Unnoticed. That's what Seifer was. He could have been wearing a purple and yellow clown suit and nobody would have even spared him a glance. After all, it was an unusual occasion: the wedding of his archrival and his ex-girlfriend.
Well, the people in the audience wouldn't exactly put it that way, Seifer thought wryly, as few elderly women made a considerably ostentatious show of weeping as Rinoa passed by.
As he watched her slowly proceed down the rose petal-covered, lushly red carpeted aisle, his mind wandered back to an old memory. The crush (no, not love) he had on Rinoa last summer – it was purely affection.
Right?
Yes.
No.
Maybe.
But Seifer couldn't deny that over the course of the many months after his liberation, the image of Rinoa had haunted his soul.
It was so cliché, but devastatingly true. Literally devastating. He had seen her everywhere: he could have sworn the girl behind the counter of "Tom's Grocery" was a secret and methodically hidden sister of Rinoa's; that the ancient hair band in his pocket was once Rinoa's; that all his newer girlfriends were dark-haired, of average height, and wore blue…
Well, maybe not the last part with the whole blue thing.
But his obsession was undeniable. His simple teenage crush had blossomed into love.
At first, he denied it. Being Seifer, he couldn't have love for anyone – much less an engaged, to-be fiancé.
But he came nonetheless, to their wedding.
Nobody had invited him, much less spoken to him, but he had come on his own – the news that his archrival was getting married was news enough to bring him.
Then again, there was the case of Rinoa.
Seifer shuddered the thought back to the recess of his mind. Love? But he couldn't help thinking… had Rinoa ever felt anything for him? Ever?
No, perhaps not – after all, he had never even kissed her that summer. He had been gone for such long periods of time that he had simply faded away…
Like today.
He watched Rinoa and Squall mount the stage, exchange a glance of passion. Pure, unadulterated love. He watched the bride carefully. There was no doubt in her gaze, though Seifer vigilantly searched for a sigh of hope, that maybe not all was lost. Perhaps…
No. The glance was pure, beautiful, angelic.
He focused on Rinoa, and time slowly trickled by as he watched.
The drone of the clerk rose from a dull hum to a feverish pitch as he asked the final question. Do you?
Seifer desperately began to question.
Do I? Do I? Rinoa, do I?
The couple had exchanged vows. The church was dead-silent now. There was not a single sound. His archrival began to lift the blue veil…
Please.
Grabbing the pew in front of him, Seifer abruptly stood. There was a clatter that resonated around the room as his carefully chosen gift fell to the tiled wooden floor beneath him.
It shattered as the glass face hit the ground.
Heads spun. The couple froze.
Seifer forced himself to calmly walk to the main entrance, his black heels clicking as he reached the patch of un-carpeted floor. Murmurs were obvious.
Then he lost it. He spun around abruptly.
"Rinoa."
I'm sorry for once in my life. If only…
Then the man left, pushing past the ushers and out the door, which creaked to a stop.
The congregation was silent. There were no words to be said.
-------------------------------------------
Rinoa, newly wed, was preparing to head home to announce her marriage, when an elderly woman tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around, ready to receive another hug of congratulations.
She needed all she could get, after the disruption at her wedding.
But the woman had already given her sentiments.
"Did you drop that photo, milady?" she asked, pointing to a colored photo on grass carpet, apparently battered and worn, but still viewable.
Bewildered, Rinoa reached for the picture.
She gasped.
This photo – it's the one I took of Seifer and me five years ago. I had insisted upon the photo, and somehow he lost his copy, so I gave him mine. How…
Then it hit her. The handsome man in the awkward black suit who had stormed out the doors and forever destroyed her fairytale wedding, the sound of shattering glass when the same man had stood, the vaguely familiar man who had wedged himself at the corner of the chapel…
It had been Seifer.
"Are you all right?" the woman interrupted her thoughts.
"Yes. Thank you." The woman gave her a bright smile, and left to rejoin her grandchildren.
Seifer.
But there was no recalling of what might have been.