The one who plant trees,
knowing that he will
never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the
meaning of life.
-
Rabindranath Tagore

________________

Whoever coined the phrase beauty sleep had obviously never seen me in the morning.

Right!

Is this fair to not let a beautiful woman —like me sleep?

Well...in the case of a beautiful woman it isn't fair but not in your case since you are not beautiful.

Inner minds are weird and mean.

Thank you for the wonderful compliment.

"Damn, girl," I said to my haggard reflection in the bathroom mirror. "Those aren't bags under your eyes, that's a full set of luggage."

I splashed cold water on my face, pressed a wet washcloth to my lids, and held it there for a minute, to no effect. When I opened my eyes, I looked just as bad as I did before.

Serves you right for staying up into the hours of the morning working on a new case.

That's my last case for another month. I cancelled my whole schedule and passed my cases to other attorneys so that I can enjoy my wedding and honeymoon.

Are you serious now?

I'm very serious. Now shut up!

What little sleep I'd had was filled with nightmares about being chased from the court by a pack of dogs, led by one particularly large and nasty specimen that was all sharp teeth and vicious growls, his black fur bristling as he snapped at my heels. I woke with my heart pounding, the sheets drenched in sweat. And now I looked like I'd been chewed up and spit out by an ornery gator.

I pinned my hair into a bun, then smoothed them but in vain. My hair is flying out as if they want to escape from my head.

Everyone wanna escape from you.

I brushed my teeth and got dressed, not bothering with makeup. There was no concealer on earth that could tackle my under eye bags today, and applying mascara isn't a good option so I ended up applying just my lipstick. So it was barefaced that I appeared at my father's company to discuss the details about my damn wedding. My hair was tied into a pony.

When I entered my Dad's office, I felt the eyes of whole room on me. I noticed the members who were settled on the seats — my parents, my three idiotic friends, Daniel's parents and Ryan — with wide eyes after catching the sight of me.

"Allison," my mother shouted, rising to her feet. "What in the world has happened to you? You have eye bags? And from where did you get that bruise on your forehead?" Bruise?

Oh shit!

I should have used the concealer for the bruise but I didn't think that it can be seen with my hair flying out. Now I have to explain them the damn bruise. It's nothing much, just a small black spot near my forehead when I fell yesterday from my bed to the damn floor. Remember? I told you about that nightmare where dogs chased me and yeah this happened at that time.

"You're attending that case, ain't you? I told you that it's not easy one and you should have just listened to me and not attend it," Cassy snaps, glaring at me from where she's sitting.

"Did you even eat something?" Adam asks, blazing in anger. I ignore them as I take in the seating arrangement. My parents are seated on the couch and beside them sat Mr. Avery and Mrs. Avery. My friends and Ryan were seated on the couch to their opposite .

My eyes scan the whole room until I meet a pair of blue ones, a smile tugs at the corner of lips when I find Daniel standing at the corner of the room, leaning against the glass window. Wearing his black suit, gray shirt open at the collar, looking gorgeous as always.

My heart beats faster. He looks relaxed except he's scowling at me. I ignore the look he's giving me as I walk towards my fiancé. I abandoned my heels for today so I'm wearing my sandals which makes me look short when I'm near him. I stand on my toes as I wrap my arms around his neck, places a small kiss on his check. He tugs me closer. He has his arms around me, and his nose is in my hair. I hear many gasps from the other side of the room but I ignore them when I notice the stiffness in Daniel's body.

He smells of linen, body wash and orange. Orange! I love orange.

"Why do you look like hell?" he snaps, pulling away from me slightly.

I raise my eyebrows. "Hello, Daniel. Nice to meet you too."

His eyes blaze. "You and your damn smart mouth," he says sharply.

I wink at him. "I had to deal with a case so I stayed up at night. Finally when I got a bit of sleep, I was haunted with nightmares."

"Let's sit," he murmurs. Without releasing me, Daniel leads the way towards the vacant couch. We both sit in our seat, turns towards the others. "Ready, Allison ?" His voice low and soft.

"Yes," I mutter.

"Allison, what is wrong with your fa-"

"Mama, why don't you shut that mouth of yours so we can get to the main point we here." She gives me a dissapproving look before sitting beside Dad.

Dad clears his throat. "We're planning to keep the ceremony after two weeks in a court office with just all of us. Nothing fancy, just something simple. We don't want the media to get any doubts so there will be a honeymoon in Phillipines and then you can get back to your lives. You both have to sign the prenups and you can get divorced after three months."

