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"For what?" Ron asked after being silent for a few seconds.

I knew I had an inappropriate immature personality. I was never confident about my decisions. That's why I never made any decisions. I even wanted people to buy my dress. I never offered anyone any suggestions. But I thought I undoubtedly made the right decision by agreeing to marry Ron. It might be true that we don't love each other, but I think we will work that out....somehow. Even if I don't have confidence in myself, I slowly started to believe in Ron. He cleared up everything between my friends and me, Oli and Rose. I didn't even request him for that, but he knew what I needed.

"For talking things out with Rose and Oli." I closed my eyes, relaxed and released a relief breath. "You have no idea how important they are to me."

"Well," Ron chuckled, "I kinda know what and who are important to you. And like I said earlier, you don't have to think about anything anymore," he said with a warm tone. "I got everything."

"Thanks," I said again.

"You are welcome," He answered heartily. "So, what have you been up to?" He tried to start a pleasant conversation voluntarily. Well, I think we had to do a lot of conversation to make our marriage work out.

"Nothing much." I sighed as I grasped my phone tightly between my ear and shoulder to free my hands. "Tomorrow we will go shopping for a wedding dress," I answered him gently as I carefully removed my jacket and started to unbutton my jeans. "What about you?" I asked him casually. I tucked some loose strands of hairs behind my ear as I was wracking my empty brain to find a topic for the conversation.

"As usual," He laughed lightly, "stuck with meetings."

"Well," I couldn't find topics to talk about. I cleared my throat, "bye then. I...will....call you later."

He let go a long sigh. "Yeah, bye." Why did his voice sound so sad?

I ended the call and looked longingly at the phone screen for a few seconds. Everything felt so unfamiliar with Ron after all those tragic incidents, even a simple conversation. I looked up and groaned. I really wished I could turn back everything.

The next morning I joined mom and dad with breakfast.

"Good morning." Dad smiled warmly at me. I greeted him back enthusiastically as I kissed his cheeks , "Good morning."

"I made some egg-mayo sandwiches," Mom offered me as she took a spoonful of her organic beans. "Do you want some?" She gently pushed the sandwich plate to me.

"Thanks." I took a triangle shaped sandwich and started to nibble on it. I took my time. Actually I wanted to ask dad about his office. But I didn't know how to start the odd conversation. They didn't know I eavesdropped on their conversation last time, and I didn't want to. I was staring grimly at the sandwich as I was wracking my brain to find a keyword for the conversation.

"You don't like the sandwich?" I was brought back by Mom's sudden question.

"What!" I quickly smiled at her and took a big bite of the sandwich. "Of course not! I love it!"

Mom gave me a relieved smile. "How is everything going?"

"Fine," I answered gaily. "Actually, I wanted to ask you to come with me today."

"For what?" Mom asked curiously.

"Oli and Rose are going to take me to select a wedding dress, today." I smiled at her shyly.

"Of course I will come!" Mom told me excitedly. "How could I miss that!"

"Cool." I smiled with relief. I straightened up on my seat and prepared myself. I cleared my throat, "Dad, umm....how..... is....your....work....going?"

"What about my work?" Dad asked me back confusedly.

"Well, you know I could kinda guess that it is very difficult to face those typical colleagues who like to talk about Ron and me...your promotion... you know what I am trying to...."

"I am totally fine," dad cut me off. He put down his coffee cup and looked at me straight. "Yeah, I had to face some controversy, but everyone stopped when Ron did something about this matter."

"Ron did?" I looked at him quickly. I guess I had to thank him again.

"Yes." Dad got up from his seat hurriedly when he noticed the time. "Well, I will see you guys later." He smirked at me, "With the wedding dress."

I smiled at him lovingly.

**********

Ian carefully pushed the glass door open and held it for us. Mom gave a thankful smile as she entered through the door. Then Oli entered and smiled gratefully at him. Rose halted her steps and touched the glass door lightly. She looked at Ian with a coy smile on her face, "Oh my, thanks." and entered.

I squeezed my lips tightly to suppress the smile. I entered the store, Ian in tow.

"Welcome." An attractive lady in a beige coloured pencil mini dress welcomed us with a big smile on her face, as soon as we entered the store. "How can I help you today?"

"We are looking for a wedding dress," Rose answered the lady confidently.

"Sure." The lady asked, "Who is the bride?"

"She is the bride." Oli and Rose both pointed their index fingers to me. The lady shifted her attention to me. I smiled at her. "Hi."

"Hello." The lady smiled back at me. "So, before we start, I would like to know your budget."

"Five hundred," I answered first before anyone could open their mouth.

"Liza!" My mom whispered earnestly as she squeezed my hand gently. "You don't have to think about the budget dear. I will..."

"Of course, I have to," I promptly answered mom with a normal volume of sound. "I will wear this dress only for one time. I won't waste my money on this one-time thing."

