Author's POV:
"How can you be so cruel to your own friend, Edward!" Mrs Jones glared menacingly at her son, who just stared at her blankly, his mind somewhere else.
"I'm talking to you, Edward!" Mrs Jones rubbed her temples to relieve some stress, before she sighed at her son. "I had never known I'd live to see a day where my own son would scam me for his selfish desires!"
"I apologized already Mom. I'm sorry-"
"You're sorry!? That's it!? Did you say this word to Emily!? Did you apologize to her properly after you played with her feelings all this time!? Did you even know how much that poor girl must be hurting playing the role of cupid for you and your stupid girlfr-" She sighed loudly and attempted to sit on a nearby chair, her heart beating wildly, her blood pressure rising rapidly. She clutched the dinning table for support, stumbling slightly when Edward ran towards her, gripping her shoulders and making her sit on the couch.
He poured her a glass of water, and unwrapped some medicines from the kitchen counter, bringing the pills close to his mother's mouth.
"I won't eat them! I'd rather die than live to face the humiliation of Mr and Mrs Willows broken hope! Throw these pills away-"
"Mom. It's not the time to be stubborn-"
"I'm being stubborn?! I? After what you did to all of us, you still don't see what you did wrong!? I'm utterly speechless for ever giving birth to the evil in the name of a son-"
"I know, Mom. I know I'm evil. Okay. I admit it. Now please eat these-" He held the pills once again close to her mouth but his mother swatted his hand away, looking anywhere but him.
"It's not good to play with your health-" Edward once again tried to feed her medicine but she looked at him, in sadness and desertion.
Her eyes watered a bit before tears started flowing down her almost aged face. She gripped her chest to ease her agony and roughly shoved Edward's hand away when he tried to rub her back to soothe her burning pain.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I'm really sorry. I promise I'll be a better son to you. I really do. Please don't be like this. Your health is falling down rapidly and if it continued like this-" He took her hands, and joined them together with his own. "Please Mom. I know I'm a horrible person. I know you regret giving me birth. I know you won't ever forgive me for what I did but please, do it all this when your health becomes better. You need to eat these-"
"How can I, Edward!?" She detached her hands from his grip and walked towards the window, stumbling sllghtly. "How can I get better on my own? How can I be selfish enough to ignore what you did to Emily and think of myself and my health?! That poor child didnt even utter a word, Edward! All this time she'd been suffering it all alone-"
Edward walked towards his mom. "But she agreed to all this, Mom. I never forced her into doing anything she never wanted to do-"
"How can I dare to get better when my heart is burning deep inside and that's all because my son never thought of his family before taking such a big step in his life alone! Did you never think how this would affect us!?
"I'm sorry-"
"You really don't value relationships, Edward. Not because you can't. You just choose not to. And that's why I won't be surprised if you lose your years long friendship over your stubborn-"
"I won't lose, Emily, Mom! How can you say it so easily like that!? Don't you know how much she means to me!? I'd never let her leave me! She's with me and will always be with me forever!" Edward shouted at his mom, his hands balled into fists before he placed a glass of water roughly on the sink, making it stagger around the corner and it fell on the tile floor with a loud clash, cold water spilling on the floor like a blood-bathed corpse.
Mrs Jones looked at her son with derision and contempt.
"You think she's some robot you can make to dance on your will? I never remember teaching you to treat girls like trash-"
"I don't treat her like a trash, Mom! She is my friend-"
"How can you just be friends with her after all this time!?" Mrs Jones shouted at her son, making Edward's eye widen an inch before he recovered and stood still in his place.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out except for the evidence of his doubtful mind not being able to form his feelings into words.
"How, Edward? Just how, sometimes I ask myself? I don't understand how this works anymore. I can't see anything which doesn't make Emily perfect for you, I admit she has her own flaws but" She glanced at Edward before continuing."Her flaws are nothing compared to what you did to her after being friends with her all your life."
Edward didn't say anything. He just stood in front of his mom, his eyes glued to the floor.
He was dying of guilt everyday as it was, did his mother need to remind him everyday what a horrible person he was?
He knew he messed up big this time, but it wasn't like he knew it was going to go the wrong way when he proposed her for that fake marriage!
He thought they'd never be discovered.
He thought he'd reamain married to her forever.
He thought he'd live as her husband forever, just as she'd live as his wife, till death do them apart.
To be honest, he wasn't even planning to divorce her anytime soon. After giving her divorce papers, signed by him, on her birthday, he literally forgot all about them.
If he had remembered about those damn papers anytime soon, he'd burned those a long time ago.
"I won't start mentioning everything she's ever done for you as I suppose you're more than aware of her empathetic side. I just want to ask this question which has been bugging me forever." She walked towards her son, and seeing his mother standing in front of him, Edward looked up.
"Why'd you do that?"
"I'm sorry..." Edward trailed off but one look at his mom made him shut up for once.
"Why'd you do that to Emily? Why her? Why did you use her? We thought you really loved her when you told us that you were marrying her. And the way she was blushing madly when you informed us, we didn't have any reason to doubt your intentions anymore. After all, love is something which can't be proven by actions so we trusted you with all our heart. But then-"
"I didn't mean to deceive you, Mom-"
"But you did exactly that! How can you lie to your own parents about your marriage!? How can you use your own friend for something ridiculous as that!? I can't believe Emily agreed to this stupid act! But then again, I'm sure the poor girl didn't even had time to refuse you, considering you must've forced her into this-"
"I didn't force her into anything Mom! I told you! She did everything on her own consent! How do you think she managed to marry me in front of the whole crowd if she wouldn't have agreed to all that in the first place!? You think I blackmailed her or something into marrying me!?"
"You shameless brat! How could she say no to your stupid requests? Did she ever refuse you anything!? Can you remember a single thing which she wasn't willing to share with you-"
He sighed loudly. "That's why I'm thankful she's my be-"
"Don't complete the word, Edward. Just don't! You don't deserve Emily as your friend. Let alone your best friend. As your mother, I feel no regrets in telling you I despise my own son for befriending a girl and making a total fool out of her feelings-"
"Not again. I told you, Mom, Emily doesn't hold any feelings for me-"
"How can you be so sure!? How do you know when you didn't even ask her anything about it-"
"I don't have to ask her anything about this! We're just best friends, Mom and best friends don't love each other! Atleast not like lovers!"
Mrs Jones glared at Edward. "You're delusional as always. Why do you think she agreed to this fake marriage when she didn't held any feelings for you? I'm a woman, a mother of yours, Edward. I can clearly see what she feels for my son and I'm glad she's the one who chose you first. Otherwise I had no hopes for you settling with any decent girl-"
"Emily didn't choose me, Mom. She loves someone else." Edward whispered, his eyes reflecting sadness.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Who? Who does she love? I think you've misunderstood something-"
"It's Eric. It's always been him. In her heart. I saw it with my own eyes when she was writing a love letter to him." He looked at the floor, his shoulders slumped down in defeat."It was never me to begin with."
Mom's eyes softened a bit at her son's distant revelation. "Are you happy that she is in love with Eric then?"
