“Who is alive?” I asked when I overheard their conversation, even though I didn’t mean to. My head was pounding after my breakdown and I cursed at myself for how I wasn’t able to hold back and wept like a baby in front of Anthony. Although I was thankful that I didn’t make myself embarrassed in front of Zearo. 

Things were so fast mode I had less time to even get ready, and concealing my heavy eye bags was another laborious task for me.

“Who were you talking about?” I asked again. Unknowingly, my heartbeat sped up when I took a step closer to where Zearo and Charles were standing. They stopped talking at once when they heard me, and that made me even more suspicious. 

“It’s about my Italy business,” Zearo answered nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders as if that wasn’t a big deal. I could only reply with an “oh” when I realized that they had both started working on their past works. Something in me wanted to stop him from entering that world again, but who was I, anyway?

“We have to go. Chloe must be waiting. Please get changed if you want to attend the wedding.” I said and grabbed my bag carrying my dress that was placed on the nearby desk and walked away from them. 

After taking two to three steps I contemplated whether to tell him, so I turned to face him and said, “You can stay beside your mother as attending this wedding isn’t compulsory.” I was concerned about him after his encounter with his mother. There must be so many things running through his mind and I didn’t feel good forcing him to attend my friend’s wedding when we had a sword hanging on our heads. 

“I will be ready in five minutes.” He said that left me speechless. I took two more steps toward him to tell him he need not do this, but he brushed past me, carrying his bag with a faint smile on his face as he looked at me. My head followed where he was going and he just locked the door beside my room where Vikrant was standing. 

“Uhuh.” I heard someone clear his throat and my eyes landed on Charles. I could have slapped my forehead for being so absent-minded.

“I’m so sorry.” I started with an apology, but he brushed me off by bowing down at me.

“You are my Master’s wife. Our queen. You don’t need to say sorry to any of us.” I was stunned by how gentle and humble he looked. His rugged look when we first met had me thinking that he was someone to not mess with and would not bend for anyone, but when he did that to me, I was speechless. My mouth was agape, and I looked at him with awe. 

“You don’t need to bow to me,” I said after adjusting my composure.

“We do that only when we heartily accept someone as our queen, and you cannot stop us from showing you the respect you deserve.” 

No, no, not today. I thought to myself. My heart was beating crazily when I already was an emotional wreck today, and he just did that again to poke my eyes. 

“Charles, I’m no Queen to you and you know that. It’s just a matter of three more months. Until then, please complete your task at hand.” I said and walked as fast as possible without giving him any space to argue. Tears already started following from my eyes and I didn’t want to let him see how emotional I was today. 

I hated myself for being like this. Everything affected me so much that I didn't like it. I had to compose myself. I thought and closed the door to get ready for the wedding. 

***†*****†*****†*****†***

“Liara, you are going to miss the wedding. What’s taking you so long?” I heard Zearo banging on the door when I was struggling with the stupid zipper of my dress. I always regretted wearing dresses packed by my dear friend Emma. 

“I’m almost there,” I said and stumbled onto the gown. It was a creme-colored gown chosen by Chloe for all of her bridesmaids. A V-neck straight-lined dress with sparkling velvety cloth with a slit that starts from the knee. Not knowing what to do with my hair, I let it open by adjusting a few strands of artificial flowers here and there. The only style I knew. My long hair was a tangled mess, and it took me forever to set it, but I finally did it. 

I couldn’t ask for anyone’s help as this house had all the men taking care of stuff and Aliyah and Agnes were at the venue. They left me to take care of myself on my own. Dusting a simple nude make-up and a little shimmer here and there, I thought I was ready as I had little to no knowledge about this stuff. 

“Liara, let me help you.” I heard him again, and I stopped zipping up the part of my dress that hung just above my waist. I turned around and took a peek at my back, thinking if this was appropriate or not. When I tried again and struggled to zip it up, I looked at the closed door and sighed. 

Carefully walking towards the door and preventing my body from falling from the draping of the dress, I successfully waltzed towards it. Opening it, I peeked at the outside by poking my head out of the door. My mouth must have hung open when I took in how dashing he looked in his white attire. He touched my chin and pushed it a little and I closed my mouth for an instant, making him chuckle. 

“For a change, I feel like I look handsome today.” He said when he walked inside the room. I had my back facing the door, hiding the unzipped part, and then my eyes landed on how messed up the room was. 

“Sure you do,” I said through gritted teeth, angry at myself for how easily I showed my emotions. 

“It’s completely fine to ogle at your husband. I’m all yours.” He said as he dusted his coat and perhaps then he saw me standing at the door. And I saw him taking in my attire from head to toe. It was as if my body could feel where his eyes looked. I felt a raw burn all over my body when he looked at me. My cheeks burned with the rush of blood and perhaps I was all red like a tomato by then. 

“Ugh, we are late,” I said meekly, and for a second, I was surprised by how childish my voice was. My urge to dig my head deeper into a hole was high at the moment. 

