LUNA POV
Bryan has always been the sane one in the group, though aloof most times and sometimes looks arrogant, he has always been chill. "Let's park the bags, guys," Bryan said, looking all lazy, like he would rather be somewhere else other than here. The bags were parked and Liam chose to drive the car Bryan came with while Bryan sat at the back, and the boys would take the other car. Sitting beside the driver’s seat, Maya came from nowhere. “Liam, I want to sit beside you. I can’t sit at the back, you know I get car sick easily.” I murmured under my breath, why not just sit this one out or just take a flight to the venue. “Get down, can’t you hear me? I said get down.” I looked up only to see Liam’s scowling face. “Do you have to fight with Maya for everything? Don’t you know she would get sick if she sits behind?” I couldn’t say a word. What would I say? Maya always comes first and he made that clear before we started dating. If I complained, I would just end up getting him angry. If there was anything between Maya and me then you won’t be here, he would say whenever we had the conversation. I came down, taking the back seat and sitting beside Bryan while Maya sat beside Liam, feigning ignorance. “Liam, you don’t have to make Luna sit behind, she is your girlfriend, you know,” she said, glancing behind while giving a smile that always interpreted, see, you may be his girlfriend in name, but he is mine. “Maya, you are so generous, why can’t Luna be like you,” Liam scoffed, while Maya gave him a peck on the cheek. “You are so cute when you are angry,” Maya said while giggling. “Let’s go boys!” Liam screamed from the window while the car slowly rode from the driveway. “I think we should take one car and not two,” Maya said while looking at Bryan and Liam. While Bryan ignored her, Liam replied, “Why dear?” “We won’t have fun in separate cars so let’s stop at any car rental and rent.” “Ok,” Liam said without thinking about it. Pulling up at the rental, Liam and Maya went in to do the formality while holding hands like a couple. “Hey, how is your arm?” “Huh?” “Your arm, it could get infected. Let me treat that for you.” Looking up, Bryan was holding a first aid kit. “How did you get that?” I asked, surprised he had a medical kit with him. “Let me treat that,” he said without even replying to my question. He was cleaning the burn with a poker face while being so gentle at the same time. When I even winced in pain, he blew on it but wouldn’t say a word. I felt my heart flutter. He was being gentle and caring. “Handsome,” I murmured within. He is breathtaking, wonderful physique, perfect nose line, gray eyes… oh my goodness, his perfect jawline. “Back to earth, Luna,” I heard his soft voice. “Why are you gaping at me? Is there something on my face?” “No… no, I was thinking about someone—no, something,” I stammered. What was I thinking? Staring at my boyfriend’s friend like that just because of a little kindness. Am I that desperate? “You must be thinking of someone or something important, and I’m sure that person is lucky you are thinking about them,” he said with a grin. OMG, he is smiling. I could count how many times I saw him smile. My face turned red. “No, no, I didn’t say it was a person, I… I… I just—” “All done. And you don’t have to explain yourself, princess.” Princess? My heart skipped. Why would he call me that? “Princess?” I asked. “Every girl is a princess and a queen to her king. Liam would be out soon,” he said before alighting from the car, going round and opening the door for me. “Thanks,” I said shyly. He didn’t reply as he went back to his stoic face, as Daniel approached. All chattering, the car would be ready, and there was no car available right now that could take both our highness’s many luggages and us, so we would take my car for the luggage, and the rental we would all be in it together. We would also have to hire someone to drive it since the goal was to spend time together and have fun, so here we are. “Ok,” Bryan said with just one word. And Daniel kept quiet. “Ok, let’s offload the bags and put them in the other car.” Moving aside, Daniel, Eric, Richard, and Bryan took a suitcase each, while I tried to help. Bryan just said, without even looking at anyone in particular, “Let the men do this.”LUNA POV Walking past them, Bryan stopped beside me and asked, “May I have this dance?” “What are you doing?” I whispered, looking around. “Keeping my end of the deal,” he replied nonchalantly. “What deal?” I asked as the stares bore into me. This wasn’t the type of attention I wanted. Right now, I wanted to be invisible. “Stop, people are looking,” I whispered, trying to smile at the glaring ladies around me. I could hear their whispers clearly: “Why isn’t she taking his hand?” “Does she think she’s better than Bryan?” Different comments filled the room as I wondered how I had gotten myself into this mess. “Don’t listen to them. Just take my hand, princess,” Bryan said calmly. Taking his outstretched hand, we glided across the floor, whispers sparking: “Who is she?” “Her gown is exclusive—I love it.” Other couples joined, filling the floor with elegance. As we danced, I could feel Maya’s gaze burning into me, her jealousy evident, along with the envious stares of the
