128JOHN’S POV.I walked out of Dad’s mansion into the beautiful night, and saw the guests doing various things. Due to the fact that the wedding had taken place in the evening, they had been told they would stay overnight, and have a feast to celebrate the wedding the next day.“My good man, John! Come here.” One of Dad’s best friends, who had flown thirteen hours just to attend my wedding said, opening his arms.We embraced, and he slapped my shoulder, “There you go. You’re all grown up now. You found yourself a beautiful bride.” He said, and the people with him all laughed.“You know, this boy was a really ambitious boy from the start. When he was five, he would sit on his dad’s lap while we talked about business, and politics, and he would ask a lot of questions.”“You did that, John?” A woman asked, and I smiled, lowering my gaze out of respect.“You know what this lad would say whenever we told him he didn’t need those answers because he was a kid? Tell them, Johnny. Tell them w
127EMILY’S POV.I sat in the makeup room—a beautiful bride. As beautiful as I always wanted to be on my wedding day. My wish was coming true, but the longing for it had long faded away.I looked out the window. It was evening, already, meaning in less than an hour, I would be married to John.“Oh please, don’t cry. Not yet. This has to dry up first.” The makeup artist said, and I raised my head to stop my tears from falling.“It’s a beautiful day, you shouldn’t cry no matter how happy you are.” Another said to me, smoothening my dress.She continued, “With your wedding comes spring. The snow is thawing, and the wind is warm. Very soon, we’ll see the definitely-missed flowers.”I nodded, and she smiled.Once more, I looked out the window. Was no one really coming to save me? Did I really have to get married to John?Shortly after my makeup was perfected, Kaye came in.“The wedding has started. The bride will be needed soon.” She said, and the women helped me get to my feet.We walked
126LUCAS’ POV.“How many times are you going to watch that?” Tray asked, folding his clothes.“Till I memorize every look in her eyes, and draw them without watching the video.” I said, watching the video of Emily being made up, so she could take wedding photos with John.“You already watched that like a thousand times, yet you haven’t memorized every look in her eyes?”“Yes.”“When are you going to go back home?”“Till I can face her, and congratulate her with a smile on my face.” I replied dryly.“And when is that going to be?” He asked.“I don’t know.”“Just imagine. Your siblings would go crazy if they heard you lied about a trip just to camp out at my house, bribing me by taking on all my living expenses.” He said, fetching more clothes to fold.“Why would they go crazy?”“Because they’ll know something fishy is going on! They’ll know you like her.” He said, and I stared into Emily’s dark eyes, which looked exceptionally beautiful with mascara and eyeliner.She took pictures wit
125EMILY’S POV.(Hours Earlier)*It felt like boiling blood rushing through my veins, and I flew at John, holding his collars tightly, as angry tears formed in my eyes.“Miss!” The maids called, as they ran towards us, after hearing me scream. They stumbled on the strange scene, and stopped in their tracks.“You…” It felt like my chest was going to explode with all the emotions I felt in there. My lips tightened, and so did my fingers around his collar, as he grinned.“What?”I released a hand, and whacked him hard on the face. The maids gasped.Before he could raise his head, I whacked him hard again. Still unsatisfied, I raised my hand to whack him a third time, but he held it.“Spilt milk, cracked egg… what will you fix by hitting me?” He asked venomously.“Do you think that petty thing would get me married to you?” My voice shook deeply with the rage coursing through my veins. It felt like a monster was going to rise within me. I wanted to keep on hitting and hitting him till he
124LUCAS’ POV.I pulled on a sweatshirt after taking a warm shower, and looked at the lotion Emily gave me. I would have preferred not to use it, but Emily would think I didn’t like it, and that wasn’t the case.Keeping it safe and pretty for when I wanted to remember my most beautiful new year was my intention.Shortly, someone knocked.“Come in.” I said, applying the lotion onto the back of my palm.“Happy New Year.”I turned to look at John as I massaged the lotion onto my hands.“Smells nice.” He said, and I looked at my hands. “You don’t use this kind of stuff. Who gave it to you?” He asked, coming closer to me.“Someone.” I replied, sitting in the chair, trying to clear my desk.“Someone I know?” He asked, and I focused on clearing the desk. He took the lotion and studied it. “Seeing that you don’t want to reply, and also seeing that this is exactly the kind of thing Emily likes to receive as gifts, I’m guessing she gave it to you. Because there’s no way you’ll know exactly wha
123JOHN’S POV.I couldn’t explain the happiness filling me as the thunder raged on. Thunder on the last day of the snowing year. People would think ‘wow, it is something unusual to welcome the new year.’, but I knew it was to strengthen my bond with Emily. It was the long forgotten Alpha Marriage.The papers alone weren’t ordinary papers. They were papers with strength in them, papers with binding powers, and Katie had gone through hell to get them for me. In return, I had given her the company card to do whatever she liked with it, and she had been grateful.“Emily, you don’t know how happy I am.” I said, arranging the documents. “This… we’re finally together. Nothing is tearing us apart. Gosh, I didn’t think it would be as easy as this. This is beautiful.” I said, getting up.I kept the documents in a safe folder, and returned to her.“Emily.” I called, and she raised her head weakly, looking at me with angry tears. She didn’t even have enough strength to look angry.I bent, and ga