"That's perfect for us," Mr. Avery agrees, nodding at Dad. My parents smile widely.

"Well...it's not perfect for us," I tell them. Daniel freezes again, his turns his face towards me in confusion. I don't face him instead stares right at my parents who looks shocked.

"The ceremony will take place within two weeks as you suggested but not in the court house. I want a wedding with minimum of fifty guests, wedding dress, cake and everything that a normal wedding requires. We both will decide where we want to go for honeymoon and Philippines definitely isn't our choice. We're not planning to sign prenups whether you like it or not. The wedding will last for as long as we want." I ignore the wide eyes of my parents as I turn towards Daniel.

Daniel's face softens, and a trace of a smile kisses his beautiful lips. I grin at him. I did notice the scowl on Mr. Avery's face and the smile on Mrs. Avery's face. His mother is not that bad.

"It's impossible to do such arrangements within a week," Mom snapped.

Nooooo....

That's it!

I rise to feet, glaring at them. "It should be possible otherwise the wedding is not gonna happen. You decided the groom and for the first time ever in my life I'm happy with your choice. My fiancé is just amazing and we deserve a wonderful wedding. You get tons of money from this wedding and the business deal so spend some as the capital. Everything should be perfect and I don't care how you all do it and stop raising your voice at us. You know I won't tolerate it." My voice was filled with acid.

Everyone in the room shuts their mouth. "So it's final. I'm free from tomorrow afternoon so you call us at any time for the cake selection and other stuffs. Don't worry about the wedding dress, I have already handled it. I'm leaving, goodbye." Daniel rises to his feet.

"I'm taking you for something to eat. You need your energy to make that smart of yours to work."

He leds me into a small but sweet looking restaurant. "I don't like this place but this is okay, I guess," he grumbles. From his facial expression, I'm sure he's not very fond of the restaurant.

I don't care about his opinion because I like it. First, it's clean and has wooden chairs. I like wooden chairs. Second, there are vases of red roses and there's smell of something delicious coming out of the kitchen. The waitresses leads us to a table for two, and I sit. He takes the seat opposite to me, grumbling something under his breathe.

I ignore him as I grab my brown cowboy hat from my bag and wear it, removing my hair band, and letting my long hair fall down my waist. I need a damn hair cut. I hate hair cut, it's really annoying to sit at a place while someone twists your hair and cuts them. I brush my thoughts as I sigh in happiness, looking around at the cozy, comfortable interior of the restaurant.

Daniel gives me a perplexed look. "Why're you wearing a hat?"

"Because I can wear it. There's no rule that you can't wear a hat inside a restaurant. I love hats but I rarely get a chance to wear them since I'm always in the court. I can't wear a hat in the court not just because it's not allowed but it's difficult to stare at a person in the eye when the hat covers your eyes at times."

He watches me for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "Did anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?"

I chuckle. "Yes!" I give him my best smile.

Another waitress walks towards us with a smile, asking for our orders. "We'll each have lasagna, noodles and tomato sauses, bread, fries and medium cooked steak." The waitress nods her head at him.

"Excuse me," I interrupt glaring at him. "I can order for me and what if I don't like lasagna?"

Daniel sighs. "Fine, order yourself."

I smile at the waitress. "Whatever he has told you is fine." The waitress gives me a small smile before walking away.

Daniel glares at me. "What?" I ask. "I just wanted to teach you manners. Anyway how do know my favorites?"

"Cassy told me all about your favorite food since that is the only thing one should know about you to be in your good side."

"You got it right there." I love food! Who doesn't love food? It's just amazing the way one feel when they get their favorite food in front of them.

The same waitress walks towards us with the wine list. Daniel opens his mouth but closes when he saw the look I threw at him. He clears his throat. "Would you like to choose the wine?" he asks, scowling at me.

"Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, please."

"A bottle or..?"

"A bottle, please." She gives me another smile before walking away.

Within another few minutes, my food and wine is on the table. I lift my fork and knife and slice into my steak. I roll my eyes when the taste hits me. I moan at how delicious it is. It's the first piece of steak I've had in what feels like forever. "God definitely loves me."

I find Daniel staring at me, a smile touched his lips. I give him another one of my smile. We eat our food in silence but I could feel Daniel watching me. Giving me a hot look.

"I've been thinking about the rings."

He leaned back, crossed his legs, and blasted me with his blue eyes. Then he said, "You have something in your mind?"

Tiffany excellent-cut center stone, IF clarity, D color, two carat set in a platinum band would be nice but I choose not to say that loud. Once when I brought a earring for me from Tiffany, I noticed an engagement and I fell in love with me at the first sight.

