Crash Into Me ● 01 | Bambam
— title: Crash Into Me | parts ➔ 01 — 02 — 03
— pairings: Bambam (GOT7) x female reader (with POV switch) | genre: strangers to lovers!au, runaway bride!au, rom-com | word count: 10,084 words
— summary: Spending his free weekend at his estranged cousin’s wedding was the last thing Bambam ever wanted to do. He had no real expectations coming to the ceremony—aside from enduring nosy relatives and enjoying a few drinks. But he certainly didn’t expect to be accused of kidnapping the bride while trying to slip away from the disaster that the ceremony had become.
— full fic ratings & warnings: +18 / M for mature; this chapter involves swearing, mentions of alcohol consumptions, talk/mention about infidelity, implied smut scene, mentions of video recording (no revenge porn, I promise), mentions of nudes.
— fic drop date: Apr 14th, 2026 | read on AO3 | main masterlist | wip | mailbox | feedback box | ko-fi | divider credit
— story note: part of my series, Lost Boys: Threadbare Hearts | This fic can be read as a standalone, but you may find scenes connected to other stories from the series included here. While this fic was planned to be released as a one-shot, I’ve decided to separate this into 3 chapters due to Tumblr’s word and paragraph block limit and to help smooth the flow of the story so you can enjoy reading this better. This fic is also roughly inspired by this prompt.
— tracklist: crash into me — dave matthews band / you put a spell on me — austin giorgio / blame u — odeal / paranoia — the marias
Bambam had already known from the start that he would regret coming here today.
And he hasn’t even stepped into the damn hall yet.
When he first came back to his hometown, all he ever wanted was to have some peace and quiet. A little break before he would return to his bustling city life. He never expected to have his loud and nosy aunts and female cousins ambushing him right on the first day he arrived home.
All for giving him a silly request; for him to attend his cousin’s wedding.
For Bambam, the request was ludicrous. It’s not like he was ever best friends with his cousin, Bodhi, either, for him to be here and celebrate the stupid brat’s special day with his family. But he can’t really blame them for insisting him to come.
Be the bigger person.
Keep the peace.
How many times has he heard those words thrown at his face since it happened?
It became the reason why he rarely comes back to town. It’s the reason why he always feels like he doesn’t belong even in his own home. So he shouldn’t have been so surprised when his aunt, Bodhi’s mom, presented him with a huge spiel about putting the past behind him when he tried to refuse.
Right.
Bambam never said anything in return. Not even when he knew the real reason why his aunt and the rest of the family insisted that he should come to the wedding today.
His mother may have taken his side on this, but it’s hard to ignore all the noises around him when they kept pestering him. In the end, he has no other choice but to finally do as they asked of him. Yet he comes with his own conditions; as long as he only attends as a guest, and he can leave anytime he wants.
Now that he's here, the first thing he regrets is the fact that he had to come alone.
At first, he had thought about calling any of his best friends to come with him instead of asking someone else to be his date. But it hasn’t been long since Jaebum had to deal with a different wedding—his ex’s wedding—and it would be too soon before he can pull his friend back to a similar scene.
Not to mention, the man seems to be busy lately. Bambam has been back for a couple of days, and it seems like Jaebum always has something going on that they have yet to see each other.
He also couldn’t have asked Jackson to come. Not without worrying that Jackson would steal the attention away from the bride and groom just by appearing in a place like this—not that Bambam would have any problem with it.
The others? Mark and Jinyoung are having their own problems to deal with, and he has no idea if he could involve either of them or the other guys in his family drama this weekend.
“Might as well get this over with,” he murmurs with a sigh. “I hope they at least have an open bar in there.”
He might just have a drink or two just to pass the time if he can find the bar right away. He can always hand over his car keys to one of his cousins if he drinks too much, or walk his way home. It’s something that the big city doesn’t have—less traffic and places that he can easily reach on foot.
Bambam tucks his hands into his pockets as he walks into the hall, walking past the threshold surrounded by elaborate flower arrangements set up on either side of the entrance.
Most of his family and other relatives are already seated in their respective areas, as the wedding ceremony is merely minutes away from starting. Seeing familiar faces and greeting them as he walks past with courteous nods and polite smiles, Bambam sets his eyes on his seat. Exhausted already with all the small talk and answering the same questions, he begins ignoring the other noises, wanting nothing more than to settle down and avoid as much attention as possible.
But his plan fails when someone slides into his path.
“Bambam, you’re here!” says the woman standing before him. She looks surprised and happy to see him, although he can’t really understand why. He’s not even sure if he still knows her enough to get a good read on her expression.
Hell, after everything that happened before he left town years ago, he no longer knows if he ever truly knew her at all.
The woman, Claire, his ex-girlfriend, looks hesitant when Bambam shows no reaction. Truthfully, he doesn’t even know how to react at all.
Years ago, he thought she was his everything.
His first love. The one he shared his first kiss with. The first to listen to his dreams. His first everything—
Well, almost everything.
They grew up together, and it wasn’t a surprise that they ended up dating each other in high school. When she kept refusing intimacy with him while claiming that she wasn’t ready, that they were both still too young, he tried his best damn self to understand. He was willing to wait and give her space until she was ready to have more.
Damn it, he was even willing to give her the world.
That was until he caught her riding Bodhi’s cock one summer in their grandfather’s lake cabin and found out that she had been getting that intimacy from another man—his brat of a cousin—for a whole fucking year. And that was when she became his first heartbreak.
Thinking back to the betrayal no longer hurts. He no longer feels anything at all now as Claire remains standing in front of him, her wide, hopeful eyes slowly dimming in his silence. But he would be lying if he said he isn’t still feeling bitter about it.
At least he can be proud to say that he wasn’t the one begging and grovelling to fix things after the revelation.
