In a cafe far away from the hotel, Tobias sat while nervously staring at the ring on his finger.
Earlier, he had received a message from Selene, asking him to meet her at a cafe they used to frequent back when they were together in college.
He did not wish to lose this chance of meeting her again, hence, he left in haste, without even giving it a second thought.
After leaving his family behind in that hallway, he had rented a car from the hotel and driven away in haste.
Their college campus was far from the city limits, so he would have to drive for over forty-five minutes to reach their meeting place.
After not hearing from her ever since she left him before the wedding, Tobias was tormented with all sorts of thoughts about the choice she had made.
Despite many tries, he just could not come up with a proper reason for her disappearance right before their wedding.
If something had been bothering her or if she was too nervous about their wedding, she could have brought it up to his attention so that he could have helped her out in some way.
However, she had neither tried to express her concerns nor shared her nervousness with him, instead, she chose to leave him behind at the chapel.
Therefore, he wished to know what could have made her act so recklessly when they had already made up their minds to spend the rest of their lives together.
Such thoughts had filled his head throughout his journey and now that he had arrived at the cafe, his desire to know her reasoning increased by leaps and bounds.
Dressed in a custom-made fancy suit made him look out of place as he sat alone at a table in a secluded corner of this ordinary cafe.
However, he was not bothered by the constant stares he received from fellow customers as his mind was occupied by other pressing matters.
It was already close to nine in the night but the cafe was bustling with customers, who mostly were students from nearby campuses.
Impatience grew in his heart with each passing second yet the person he was waiting for was nowhere to be found.
After arriving, he had ordered a black coffee for himself and a vanilla milkshake for the woman he was waiting for.
The waitress had brought their drinks out yet Tobias sat in absolute silence, without touching his coffee, while glancing at the door every few seconds.
It had been over fifteen minutes since he had arrived but he found no signs of Selene and hence, could only wait for her to appear.
The anxiety in his heart was reflected in his demeanor as he tapped his finger on the table, his eyes shifting to the door each time it opened.
However, even after over twenty minutes, the person he was waiting for never arrived.
Instead, very soon he found another familiar face showing up, which made him furrow his brows in confusion.
"Hey..." An awkward greeting was heard first before this person took a seat opposite him.
A woman in a bright pink sweater and navy blue pants smiled at him as she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear that had fallen on her face earlier.
Her full lips curved beautifully as she looked at the man sitting opposite her, offering him her best smile.
The college boys nearby could not take their eyes off of this woman ever since she had entered the cafe.
A few of them even wished to introduce themselves but halted when they saw her ignoring everyone and walking straight towards the man who had been sitting in a secluded corner, dressed in a fancy suit.
Realizing that the woman was here for him and it appeared that he had also been waiting for her, the boys chose not to approach them but still stuck around to witness how things would turn out.
Seated in that secluded corner, Tobias, unaware of the curious gazes fixed on them, was frowning as he watched the woman taking a seat at his table.
"Mila? Where is Selene?" He inquired right after she got comfortable in her seat.
He even turned to look back at the door as he was expecting the other person to show up any second now.
However, when he saw no one there, his gaze returned to Mila who was observing him all along.
He had been waiting for close to half an hour now for Selene but instead her best friend, Mila had appeared at the cafe.
This unexpected change in plans did not sit well with him and his annoyance was clear on his face as he interrogated Mila, curious to know where Selene was and when she would be coming.
However, in no rush to answer his question, the woman before him took a leisurely sip of the vanilla milkshake he had ordered for Selene.
"My favorite!" She chirped before taking another big sip of the cold beverage.
Watching the joy on her face as she took her time to relish the drink only heightened his annoyance.
"She won't be coming." Mila, the woman in the pink sweater, finally revealed after emptying half the glass.
Playing with the straw in her glass, she keenly observed the man's reaction to the news she had just broken.
As expected, she saw Tobias rise from his seat, clearly unhappy with what she had said.
"Then there is no reason for me to stay here." He announced, preparing to leave as he had come here to meet Selene, not Mila.
However, before he could take even a single step away from the table, he heard something that made him freeze.
"But I do have a message for you, which she personally asked me to deliver~" Mila revealed, smirking when she saw how her words had affected him.
In no time, Tobias was back in his seat as he stared at Mila unblinkingly, waiting to hear the message Selene had left for him.
'Why couldn't she come here?' This question popped up in his head but he shot it down to focus on what Mila had to say next.
Wiping that smirk off her face, Mila now had a frown as she thought of what her best friend had told her earlier today.
Today, she had arrived early at the Chapel to fulfill her duties as Selene's Maid of Honor to the best of her abilities.
However, she had long since noticed the crippling anxiety and even guilt that constantly appeared on her best friend's face.
Upon inquiring what could be causing her to react in this way, Mila heard something that surprised her to no end.
It took her some time to digest the news she had received from her bestfriend and deal with the conflicting emotions that rose within her.
Though at the end of the day, she chose to support her bestfriend in whatever she had decided.
This was how she had ended up running out of the chapel after passing Selene's letter to Shawn who she knew would deliver it to Tobias.
Now that she sat opposite Tobias, she knew that the letter had been delivered on time.
After the rollercoaster of emotions she had gone through today, Mila took a deep breath before fixing her beautiful blue eyes on the man who was also staring right at her.
"You want to know why Selene left, right?" She began and curbed the smirk that formed on her face upon seeing his entire attention focused on her.