Trying to run away?

My hand hovers over the stolen phone in my hand. My Dad had confiscated my phone as one of his reasons to stop me from running away from the wedding.

His thought process?

I could call a friend and ask them to be my getaway driver.

Even though, I don’t have any friends.

“Hey! Trying to run away?” Gia’s voice echoes down the long hallway.

I quickly shove the stolen phone in my dress.

“Right.” I roll my eyes at her.

“Do you ever think?” I ask

“No, do you ever think?” Gia asks me placing emphasis on the word, ‘you’

My eyebrows shrink back, making the hideous silver eyeshadow pop out against my green eyes, “Excuse me?”

“Do you have any idea what your reckless move of running out made your father look like? Like a parent who couldn’t control their kids?”

I scoffed inwardly.

I honestly wanted to laugh at her absurd words but my hand suddenly slipped and the phone within my large dress falls to the floor with a dull crash.

Crash!

Gia looked at me, her expression changing from angry to suspicious in mere five seconds.

I swallowed loudly.

Discovered with a phone on my hand is one thing, but people knowing that I stole a guest’s phone?!!

That is fridging SOCIAL MURDER!

My heart beat rhymes with each step Gia takes forward, and beads of sweat pile ontop of my forehead.

“You were fucking hired to work, so why didn’t you do your job?!” I yell, my heart slamming in my throat like brakes in a car as Gia stops in her tracks.

Oh my God.

I place my palm over my lips.

I just swore.

I never swore. Ever.

But I just did.

To save my neck from Gia, dad and mum, the guest whose phone I stole and more importantly, my new husband.

Was the swearing worth it?

I close my eyes in pain, feeling discomfort lodge itself like a cracked bone in between my molar tooth.

“I did my job.” Gia raises her index finger to me, resuming her walk towards me.

Only that, this new walk seemed filled with a goal.

“And I am going to continue that by ensuring you do not run away.” She grabs my wrist tightly.

I turned my wrist in different directions that annoyed her even further, trying to boss me.

No way, I was going to let the help boss me around.

“Get your evil fingers off my wrist!”

I yank my wrist free finally.

My breath came out in gasps.

Gia chuckles loudly and leans towards me.

Her voice drops to a whisper, “What does that make your parents then?” “It’s your parents whom you should call evil.”

My eyes stare right back into Gia’s eyes, her smirk irritating me, the more I refuse to yield.

If this is a stare challenge, I’m not going to lose.

“Now, should I address why you’re out here or should I report this ----” Gia gestures to my fuming face

“---- to your father?”

My palms start to shake.

Memories of my father using a heavy metal rod to hit my back surfaced in my mind.

The shaking in my palms travel up to my shoulders.

Gia looked at me and laughed.

She straightened up and looked away.

My breathing hooked in my lungs.

I may have won the staring challenge but the obvious winner here was Gia.

“Are you trying to convince my wife to disappear with you, maid of honor?”

A cold voice sounded in the empty hallway, the deep voice ricocheting off the walls.

Gia moved to the side and I could see the person who made that statement.

Edmond.

My back stiffened.

First, Gia.

Now, Edmond.

How do I reach out to Tom if these two people are constantly breathing down fire on my neck?

Gia fixed a sultry smile on her face and began walking towards Edmond, each leg of hers coming to stand in front of the other.

Yep.

A catwalk.

Racquel had been born with it, Rachel had been taught how to catwalk from three years.

Me?

I was born bow-legged.

Seven surgeries made my leg straight.

But, according to mother, I am still defective.

But, I don’t know if I am defective because of my bow-leg or if my bow-leg appeared because I was already defective.

“Mr. Cozen” Gia calls out with a smile, standing in front of him.

My eyes widened in disbelief.

Who in their right minds goes to stay beside THE CRAZY COZEN on their own accord?

Edmond looks at Gia for a split second.

I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

I’ll be able to pick out the stolen phone on the floor now hidden underneath the very heavy layers of the wedding dress I was in.

I bend with my knees, my hand going for the phone.

Just one more…

One more…

“Wife. Have you used the bathroom yet?”

Fuck!

Okay, consider that my second swearing of the day.

I’m in trouble.

My body still half-bent in my pursuit to pick up the stolen phone without anyone noticing, straightened so fast, I could hear my spine crack.

I shake my head.

“She was dilly-dallying outside in the halls. You may not know how hard it is to pee in a ballgown.”

Edmond’s eyes did not leave me, even as he spoke, “Is that what it’s called?”

He gestures to the wedding gown with a nod of his head.

Gia grinned, happy that Edmond said something.

She grew bolder and placed her fingers on his forearm.

“Mr Cozen…”

Edmond’s large palm shoots out, slammed onto Gia’s face and pushed her away from him in an instant.

Gia’s face turned pink as her head wiped one hundred and eighty degrees.

Edmond opened his mouth, wiping his fingers with a handkerchief, his eyes still locked onto me.

“Stop cozing up to me.”