Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

“Come on babe.” She whines in a sordid high pitched voice, her hands folded between Adrian’s. “You should see just how much thought I have put in the whole thing.”

Adrian nods, a smile on his lips. “I don’t need to see it before I know that you must have outdone yourself again today.” He pulls her to a startling stop, so hard that she falls back into his chest. He looks down at her big brown eyes, smiles again and places a soft kiss on her lips.

She grins, skipping like a kid beside him. “Come on inside and see. The entire hall has been so perfectly prepared for us, and right after we’ll go to check up on our clothes. They are already ready for test wearing, and you’ll get to see me in my own dress too.” She chuckles happily, their hands still intertwined.

“I can’t wait to see my beautiful bride in her beautiful dress. No doubt you’d be shining on that day.”

She only smiles again, pulling him past the large wooden doors of the prepared venue for the engagement party.

As soon as the doors open and the entire place comesinto view, Cassandra’s smile grows as wide as possible. “Do you see how pretty it is? I specifically—“

She looks at Adrian’s face and his is a complete opposite of her own smile.

“What’s wrong babe?”

“Who picked this color for the engagement?”

“I did. Is there anything wrong with it?”

He turns halfway to face her, “Why didn’t you run it by me before choosing such a horrendous color for our engagement party?”

She looks around, and turns back to him. “I did tell you about choosing the color, you told me to go ahead and do it as I like,” She starts, “Moreover, what’s wrong with Cyan as our engagement color? I think it’s absolutely beautiful. Look how beautiful everything seems to be?”

“Cassandra!” Adrian snaps, jolting her back to reality. “I do not like cyan, okay? Have the color changed immediately.”

“But…”

“Immediately!”

With that, the to-be groom stalks out of the cyan colored hall, a random memory crawling it’s way back into his memory.

‘What’s your favorite color?’

‘Cyan. It’s so serene, it’s such a perfect shade of blue, reminds me of my own name.’

‘Serene Serena, is that it?’

She’d laughed, and for the entire next week, he had made sure a single stalk of any cyan colored flower was waiting for her at her dorm room’s door…

Presently, he gets inside the car and slams the door behind him, cursing loudly.

In a few seconds, Cassandra enters the car beside him. “I’m sorry babe, I didn’t know you hared the color that much. I have placed a call to the interior designer anftold them to change everything to mauve. Is that okay?”

Adrian looks at her, at her eyes peering at him so cutely, and he can’t even stay angry with her for long. “That is perfect darling, sorry for yelling earlier, the color just gets on my last nerves that’s all.”

Cassandra smiles, a little bit relieved. “I am sorry as well, I didn’t let you know about the color choice earlier. But now, I still have one more way of raising your mood, do you want to go see our dresses now?”

Adrian nods, managing a small smile even though that cyan colored hall still bothers him deep in the core, wondering where on earth she’d disappeared to these past few days.

“Sure, let’s go see our dresses.”

Cassandra laughs. “Looks like you want to wear a dress too.”

He chuckles, turning up the radio so he won’t have to make any meaningless conversations right now.

The last he’d seen of that other woman was when she’d turned and left the party in the middle of the night. Nothing from her ever since, not even his calls had gone through, always hanging up as soon as he tries to call her.

She’d been completely out of reach.

What if she had been kidnapped that night, and now no one knows her whereabouts? What if she’d been raped and is lying a ditch somewhere, unable to move, and is dying slowly? WHAT IF—

“ADRIAN! SLOW DOWN, YOU’RE GOING TOO FAST!” Cassandra’s startled yell brings him right back to reality as he slams on the brakes at a red light, throwing them both rudely forward, but uninjured.

“Are you okay Cassie?” He asks her, looking at her with supposed worry in his eyes.

“I have been trying to talk to you since but you seem so lost in thoughts. Please drive carefully, I don’t want to die before my engagement to you.”

Adrian takes big breaths, while stealing glances at the woman by his side.

She’s blonde and beautiful, what every man wants in a woman, all the curves in the right places, is easy on the eyes, is cute and her laugh is especially magical… what exactly could he possibly want again?

With a loud sigh, he turns down the music and takes her trembling hand, “I am sorry for scaring you like that, I will not go past the limit now.” He places her hand on his chest, then presses a small kiss to the backof the same hand, looking up at her with a terribly sensual look in his eyes. “I’m sorry babe.”

She sighs heavily, before forcing a smile as well. “Sure babe, I guess it’s just wedding jitters that are getting to you. The place is just down the road anyway, we’re pretty much there.” She comments before removing her hand from his, just as the lights turn green.

He tries to clear his mind of thoughts of Serena, and soon enough, he pulls into the driveway of the private fashion designer who has been exclusively tasked with making both their engagement clothes, and wedding clothes.

With not much words exchanged between them, they both make their way into the showroom.

“Welcome sir and ma’am, we’ve been expecting you, please come with me.”

They follow her as requested, and she leads them to a moderately spacious waiting area.

“Sir, please wait here, you’ll be attended to shortly. Ma’am, please come with me behind the curtains.”

Cassandra nods before following her, Adrian settling into the couch, while waiting, he looks around at the subtle lavishness of the place. At least, for a man of his caliber, she did not skimp on getting the best for their wedding.

“Good afternoon sir. While waiting for her to get dressed, what would you like?”

“Give me the best wine you’ve got, and a Forbes magazine.”

“Yes sir.”

The attendant proceeds to leave when Adrian stops him in his tracks. “Please turn on the news channel before you leave. It’s pretty boring just waiting around like this.”

The attendant turns on the television as instructed, before leaving to do as ordered.

There is nothing interesting going on the television except for some sport review, but just as the attendant comes in with a saucer bearing a flute of champagne and a smaller plate with a snack in it, the discussion ongoing on the TV changes from sports to the business world.

This, howver, catches Adrian’s attention.

“So, it has become the hottest news of the day as two very different people have been caught on multiple dates, and ordinarily, this would have been something for the entertainment segment, but when it comes to the one and only Damien Blackwell, famously known for his reclusively and cold lifestyle, it is a completely different ballgame.”

At this, Adrian sits up.

“Who is this lucky woman who has been seen o multiple dates with the billionaire?”

“She is none other than…”

A short video flashes on the screen, just as the curtain opens and the champagne glass falls from Adrian’s hands.

The video is pretty short but it shows more than enough. Through the windows of a high end restaurant downtown, Damien sits on one side while Serena sits on the other, laughing at something Damien must have said.

“ADRIAN?!” Cassandra calls out, holfing up her dress, surprised that he is not paying her an ounce of attention. “Adrian? Would you look at my dress?”

“Shut up Cassandra!” He retorts, not bothering to even look at her, as he slowly goes pale in the face, falling back into the couch in shock just as the news segment continues.

“What’s wrong?” Cassandra asks nevertheless, looking at him worriedly.

Adrian finally looks up at her, but he is not seeing her in the dress, he is seeing her as a failed investment. “Serena is currently dating Damien Blackwell…”

“So? What does that have to do with you?”

“Damien Blackwell is the biggest shareholder of my company. If they end up together, that is the absolute end of my career.” He looks at Cassandra dead in the eyes, completely overlooking the very beautiful white wedding gown she has on, and says, “I have made a mistake. Cassandra, you are my mistake.”