He was lucky to pull his phone out of his pocket once he was out of his shock, and recorded just enough of what those two were doing at the cabin that day so he could show everyone back home what kind of people they really were.
The only saving grace he gave them was that he didn’t take pictures or record a video while she was blissfully humping his cousin’s groin or while they were both naked. The only thing Bambam wanted to happen was to reveal the truth about them being together, not to get himself put in jail for sending out revenge porn.
Was it still petty for him to blast their dirty laundry out for nearly half the people in town to see?
Absolutely.
But he was fueled solely by anger and hurt that he barely felt any guilt for exposing them. And then he immediately left town for college, leaving those two to deal with the mess he left behind.
Biting back his grin at the satisfaction he felt then, Bambam finally speaks. “Claire.”
He’s quite sure that he can see her wincing at the sound of his clipped voice, her smile faltering for a millisecond before she forces it back on her face.
“I didn’t know that you were coming,” she says, sounding a bit subdued this time.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to come either.”
She nods, as if she understands. “I wish you could’ve told me you were going to be in the wedding. Maybe we could’ve come together.”
Hearing this almost makes him laugh. It’s been years since they ever said a word to each other, so why would she even think about him contacting her about coming here?
He doesn’t even understand why she was invited at all. He thought for sure she would have enough conscience to stay away from his family and from his cousin.
From him.
The last thing he heard about Claire and Bodhi was about how they both got to rock bottom after being scrutinized by everyone they knew—the consequence of living in a small town is just that; everyone knows everyone else’s business—and doubled down when they started dating each other publicly for years. That all lasted until they broke up a couple of years ago.
Bambam knows nothing about the bride, but he can’t imagine a woman would be willing to invite their future spouse’s ex-lover to her wedding if she knows anything about their past.
This should be interesting.
His lack of response brings another flicker of reaction from Claire. Her fake smile once again falters, before she brushes it off and gives another try, “Are you staying in town long? Why don’t we grab coffee sometime before you go? Maybe we can catch up?”
Bambam bites his tongue. He has no idea why she’s acting like this. Just like how he has no interest in becoming involved in this whole wedding, getting in touch with her again is the last thing he’d ever want.
Instead of saying anything, he only shakes his head. “We’ll see,” is all he has to say to her, before he steps around her and continues to walk down the aisle until he reaches his seat in the middle row, not giving another look at Claire to see her reaction.
Moments later, all the guests are ushered to take their seats as the ceremony is about to begin. Bambam gives a little wave at his mother as his parents take their seats in the front row, then nods at his aunt—Bodhi’s mom—who seems relieved to see him there.
Just as everyone is seated, the groom arrives.
Bodhi has his head held high. His smile spreads widely on his face as he walks down the aisle, greeting everyone he walks past and thanking everyone for coming to the ceremony. The man falters for a moment when he sees Bambam, but plays it cool with a smile and immediately continues walking until he reaches the altar with his groomsmen.
Then the music starts.
As the piano starts playing the wedding tune, everyone turns their attention to the double wooden doors at the back of the room, waiting for the bride and her bridesmaids to enter. But seconds pass into minutes, the song playing on the piano begins to slow down as it reaches the end, and the doors are still yet to swing open.
Bambam raises his eyebrows while a whispering murmur begins to rise among the guests, all wondering if something is wrong. Everyone around him throws glances at each other. And when his gaze meets his mother’s in the front, she merely shrugs and frowns, looking just as clueless as everyone else, while her sister—his aunt—is fidgeting nervously by her side.
The song begins again, and this time, the double doors swing open. Bodhi’s eyes widen with anticipation as the bridesmaids begin to enter the room. But he quickly grows tense when he sees the last bridesmaid walking in, followed by someone who looks to be the maid of honour, and notices the expressions written on their faces.
Bambam can see it too—the sharp gazes thrown at Bodhi, the cold smiles these two girls are wearing, and the way they seem to scoff at the sight of the expectant groom before they each take their designated spots at the front.
Neither of them ever takes their eyes off of Bodhi as another figure enters the venue. The father of the bride comes in with firm footsteps along the aisle, alone, with the bride nowhere in sight.
Once he reaches the end, the older man simply lifts his chin at Bodhi. Without giving a word or offering an explanation, not even so much as giving the groom another glance, the man takes his seat next to his confused wife, and they begin whispering to each other.
At the altar, Bodhi’s jawline clenches tightly, his gaze keeps flickering nervously between the guests and the open doorway, wondering what is happening. In the meantime, Bambam simply sits there while holding back a smile. He didn’t expect to have a good show today when he first came.
Oh, this is really getting interesting.
Another moment of silence passes before, finally, the bride appears at the door. Sighing a breath of relief, Bodhi immediately turns to the piano player, signaling the confused young lady to start playing again.
The soft tune begins, accompanying the bride as she slowly walks down the aisle on her own.
Still, the atmosphere has switched.
Everyone seems to question this odd situation, that no one else seems to welcome the bride with joy, only confusion. And then there’s the look that she is wearing as she makes her way towards her future husband.
Sharp, unwavering gaze that should be enough to put a man to his knees. A smile that can freeze the entire hell over, and pure confidence oozing out of her with each step she takes to the front.
She’s beautiful, Bambam admits to himself with a smile, loving how the rage in her eyes seems to amplify her pure beauty further, making her shine. At least, in his eyes, it makes her look like the most beautiful person in the entire wedding hall. Especially in her lovely dress that seems to fit her body perfectly.
As she finally reaches the small stage set up as the altar, Bambam crosses his arms over his chest and leans back, readying himself to watch as the scene unfolds.