LUNA POV Edward walked in as he announced, “Everyone has gone downstairs. Would you like to make an entrance with them, or go in like every other guest?”“I would go like every other guest,” I replied.“Thanks, everyone,” I said to the glam squad as they began to pack up.Linking hands with Edward, he guided me to the elevator.We stopped at the underground car park where a limo was already waiting.“A limo? Is this really necessary? The party is happening in this hotel, right?” I asked.“Yes, but you said like every other guest—and this is how everyone is pulling up to the entrance,” Edward replied, opening the door of the limo.Opening the door, I gasped. “It’s beautiful.”Edward shut the door before taking the driver’s seat and driving out of the underground park.It looked like I was late because everyone was almost inside. Only four cars were in line, ours making the fifth.Looking from the window as we got closer, there was a red carpet rolled out with velvet ropes as guests st
LUNA POV “Looks like all of you are familiar with each other,” I asked. “Yes, we are very familiar with each other—we see each other almost every week. Edward books us for the hotel’s exclusive customers,” Maria replied. “I see. Nice to meet you all. The introduction makes me feel more comfortable with all of you now.” “That’s the aim of the introduction—to make you comfortable, girl,” pete said as everyone laughed. “Okay, enough with the chit-chat, let’s get to work, girls,” Pete said, as everyone began to set things up, and in no time, they were done. Pete immediately took my hands, guiding me to the chair before examining me. Clutching my glasses, my hair in a messy bun, wearing just plain pajamas—I immediately felt self-conscious under Pete’s stare. He went, “Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm,” before finally saying, “The first step will be stripping away this. Girl, why haven’t you been taking care of your pretty skin? But that’s why I’m here.” Pete took my glasses, setting the
LUNA POV“I missed, oh my goodness, I missed!” I screamed.“How did you come to the conclusion that making a bet—knowing fully well you have been missing the board—and somehow the bet would make you win?” Bryan said, laughing.“Then why did you agree to it?” I said, now pouting.“I couldn’t discourage you, princess. At least it was worth the try,” Bryan said, smiling.He had been smiling a lot these past few days.“I’m not talking to you,” I said as I walked out of the gaming room and towards my room.When it was time for dinner, Edward brought it to my room. After eating, I slept off.I woke up the next morning with Edward serving me breakfast.“Edward, I can come downstairs, no need to bring my meals to my room,” I said as I began to dig in.“Today is going to be a busy day, and you have a lot to do in less than an hour,” Edward replied.“Edward, it’s just 9 a.m. What do I have to do?” I asked.“You need to start getting ready for the reunion, Luna,” Edward replied.“But isn’t it to
LUNA POV“You can call me Marie, I don’t have any issue with that. But Montgomery? That’s hilarious,” I said.“Next question, princess. Enough with the Montgomery joke,” Bryan said, still smiling.“Where did you grow up?” I asked.“Dallas, Texas,” Bryan answered.“So you didn’t even leave where you were born. Poor boy,” I said, grinning.“Looks like you’re enjoying yourself, princess. So where did you grow up?” Bryan asked.“Stop asking the same question, Montgomery,” I said, grinning. “Well, unlike you, I was born and brought up in Oklahoma.”“Hmmm. Oklahoma. I see,” Bryan murmured to himself like he was making sure he wouldn’t forget.“So what about your family?” I asked.“My parents are retired from the family business and mostly spend their time traveling, while my mom enjoys collecting antiques and rare flowers.”“That’s interesting,” I said.“So what about your parents?” Bryan asked.My mood immediately changed as I just replied, “My mom is late.”“And your dad?” Bryan asked.“C
LUNA POVAfter a while of sitting on the couch and steadying my racing heart, I decided to play a dance video game.After a while of dancing, I decided to rest a bit as I sat on the couch at the side of the room. Then the door to the game room swung open as Bryan walked in.“Hey princess, tired already?” he asked.“I need to breathe, been dancing for a while now,” I responded.“There are many varieties of games here. Why a dance video game?” Bryan asked.“I don’t know. It was just the first thing that came to mind—and it’s fun,” I answered.The room immediately went silent as I prayed he didn’t bring up what happened in the hallway. I was more in control now and not falling for his beautiful eyes again.“Care if I join you?” Bryan asked.“Aren’t you busy with the arrangements for tomorrow’s party?” I asked.“Everything is taken care of, and you don’t need to worry. Edward and the boys will handle the rest,” Bryan said as he stretched his hand toward me.“What if there’s an emergency t