Arabella's POVSean took my hand. We walked among the beachgoers who were still arriving until late in the evening, and then headed for the less crowded side of the beach that was littered with a few shells stuck in the sand."I found one here, Sean!" I smiled broadly, pointing out the shells with beautiful-looking shells.The man approached, nodding approvingly as he took a long look at the shells I was holding before showing me the inside of the small bucket he was carrying. "Check out mine, Bella.""Wow, why are there so many?" I looked at Sean in disbelief when I saw that the number of shells he had caught had already reached half the contents of the bucket. "One, two, three... ten? You cheated!"Sean laughed. "I didn't cheat, the part of the beach I visited earlier did have a lot of them. I've only taken a few.""I'll go there then."I took Sean's hand, approached the beach that the man had explored earlier and shifted slightly to a place that he hadn't touched. He said that when
Sean's POVDallas was waiting for our return. He opened the door for me and saw me holding Arabella, who had fallen back into a deep sleep in my arms. The man let me in first and closed the door before asking me for his sister."Let me carry her to her room, Sean." He said, extending both his hands towards me, but I refused to let Arabella out of my arms.She was already comfortable. I didn't want her to be woken up by her brother's unreasonable request. "No need. I just need to go upstairs to lay her down. Thank you for opening the door.""I opened the door because I wanted to scold you."Dallas was already blocking my path to our room upstairs, almost reaching the stairs had the big man not been standing in between.I stared at the man, unafraid of his threats, which I had experienced many times during the time Arabella and I had been secretly dating until now. He always wanted to interfere even though his sister said he never liked it, as well as our agreement from the hunt, which
Arabella's POVBefore I knew it, time had flown by. The preparations for my wedding with Sean were ready, and we were now at the building where our special once-in-a-lifetime event would be held.I had been looking forward to this day since Sean said he would propose to me, and it finally arrived in the blink of an eye. I had seen the decorations that Sean and the wedding organizer hired with a little help from Dallas.Everything looked amazing, even though I could only see briefly. Everything is no less, even more than what Ellie and Nick prepared for their engagement ceremony.I was sitting in front of the mirror, assisted by two people who took care of my makeup during the wedding ceremony that would last into the night and make me into the bride I had always wanted to be.Wanda was with me. She had been watching me get made-up and was looking at me as I was receiving lipstick on my lips. "I didn't expect that you, who has always been kept out of reach of men, would be getting marr
I stared flatly at Dallas, who stood before me. "Can you stop involving yourself in everything that concerns me, Dallas?" I tried to control my tone but couldn't hide my disgust for him simultaneously. "This is too much." Arabella stared intently at him.Dallas looked from the bottom to the top of my appearance. "I'm not overdoing it, and I'm doing what I think is right. Tonight, you're not going anywhere." He made that clear in his voice and didn't want to be contradicted.I held up the bottom of my dress and showed it to Dallas. "But I've been preparing since this afternoon, Dallas." I half whined at him. "I want to go." Then afterward, I spoke pushily to get him to change his mind.Dallas ignored my gaze. "You're not going anywhere, Arabel. I won't allow it, so you'd better change your clothes." Dallas wasn't listening at all.My eyes stared at him with furrowed brows. What pissed me off was that Dallas' unilateral decision had canceled my party with my friends. "Forget about my b
"You're Arabella, aren't you?" He asked again because I didn't answer.I nodded as I looked the other way, finding him very uncomfortable. "Isn't it wrong of Dallas to leave me with a friend like this?" I said to myself, looking at the shiny marble floor.I saw faintly out of the tail of my eye, Sean gesturing for her to leave through the back door, then looking at me with some confusion because my welcoming situation was too intense. "Okay." He flicked his gaze around the room while patting his hand on his thigh for no reason. "So about not picking up, I apologize."He didn't sound sincere and more like he was making excuses and didn't want me to bring it up to Dallas. I didn't lift my face to look at him. I just glanced at him from the tail of my eyes."As you can see, there's been a bit of a...flurry of activity here." He scratched his nose as he sounded like he was choosing the right words that were a little kinder to hear.When I heard his reasoning, I couldn't believe it. I bega
Sean's Pov"I won't do anything to her. Is that clear?" I warned myself.There was something that made me uncomfortable. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to control myself and have to face Dallas. The situation was very awkward, and I didn't know what to do in front of Dallas. It had been three years since we had seen each other, and during that time, Dallas didn't know what was happening to me. If he knew, I'm sure Dallas wouldn't want to leave Arabella with me.But Arabella is already here. Whenever I see her, I become uncomfortable because my mind is uncontrollable, making me restless. I lay my body down as I catch my breath, which sounds rough and heavy. I stared at the ceiling of my room indistinctly. In my mind, I still vividly remember Arabella's innocent and shy appearance every time I came to meet Dallas at their house. She and Dallas were only four years apart, so they were close. But Arabella wasn't close to me at all.Back then, we only talked casually and awkwardly m
Sean's PovI woke up and left the room, intending to go downstairs to get some water; before going downstairs, I glanced at Arabella's room. "Is she awake yet?" I muttered, looking at the room door, then walked away.I poured mineral water into a glass, gulping it down until my dry throat felt relieved. My eyes moved to look around the still, quiet house, but I found the front door open. "Has anyone come this early?" I walked towards the door, setting the glass on the table.As soon as I reached the doorway, I was startled. I thought the door was open because Emi had just arrived, but instead, someone was standing on the front porch with a wide-eyed look that was more refreshing than the coffee I was currently sipping. "She's awake," I murmured as I gazed at Arabella's presence in the garden.I leaned against the door frame, looking at Arabella standing up while staring at the morning sky. Arabella's appearance from the side could make me see her. I unconsciously kept watching her, st
Sean's POV"Hurry up and get dressed, then head back downstairs. I'll make some hot chocolate."I said as I walked toward the kitchen, trying very hard to keep my eyes off Arabella, who was still soaking wet and could exacerbate my desire to do something to her. Even though she was wrapped in a blanket to keep her warm while in the car, it was useless because I knew what was behind it."Yes, thank you."Arabella's footsteps as she climbed the stairs to her room relieved me. At least I had a little time to control myself while making a drink. Before that, I removed my wet clothes and hung a towel around my neck to absorb the wetness from my hair.My drink was finished, and Arabella was already in the living room. I approached her and held out the cup, still emitting steam. "Be careful, it's still hot."After hearing the soft words of thanks, I returned to the pantry but kept looking at Arabella, who was now blowing on the drink and sipping it slowly. She seemed to be enjoying it. Of co