The wedding officiate looks between the bride and groom, only moving to raise the microphone in his hand once Bodhi gives him the firm nod as a go signal. In the meantime, Bambam gets a clear view of the bride’s face from where he is sitting and nearly laughs.
The bride is smiling sweetly at his cousin. So sweet it almost gives him a toothache, while he has no doubt it might send someone like Bodhi sweating on the spot.
The wedding officiate clears his throat to gain everyone’s attention, and the whispering murmurs die down. “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here—”
“Excuse me,” the bride suddenly cuts him off, still with a smile of hers that feels colder now once she starts speaking. “I’m sorry, but before we start, can I perhaps borrow the mic for a moment?”
“What are you doing?” Bodhi hisses at her, his voice not low enough to hide his aggravation that Bambam can still hear him.
“Oh, I’ll be quick about it,” she says, taking the mic away from the bewildered man standing between them before turning to face the guests.
“Ehm, hello everyone. I’m sorry for everything. I know that you’re confused as to why everything went on differently than planned. I mean, we’ve rehearsed this for a bunch of time before today; it was almost natural to walk down that long aisle,” she continues, waving at her bridesmaids, who are wearing a mix of genuine confusion and dread.
“First of all, I would like to thank everyone who are here today. I know a lot of you had to travel far and spend a lot of time and money just to get here, and I just want to say sorry for causing you all the trouble.” She stops for a moment to take a deep breath, then, “Because this wedding is over. I’m not marrying this man. Not now, not ever.”
A collective gasp echoes through the room, while Bodhi’s face changes colour. Bambam can only watch in awe as a myriad of emotions flash across his cousin’s face within seconds—from shock, disbelief, and shame, then comes rage.
“What—” he sputters, “what the fuck does that mean? What are you doing?”
Bambam grows tense for a moment as he hears Bodhi’s little breakdown. His cousin is shaking with anger, his hands clenching by his sides, and Bambam is beginning to feel afraid that he might explode at some point.
But the bride remains calm and composed as she turns back to face Bodhi—her now ex-fiancee—and begins to speak again.
“I know.”
Two words. So easy and simple, yet they seem to carry a lot of weight in them as Bodhi’s rage slowly melts into knowing—as he begins to realize what she meant—and blood seems to drain out of his body.
“I know everything. The texts, both the decent ones and the risqué ones, where you sent those vulgar texts back and forth with another woman who isn’t me, sometimes with nudes—”
Another gasp echoes from somewhere at the front, and Bambam can hear his aunt’s voice crying, while the bride carries on with her list, “and the late-night phone calls, the sudden business trips and the boys’ trips on the weekends that didn’t even involve any of your boys—”
She pauses and looks over Bodhi’s shoulder to look at his groomsmen, who are looking all flustered and ashamed. What she says to them next explains why. “Yes, he kept saying he was out with you boys when he clearly wasn’t. You can stop lying for him and covering his ass now since the gig is up.”
One of those groomsmen looks paler than the rest, and Bambam quickly knows why when he sees the maid of honour standing next to the bride, crossing her arms, her eyes throwing daggers straight at him.
Looks like there’s going to be more than one relationship breaking apart after today.
“Oh, don’t forget the fancy trips and expensive dinners which I only got to learn from the bills and never got to experience. Classy, by the way.”
Bodhi opens his mouth and closes it, stuttering as he tries to fix things before things can get any worse, “Babe, I can explain—”
The bride cuts him off with a bitter laugh. “Of course, you can. You’re good at that, aren’t you? You’re always so good at explaining and gaslighting me to make me believe that it was all in my head when the truth was, you really were sneaking behind my back to see her.” She huffs and shakes her head. “Well, I’m done. That’s not the life I wanted. Not with you, and not with anyone else. The wedding’s off.”
Before Bodhi can defend himself, she turns to the guests once again, this time looking to the groom’s side and looking straight at someone who is sitting a few rows behind Bambam. He looks over and laughs when he realizes who it is.
Having all the attention turned to her, Claire sits there looking like a deer caught in a headlight and nearly sinking into her seat. The look on her face gets worse when the bride speaks to her directly.
“Claire, you can have him back. You’ve had him for the past year already anyway while he was engaged to me, so you can have the rest of him now without me getting in the way,” the bride speaks with a sweet saccharine voice, “Oh, and I think you left something of yours behind after you sneaked into our bedroom last night while I was spending the night with my bridesmaids. When I agreed to follow the pre-wedding tradition and not see my future husband before we wed, I sure as hell didn’t expect that he’d be inviting someone else to keep him company.”
Claire’s face goes white while everyone else around her cries out in shock.
“I guess I should’ve known his tradition meant having one last bang with his dear beloved, but—oh well,” the bride murmurs almost to herself, and then continues, “Don’t worry, I’ve put it in the wash and made sure it didn’t get mixed up with my stuff. It was a bit too small for me anyway so it wasn’t hard to know it wasn’t mine,” she says, while pressing down the bodice holding up her bosoms with a dramatic sigh, to which Claire lets out an incredulous gasp.
“And you—” The bride turns back to Bodhi and points her finger at his chest. “Sorry, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can enjoy the wedding cake, though. I know you ordered Claire’s favourite cream filling, so she’ll definitely love it too.”
At this, she glances back at Claire and waves her hand at her. “Don’t worry, it’s paid.”
Bodhi’s face turns from white to beet red.
Bambam can tell that his cousin is angrier than he is ashamed of being exposed in public. That’s just the kind of person he is.
The bride, as fearless as she has been since she first started this, turns to the guests with a warm smile that shows none of what she might be feeling at the moment. He can only guess what kind of pain is hiding behind that smile as she gracefully ends her entire spiel with her last gratitude for the guests.
“Thank you again for coming. You can enjoy the food and the open bar since we've already paid for everything. But this wedding is not happening.”