"A simple gold band is fine. What can I get for you? You have any particular one in your mind?"

He raises his eyebrows at me expectantly. "You planning to buy me a ring?"

"Yes!"

"Engagement ring?"

"No, wedding rings are fine. I don't need an engagement ring."

He sighs. "I don't have anything in my mind. Anything is fine."

"Okay, then let's go to buy rings next." I take another bite of my steak.

"I don't get it, Allison. Why're you comfortable with all the things that is going on? Shouldn't you be shouting and arguing? At least try to escape from this? You know nothing about me. I could hurt you. I can never ever give you love." He looks anxious to me but I can't conclude it.

I finish the last bite of steak and then moves towards the bread. I roll my eyes and stuff a fluffy piece of bread, still warm from the oven, into my mouth. I moan in appreciation.

"Daniel," I say in my business tone. "I'm not a seventeen year old teenager to shout and argue. I have more sense and I know shouting or arguing is useless. Believe me when I say this, if I thought that you were dangerous or an asshole then I would have never ever agreed to marry you even if it meant I have to wait another two years for my sister to be with me. My parents may be the one who brought up this deal and you but you're my choice. I choose you. Even now if I say that the wedding is off then it is but I don't plan to do it.

"You need my help, I can see that and I need yours too. I had slept with hundreds of men that I lost the count but I never ever had a relationship and I don't plan to. If I wanted love then I wouldn't have choose this option. I don't know whether this marriage is gonna work or not and I don't care but whatever it is, I'm ready to face. I'm one of best attorneys of the country and I earned that position only by facing what was thrown in front of me."

He doesn't say anything for the rest of the lunch.

We walk inside Tiffany's for buying our rings. I never ever imagined a day where I walk inside Tiffany for selecting my wedding bands. Life definitely has weird plans for me.

We settle in our seats and the salesman smiles at Daniel. "The ring you asked is ready, Sir. We just have to check your size," he tells. I blink in surprise. He already had something in his mind?

I find a woman —whom I assume is another saleswoman — walking towards us with a velvet box. She places it in front of me. A gasp escapes from me when I notice the ring. And immediately had a massive heart attack. The same ring I thought about. No! The one I dreamt about.

Through my choked gasps and garbled attempts at language Daniel said drily, "Remind me in the future that you don’t react well to surprises."

I was trying to catch my breath. "How did you?"

"You really think that I would let you walk around without an engagement ring. Not happening."

"But why this one?"

"Here's your Tiffany excellent-cut center stone, IF clarity, D color, two carat set in a platinum band."

I blink again. "I said that out loud?"

He smirks. "You did."

I shake my head. "Daniel, I was just joking in my mind. You know, jokes with inner minds and all that. Nothing serious, you don't have to buy this."

He gives me a calm look. "No woman would be so specific about a ring unless she spend a lots of time researching it. Since this was available here, I brought it for you. Everyone woman deserves an engagement ring of her choice, Ally and that includes you too."

I stare at the man in front of me. I look into his deep blue eyes as I lean forward and place a small kiss on his cheek and whispers in his ear. "Thank you." I lean away from him with a grin plastered on my face. He gives me a genuine smile and I see his dimples. He took the ring box, removed the ring, and slipped it on my left finger, where it sparkled.

He snapped the ring box shut and placed it on the counter. "Now let's check out the weddings bands." I didn't say anything because I was too shocked with his gesture. This ring is damn costly and he brought it for me without thinking twice.

After half an hour, we stand outside Tiffany. He choose the wedding bands, it was beautiful and I paid for his and he paid for mine. "I have to go, now," Daniel muttered. I don't why but there's something so deep between us and I can feel it.

"Hmm."

He smiles at me as he takes a step towards me. He takes my left hand. He kisses my knuckles —near to my engagement ring —tenderly, and the touch of his lips on my skin resonates through my body.

"I don't know, Allison. I don't know how this is gonna work but I think we're gonna be okay." I pull back my hand gently.

I smile up at him. I whisper, "I don't who gave you the idea that you aren't capable of love but whoever it is, don't know you well enough." I turn on my heels, without a backward glance, and I move out of his sight to the garage.

Hey guys!

I think I'm finally more happy with this version. I think things are getting better and I love the confidence that Allison have in herself, wish I had that kind of confidence. Hope you guys liked this chapter. If you didn't, feel free to drop a comment with any feedback you have, and vote if you like the chapter.

Ashwathy