We told our family the good news. I remember their reaction. I saw the light in their eyes and how their mouth dropped to the ground in utter disbelief that Topher and I were engaged. The first person I told was my mother, I wanted her to know first, so I went to her apartment on the weekends, and it was cold, so I had my gloves on with my engagement ring inside.

Before the revelation, my mom was making warm coffee for me in the kitchen, and I saw a framed picture of my father in the living room. I held it and talked to him in my mind, "Hi, Dad, I'm going to marry the love of my life. I wish you were here to meet him and walk me down the aisle at my wedding. I hope wherever you are, you are happy to know that I'm gonna be married," I said to my father inside my head.

My mother appeared right after, so I had to put the frame down and then sat down on the couch with her, "So nice of you to visit me. How's everything in Barcon?" she asked once she handed me a hot cup of coffee and pretzel while we waited for the roast chicken to be cooked in the oven.

"Everything is fine, my business is great, and we finally got the vegetable garden that we wanted," I answered playfully.

"That's great, how's Christopher?"

"He's okay. He's in Paris right now.  He'll be back for two months."

"Oh, wow, that's long," my mother expressed. "Tell him to buy me an old postcard."

"I will," I responded, and something in my face that she funnily looked at me.

"Is there something else?"

And that was my cue to tell her, "Nope, just... you know what, it's starting to get warm here, I should take these off now." I took off my gloves and then showed her the ring.

My mother gasped her mouth dropped, and her eyes could almost be coming out of its socket when she got a glimpse of my pink diamond engagement ring. "Oh my God! Is that...?"

"YES!" I squealed.

"Oh my! Audrey!!" She hugged me so tight that I couldn't breathe, but I didn't care. We were very happy. "It's about time."

"I know." Then I glanced at my ring.

"OH! There's a bottle of wine in the kitchen. Let's celebrate after dinner," my mom suggested. After that, she got so excited that she was throwing wedding ideas at me. "Where's the wedding gonna be? Oh! Do you remember my friend who's a designer? He made this gorgeous wedding dress with Swarovski crystals.  Oh! This is a chance for Ada to be a flower girl to her favorite aunt and soon-to-be uncle."

Mom just kept talking, and I remember feeling very overwhelmed by all the ideas that she threw at me. "Mom. Mom." I stopped her. "I'm not gonna have any of those."

"Hm?"

"Topher and I are just gonna have a court wedding."

She looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mom. I'm sorry that Ada won't be the flower girl. Besides, it's not like Dad can walk me down the aisle."

"Oh, Honey." She embraced me again. I could tell that she looked disappointed, but at the same time, she understood that that was how I liked it. "It's alright. Just tell me what you need."

"Thanks, Mom." I smiled at her. The whole night we just talked about what I wanted for my wedding.

----

The next morning, I went back to Barcon, and the first thing I did was to schedule my save-the-date wedding in the city hall and pay some fee for it. I remember the feeling of applying for the journalism club, applying for college, applying for a job in the bookstore, and applying for a business permit for my studio, but this felt like it was the best thing. I signed up to be married to the love of my life.

I got out and stood by the main entrance. I grinned, looking at the slip in my hand with the wedding dates on it. After that, I quickly ran to the Vespa scooter and then went home to tell my fiance about it.

When I got in the house, I picked up my phone to reach Topher via video call, but he did not answer. I thought that was odd. After a couple of attempts, I gave up. A few minutes later, when I was checking out Pinterest for ideas, there was a Facebook message from him.

"Yes! We got the date and time that we wanted. BTW, sorry that I haven't been in touch lately. The signal here is kinda bad, so I might not be able to reply and call as much." - Topher

The next weekend, I began my bridal task. Emmy became my wedding dress designer and stylist. We were browsing around an antique store, and there were some old white dresses.

Though we played dress up for a while because they were all so gorgeous. We danced to it, imagining that I was walking down the aisle, and even pretended to throw the bouquet in the end with a few other elderly ladies who worked there to play along with our silliness. However, Emmy did not manage to catch the bouquet, but one of the old ladies did.

Finally, I found the perfect dress. It was 1950s tea-length with white rose embroidered by the tulle of the round poof skirt, and the top was see-through fabric with a sweetheart neckline.

I tried it on in the dressing room, and even though it fit, I asked Emmy to help me with the zipper that was at the back. Once she got in and tried to pull it up, I looked at myself in the mirror. "It's so cute, but it's kinda itchy on the top," I remarked as I scratched my shoulder and my upper chest.

"It is an old gown. Can you handle it during the ceremony?" Emmy asked me.

"Hmm... I guess, but maybe not the reception," I said. Yes, we were going to have a reception but not like at the big wedding. We were going to have a nice dinner in this fancy hotel in Barcon. "By the way, how's the zipper back there? Should I breathe in?"

"No, I think it's stuck from the fabric, and it's sort of rusty too," Emmy told me, and I could feel her pulling so hard. Eventually, the zipper was able to slide up, yet it stopped halfway to the top. "It got stuck again. Stop moving so much. We're almost there."

"I can't, it's itchy," I reminded her while I kept scratching until I saw my skin had rashes and Emmy saw it. "You know what, let's just find another dress. I can't take it anymore."

"Okay, just hold on." So she pulled the zipper down fast so that I could get out of the dress that was killing me. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh? What uh oh?"

Emmy cringed and hesitantly put her hand up to show me the slider came off from the chain. My eyes widened in shock.

