THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE

Chapter 3

ALEX POV

For the second time I woke up in an unfamiliar room. I cringed as I remembered the last thing that happened before I passed out. People who saw the events must be laughing at me now. I think I was the only bride who suddenly fainted during the "you may kiss the bride" part. Before he even kissed me, I suddenly passed out. What I did was shameful to both of us but it saved mey first kiss.

I got up from lying on the bed and just sat on the edge of the bed. I'm hungry but I'm too shy to go out and ask for food. I feel like I can't deal with a lot of people. My face was contorted with shame.

I was alarmed when I heard footsteps coming to my room. I quickly went back to bed and pretended to still be unconscious. I don't know how to explain why I suddenly fainted.

I pretended to be asleep even though I could feel the eyes of the person who entered the room staring at me. My acting would have been okay if my stomach didn't growl loudly. I felt hungry and couldn't take it anymore so my stomach gives in.

"I know you're already awake so don't pretend to sleep anymore," Uriel spoke to me as he entered the room. Even though I haven't opened my eyes yet, I know it was him who spoke to me. Who would have the courage to come inside the bride's room if not her groom? I hope he's not mad at me for what happened. I'm certain that people are laughing at his back because of what I did.

I have no choice but to stop pretending to be asleep because my stomach has already betrayed me. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled hesitantly. I met Uriel's deep and serious gaze. I don't know why his gaze seemed to make me nervous but I quickly ignored the nervousness I felt. It's more important to feed my giant pets inside my stomach that already complaining.

"Do you have any food? I'm hungry," I shamelessly asked Uriel whose eyes suddenly narrowed. "Oh, I'm not hungry anymore. I'm okay," I suddenly took back what I said. It seems that he didn't like me asking him for food. Will he hate me just for food? He is stingy. It's a shame, he's still handsome, but he looks grumpy.

"Get up and face our guests. There's plenty of food outside if you're hungry. And if you hadn't passed out earlier your stomach is full by now," Uriel said then quickly walked out of the room. Not only his face is serious but also his voice. Scary man.

My face suddenly lit up when I heard what he said. I immediately got out of bed and quickly stood up to follow him. I forgot that I was still wearing a long wedding dress so when I stepped, I suddenly stepped on the end of my wedding dress. I was like a frog that jumped and fell to the floor. Fortunately, it wasn't my nose that hit the floor first, but my two arms, so my face didn't get scratched. Too bad if my face will be damage. This is the only thing I can be proud of.

"Oh s**t!" I moaned softly as I fell to the floor. "Ouch! It hurts," I quickly retorted when I thought that my twin was sophisticated because she grew up in luxury.

"Why are you so clumsy?" Uriel seemed to ask me annoyed as he suddenly came back to help me get up from lying on the floor.

He grabbed one of my arms and suddenly pulled me up. Because I didn't expect he will suddenly pulls me with such strengt, I lost control and my body stuck to him over the bed. We were both shocked and unexpected by what happened. We both stared at each other's faces. I couldn't help but swallow when his eyes suddenly dropped to my slightly parted lips. I thought he was going to kiss me but I was shocked when instead of kissing he suddenly pushed me away to get off on top of his body.

"What the hell? Why did you push me? I didn't asked you to help me up because I can stand up myself," I frowned at him. I couldn't help but turn on my true self. When I'm hungry like this and hurt, my squatness atittude will comes out. Social term of being a squatter.

Uriel suddenly frowned but did not speak. He came to a dresser and took out a white dress, then without saying a word, he throws it to my face. "I'll wait for you outside."

I removed the soft dress from my face while frowning. Not only does this Uriel look grumpy, but he's also rude. I threatened to punch him while he is walking out the door. I didn't expect him to look back at me before opening the door so he saw what I was about to do and the bad expression on my face. I immediately slapped myself and pretended to scratch my face.

"Yeah. There's a mosquito in here," the only words that I said while a smile curled on my lips. My face turned red when he caught what I did but I managed to give him a fake a smile.

Uriel didn't speak but suddenly his appearance darkened then left the room and closed the door with a loud bang. I was startled by the force of the door slamming. It's scary to make this person angry. All the things might be broken if he is always angry like this. I hurriedly put on the clothes he gave me and maybe his head will become a volcano if stay longer inside the room.

In fairness, the dress he gave me suits me. Who was the owner of this dress? His ex-girlfriend? But I don't care who the dress he gave me belongs to. What important to me is to fill my stomach with food because my large intestines might eat my small intestines if they have no more food to digest. When I finished getting dressed, I immediately went out the door because my grumpy husband might be bored of waiting for me.

