The morning of my wedding, I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and a full heart.

Leo and I had spent years saving for this day. Extra shifts, late nights, cutting corners wherever we could. Every dollar went toward making it perfect.

A smiling woman laying in her bed | Source: Midjourney

"Gina, just think, all the money we're going to save on takeout," Leo laughed.

"That's because we're on healthy eating plans," I grinned.

And now, after all that work, all that sacrifice, it was finally here.

A plate of food | Source: Midjourney

I arrived at the venue an hour early, hoping for a quiet moment before the ceremony. I wanted to walk the aisle alone, soak it all in.

I just wanted to breathe, and do my makeup, and drink champagne while I walked around, taking the fairytale in.

Instead, I saw a bride standing at my altar. She had her back to me, and she was smoothing out her veil.

A glass of champagne on a table | Source: Midjourney

She wasn't just any bride. She was Jessica, my sister.

Dressed in a beautiful white wedding dress. Watching the venue's staff run around with the final preparations. Some of the guests were already gathering.

A smiling bride | Source: Midjourney

Leo had wanted our closest family to arrive early for a photoshoot.

"We're only going to get married once, Gina," he said. "Let's make it magical. I have my students coming in to take our photographs. It's going to be wonderful."

"Is that your version of extra credit?" I asked my fiancé as he scrolled through his laptop.

A man with a laptop, smiling | Source: Midjourney

"It's more like me allowing them to give us a wedding present."

That was one of the things I loved most about Leo. He had been a wildlife photographer for years, constantly flying to the best game parks. But after an accident on a safari a few years ago, Leo had decided to stay local and teach at a college instead.

It was his passion for capturing moments in time that hooked me.

A close up of a giraffe in the wild | Source: Midjourney

Music started playing from somewhere, and I was brought back to my nightmare.

Jessica, the bride.

My chest tightened. My ears rang.

And guess what?

My sister turned and flashed me a smug smile.

A shocked woman with braided hair | Source: Midjourney

"Oh!" She clasped her hands together. "You're early! I thought I'd have everything sorted before you got here. Well... that ruins the surprise."

I couldn't even process what she was saying.

"Surprise?" I echoed, my voice hollow.

Jessica sighed dramatically as if I was the problem here. As if I was the one ruining something special. As if I was the one who was raining on her parade.

A frowning bride | Source: Midjourney

"Gina, come on," she said. "Why waste a perfectly good setup? Two weddings in one! Genius, right, sis? And you know how Ben has been pushing me to get married lately."

My stomach dropped.

"You... so you didn't just show up in a wedding dress? You planned on getting married at my wedding? Are you insane?"

A smug bride standing outside | Source: Midjourney

She tilted her head, pouting.

"Mom said that 'insane' isn't a word we use, Gina," she rolled her eyes. "Be nice. And come on, don't be so selfish!"

Selfish?

Me? At my own wedding? The one place I was supposed to be selfish and controlling?

A woman with her hands on her head | Source: Midjourney

That word lit something inside me. Something angry. Something dangerous.

Jessica had spent her entire life taking from me. From borrowing clothes and never returning them to stealing my ideas and passing them off as her own. She would even whisper lies to get our parents on her side.

But this?

This was next-level pathetic. This was next-level evil.

A pile of clothing on an ottoman | Source: Midjourney

I looked around. My wedding planner, Bella, was staring at Jessica like she was a live grenade. My guests, the poor souls who had arrived early, were whispering in disbelief.

Even Jessica's own fiancé, Ben, looked deeply uncomfortable.

"Jess, you told me that Gina agreed!" he sighed. "I should have known better."

A groom wearing a green tux | Source: Midjourney

My vision sharpened.

I smiled.

Fine. If Jessica wanted a wedding, she could have one.

"Bella, did you know about this?" I asked.

"No, not at all, Gina!" she said. "I was just making sure that the bridal suite was ready for you. Your hair and makeup team are setting up for the final touches right now."

A woman wearing a purple pantsuit | Source: Midjourney

I nodded.

"Thank you," I smiled at her. "Now, let's get to this double wedding situation. Please put my sister's ceremony before mine. But can you pull out your tab?"

"Of course," she said, whipping out her tablet and unlocking it.

A wedding planner holding a tablet | Source: Midjourney

"Don't forget to add the harpist's final fee to our invoice. And as for the other issue, please make sure that Jessica gets billed for her portion first. I suggest that she pay before she walks down the aisle."

Bella blinked and then grinned widely.

My sister's smirk wavered.

I crossed my arms.

A smiling woman in her thirties | Source: Midjourney

"You added your own ceremony. If you planned a wedding, you'd know what that actually entails, Jessica. The officiant will need extra time for you, the musicians will too. Not to mention Leo's photography students—you'll have to pay them, of course. As for the food... I'm not going 50-50 with you there, sis. Leo and I catered for our guests only."

Bella, ever the professional, turned to Jessica.

"Gina's right," she said. "But she did leave out a few details. We catered per head, so that means your guests are another story altogether. We're paying the venue by the seat, literally. So, for your ceremony, we're going to need extra seats. They're not cheap. There's a few other things we can go through. Would you like to sit down?"

Seats at a wedding | Source: Midjourney

"Wait... what?!" Jessica exclaimed.

Bella's voice was calm and patient.

"You added a separate ceremony, Jessica. That fee has to be settled before we proceed."

Jessica laughed nervously.

An upset bride at a wedding venue | Source: Midjourney

"No, no, no! This is all one event! There's no other add-ons or whatever you're talking about, Bella. Come on, Gina. Tell her."

I shrugged.

"Not according to the contract, Jessica. Your part wasn't included in the original agreement. Weddings cost money. If you want one, you have to pay."