Still keeping her composure, she turns to hand over the mic back to the stunned wedding officiate and sets to walk away, but not before tapping Bodhi’s shoulder to say, “Have a good life.”
Her words seem to snap Bodhi out of his shock, and he immediately moves to stop her from getting away as she starts rushing off down the aisle towards the exit.
“No, baby, wait—” he starts screaming, finally going full-on rage as he marches to chase his runaway bride, “You can’t do this to me!”
“Oh, she definitely can,” says the maid of honour, who easily slips right in front of him, stopping him from chasing her friend, while one of the bridesmaids runs off to help the bride escape the venue before all hell breaks loose in her exit.
Bambam sighs and rises from his seat. His eyes meet his mother’s, who is holding Bodhi’s mother in a calming hug while she cries out in shame and frustration over the ruined wedding.
He turns to look as shouts and cries erupt behind him and sees Claire, standing right in the middle of the chaos with people pointing at her, the scorned groom joining the mass not too long after as he points a finger at her and starts blaming her for ruining everything.
Laughing to himself, Bambam only gives them both a pitying look and shakes his head. He has already seen enough, and he wants no part of the messy drama that is about to happen next, now that the bride has left after dropping the bomb on everyone involved.
He spares no glance at the storm happening behind him as he makes his way to a different exit and escapes before he gets dragged into it.
It was a good idea to come today, after all.
Bambam wonders to himself with a chuckle as he starts his car.
Outside, he sees some guests leaving the venue in different cars; some leaving in a rush, while others still look dumbfounded after what they have witnessed inside and are lingering to gossip. He had already caught sight of the bride’s parents entering their car and leaving moments before he finally got into his own car, and he finally decides that he has had enough to see.
The only thing he regrets is the fact that he didn’t make a stop at the open bar to grab at least one of the expensive bottles he saw being displayed there. What a shame, he wonders. At least getting the front seat of the show was worth the time he wasted to make this trip.
As he begins to drive out of the parking lot, choosing to go through the exit in the back to avoid the other guests and his family that might be lingering around, he starts making plans on how to spend the rest of the afternoon. Maybe he can stop at the nearest bar and call one of his friends to join him.
I could definitely use a drink right now, even if it’s still early.
He is so deep in his thoughts that he nearly misses it when a figure suddenly jumps out of the bushes behind the wedding venue and slides into his path until it’s almost too late. A flash of white appears before his eyes, and he immediately steps on the brake when the figure jumps right in front of his car, stopping him from leaving the parking lot.
“What the—?”
Hands locked on the steering wheel, Bambam can do nothing but stare out with wide eyes at the person who had just forced him to stop his car. It feels like he is dreaming, watching in disbelief as the runaway bride herself bravely stands before his car, barely an inch away from getting hit by his rented blue Audi.
He is still trying to process what is happening when the bride—who he just watched burning her own wedding to ruins by exposing her fiancé’s infidelity in front of all the guests moments ago—suddenly runs toward the side of his car and opens the passenger door to his side, only to stop and scowl when she sees the tight space inside.
“Nope,” the bride says, snapping the door closed and switching to the back door. This time, she immediately hops onto the backseat, dragging her elaborate dress along with her and tucking everything in before shutting the door behind her.
“What—what are you doing?”
Finally snapping out of his shock, Bambam cries out from the front seat. He looks over his shoulder, completely stunned, as the bride nonchalantly gets herself busy fixing her dress and getting herself comfortable in the backseat of his car.
“I’m hitching a ride. Now go,” she says with an eerie calmness that couldn’t have come from a bride who had just run away from her own wedding ceremony in an extremely dramatic flair.
“What the fuck—? Who are you to—?”
“Do you see the crowd out there? It won’t take long before they realize that I’m no longer hiding close to the venue. Start driving and get us out of here…now!” she snaps, pointing at the crowd of guests—both from her family and the groom’s side—who are still filtering out of the wedding venue, all eyes looking frantically around the lot in search of the missing bride.
It wouldn’t take long before they find her, and he can already imagine how badly things might turn out when they see her sitting in his car.
Cursing under his breath, Bambam has no other choice but to turn back around and begin driving the car away from the parking lot, helping his cousin’s bride go through her wild escape.
Your chest feels tight.
You have no idea if it’s all because of the tight-fitting dress or if the adrenaline is still rushing strongly inside you after the entire stunt you just pulled.
It could also be the aftereffects of having the shock of your lifetime of unveiling your fiancée’s—no, ex-fiancée—infidelity, and having to go through a series of fleeting emotions that came to you like a tidal wave within the span of an hour before everything exploded.
Starting from denial, to making up excuses, to acceptance, and then later, anger.
You plant your palms on the seats as the car swerves left, going further away from the wedding venue. You have been feeling like you are walking in the twilight zone, and everything that has been happening around you hasn’t truly sunk in. Looking out the car window, you watch the buildings and trees passing by. Soon enough, the streets become smaller, with more residential buildings in sight and more trees, and only then do you feel a bit calmer.
You lean back in your seat with a deep sigh. Now that the tension and the rush of adrenaline are fading, you can feel the waves of exhaustion weighing down on your body. Any minute now, you know for sure that you will be feeling a ton of other things once reality truly sinks in.
You can only hope that you will have everything under control before you have to deal with the aftermath of what you did back there.
“So, what’s the plan?”
Your eyes snap open, and you turn your gaze to the front. The driver—who you now consider as your life saviour—looks at you through the rearview mirror, waiting for your response.
“Sorry?”
He lets out a chuckle, his gaze drifting back to the front as he drives slowly down the street, no longer speeding as much as he did when he was leaving the venue. “What’s your escape plan? Where are you planning to go?”