“Ah yeah, forgive me for looking at my beautiful wife.” He said and walked towards me. My heartbeat quickened, and I almost slapped my chest for beating like a crazy person.

“What happened? How may I help?” Did he ask, placing a finger below my chin? His face looked so enchanting accompanied by those full pinkish lips. I stared at how his manly scent entered my senses, making me numb. 

“Uh, my zipper.” That was all I could say after a good five minutes. For a second I was worried about whether it was already time for my period, considering how easily I was getting emotional. 

“Okay, for that you will have to turn around.” He said, gesturing at my dress and making a circle with his hands. 

“Yeah, close your eyes,” I said, and he laughed out loud, making me gasp at the next statement that he made.

“As if I have seen none of it before.” He whispered, getting closer to my ears his warm hands wrapped around my shoulder and turned me around in an instant. I held the door with the impact and felt his fingers brushing through my back as he took his time teasing me while closing the zipper. I could have cursed Emma a thousand times, making me face such a situation. 

“We are getting late. Liara, where are you?” I heard Vikrant’s voice behind the closed door of my room. I peeked at Zearo, who had a smirk on his face and he further slowed down, zipping my gown. 

“Can you just finish it already? If not, then I would call Vikrant to do the job.” I had this weird habit of getting irritated when someone comes closer to me. I snap at people who cross the barriers I made and the fact that my emotions were flowing everywhere was not helping me. 

“You will do no such thing.” He said and in an instant zipped the dress complete with force. 

“Careful!” I exclaimed, thinking he might have broken the zipper, but thank God he hadn’t. 

“Careful, next time it will be someone’s neck and not the zipper.” He whispered, getting closer to me. His minty breath fanning my cheeks.

“What the hell.” I cursed and pushed him a little away from me because my senses were getting numb by how close we stood. 

“Why was Vikrant wearing my clothes?” He asked, looking into my eyes. His glare was intense as if he was asking me if I cheated on him. 

“He spilled juice on his dress and we had to rush to where you guys were. So I handed him your clothes. Don’t worry, I will ask him to give you back.” I said, making my way from the space he left between us. I was so tired of everything that it was hard to hold onto any conversation. 

“Just a second.” I heard him call and turned around as I wearing a bracelet.

“Does it sting?.” He asked, caressing my cheeks where his mother slapped me. 

“No,’’ I said it doesn’t sting there but my heart is burning was silent, which I preferred not to say out loud at the moment. 

“You okay?” I asked as I held my purse and walked toward him. He again shrugged his shoulder which annoyed me.

“I guess I’m not worthy of the answer.” I was genuinely concerned about him and when I realized he wasn’t comfortable answering me, it hurt.

“It’s not like that. I’m just taking my time before jumping to any conclusion. It’s too much for me to even express how I feel.” He opened the door for me and I looked at him. 

“Don’t worry, we will get past this as well,” I said, walking out of the room and towards Vikrant, who stood at the back door of the cottage. 

“We?” I heard him whisper, but my mind wasn’t ready to answer him yet. Of course, I would stand by him and support him till the date we were together. That’s what we decided. 

“Is everything ready?” I asked him and searched for Anthony but couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Yes. Although Muris isn’t charging at us because he believes we are in the same team as your secretary leaked the information. It’s difficult to fly a private jet in the middle of nowhere.” He said, and I nodded at him because he had a point. The entire time, I felt Zearo’s hand on my waist as he grabbed me so tightly as if to mark his territory. His grip on my wrist tightened when Aria’s name was brought up. 

“So your plan is?” I asked, slipping inside a car along with fully dressed Vikrant and Zearo and Anthony was still not there.

“Anthony is with Charles. He said he’d be taking care of this himself.” Vikrant answered when he noticed me searching for him.

“That’s the reason I asked Charles to help,” I answered. He was overexerting himself and I was so worried about him.

“I don’t know, man. He’s been acting weird.” I laid back when I saw that he still had his hands around my waist. He was hearing what we talked about but didn’t want to butt in, I guess. 

“Where are you? Are you okay? Did something happen?” I sent a quick text to Anthony and gazed at the window and the greenery out of the car as they were passing by. “I just hope no one else gets hurt,” I whispered to myself as my eyes watered again, reminding Ahmed’s sad demise. 

“No one will.” I heard Zearo say. When I looked at him, his eyes were shut and formed creases on his forehead. He was stressed, but I could do nothing. 

“What time is the wedding?” I asked Vikrant, who sat on the front seat beside the driver. I was aware of the timings but didn’t exactly catch on to the exact time.

“We are running late. But no worries Chloe got some more time and we will be there by then.” Vikrant laughed, and I smiled when he said that Chloe pulled some strings and extended the time. 

“I don’t want to spoil her D-Day,” I whispered, frustrated at how the events turned out. When I saw that he draped his hands on mine, I felt a little squeeze in my hands. He was awake but tired, I could detect.

**†***†***†****†****†***†***†**

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