"I hope that one day you are as happy as you pretend to be," Monty whispered in her ear in a soft murmur as they danced.
Those words made Sibella pause and stumble in her movements. He caught her and got her back into the rhythm of the dance.
Monty always knew what words to say to her, except this time those words were not what she wanted nor needed to hear on her wedding day.
She looked up at him, trying to keep her expression as neutral as she could in fear of giving her affection for Monty away in front of her wedding guests.
"I am happy," she emphasized with a smile in spite of her contradictory feelings that told her she wasn't.
They spun around the dancefloor with a twirl of her dress.
"No, you're not," said Monty sharply. "You'll never be happy with him and you know that."
He looked at her intensely, knowing that she knew that his words were true.
The blonde felt as though she could cry. A lump welled in her throat.
She hadn't expected him to show up to her wedding at all, she knew how much she had hurt him when she had told him about her engagement. She had wounded him, like an animal. So when she had caught sight of him at the back of the church, she nearly fainted from shock.
But truth be told, Sibella had also been nervous to see Monty. She knew he didn't approve of Lionel. Monty thoroughly hated him. He had told her time and time again that she was making a mistake by marrying him. She was too stubborn to admit that she thought she was making a mistake as well, though she knew in her heart she was.
The music of the dance grew quiet and Sibella knew they only had a few moments left.
She thought Monty had left after the ceremony, so she had been surprised when he had come up to her and asked her to dance. Lionel didn't object, though he did look at her suspiciously when she went with him.
Now she glanced around the room as they spun around, and found her husband. He was standing with his business associates, his gaze on her and Monty.
She knew that he didn't know the full truth of her and Monty's relationship but he knew enough, well, he knew that they were close, to harbor hesitation on letting her see him again.
"You don't know that," she argued softly, her eyes flickering to his face. His grip on her shoulder and waist loosened as the music came to a stop. "I could actually love Lionel for all you know."
They stopped dancing and stood frozen in place.
To everyone else it was a beautiful sight. The gorgeous bride dancing with her childhood friend. Nothing more to it.
"I know you love me," he said in a low voice, leaning towards her. His eyes finally looked at her face, and she finally saw all of the anger and bitterness in his eyes. "You don't love him, Sibella. You never will and you never have. But you have always loved me…"
"Monty, please," she begged, "Don't do this here, not now." She swallowed hard as she could feel the happy mask she was wearing faltering and cracking.
"You don't love him, Sibella," he whispered, "I know you don't. So why are you marrying him?"
Her heart broke at that. She didn't know why she was marrying Lionel anymore but now she was stuck with him. It was too late.
"Why couldn't you have told me this beforehand?" she hissed at him, "Do you really think that I can change things now? I can't. I just married him."
Her face was growing red with anger and regret.
"You refused to listen to me, you refused to run away with me, remember?" he reminded her.
"We could have been happy together, Sibella," he continued in a soft voice. She felt her heart shatter at those words for she knew that they were true. No matter how much she complained about him not having money, Monty did make her wildly happy.
"We could have been getting married today instead of you and Lionel if you hadn't been so stubborn and so vain."
Sibella hid her face with her hands and tried to collect herself, having Monty here and tormenting her with her horrid decisions of the past was too much for her.
She wanted nothing more than to rip off her wedding dress and go and cry for the next thousand years. Couldn't Monty see that she knew she had made a mistake? Why did he have to come and rub it in her face?
"Monty, please," she pleaded, her voice breaking as she kept her face hidden, "Please don't do this now. I can't help it now, I've made my choice, and I know it's the wrong one but please stop tormenting me," she begged.
The other guests were starting to stare now at the two of them in the dancefloor, for every other couple was dancing around them.
She looked up at him and he could see the tears rolling down her face. His face softened. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her face.
"I'm sorry," he said afterwards, putting the handkerchief away, "I shouldn't have come." He took a step back from her. Sibella was still sniffling a bit, though she was trying to keep her composure so that more people wouldn't stare at her than they already were.
"Monty…" she opened her mouth to say more but she couldn't get any more words out.
He stepped towards her once more and kissed her forehead all the while she was trembling and sniffling, trying not to burst into tears.
"You made a beautiful bride," he whispered regretfully as he looked her over once more.
She did indeed look gorgeous. The gown suited her, a pale pink, sweetheart neckline. She looked like a princess with her hair up in a loose bun with curls falling down in her face, a veil trailing down her back.
Only he could see the sadness in her eyes.
"Have a good honeymoon in Florence with Mr. Holland," he said after he wiped away one more tear from her face.
Sibella clenched a hand to her mouth as she watched him walk away, a few more tears falling down her cheeks as she bit back sobs.
Lionel moved through the dancing couples to her and he took her hand and began to dance with her, as if he knew that something had happened. He didn't ask her about it, he didn't even look at her. He just danced with her, as if to remind her that she was his wife now, not Monty's.
As for the blonde, her gaze was trained on the door as they spun around and danced.
She watched Monty walk away until he disappeared from her view, her heart splitting in two.
