Chapter 29
T he villa was starting to fill up with people.
Zoe and her team had managed to deliver an incredible brunch buffet with delicious pastries, avocado toast and other delicacies.
The fresh pains au chocolat with dark Belgian chocolate were so airy, Zoe could have eaten ten of them.
Adam was probably thinking the same thing, because he was already on his third.
He and his family had arrived around an hour ago, taken a handful of pictures with the photographer, and were now waiting with the other guests for the arrival of the bourgmestre - the mayor of the town - to celebrate the wedding.
Normally, they would’ve had to go to the town hall like all Belgian couples to sign the marriage papers, but the local officials had decided to make an exception rather than risk the building being overrun with Adam’s fans.
The crowd was a bit mismatched. There were Yasmine and Adam’s friends, their families, some of Yasmine’s coworkers, a few media types - Zoe couldn’t guess if they were on Yasmine or Adam’s side - and some famous people.
She did recognise a young French actress and another actor that Tom had mentioned.
She wasn’t familiar with the rest of them, but could guess who was and wasn’t a celebrity.
She’d always thought celebrities had some kind of aura to them that made them stand out somehow - until she’d privately shared her theory with Nicki, who’d explained that that aura was called “spending more than a hundred pounds a month on hair and skincare” and that yes, that meant Zoe had it too.
A few of the special guests had given her looks and introduced themselves to her.
This wedding would probably be talked about in the francophone gossip media.
Zoe thought about Yasmine’s breakdown earlier.
If some tabloid got hold of that, they would have a field day.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any paparazzi scouring the area.
There was only the documentary team from yesterday, all dressed up and fancy.
Camille looked sharply Parisian and David seemed nervous.
The crowd started buzzing and Zoe understood that the bourgmestre had arrived.
That was her cue to start working on the mocktails so they’d be ready right after the ceremony.
She walked back inside the kitchen and could hear the MC - Adam’s brother - inviting everyone to walk out to the garden.
Then she heard the bridesmaids scattering upstairs to get Yasmine out to the ceremony.
Zoe peeked out and saw Yasmine walking down with her bridesmaids.
The minute she entered the yard, the crowd gasped and cheered loudly.
Zoe smiled. Yasmine deserved all the good things.
After making sure that everything was in order, Zoe slipped out and joined the rest of the guests.
Yasmine had requested that she be there during the ceremony.
She joined the front row where the bridesmaids had said they would save her a seat.
Unfortunately, it was next to Julie, but by now, Zoe had managed to put her thoughts aside and just be happy for Yasmine.
Julie also seemed more relaxed, a big grin on her face and tears in her eyes at the same time.
She was also looking stupidly good in her dark blue elegant jumpsuit, but Zoe tried to not dwell on it.
“What’d I miss?” Zoe whispered into Julie’s ear. A bit closer than she intended. Her lips were almost grazing Julie’s face.
Julie turned to her. “Just the bourgmestre ’s speech. They’re about to do their vows.” Julie’s mouth was now only a few centimetres from Zoe’s. She licked her lips before clearing her throat and turning back to the ceremony.
Zoe looked at Adam and Yasmine, standing in front of the flower arch that Julie had set up.
It was a bright explosion of colours, with tropical leaves hanging on both sides.
The groom and the bride looked gorgeous, Yasmine with her white dress contrasting nicely with the background while Adam looked dapper with his dark blue tuxedo and black bow tie.
Zoe smiled. There was still something deep within her that was yearning to be in Yasmine’s place, with Tom standing in front of her.
How handsome and how pretty they’d be on a warm late summer day in September.
She’d cried tears of joy when Tom had proposed a little over a year ago.
It just felt good to know that there was someone who wanted to be by her side forever and that she wanted to be by their side as well.
She’d messed up, but surely there was a way to make things work with Tom, wasn’t there?
He’d always been understanding, supportive, and most importantly, they were in love.
Adam stood tall. He started. “ Yasmine, je te promets d’être toujours à tes c?tés. Je veux construire ma vie avec toi.”
Zoe heard Julie sniffle next to her, and smothered a smile.
Julie had always been a secret softie. Zoe’s hand automatically moved to hold Julie’s hand resting on her knee.