Your jaw drops, and you have no answer to give him.
Realizing the crazy stunt you have done and the situation you find yourself in, you cannot help but start laughing. And it seems to be just another thing that your saviour finds totally unexpected, as you can see his head snapping back in surprise.
A slow smile appears on the driver’s face as he looks back up at the rearview mirror to see you. “Something funny?”
Everything is, you wonder while shaking your head.
“There’s no escape plan,” you admit once you are done laughing yourself off.
That was one small detail you never considered when you first concocted the plan of exposing your cheating fiancé and his secret lover. The only thing you focused on was the anger that was fueling you, and the bitter feeling of being made a fool by the person you trusted.
It wasn’t until all hell had broken loose and you were making your exit from the wedding hall that you realized you had no idea what to do next.
Hiding behind the wedding venue had been an impulsive decision, made solely after realizing that your friends had gotten stuck in the chaos. You had also found out that your parents had made their escape through the front gate with the family car, leaving you with no chance to hitch a ride with them.
With no phone and your pride fractured, there was no way for you to call for an Uber or contact any of your family to get a ride home. Flinging yourself to the back of the manicured hedges bordering the back of the building had been a decision made in a rush to hide yourself from the crowd. You had felt utterly helpless at one point, until the moment you saw his car driving past your secret hiding spot, heading towards the rear gate of the property.
“The only plan I had when I woke up first thing in the morning today was to get married to the man who I thought was—” You let out a scoff, “well, anything but who he really was.”
The man in front of you laughs. “So you never planned on burning your own wedding, huh?”
“No, it just sort of happened,” you sigh, and watch him shaking his head. Probably in disbelief.
You cannot blame him, since you also still find it hard to believe that it truly happened.
“I wouldn’t have suspected it,” he gently laughs. “But you made a huge bang back there. Gotta say that it was better than I expected. The only plan I had when I came to that wedding was to be bored out of my mind and then get drunk as a compensation.”
Once again, he shakes his head. “Should’ve expected something was up when my gut feeling kept telling me to ditch the booze and make sure I’m sober enough to drive my own car.”
“I’m glad you listened to your gut feeling,” you laugh.
You look up at the rearview mirror and meet his gaze, then see a slow smile rising on his lips. “I’m not sure if I’m feeling the same way. I thought I was only going to steal some expensive bottles from the bar before leaving, not to end up driving a getaway car.”
Returning his smile, you lean back and give a closer look at the reflection of your saviour through the rearview mirror. You hadn’t exactly paid any attention to the driver when you jumped into this car earlier, something that you realize too late as a stupid thing to do. But now, as you look up to meet his eyes, you realize that he looks quite familiar.
“You are Bambam. Bodhi’s cousin, right?” you tentatively ask him.
He nods. “Yours truly,” he answers flatly. “Do you know me? Have we met?”
“Just from the stories, and not much of it,” you admit, not telling him the complete truth.
You have never met him before, but it sure feels like you personally know him without ever having to meet him in person.
Throughout your relationship with Bodhi, you were often invited to various family gatherings and dinners. These events happened so often that it almost felt like you spent more time with them than you ever did with your own family.
You have never seen Bambam attending these dinners, yet his name would often be brought up, mostly by Bodhi’s mother and aunts. Sometimes, you would only hear stories about how the boys grew up. Other times, the conversation may involve opening the family photo albums.
You never expected that the first time you met him would be in a situation like this, much less to involve him in your escape plan. “I’m so sorry about all of this. Do you think you’ll get in trouble for helping me?”
A bitter chuckle leaves his lips. “I probably will. But I don’t really care,” he says, sounding almost like he is pleased with himself. “He’s not the damsel in distress who needed my help.”
“I’m not a damsel either,” you argue, drawing his gaze back to the rearview mirror.
“Says the lady with the fancy princess dress riding a getaway car,” he teases you while laughing softly, before his tone of voice turns a bit more serious. “Have you eaten anything yet?”
Sighing, you plant one hand on your stomach, pressing down on the tight bodice you are wearing. “No, not really,” you admit softly. There really was no chance for you to eat anything before marching down the wedding hall.
Between being surprised by your ex’s betrayal and then getting pushed and pulled by the wedding planner, everything that happened before the wedding hall is now blurry.
The thought of grabbing something to eat never crossed your mind. Not that you would have had any appetite either way, when you were too stressed about your cheating fiancé and smothering your emotions since the moment you saw all the evidence being pointed out to you.
“Why don’t we make a quick stop and get something to eat while we figure things out? Maybe you can decide where to go once you get some food in, or maybe drink a cup of coffee. I know I need one.”
Your stomach rumbles at the mention of food. And you also agree that a strong coffee might just be what you need right now.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
Bambam continues to drive slowly across the town while throwing some random questions, trying to make a small conversation with you. The good thing is that he skirts around the topic regarding your ex-fiancée and the disastrous non-wedding, easing the stress and tension that are still clinging to you.
After a short drive, Bambam finally slows the car down and drives it into a parking lot, once again leaving you completely speechless with what you see.
Right at the center of the spacious parking lot, a retro-style building stands before you. The words ‘Meg’s Diner’ are written on the top of the building and the side windows.
Jaw drops, you cannot help but laugh. “A diner?”
Bambam grins. “Yep,” he says, then he parks the car right by the entrance.
"I didn't expect to see a place like this in this kind of town. How did I miss it?"
"I'm pretty sure you won't find it anywhere else. Not around town, at least. That's what makes it special," he chuckles, before pausing when he lifts his gaze to see the look on your face. "What's wrong?"
“Um…You might notice that I’m not exactly dressed for a date at a diner.”
“Neither am I,” Bambam laughs as he fixes the sleeves of his suit. He turns to look at you and shrugs. “Relax, no one’s going to judge. Everyone here knows me, and they’ll know not to ask questions.”
