When the doors opened, I walked in wearing a simple white dress, tears streaming down my cheeks. I could hear people laughing and hurling insults at me.
At the end of the aisle stood the man I was about to marry. His name was Lando.
He wore a filthy, tattered suit that smelled like a sewer. His long, unkempt hair and face, covered in a thick beard and soot, trembled; his back was hunched like that of a mistreated dog.
"My God, how disgusting! The groom smells like garbage!" exclaimed Julian's new wife, and the whole church erupted in laughter.
As I reached the altar, I looked at Lando. I expected to see someone naive, but I was surprised when our eyes met. Beneath the soot and disheveled hair, his eyes were fearless. They were piercing, serene, and brimming with a quiet strength.