By the time she realised what she’d done, the blood in her face had already drained out.
Now it would be too awkward to take her hand away.
She felt Julie squeezing at her fingers.
The touch made all of her previous thoughts about Tom disappear instantly.
Instead, they circled back to how Julie had ripped Zoe’s shirt off last night.
How’d she pinned her to the bed. Zoe swallowed.
Adam finished his vows and loud sniffling sounds could be heard through the audience. People were blowing their noses. Zoe hadn’t paid any attention after the first two sentences, but she was willing to believe that it was very nice and emotional.
Yasmine took a deep breath. It was her turn now.
Julie squeezed Zoe’s hand a bit tighter.
Yasmine took another deep breath.
Then another.
The silence was lying heavy over the audience.
Yasmine took yet another breath.
Julie turned to Zoe, a worried look on her face. She turned around and leaned forward to mouth something at the other bridesmaids. Zoe could see Sarah shrug from across the row.
One of the guests coughed. The moment seemed to last forever.
Finally, Yasmine opened her mouth.
“ Je peux pas.” She started sobbing and ran away down the aisles and into the house.
Adam looked flabbergasted. He turned to the equally horrified bourgmestre .
After a moment of stunned silence, a low murmur spread through the crowd.
Leila, Sarah and Marion jumped up and started running after Yasmine.
Julie and Zoe stood up as well, hands still clasped.
Together they also hurried away from the scene and into the house.
“What the fuck happened?” Marion was livid.
“Where is she? Is she upstairs?” Leila was looking up the staircase.
“I’ll go check her room.” Julie sped to the first floor.
Zoe trailed behind her. She didn’t really know what else to do. All of this was surreal. After everything leading up to that moment, had Yasmine really just said, “I can’t”? They both barged into the room where they had consoled Yasmine just this morning.
“Yas? Are you here?” Julie spoke into the empty room. She looked around frantically, opening the cupboards, searching under the bed.
“I don’t think she’s here.” Zoe said to Julie, who was on all fours on the floor, looking for Yasmine behind the bed table.
“Let’s check all the rooms.” Julie ran out and started opening all the doors in the corridor, yelling Yasmine’s name inside each of them. “She’s not here, let’s go back downstairs.”
Once they reached the ground floor of the villa, Zoe and Julie found the rest of the bridesmaids looking just as clueless as they were.
“She’s just… gone. What do we do?” Maria shook her head.
“I tried calling her but she’s not picking up.” Alice had her phone in her hand, looking desperate.
Zoe walked away from the group, into the kitchen. . Maybe one of her caterers would’ve seen her?
A flash of white caught her eye through the kitchen window. She did a double-take and went closer. Yasmine was walking through the parking lot, next to the guy from the documentary team. What was his name? David? It didn’t matter now. She bolted through the kitchen door, shouting Yasmine’s name.
“Yasmine! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Yasmine jumped, startled. Her face was covered in tears. The man next to her looked upset. She held a hand up to Zoe.
“Sorry Zoe, I’ll explain later. You’ll understand someday.” She turned away and approached her car. She got in and gestured to David, who, after a moment’s hesitation, got into the passenger seat.
“No, wait!” Zoe hit the hood of the car with her hands as Yasmine was backing out. It didn’t stop her. The car turned around and left the front yard. Zoe tried running after it, but it was all pointless.
The other bridesmaids arrived in a breathless group behind her. “Zoe, what happened?”
“I don’t know… She’s just…” Zoe put her hands up. “She’s just gone. With this guy.” She felt like she didn’t have enough air to breathe in. “Yasmine’s run away.”
All the women stared out onto the road. Surely Yasmine was going to drive around and come back? They waited silently, hoping to see the blue BMW coming back up the road, but the road stayed completely empty.
“What do we do?” Julie asked softly. The other bridesmaids had no answer.
Zoe rubbed her face with her hands. She’d woken up this morning thinking her own relationship was a fiery mess but this took the cake.
Beyond incomprehension and sympathy for Yasmine, Zoe was scared that this was an ominous premonition of how her own wedding would be.
Would she do the same? Hold on until the last possible minute until the only way out was literally running away? She had to settle things with Tom.