You raise your eyebrows. His words aren’t too convincing, but he turns away and steps out of his car before you can say anything to refute his claim. You watch through the window as he shuts his door and walks over to the backseat door to open it.
Poking his head in, he smiles at you and offers you a hand. “Come on, let me help you out.”
Stepping out of the car is a bit easier to do compared to your struggles when you were getting into it. The only struggle you have once Bambam pulls you up on your feet is to get your skirt to follow you out without getting stuck in the door.
Once you are ready to go, you finally get to have a good look at your new friend. Wearing a pair of black slacks and a dark grey suit jacket over a fitting black T-shirt, he doesn’t look as out of place as you do.
“You still don’t look too over-the-top to me. At least you’re not wearing a wedding dress,” you scoff, pointing at his chest.
Bambam looks down at himself. “But this is still not something that I’d usually wear when I come here, though. Look, trust me. No one will care.”
Minutes later, you are seated at the far corner of the diner. Your mouth is salivating as the owner of the diner herself, Meg, is placing the plates of food you ordered on the table.
“Do you have everything you need?”
“We’re good for now. Maybe some more coffee, please,” Bambam answers, while your cheeks grow warm when you realize how fast you had gobbled down your coffee while waiting for your meal.
Meg nods at Bambam. “I’ll refill you both in a minute.”
“Thank you,” you look up at her, smiling. “Can I also have a vanilla milkshake, please?”
“Sure, doll. I’ll get you some extra napkins so you won’t get any of that chocolate syrup on your dress,” she offers with a sweet smile that makes your insides melt like the chocolate syrup sitting next to your waffles.
“Thanks, Meg,” Bambam calls out just as she walks away, waving her hand back at him in a friendly way.
You look between the two of them and realise that he wasn’t lying about them knowing each other well.
Ever since the moment you stepped into this place, Meg and the other waitress serving the guests had immediately greeted Bambam. They even greeted you kindly when you came in. None of them even bats an eye or questions your out-of-the-ordinary outfit when you follow Bambam to the empty booth away from the other guests.
“Is it good?” Bambam asks you as you take your first bite of the strawberry waffle you ordered, a gentle moan instantly leaves your lips when the sweet, buttery goodness melts in your mouth. His own plate is still untouched, and you cannot help eyeing the French toast sitting on his plate.
“This is amazing,” you moan once again as you cut another piece of your waffle and then dip it into the chocolate syrup. “I have to admit I’ve been feeling like I was going to throw up because of my nerves, and the fact that I’m still shaking. Chocolate is always the best when you’re looking for something to make you feel better.”
“Is it now? That’s good to know.” Bambam finally picks up his fork and begins eating. “I’m sure the food you got at your wedding reception was going to top all of this.”
Thinking about the food catering for the wedding makes you shake your head. “Honestly? I’m not even sure it will,” you laugh. “Bodhi’s mother and sisters took care of the menu with the catering service. Everything I chose for the dinner setup kept getting criticized, so I told Bodhi to let his Mom deal with it to lessen the stress. All I got to see was half of the bill that Bodhi wasn't paying.”
Saying it out loud only makes you feel more bitter, because that is not at all how it went.
If there was one thing you learned about Bodhi’s family, it was how involved they always were in every single aspect of Bodhi’s life.
From the beginning of your relationship with Bodhi, his family has always been in the picture. It was overwhelming and took a lot of time to get used to, although you were more in awe of everything than you were perturbed by it.
At first, you were amazed when you were first invited to meet his family, and you simply thought it was wonderful to have such a big family that was so tightly knitted. But the closer it got to the wedding day, the more nerve-racking it became to have his family always meddling with your business.
It certainly felt like they wanted to take control over everything; from the ceremony, the venue, choosing the wedding planner, and even the catering.
It had been pure luck that you managed to avoid having Bodhi’s mother meddle with your wedding dress. Although you are quite sure that you wouldn't have been able to choose your own wedding dress if your friends hadn't joined the bridal party when they did and taken over the rest of the process.
“I didn’t get to say this earlier, but—” Bambam gives you a wry smile as he leans forward on the table, keeping his voice low when he says, “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you and Bodhi.”
You shake your head. “Well, I’m not sorry. I’m glad the truth came out before I got to say my vows or sign anything. I know I’d regret it if I only find out months or years later.”
Your conversation comes to a pause when Meg comes back in with your order of milkshake and some paper napkins to cover your dress with. You don’t waste time before pulling the drink to you and taking long sips through the straw, once again moaning as the sweet delight rushes through your body. You have always had quite a sweet tooth, after all, and your drink tastes like heaven after the hell you went through.
“How did you know that Claire visited your ex last night?”
You have just taken another sip of your drink when he surprises you with his blunt question, and the sweet goodness slips through the wrong way, nearly choking you. “Wow, you sure know how to throw the punches,” you cough out and laugh.
“Too curious not to ask,” Bambam chuckles, shrugging innocently.
“So you just couldn’t resist, huh?” You take another sip of your milkshake, a lot more slowly this time, so you can savour its taste without choking again, before answering him.
“I woke up right before dawn because I was feeling restless. The makeup artist was supposed to come really early in the morning, so I decided to get ready while I waited, and that’s when I realized I forgot the family heirloom my Mom wanted me to wear at the wedding. I raced home with my best friends after making sure Bodhi had left to get ready at his hotel and found the bedroom all tidied up,” you rant on and on while cutting through your waffles.
More like butchering it.
It’s hard to keep your emotions in check when you start recalling the morning you had. It only brings back everything you felt then, making you feel the unsettling feeling you had when you first stepped into the master bedroom, which made you look closer.
