother and father rush to her as well and I let out a bitter sigh.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Dad asked her gently.
Mom turned to me with pure anger blazing in her eyes and I braced myself for the inevitable attack.
"How could you be so mean, Fiona?" Mom berated me harshly and I felt deeply ashamed of myself despite knowing I'd done nothing wrong. "You'd better stop being such a mean girl to your sister and pull yourself together right now."
"You don't have to transfer your aggression to your sister simply because you're mad at your husband for what happened today at the altar," Dad added like I was some kind of monster.
Tears clouded my vision instantly.
"If you keep this up," Mom said with harsh determination, "transferring aggression to innocent people, even the husband you finally managed to get arranged to will end up hating you completely."
I tried my absolute hardest to blink back the tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.
No one was even asking how I felt about any of this. No one bothered to ask about my ruined dress or my humiliation. Then again, I was being materialistic by caring about my ruined dress instead of minding that my beloved never-do-wrong sister was on the floor in severe fake pain that I had supposedly caused.
Never mind that I was in the middle of a complete mental breakdown.
I heard the wheels of something approaching and to my surprise I looked up to see Adam wheeling himself toward us. His presence commanded immediate attention and everyone else fell completely silent.
He gazed at each person in the room with those piercing blue eyes and absolutely no one dared to speak a single word.
Hope sparked within me like a tiny flame.
He was my lawfully wedded husband now, so surely he would be on my side, right?
I watched him while holding back tears and hoping desperately that he would stand up for me, reprimand my family for their false accusations, and finally vindicate me.
He was supposed to be my prince charming after all. Surely he must have seen everything between Serena and me and could tell who was actually at fault here.
My heart quickened with a tiny spark of hope as I looked up at him and prepared for him to ignite it into a blazing ember of justice.
To my absolute shock and horror, Adam wheeled his chair directly toward my sister and focused his gaze on her instead of me.
"Are you alright?" he asked in the most concerned voice I'd ever heard from him.
I had never heard him speak so peacefully to anyone. Serena sat on the floor still feigning injury from our collision and all eyes were on her while completely ignoring me, the true victim.
Or so I thought anyway.
I watched in surprised anguish as it all unfolded before my eyes like some terrible movie.
Maybe I wasn't actually the true victim after all. Perhaps Serena really was hurt and just like my mother said, I was being a horrible mean girl by not acknowledging my fault.
"I'm fine," Serena said sweetly while still playing her victim card perfectly.
My subconscious rolled her eyes so hard they almost fell out. I watched Serena bat her eyelashes dramatically because the drama queen was finally getting exactly what she wanted, which was everyone's attention and sympathy.
"Here," Adam said while extending his hand to her with genuine kindness. "I'll help you up." He smiled warmly at her and it absolutely broke my heart into pieces. "You should be more cautious while walking next time," he softly reprimanded her.
She nodded obediently while I just stood there watching and hurting.
I looked down at the floor. Of course he would dote on my sister instead of me. What was I even expecting? That the asshole had some basic sense of fairness?
I watched with my hurt and confusion intensifying as not only my ex-boyfriend Nathan and my parents sided with my sister and blamed me for something that clearly wasn't my fault, but what made it a thousand times worse was that my newly wedded husband also joined them and unexpectedly supported my sister in her overtly exaggerated victimhood instead of standing by me.
I guess I was just the unlucky girl. There's always one in every million girls, right? The girl whose side absolutely no one is on. Not her parents, not her ex-boyfriend, not even her newly wedded husband who'd barely been married to her for a few hours.
Guess I was that one unlucky girl in a million.