MY eyes are thrilked with the delicious food I see. Fortunately, I a thick-face and went with him to entertain "our" guests at our wedding. He introduced me to the guests who didn't know me yet then he let me talk to our female guests especially Alexa's acquaintances who greeted me because they thought I was the Alexa they knew.

I thought the women who greeted me were true friends of my twin, but after Uriel left to attend to his business acquaintances, their hidden bad atittude came out.

"Alexa, I didn't think you were beautiful when you were groomed. I thought even after your marriage you were still looks nerd." the girl named Marie smiled jokingly at me. I thought she said it as a joke, but I knew that she said it with mixed insults to embarras me. The other girls laughed when they heard what Marie said. They seemed very happy that Marie embarrassed me in front of her friends.

I thought that my sister maybe don't like dressing fancy that's why she's ended up often bullied by the girls in front of me. I don't dress fancy as well, but that's because I can't afford to buy nice clothes to suit my age. Because the money I earn is to buy foods for mom and me to live and for her medicine. But if I have nice clothes and can afford to buy it, of course, I don't want to be look old in the eyes of others. I also thought that Alexa and I were twins. Because apart from the fact that our names are close, we also have the same taste when it comes to clothes, only because I don't have money to buy clothes. But the difference between us is that I don't let anyone bully me even though I'm poor. Maybe Marie often bullies my twin so I will be the only one to take revenge for her. I looked at her from head to toe then raised an eyebrow.

"At least I looked better at my wedding. It means that I am beautiful when I am dressing well. While you? You are already well dressed, wearing an expensive gown as if you are the bride and you have sparkling jewels on your body but still hasn't been able to change your appearance. I think you should just pawn your jewelry and get a face surgery so your makeup and clothes don't go to waste like they are now," I said to Marie with a smile. I sound my voice like I was insultingly her but delivered those words naturally as if I was just talking to a friend. But even I didn't put an insulting tone in my voice, I knew that she was getting angry and insulted because of the words I said.

"You too, guys. You should pawn your jewelry together and get plastic surgery so that you won't be insecure with my looks" I added with a smile to the other girls in front of me who were also raising their eyebrows at Alexa.

Because of what I've said, all of them suddenly shut up. All of a sudden, the surroundings became quiet. The girls who were laughing at me earlier suddenly became silent. They didn't seem to expect me to be combative. I secretly smiled and celebrated. Somehow I was able to avenge my sister for Marie's insults to her and the disdain of those who considered her friends.

"You're so arrogant! You just married Uriel and you already think you're beautiful?" Marie spoke to me, restraining her anger.

"Hey, you're taking to heart about what I have told you. It's just a joke like you're joking with me," I said to her with a smile. "We're just kidding, Marie. You guys didn't take it seriously, didn't you? There's nothing to worry about, right, girls?" I asked with a smile to the girls around me who didn't seem to know what to say.

"Yes. We're just joking each other," Joyce answered then suddenly fell silent as Marie gave her an evil look.

"I'll leave you for now. I'll eat first and then we'll talk again after. It's not good when I am talking to someone when I'm hungry, I might just eat you alive. You know what I mean." I said with a smile to them who remained silent. Perhaps they are wondering why the Alexa they know has suddenly become brave.

"If all of you want to eat more, don't be shy. There's plenty of food on the table. It's all free." With raised eyebrows, I left them all. I want to laugh at their looks, especially Marie, whose face could hardly be painted because she was so annoyed with me.

Because I got even hungrier from competing with my opponents, my twin's opponent rather, so I'm sure I can eat a lot today, especially the dishes served on the table look delicious.

"Hmm. What will I get?" I asked myself weakly. I was busy looking at which of the delicious foods I should eat first when I suddenly felt a strong body that bumps into me. I almost fell in the food spread on the table if I hadn't control myself.

"Oops! I'm sorry, Alexa. I didn't mean to," Marie apologized for bumping into me. But I feel that she really meant to hit me. What is she planning to do? Get revenge on me?

I was about to confronts Marie for deliberately bumping into me but I was not able to do it because I heard the loud screaming of the guests while looking behind me.

When I turned around to find out what they were looking at and that was their reaction, I was shocked and my eyes widened when I saw our five-layer wedding cake collapsing and it will fall on my face. I just closed my eyes to wait for the cake to hit my face because I couldn't dodge anymore. But to my surprise there was someone who hugged me tightly and covered me so he was the one who was hit by the fallen cake. I opened my eyes to find out who had hugged me and saved me from certain shame.

"Uriel!" I uttered when I saw my husband in front of me.