Chapter One: heartbreak.

"Here comes the bride. Here comes the bride."

Bruce beamed as soon as he heard the song. He looked down the aisle, expecting to see Claire, his bride walk down to him only to find out it was empty.

Bruce frowned. It was just in his head.

Creases formed on Bruce's forehead. Claire should have arrived a few hours ago. The guests present were beginning to murmur amongst themselves.

"Bruce, it seems like my prediction was right. She really ditched you," Martins, Bruce's best man whispered into his ear and he glared at him.

"I've warned you severally, haven't I? Spending your hard-earned money on a girl's education when you aren't educated yourself is a foolish thing to do," Martins continued.

"Claire can't dump me. Something is definitely wrong somewhere. What if she's in trouble?"

Martins shook his head in disapproval of Bruce.

A few minutes later, a lad walked into the hall and snuck up to Bruce.

"Mr. Bruce, I have something to tell you," the man whispered into Bruce's ear. Bruce wondered what someone he did not know from Adams had to tell him.

"Go on."

Was it about Claire? He hoped it was. He hoped it wasn't bad news either.

"It's about your bride," the lad revealed and Bruce's interest was piqued.

"What about her? Where is she? Is she outside? Why isn't she coming in?" Bruce asked. He was visibly worried about Claire and the lad stared at him pitifully.

"She isn't coming, and no, she's not outside the hall. She's at L&Q with friends. Your fiancee has no interest in getting married to you. In her words, you're a church rat and totally out of her league."

L&Q was the largest clothing store in Sunton City. Today was their wedding but Claire decided to buy designer clothes instead. Bruce's heart sank. Were his ears faulty?

Bruce grabbed the lad's shirt collar aggressively and everyone present gasped.

"You're joking around, right? Stop it!" He thundered.

"I—I'm not."

Without minding the reaction of the guests, Bruce jumped up from his seat and ran out of the hall.

He took off the shoes he borrowed from a friend since they were a little too tight for him. He got glances from people he ran past. They were amused to see a man wearing a wedding suit running barefoot like a madman.

They were right about him going mad though. Bruce was mad. Mad that he spent the little money he earned on a woman for years and she ditched him.

Claire was as poor as him when he first met her. Now that she had gotten a good job after graduating from the school he sent her to, she felt she deserved better than Bruce.

He saw the signs, but he decided to ignore them. He went on to propose to her so they could get married before she could think of openly breaking up with him and his plan backfired.

"No, this has to be a prank," Bruce muttered to himself. "Claire could be playful sometimes. This must be one of her pranks."

The moment he walked into the clothing store, the first person he saw was Claire. Bruce saw a couple of her friends with her. There were about four of them. Three ladies and a guy. He recognized just two of the ladies with Claire. Ava and Naomi were Claire's closest friends. They despised Bruce and showed it whenever they got the chance.

Bruce noticed how close the guy was to Claire than to her other friends. His eyes widened. He recognized who the guy was. That was Cole, the son of the CEO of Tekbos, a tech company with a net worth of one billion USD.

"Claire."

Claire turned to him and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" He was flabbergasted. "Today's your wedding day. Our wedding day."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I can't marry an illiterate man. I can't get married to someone who has never seen the four walls of a school or someone who can't get me whatever I want."

"Did you just call me illiterate?" Bruce was trying all he could to keep his voice low. "We met in high school. I used to be an A student in high school and you know that. We both could not get into college because there was no money. I offered to stay back and work so there would be enough money to send you to college. I sent you to college and now that you've gotten a good job, you feel that I'm out of your class. Have you forgotten how this man you see as a classless fool has gone hungry for you to eat? I thought you loved me. Have you forgotten the promises we made to each other?"

"Claire isn't interested in penniless men," Ava scoffed. Aside from the brunette, the lady Bruce had never seen before with Claire, they all laughed.

"Claire, I think this is a little bit unfair," the brunette protested and Cole gave her the stink eye.

"Like you've never broken up with tons of guys before," Cole said, defending Claire.

"Cole, she broke up with him because she's an ungrateful golddigger. The least she could have done was to give him a decent breakup. Ditching him on their wedding day was completely mean." The brunette brought out her mirror and touched up her makeup. After a few minutes, she returned the mirror to her handbag. She looked up at Claire, then at Cole. "If I knew my brother was taking a runaway bride and her friends out, I wouldn't be here."

With that, the brunette walked away.

"Tsk, tsk, the church rat has ruined your reputation before your prospective sister-in-law." Naomi shook her head in disapproval and Bruce clenched his fists.

Claire walked up to him. She raised her hand and slapped him across his face. "How dare you?" She snarled. "Get out of here. You're not suitable for me."

"Claire we can talk about this," Bruce said pleadingly. "We've been together for over seven years. I don't think I can live a day without you. Please, Claire. I love you too much."

"Love?" Claire laughed sarcastically.

"Would love feed her?" Cole scoffed. "Would it buy her designer clothes and bags? Would it help her get an all-expense trip to wherever she wants?"

"Hun." Claire leaned closer to Cole and caressed his cheeks. "Let's just leave the daydreamer here. He's just here to see if he can shake a few bucks out of us."

"Is that so?" Cole turned to Bruce with a smug smile on his face. "You should have said so."

"Cole," Ava called out to Claire's billionaire boyfriend with a mischievous grin. "We can have him carry all we've bought to the car for a few bucks."

Cole brought out a five hundred dollar bill and flung it at Bruce. "There. That's probably more than what you earn annually."

Bruce lunged at Cole. He cared less about his status. The only thing he wanted was to beat Cole till he went into a coma.

Before he could get to Cole, Claire stood in front of him, shielding Cole from the beatings Bruce wanted to unleash on him. The spineless Cole shamelessly hid behind Claire and Bruce looked at the couple in disgust.

"Just take a look at the coward you ditched me for. You made a mistake. The least you could do was to choose someone better to ditch me for."

Bruce walked out of the mall afterward. He walked down the road with no destination in mind. He stopped walking when he got to a bridge. Standing in the middle of the bridge, he looked down at the water body way below him.

The song, Un-break my heart by Toni Baxton was played and every word of the song described how Bruce felt perfectly.

He barely sings, but in less than a minute, Bruce found himself singing and feeling the song. Hot tears sprang from his eyes.

It was the first time he cried so much.

Claire had ruined his life. She did not only break his heart but made him lose the chance of keeping the little job he had. Today, his boss had a lot of work to do, but he decided to honor Bruce's invitation to the wedding.

There was no wedding and this would in turn infuriate his boss who would probably fire him. Where he lives was provided by the company. If Bruce gets fired, he would become homeless.

Martins had been right all along. If only he had listened.

"I bet this ocean is deep enough to..." Bruce's voice trailed. He smiled sadly. "If I jump into it from this bridge, it'll be instant death. Instant death means no more pain."

Without thinking his actions through, Bruce got closer to the rail of the bridge. He looked down at the water, then up at the sky. "Please, forgive me."

"If you jump into that water, I will too and we would both lose our lives."

Bruce turned back to see who had spoken. Who he saw shocked him.