“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but the place was too…clean.”
Bambam lifts an eyebrow. “Not the usual, more familiar kind of clean, you mean?”
You nod your head, relieved to know that he sort of understands what you are talking about. “I looked closer, trying to figure out what felt so…wrong. Then I saw something peeking from under the bed.”
Something that obviously didn’t belong to you. The bright, neon red wasn’t your colour. You are more of a deep ruby red kind of girl, after all. Stabbing at your waffle, you stifle a groan. “He was never really good at cleaning up.”
Bambam stares at you silently for a moment as you shove a piece of waffle into your mouth to stop yourself from swearing.
“And the texts? I assumed you’ve known for a while,” he says.
You shake your head. “That fool connected his phone to every digital electronic device he owns. He got his phone with him, but left his work tablet and laptop at home. My friend, who was one of the bridesmaids, helped me dig into his stuff to find all the proof I needed.”
Looking back, you feel grateful that you had your friends with you when it happened. You were too shocked and too much in denial to do anything; the only thing you could do was to stand frozen on the doorway to the bedroom while you began feeling like your world was falling apart. While Ashley, your maid of honour, gently took you away from the scene to console you, Mae had immediately snapped into action and ran straight into Bodhi’s study room to find any electronic device she could find and took care of the rest.
“He probably thought he was slick. He deleted everything from his message app, but kept every screenshot, copies of his texts and photos in a hidden folder inside his tablet, which was the one thing of his that I never touched. Once I found a way to unlock it, everything just came up.” You purse your lips in distaste when you remember what you saw the moment Mae opened that folder of files for you.
Pictures. Videos. Texts. Voice notes. Nudes that almost made you puke, and his recorded voice saying all the dirty things he wouldn’t dare to say to you.
“He never seemed to bother deleting stuff from his email either, so he still has the bills for all of the expenses he spent on his secret dates and trips.” Including the fancy trips that he kept refusing to have with you, claiming that he was too busy and that he would get more chances later to take you on trips after you are married.
“I’m sorry you had to experience all of that,” Bambam quietly says, while you shrug it off.
“Well, like I said, I’m not sorry.”
Is it painful? Obviously. But it also gives you some sort of relief knowing that you haven’t gone insane.
You pick the slices of strawberries on your plate as you continue spilling your heart out. “I’ve already seen the signs. I knew he was up to no good, and he had his secrets. But I never had anything to prove it, and I suppose I was too much in denial to even try to look.” You let out an exasperated sigh. “And, like I said, he was good at convincing me that I was just imagining things. That I was insecure, and I was probably making up things in my head only because I was anxious about our upcoming wedding day.”
“Huh, that sure rings a bell,” Bambam murmurs with a bitter smile on his face before he takes a massive bite of his toast.
You tilt your head, wondering what he meant, but he doesn’t really give you a chance to ask about it when he swallows and immediately changes the topic.
“I don’t suppose you have any change of clothes with you?”
You raise your eyebrows and grimace. Oh, crap.
Groaning, you remember the blunder you made. “I had a duffel bag with spare clothes when I left Bodhi’s home yesterday. I left it in the hotel bedroom where I stayed the night before the wedding. My best friends, Ashley and Mae, stayed in that same room with me, so they should have it with them. But, as you could probably see, my besties were busy fending off the masses, so I couldn’t get my stuff before I had to flee from the scene.”
You pause and bite your lips. You can only assume that the girls would be heading back to the hotel once the ceremony was canceled, seeing that they both also left some stuff there.
Maybe you could still go back to the hotel, see if your friends are there and get your stuff back from them. Except that you also know that some family members of Bodhi’s stayed in that hotel last night, and you’re not too sure if your friends would be comfortable staying long enough just to wait for you to return with all those people there.
The more you think about it, the guiltier you feel about involving them in this mess and then leaving them astray. “Maybe I should’ve listened to them when they told me to just call everything off and leave, instead of going through with the preparation and then walking down the aisle only to make a whole show out of it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
You cut a bite-sized piece of your waffle while you consider your answer. Admittedly, you weren’t thinking at all. Nothing except the thought of watching the two of them traipsing into the sunset together while your pride was getting burned into dust.
“I guess—I was still in denial. At least, at first I was. I kept making excuses all the way back to the hotel from Bodhi’s place, and then while making our way to the venue. The whole time while I was waiting for my friends to crack open his files, I felt like I was in limbo. I let myself get dragged by everyone who knew nothing about what happened because I was having a hard time processing what was going on.”
Everything is still blurry when you think about it now. It felt like your mind was in a deep fog, and you were partly dreaming, until reality came crashing down on you once you were presented with all the facts. “Before I knew it, I was getting my makeup done, my dress was on, and just before my Dad came to get me, Mae rushed into the dressing room with all the proof.”
You didn’t even have time to look at yourself in the mirror once the makeup artist let you go. Instead of getting ready to walk down the aisle as planned, you ended up huddling together with your friends around Bodhi’s tablet and laptop as Mae revealed everything that she’d found while you were getting distracted by the wedding planner.
For some reason, you managed to remain calm while you were looking at all the evidence proving his infidelity.
Even now, you can feel the bitterness and anger, but the eerie calmness is there to mask everything in.
Maybe things have yet to sink in completely, because you should be crying your heart out right now. The pain is too great for you not to start getting into it now.
Oddly enough, it isn’t the pain of his betrayal that hurts the most, but knowing that you’ve been made a fool by someone you trusted.
“Well, I can’t go back to the hotel. Not after all of that,” you shrug and throw a piece of waffle into your mouth. “I don’t think they’ll be waiting for me there either since Bodhi’s family was the one who rented the rooms for us.”