"Liza..." Rose also tried to say something.

"Our budget is five hundred," I told the lady firmly.

The lady smiled sourly. "Sorry," she said, "we don't keep dresses lower than one thousand."

Everyone's face fell instantly.

"You don't have anything on that budget?" I asked her as I took a deep breath.

Her smile glinted under the recessed lighting. "Maam, I already told you."

She added bitterly, "Perhaps you should try some second-hand dresses."

"Liza," my mom's kind voice broke in, "let me handle..."

I felt my eyes suddenly brim with tears. "No," I overwhelmingly said. I looked straight at the lady, "I will buy a fucking brand-new dress with this budget," I added grimly, "and I will come back here to show it to you."

The lady wrinkled her perfectly shaped nose and opened her red colour stained lips to say something, "......"

"Hello, beautiful ladies." We all instantly turned our heads in one direction.

David Emanuel.

He was standing passively with a bright smile on his face while looking at us keenly with glinted eyes.

"Hello," we all said in sync.

"So, who is the bride?" He asked cheerfully as he swiped his eyes on us.

"Ask her." I pointed at Katrina.

David looked at Katrina. Katrina carefully cleared her throat, "Right, so their budget is five hundred and...."

"And that is absolutely fine." David clapped his hands and looked at us excitedly.

"But, sir..." Katrina tried to speak.

"Thanks, Katrina," David looked at her with a fixed smile on his face, "I will take care from here."

Katrina closed her mouth solemnly and looked back and forth between David and us. She nodded her head unwillingly and took her leave.

David returned his attention to us with a grin on his face. "So, when is the wedding?"

"Next month." Oli replied to him.

"Wow," David said excitedly. "Then we don't have much time."

"Yes." Oli said. "I earnestly believe you will help us to find a splendid dress for her."

"Sure." David smiled. "Shall we start dress hunting?"

"Yes." They all eagerly said in unison.

I just rolled my eyes.

**********

Rose suddenly gasped and put down her coke on the table. "Oh no, we forgot to choose the garter."

We were sitting in the burger king, enjoying our lunch. Ian was sitting on the next table between us. He didn't want to at first. I literally forced him to sit down. I couldn't take him standing on my head. Mom left with dad after finishing selecting a proper dress.

Rose and Oli turned the store upside down to find a simple wedding dress for me. After twenty-first dresses, they finally said 'Yes' to the dress. I felt so relieved when they finally chose one.

Getting married felt like a pain in the ass.

"What the fuck is garter," I asked helplessly. I didn't want to go back to that store.

"The garter!" Oli looked at me with disbelief. "Everyone knows about the garter."

"Believe me," I inhaled a little. "I am a garter virgin."

Rose explained to me the detailed history and everything about 'The Garter'.

"Bullshit." I gasped. "So, you are saying, at the wedding reception Ron will put his head under my gown to remove the garter in front of everyone."

"Yes," Oli grinned, "This garter toss is remarkably similar to the bouquet toss in that it is said that whoever catches the garter will be the next man to be married. The man who caught the garter will then place the garter on the woman who received the bouquet."

"I hope it will be him," Rose said with a dreamy tone in her voice while looking in a particular direction with a fantasy look in his eyes. Oli and I followed her direction.

Ian.

"Stop eye-fucking him." Oli hissed annoyed.

"Can't help." Rose sighed. "He is sooo...." She bit her lower lip seductively instead of completing the sentence.

I looked at Rose in disbelief. She seemed like a gone case.

**********

"So, how did it go?" Dad asked me as he took a bite of a roasted sprout.

We were having our pleasant dinner and talking about my dress haunting. Arthur was also eating his dinner, in silence. He hadn't talked to me since that chaotic night. The purple bruises on his face faded.

"Yeah, it was good." I sipped some water. "They will send the dress after the fitting."

"That's great." Dad smiled approvingly.

"You know, she acted so stubbornly." Mom said with an angry tone. "I felt so embarrassed."

"Mom," I whined, "come on. We got a lovely dress on that budget." I looked at dad. "And you know, what the best part was, they have duplicated and copied all of their expensive ones, with cheap prices. So, I bought a duplicate dress for only three hundred, which's original one costs twenty thousand. Can you believe this? And I...."

SCREECHHHH.......

We all startled when Arthur abruptly got up from his seat.

"I am done." He said quietly and walked out from there.

"He needs some time." Mom gently squeezed my hand.

After dinner, I stood nervously in front of Arthur's room. I sucked in a sharp breath and knocked on the door.

"I am busy," Arthur answered gloomily from inside.

I slowly turned the knob and opened the door carefully.

"What part is difficult to understand 'I am bus..." Arthur started to storm off angrily but stopped instantly when he saw me.

"Can we talk?" I smiled thinly.

************
Author's Note:

I really wanna be a billionaire......

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