Once I changed into my own clothes, we had to break it to the shop owner. She truly sympathized and knew it was an accident, but rules are rules. "I'm sorry, ladies, you broke it, you bought it," the old lady told us. "That'll be four hundred."

"Four hundred?" My voice choked after hearing the price. I have the money, but that was my budget for my wedding dress. Still. It was not like I could do anything about it, so I reached into my pocket to pay for it.

"Sorry, lovely," Emmy apologized to me. As upset as I was, I could never be mad at her, and it was an accident anyway. "I'll pay you..."

"No, it's okay," I assured her.

We went to a cafe after that to get coffee, but I remember feeling so bummed to pay for a dress with a material that gave me rashes and a broken zipper. "Seriously, lovely, let me give you the money," Emmy insisted.

"Really, it's fine," I said. "One of my clients is going to transfer money from shooting his short film in the studio. It'll be roughly around four hundred that I can get back."

"Okay... that's great. I guess."

I gazed at the dress that was lying on the chair. "I truly love the dress."

"It is very cute," Emmy nodded.

"I want to wear it, I just can't do it without scratching my skin off. I'm not sure if I should keep it. I don't want to see Topher's face that his future wife spent so much for a dress that she's not gonna wear, but I don't even want to throw it away either."

For just one second, the fashion expert had a lightbulb moment. "What if you don't have to throw it away?

At that time, I did not understand what she meant. "Huh?"

"Why don't we alter it?" she suggested.

"Alter it?"

"Yes. I know how to sew. I can change the zipper and the material on the top, and I'll do it for free," Emmy explained, then had this puppy dog face. "Please, let me do it. I won't forgive myself if I don't do it."

"Hmm... Okay." I accepted her help.

"Yay!" she squealed. After that, we hugged each other for joy.

A couple of weeks later, Emmy finished making changes to my nightmare dress. During those times, Topher and I were so busy with work that we barely video-called each other, but we still could send each other messages to update him about our wedding. I know it was old school but we agreed to surprise each other with my dress and his tux once he came back.

Back with my wedding dress story.

My Mom came to town because she wanted to see it too. So she, me, and Ariel went together to Emmy's little studio office. She had a changing room because she worked together with local fashion designers who needed her feedback.

I was inside to change into the altered dress, and Emmy helped me again with the zipper, while my mother and future mother-in-law were waiting and talking from the other side of the curtain. That time, they were itching, itching to see me in my dress.

Emmy came out first, and I heard her in her giddy tone. "Are you ladies, ready?"

"Come on, let's see it," I heard my mother's voice get higher.

"Alright. One. Two. Three." The fashion stylist opened the curtains and just popped out of there with my princess-cut silk top with a new zipper, and added a bow at the back. She had attained the skirt part since it was very elegant.

I could see their mouths dropped to the floor of the two women before me. After that, they screamed. They were blown away with my wedding dress. "Honey, you look so beautiful," my mother chimed and let out tears of joy as she got closer to me.

"Do you think Topher will like it?" I asked Topher's mother.

"Absolutely, Sweetie." Ariel beamed at me so that I could see her eyes lit up and hug me. "My son is a lucky man."

That was one of the happiest moments of my life to have my loved ones see me try on my wedding dress before getting married to my fiance.

Fast forward to the day of my wedding. Everything was ready, and the only thing that was left was me and Topher becoming husband and wife.

So, hours before going to the station, I had to go to Emmy's studio to get my hair and make-up done by one of our beauty guru friends. Mom and Ariel were there all dressed up too since they were going to meet us in the hotel to celebrate after our wedding, but Topher's father and my grandparents were not able to come.

Also, Alden and his family, because he had an important meeting with a client and Ada had a fever.

Mom could not stop crying while my hair was being curled and kept telling me how beautiful I was. Then, my soon-to-be mother-in-law approached me with a small rectangular box in her hand. Before asking what was in it, she opened it. There was a gold bee hair clip with blue gems on its wings.

Ariel took it out. "This has been in my family for generations," she said as she placed it on the side of my hair. "Someday, you will give it to your daughter then to her daughter."

"It's so lovely, Ariel," my mother complimented.

"It is. Thank you," I expressed, then stood up to hug Topher's mother.

Once I was done, we took some photos with my camera to capture another happy moment. Afterward, I ran out of the studio with the bouquet in my hand and got on the Vespa on my way to get my future husband and become Mrs. Reins.

Usually, I got there thirty minutes before his arrival time, so that time, I came five minutes earlier. People turned their heads at me, but I didn't care because I was getting married.

I stood there on the platform in my wedding dress that Emmy fixed for me and my soft curled hair with the bee hairpin in it. I got a few compliments and congratulations from some staff that knew me.

Then, I waited.

I waited five minutes past the arrival time, but I wasn't worried because delay tends to happen sometimes.

I waited for another five minutes, and I didn't think much about it and sat on the bench. There was also a TV at the upper corner of the ceiling to keep me entertained that was turned on.

Another five minutes passed. I started to feel a bit worried, but I kept waiting. My Mom called asking me what was taking so long.

Five more minutes passed, and that was it. I decided to call him to find out where he was, even though the signal on the train could be pretty bad. It's just that we had only less than an hour to get married.

I remember taking my phone out from my purse and was about to tap on Topher's name in my history list, or else our slot would be taken by another couple.

"BREAKING NEWS," I heard the newscaster announced on TV, so I darted my head to it, and I couldn't believe my eyes. My phone dropped when I saw the train. It was the train that Topher rode was flipped over from the tracks. "A train heading to Barcon derailed, killing passengers in it..."