Jessica's face turned bright red, and she dropped the veil she had been holding.

A fallen bridal veil | Source: Midjourney

She looked around, expecting someone to back her up.

Nobody did.

Not Mom. Not Dad. Not even Ben.

"Mom?" she whimpered.

Our mother folded her arms. She looked livid.

An angry mother-of-the-bride | Source: Midjourney

"You planned this nonsense behind everyone's back, Jessica. Fix it yourself."

Jessica's lip trembled, and then she exploded.

She shrieked. She stomped her feet. She demanded that I "just share" because we were "family."

"You need to calm down, Jess," Ben told her. "I can't believe that you lied to me and told me that Gina and Leo were happy about this. I'm leaving."

A bride throwing a tantrum | Source: Midjourney

Jessica fell into a heap on the floor. Our father called security to escort her out.

I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Ready to slip into your dress?" Bella asked.

I nodded.

"It's almost go-time, Gina," my mother said. "Come on, I'll help you."

A smiling wedding planner | Source: Midjourney

The wedding went off without a hitch after that. It was perfectly romantic and intimate.

Without Jessica and her drama? The atmosphere was light, joyful, and electric.

Mom pulled me aside, wrapping me into a hug.

"I can't believe your sister actually thought she could get away with it," she said.

A beautiful bride | Source: Midjourney

"Honestly? Neither can I!" I laughed. "I told Leo everything after our ceremony, and he was shocked. Thank goodness he missed the whole confrontation—knowing Leo, he would have allowed her to have her moment. Just to keep the peace."

"You've got a lovely husband, Gina," Mom said. "And don't you take that for granted."

Before we knew it, my dad walked up to us.

A side profile of the mother-of-the-bride | Source: Midjourney

"She called. She said that we should all be ashamed for 'humiliating' her."

I rolled my eyes.

"She humiliated herself. I just made sure that she didn't get a free wedding out of it. Leo and I worked our butts off to make this perfect. I wasn't going to let Jessica sponge off me this time."

Later that night, Leo and I stood together, hands entwined as he raised his glass.

A smiling groom | Source: Midjourney

"To my beautiful wife," he said, eyes locked onto mine. "And to finally getting the wedding she deserves."

Everyone cheered.

I felt tears well in my eyes, overwhelmed by love and support.

Jessica's absence? It didn't matter.

A happy bride with her eyes closed | Source: Midjourney

I had barely taken off my shoes when the banging started.

Sharp. Desperate. Unrelenting.

I sighed, rolling my shoulders before walking to the door. I already knew who it was.

I opened it to find Jessica, standing on my porch in sweatpants and an old hoodie, her face blotchy from crying. Her usual perfectly curled hair was tied in a messy bun, and her mascara had smudged beneath her eyes.

An upset woman standing on a porch | Source: Midjourney

For the first time in my life, she looked small.

"Gina," she whispered. "Can I come in?"

"Why?" I asked simply.

"I just... I need to talk to you," she said.

I studied her, debating. Every instinct told me to slam the door in her face, but something in her expression... a rawness I had never seen before, made me hesitate.

A woman in her doorway wearing gym clothes | Source: Midjourney

With a sigh, I stepped aside.

"Five minutes. That's all you have."

She stepped in, hugging her arms around herself.

I waited, arms still crossed as she stood in the middle of my living room, looking around like she barely recognized the space.

Finally, she exhaled a shaky breath.

A woman with a messy bun and a hoodie | Source: Midjourney

"Ben left me," her voice cracked. "He... he said that he needed a break. That he didn't understand why I did what I did. That he's not sure I'm the kind of person he wants to be with."

She let out a hollow laugh, swiping at her cheeks.

"Guess I finally took it too far, huh?"

I said nothing. I didn't have any words.

A close up of an upset man | Source: Midjourney

Jessica licked her lips, avoiding my eyes.

"You know... I didn't think it was that bad at first. I thought you'd be mad for a little while, then we'd move on, like we always do."

My jaw tightened.

"But then Ben left. And Mom and Dad won't return my calls. And my friends..." Her voice wavered. "Well, it turns out that I don't have as many as I thought."

A phone on a nightstand | Source: Midjourney

She looked at me then, eyes red-rimmed and pleading.

"I don't know why I do these things, Gina. I don't know why I can't just... be happy for you. I ruin everything. And now? I've ruined myself."

For the first time ever, Jessica was admitting that she was... not okay.

And for the first time ever, I didn't feel the need to fix her.

A crying woman | Source: Midjourney

I exhaled slowly.

"Yeah, Jess. You did."

"Can we... start over?"

I stared at her, then shook my head.

"No."

A pensive woman in a living room | Source: Midjourney

Jessica flinched.

I stepped closer, my voice calm but firm.

"You've spent years making me feel small. Stealing what wasn't yours. Manipulating people into thinking you were the victim. And now that you finally have to deal with the fallout," I tilted my head. "you want a fresh start?"

She swallowed, nodding.

A side-view of a woman standing in a living room | Source: Midjourney

I let out a quiet laugh, shaking my head.

"I spent years hoping you'd change. But I'm done hoping, Jess," I walked to the door and pulled it open. "Now you have to live with the choices you made."

Jessica's face crumbled.

For a second, I thought she might argue. But instead, she turned away without another word.

An upset woman standing on a porch | Source: Midjourney

As she stepped outside, I spoke one last time.

"I really do hope you figure yourself out."

She hesitated, then nodded once before walking away.

I shut the door, locking it behind her. And I put the kettle on.

For the first time in my life, I felt free.

A kettle on a stove | Source: Midjourney

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This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided "as is," and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.