CHAPTER 1

Bryan looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and sighed. This was not a handsome face he is known for; the clear blue eyes now dimmed, sunk and hollow. His fair complexion and freshness of skin were no longer; it was oily with red patches scattered across like an island. The natural redness of his lips - the very one that girls were longed to be kissed with - has gone leaving a trail of chapped, dry skin on the surface. This was not Bryan Edison.

This was a guy who just learnt that his true love have gone and married her own true love. She was married in Rome too!  Thousands of miles away -- too far for Bryan to crashed the wedding and steal the bride. No, he was too poor to afford a plane ticket to Rome besides he didn't know until after the honeymoon ended and the wedding pictures had been shared on the social media.

It was all too late; gone has Katherine Bedford, the one possessor of Bryan's heart, leaving him a carcass of his old self.

Bryan went out of the bathroom with resolution of one more petty day and he would moved on. He would resumed his crappy job as a call center staff. He would resumed his lonely life as best as he can and hoping that in the meantime he could find something worth living for and if he didn't; well, maybe he just ended this life, better luck next time.

Bryan did spend one more day soaking in his own sour juice accompanied with alcoholic drink of his own mixing. He would be a tasty pickle if he were a cucumber for he has been mourning for over a month now.

Here's the deal with Bryan and Katherine: they were friends in college, best friend even! Kat was the sort of cool girl you only see in movie - or at least she tried to be - She was pretty, tall, a bit of tomboy but not too much because she likes make up and pretty dresses. She smokes a ton of cigarettes in a day, she could take hard liquor and she is easy to talk to - if you are her friend. Bryan was in love the moment he laid eyes on her in the first day of college. He eventually befriended her and they formed a group of 5 hang out friends; Bryan, Kat, Hannah, Sherly and Adam. All those time Bryan was secretly in love with Kat while Kat was having a romance problem of her own with her highschool sweetheart.

Three years into friendship, Bryan finally saw an opening when Kat declared that she and the highschool sweetheart - Leo were no longer together for good and that she had determined to start a fresh. Then and there Kat saw how through thick and thin; the one who was always there was Bryan. He cheered her up to no end, he was a good listener, he was ready to listen and talk no matter how late or how early; he was better than 911 operator when it comes to Katherine.

Bryan finally got the girl he has been dreaming of. Their relationship lasted for three months. In the end Katherine was all honesty when she told Bryan how she could never forget Leo and that she was positively sure that her true love was that man and not Bryan.

He had let her go. How could he made her stay when she didn't want to?

They stayed friend however much to Bryan's peace of heart. But it was the second best thing, that way he wouldn't lost her completely. He repressed his jealousy and broken hearted. From then on he was openly in love with Katherine. Everybody knew it, everybody talked about it. If you were to asked the class of 2008 what's the first thing that came to mind when they hear the name Bryan Edison, they'd said Katherine Bedford and likewise.

After they graduated college, the five friends went their separate way but still tightly maintain to keep in touch except for Katherine who had gone to England to work in Leo's parents company. Bryan was still adamant to keep tab on Kat, hoping against hope that she would realized her mistake and came back to him. The girl has accepted a job in her sweetheart's company, what chance did Bryan has against that?

Years passed and friendship drifted apart. The last one to go was Sherly and that was with heavy heart and frustration too that Sherly walked away from Bryan. Now, that was another story to tell. However, Bryan still persevered in his love for Kat and they kept in touch still. When Katherine came home, the two of them would met for coffee; sometimes the old gang - minus Sherly - would meet up and they would be having a great time only for Bryan to broke his own heart the day Katherine hopped on a plane back to England - back to Leo.

Bryan had been preserving his love and hope for Katherine for years, praying that once again she would be his. All those hopes and prayer had been shattered the day Bryan saw Katherine and Leo wedding pictures on social media, shared a week after the actual wedding. There was no news from Kat about the cursed wedding. Bryan didn't know whether the gang knew about it beforehand but chose not to tell  him or perhaps they were just as surprised as he was. No matter now. The wedding is done, she was taken and nothing to be done about it but to accept the reality.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***