Last Minute Bride

                          April was marveled by how the decorations had turned out.

The wedding hall was beautifully decorated with the finest of ornaments and the whole place screamed luxury.

Well, it was meant to be luxurious since it was the wedding of London's youngest billionaire, Mateo Hades.

April had just graduated from college and got a job as an intern in L' couture; an event planning firm and one month into working for them, she was lucky enough to be given a big role. She knew she had to do her best to impress her madame.

The hall was set and the only thing left to begin the ceremony was the couple. Ever since she began the wedding preparations three weeks ago, she hadn't set her eyes on neither the bride nor the groom, she was just told to use her instincts to plan the wedding and everything she needed was provided for her.

Guests had arrived and paparazzi's were all over the place~ talk about a Hollywood wedding. But there was a problem, the couple were still no where to be seen.

April rushed to the hotel where the bride was supposed to be getting ready to know what was keeping her but when she got there, she was met with just two maids.

"Where's the bride?" She asked the two maids who had the role of helping the bride get ready.

"She was just here but..." One of the maid sobbed and her lips quivered in fear. 

"But what?" 

"We left her to take her bath and when we returned, she was no where to be found." The maid cried out.

"What do you mean she's no where to be found?" April howlered and her head threatened to burst open from the intensity of headache she was experiencing. How could a bride go missing on her big day?

She wanted to call someone for help but she didn't know who to call, she didn't have the contact of any member of the family. What was she going to do?

Fortunately for her, two men suddenly walked into the room and she could tell it was the groom and his bestman given the way they were dressed.

April froze like a rabbit caught in the headlight of a rapidly approaching car, mesmerized. She found herself unable to avert her gaze from the man who just walked in. He was like a modern day Adonis. From his jet black hair that was styled to perfection and not a single strand out of place to his beautiful face. His visuals weren't one that could be described with words.

The most striking thing about him was that he was just.... he was simply breathtaking.

April snapped back to reality when she heard his deep, velvety voice.

She couldn't believe herself. She was simping over someone's groom. Goodness!

"Where's the bride?" The man's voice echoed through out the room and a large scowl settled on his face. April notice how he didn't address the bride as his but she didn't think too much about it.

The two maids fell on their knees, sweating profusely. "We deserve to die." They cried out loud and April couldn't help but roll her eyes, she found them extremely dramatic.

"Where is the bride?." Mateo repeated himself, his voice now dangerously low.

"She's missing." April intervened when she saw how terribly scared the maids were, she doubted they would be able to form words to reply him.

"And who are you?" Mateo turned, just taking notice of her for the first time.

"I'm April, the wedding planner." April gave him her usual formal smile and stretched her hands forward for a handshake but when she saw that he wasn't making any attempt on returning the gesture, she coughed awkwardly and withdrew her hand.

"Your bride is missing" She said, ignoring his earlier behavior.

Mateo eyed her from top to bottom before turning to his bestman, Josh.

He signaled Josh with his eyes and the man nodded and walked out, only to return almost immediately.

"She quit" Josh said as he walked back in.

"Who quit?" Mateo asked.

"Savannah" 

"Who's Savannah?"

Josh let out a frustrated sigh when he heard Mateo's question. How could the groom not know the name of his bride.

"Savannah, your bride!" Josh said.

"She signed a contract. It was a done deal." 

"We'll have to think about that later. For now, it's either we cancel the wedding or find an alternative." Josh reasoned.

 There was no way they'd let the family and the public know of his missing bride. It'd be a huge embarrassment.

After all, the wedding was a plan for Mateo to get his grandfather to trust him and hand over the company to him so failure to provide a bride would only prove that his grandfather was right.

Apparently, Mateo's grandfather told him that he was not responsible enough to handle such a huge company and to prove himself, he had to get married.

Mateo found it quite insulting given all that he had achieved. He also wondered how getting married equalled to being responsible but knowing how stubborn his grandfather could be, he complied and arranged for a bride. But now she was missing, leaving him stranded and confused but one thing was for sure, canceling the wedding was out of the picture.

"What are we going to do?" Mateo asked his assistant and best friend, Josh who was like his voice of reason.

Josh came closer to Mateo and whispered something in his ears.

April saw that she was no longer needed as she had done her part in planning the wedding so proceeded to leave the room but halted when she heard Mateo's voice.

"Hey!" He called out.

April turned to face him then glanced from side to side to be sure she was the one he was referring to. "Me?" She pointed at herself.

"Yes, you." Mateo said and without wasting time, he asked. "Are you single?"

April was stunned by his sudden question hence leaving her momentarily speechless.

Mateo took her silence as yes and immediately, he said the words. The words that April had least expected. "Be mine."