That day, the wedding hall appeared like a big house. The lights made the groom’s face shine. Rodrigo is his name, and he is a prosperous businessman who owns a series of upscale restaurants in Mexico City.
Camila, the young and beautiful bride, stood next to him in a sequined mermaid dress and smiled as she welcomed the guests.
Rodrigo had begun walking with his wife, Mariana, barely a year ago. That was a secret. She was a nice woman who silently stood by him from the time they had nothing until he became a man everyone looked up to.
Rodrigo was different, though. He met Camila during a business dinner. She was young, attractive, and knew how to please a man. Rodrigo began to mistreat Mariana gradually. He made her cry, blamed her for dumb things, and pushed her to the point of being very fatigued.
Rodrigo’s last deed was to secretly call a hospital and sign the papers to admit his wife to a psychiatric hospital while she was crying in his office. He told her she was “suffering from delusions.”
That day, as they took Mariana, she gazed at him with tears in her eyes:
“I’m not sick; I’m just tired…” You do trust me, right?
Rodrigo, on the other hand, didn’t glance at her. He could only think about Camila, not her.
Rodrigo wanted to have a grandiose wedding a year later. He didn’t know that Mariana had already left the hospital three months ago. She had moved around 200 kilometers from the capital, learnt how to drive, and sold all of her jewelry to buy a used supercar from 2016. She just had one goal: to go to the wedding, not to beg, but to put that period of her life behind her.
As the person in charge of the ceremony announced that the wedding cake was being cut, the music got louder. At that moment, the orchestra could not be heard above the roar of an engine outside the hall. Everyone who was present looked in shock. A black sports car came up to the door, slammed on the brakes, and made a cloud of white smoke.
Mariana got out. She wasn’t wearing a ball gown or a sophisticated hairstyle. She donned a simple white dress and let her hair down. She appeared cold and steady. She carried a gift box that was elegantly wrapped in her hands. People in the hall stopped talking.
Rodrigo stopped moving, and his face went white.
“Mariana… What are you up to here?
She smiled but didn’t utter a word. She walked up to the stage and handed Camila the box. Her voice was loud and clear, and it resonated in the crowded auditorium:
“Good job to all of you. This is what I’m giving you for your wedding. You won’t forget it, I swear.
Camila opened the box, shaking. There were no bombs or guns inside, only a lot of official papers, such the title deeds to the full restaurant chain and the transfer agreement that Rodrigo signed.
Mariana kept her voice cool as she spoke:
“I worked hard, spent money, and made sacrifices to give him everything he has today.” But I previously sold all of my shares to the individual who owns most of the business. Rodrigo is now just “the groom who betrayed his wife” at this wedding.
People in the room were whispering in awe. People who were important to business began to leave, and the phones continued ringing. Rodrigo slumped down in fear, and Camila grasped the box like it was hurting her hands.
Mariana smiled at him in a bad way:
“You’ve never been crazy.” You are foolish to believe you could bury me to be with your boyfriend.
She turned around and exited the room after saying those things, and everyone else was speechless. As a demonstration of respect, some people in the audience clapped for her. The sports car’s engine screamed again, and Mariana ran into the smoke, leaving behind a wedding that had been destroyed from the start.
