Standing at the Altar, Tobias glanced at the first bench where his Grandmother sat, looking at him with a wide smile as she waved at him, as excited as a child.
Her cheeks were pale and tiny beads of sweat formed on her forehead, which he knew was a result of the chronic pain she was enduring.
Yet, there was no sign of a frown in sight as she sat in the seat with the best view, waiting to witness this special occasion in her grandson's life.
Earlier, as he entered the chapel and walked towards the altar, Tobias had been tempted to rush out or even go up there and announce that this wedding was no longer going to take place.
However, one look at the excitement on his Grandmother's face tossed all such thoughts out of his head.
He just could not bring himself to utter those words and break her heart.
Hence, he chose to endure the ache in his heart instead and stood at the altar, waiting for the ceremony to begin.
What felt like an eternity to him was just a couple of minutes.
Soon, his mother had appeared at the entrance of the chapel with a woman dressed in Selene's gown, whose face was covered with a long white veil.
He did not know when his brother had appeared at his side and taken over the best man's position.
However, his eyes were fixed on the woman who stood at the entrance of the chapel as she held onto his mother's hand and walked down the aisle towards him.
Generally, it would be the bride's father or a father figure who was assigned this responsibility so it attracted a lot of attention when the groom's mother had taken up this role instead.
It was only then that Tobias had realized that there was not a single person related to Selene in the audience.
When they had been planning for the wedding, Selene had announced that her maternal uncle would be walking her down the aisle as her parents had passed away when she was younger and her uncle was the one who had raised her.
Tobias had no issues with this and had agreed almost instantly, even reserving the best seats for her uncle's family, right next to his family.
Therefore, now taking a look at the empty seats next to his Grandmother, it furthered his conviction that not only Selene but all of her relatives had also disappeared.
Her maid of honor, her friends and even coworkers were nowhere to be found.
This helped him realize that Selene must have informed them ahead of time and they either left early or had not arrived in the first place.
A bitter feeling rose in his chest when he thought of outsiders knowing more about Selene's plans than he did.
While he was still lost in his thoughts, the bride chosen last minute by his mother appeared before him.
His mother then went ahead and placed that woman's hand into his palm, as was the tradition and went to take her seat next to his Grandmother.
It was only when he felt that cold touch that he returned to the present and stared at the veiled woman before him.
He wondered who would have been dumb enough to agree to his mother's plans and waited to figure out the identity of this replacement bride.
He did not have to wait for long as soon, according to the order of events in the wedding ceremony, he lifted the veil covering the woman's face.
Tobias could not put into words the surprise he experienced when he found that the woman under the veil was none other than his best friend, Seraphina Melody.
'How did she end up appearing here?' He wondered but had no chance to clear the doubts in his mind as the priest began the wedding ceremony.
Throughout the ceremony, he caught her glancing nervously at his mother but once again, could only curb his curiosity regarding what his mother had offered her that she had agreed to become his replacement bride.
The ceremony had ended with this curiosity lingering in his heart but now that the two of them were seated in the car, he was finally given the chance to ask all of the questions that had appeared in his head ever since he saw her at the altar.
Having grasped a basic understanding of what had transpired earlier and how Seraphina had ended up becoming his bride, Tobias sighed before shaking his head.
He was now aware of how she had appeared at the altar and how the two had gotten married in that bizarre turn of events.
However, he was still curious about her reasoning for doing so.
"So why did you agree?" He posed his next question as he was still unsure why she had become his bride.
He had agreed to his mother's plans for his Grandmother's sake but he could not understand why his best friend had done so as well.
"You think I can see your mother and Grandmother unhappy?" Seraphina scoffed when she saw the confusion evident in his face.
The Melody family and Rion family were close since the previous generation as their mothers were friends.
As children, Seraphina and Tobias, who were born in the same year, were forced to become friends from a young age.
She had spent a large portion of her childhood in the Rion household and this increased after Tobias' father had passed away.
She had witnessed how Theresa had broken down on numerous occasions around the children and had somehow become a completely different person.
She seemed more sad and lifeless compared to her previous bubbly personality.
She had become a shell of her past self.
Though Seraphina, a young child back then, did not understand why she behaved in this way, her mother, Charlotte, had asked her to always approach Theresa with a sweet smile.
Being an obedient child, she had done just as her mother had asked of her and often followed her mother to visit Theresa at the Rion household.
Watching Seraphina stick close to their mother every time she visited, Tobias and Shawn who were also young at that time did the same and the three children spent a lot of time together with Theresa.
This made their bond grow stronger and at the same time, Theresa started feeling better after spending time with the children who had innocent expressions as they tried to accompany her.
Even without her mother asking her to visit the Rion family, Seraphina would show up and spend the day with the boys and Theresa.
Grandmother, who had witnessed how Seraphina would lead the two boys to spend their afternoons with Theresa, was extremely pleased with the young child.
This led to Seraphina being treated as just another child of the family from a young age and she also experienced the same love and warmth from both the women of the Rion household.
Seraphina also loved them just the same and hence, when she heard about Grandmother's illness and Theresa's heartfelt request, in the end, she could not reject the plan.
It was as though she had conditioned herself from a young age to be unable to see them in heartache or pain.
Hence, while initially she was hesitant to act according to Theresa's plan for Tobias' sake, she changed her mind after seeing the pleading look in her eyes.
Having explained her reason for what she had done, she turned to look at Tobias, knowing full well that he too had appeared on that altar for the very same reasons.