“How about your phone?” Bambam’s eyes flicker down your dress. “I don’t suppose your dress has pockets where you can keep it close.”
You close your eyes and groan. “I threw it in the bag. Damn it.” You let out a bitter laugh. “And before you ask, the only phone numbers I can remember from the top of my head right now are my parents’ numbers, and as much as I’d like to sit down with them to explain the situation, I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
Now, that is a lie.
You do remember Mae’s number, and Ashley’s, and you can always borrow Bambam’s phone to contact them through social media if he lets you. But you are also not sure if you’re ready to face your friends yet. Maybe later, once you have some time to process everything and allow yourself to feel, without any of their emotions getting mixed up into it.
It’s not like you can avoid them forever. Not after everything they’ve done for you through this mess.
Right across the table, Bambam slowly nods his head while thinking deeply. “And I’m going to assume you’re not too excited about going home. You’re living with Bodhi right now, aren’t you?”
And that is another thing that you regret the most. “Damn it, I should’ve listened to Ash when she told me not to rush into moving in with him,” you groan and fall back in your seat. “Now I have to figure out how to get my things from his place.”
At least you have a good sense of keeping most of your things unpacked, even after living there for the past two months. Bodhi had insisted that you move in right after the engagement, and while you immediately agreed to do it once the lease to your apartment ended, something inside you kept telling you that you weren’t exactly ready to settle in.
You cannot have been more grateful for listening to your gut feeling for once.
If only you had listened to it earlier.
“Why don’t you come with me for now?” Bambam suddenly offers, and when you merely look at him without saying anything, he quickly clears things up by saying, “Come to my place. You can take some time to rest and then find a way to contact your friends after you’ve calmed down. You can even stay there for a while until you’re ready to get back on your feet again.”
You sit there in silence, looking at him without knowing what to say.
You have never met him before, and this is the first time you are talking to each other. Yet, for some reason, he seems to know what is going through your mind right now, and he is saying all the right things to say. While you are trying to figure out how he does it so well, Bambam seems to think you are having trouble answering him solely because you cannot trust him.
“I’m serious. I’ll only be in town for a few weeks since I have some business to take care of while I’m here and some people to see, so I’m renting a place downtown, not too far from here. You wouldn’t have to worry about crossing paths with any family members of mine, much less those related to Bodhi. I’m not that close with his side of the family, and I specifically chose a place far enough from them to avoid seeing them,” he continues to reassure you when you still cannot make up your mind. “There’s a second bedroom that you can use. I have plenty of space that we can share to give you a safe place to rest until you can figure out what to do.”
Bambam looks at you with a smile when you’re still not answering him. “What?”
“Why are you helping me?” You finally ask him, wondering why he would go through such lengths to help you when you are nothing more than a stranger to him. Someone whom he had just met, not more than an hour ago.
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
“He is your cousin. It’s like you’re asking for trouble by offering me this,” you try to reason, though you are not entirely sure where you are going with this.
“And?” He shrugs.
“That doesn’t mean we’re the best of friends. You’re the one who might get into more trouble if he ever finds out you ran off with me, though,” he says with a grin, which you are starting to realize to be quite infectious, seeing that you find yourself mirroring his smile as you look into his eyes. “I also know what it feels like to have your world falling apart with nothing to hold on to. Even if you still have your friends and family to go back to, I know how overwhelming it would be to face them after this.”
You try to argue with him, only to realize that, in a way, he is right.
You were the one who just fled from your own wedding, after all.
You have so many questions, but you have no idea where to start. The fact that he doesn’t seem to get along with Bodhi at all makes you wonder if there’s a story to tell, seeing that Bodhi’s family seemed to paint a different picture about their relationship whenever they brought him up.
“You’re right about one thing…it’s overwhelming just to think about going back to see everyone. My parents. My friends.” Especially when you have no idea what you are going to do next or where to go from here.
You can already imagine your parents pestering you about the whole ordeal; about how they have given everything you needed for this wedding—the money, mostly—only to have everything falling apart. Neither of your parents had been pleased about your decision to marry Bodhi, although you are not too sure if their objection had anything to do with your choices, but more because it hadn’t been theirs to make.
But that no longer matters right now, since the wedding never happened, and you can only be grateful that at least you wouldn’t have to wonder how to pay your parents back for their money when Bodhi’s family had chipped more cash into the wedding ever since they took most of the control over it.
Sighing, you shake your head and try not to stress too much about Bodhi’s family—or yours.
“And since I’ve already made a whole scene while I was crashing down my wedding, I don’t really care about what they think, as long as you’re okay with it too,” you simply add, before sighing and groaning when you try to get comfortable in your seat and feel the bodice of your dress poking at your ribs. “I don’t suppose you have any idea how to get my things without having to face Bodhi again, do you?”
Chuckling softly, Bambam finishes his meal with two big spoonfuls. “We’ll figure out a way. I can also drive you to get them when you’re ready,” Bambam offers, his gaze moving down just as you wiggle on your seat to find the right position where the bodice isn’t trying to sink into your skin. “But first, we should try to find something for you to change into once we get to my place so you can feel more comfortable.”
Once again, he makes you go all speechless with how good he is at reading you. You can feel your cheeks growing warm, not entirely sure how to feel about sitting in front of someone who is capable of seeing right through you.
“Sounds like a good plan,” you only say to him while keeping your eyes on your plate, afraid that he might see what you are feeling now. “Let me finish my waffles first before I decide. I can’t trust myself to make a wise decision while I’m all hangry.”
You can only grimace at the awkward choice of words, but Bambam only laughs gently from across the table. “Take your sweet time, Sunshine.”
— ©Yoonia, all rights reserved. reposting/modifying of any kind, translations, or unsanctioned adaptations of any piece of writing posted on this blog are NOT allowed.
