TWO

There was simply not enough time for me to go through my closet.

Today was Sunday and there had been two weddings back-to-back this weekend that I had to handle, being a manager of the event-management business that my dad owned. We started this business when I had to take a break from college due to being pregnant. At that time, I had free time on my hand and I always wanted to own an event-planning business so I’d informed my dad and borrowed money from him. Instead of lending me his money, he’d started a company and was about to hand it to me when I told him that I’d feel much better working as an employee while he kept the ownership. At least until one day when I had enough money to buy the company from him.

As I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror of the gorgeous Metropolitan building, I counted to ten as it usually would give me a calming effect. The attire that I was currently wearing would not suitable for the reunion. Hell, it wasn't suitable for an event organizer at a wedding but the bride insisted that everyone who worked during the wedding wore silver floor-length dresses.

I let out an exasperated sigh as I looked down at the dress that had me pulling it up to avoid tripping over it the whole day. Now that I only had an hour to kill, I guessed this dress had to make do. There was not enough time to go back to my apartment and change then get through the traffic to the bistro where the reunion was held. It wasn’t at the Morningside Heights campus where a reunion usually was held, after all, it had only been less than twenty-four months — as I kept reminding myself how foolish to have a reunion only two years after graduation. Any reunion would at least take place after half a decade. 

As I washed my hands, I looked at my face one more time in the soft lighting. My make-up was a bit worn off after eleven hours since I had put it on this morning but a little bit of eyeliner and lipstick would give fix it. It had to. My eyes moved from my face to my hair. It was no longer long and curly, I had cut it short just slightly above the shoulder like Lily Collins in Love Rosie as it was not practical to care for long hair while I had a five years old baby and a career to build. Growing up, I hated my brown hair and brown eyes. They were dull. Nothing out of ordinary. But I grew to like it now. I had grown into my looks, and I liked the young woman I had become. So much had changed.

Back in high school, I had always been unconsciously codependent. Right after Ashton had broken my heart, I went for Joe. And when Joe had failed me too, I got Tyler. Even before Ashton, I had three exes. It was relationship after relationship. Every time I had a breakup, I would be drowning in sorrow and drink them away with alcohol. Then I’d need someone to fix me, someone to tell me that I would be alright, someone to love me. Maybe there was nothing wrong with wanting that but now I realized that I also needed to be strong on my own.

And the last five years, more or less, had proven that. I was no longer an eighteen years old girl, I was twenty-four years old now, and worked in an event-planning business that allowed me to pay the bills and raise my son Severus for four years now. I had invested some of the money in other financial instruments and they were making profits. I knew if I had to, I was financially able to take care of Sev on my own give or take two or three more years.

I dried my hands and opened the door. Whether I liked it or not, the economy always affected the business, and I always tried to expand the scope to not just limiting myself to weddings but a variety of events. which was why I’d expanded it to encompass a variety of events instead of just limiting myself to weddings. Summers Event Management could take anything from kids’ birthday parties to the conference. Yet the wedding always took a special place in my heart. Perhaps because I’d been single for more than five years and whenever I planned someone’s wedding, I put my heart and soul into it as if it was my own.

I pushed a button on the receiver hooked to the belt of the fanny pack around my waist and moved down the hall through clumps of wedding guests. “Charlotte?”

“Here,” my assistant Charlotte Watson said through the headset.

“Where’s here?”

“On the other side of the altar next to the band playing a slow numbing song.”

I suppressed a smile. “Are you sure you can handle it from now onwards?”

"Oh, do you need to go now?”

“Yes. It’s only one hour left, I don’t even know if I’ll make it on time.” I was tapping my index finger against the event folder I held in my hand. “Maybe I should just skip the reunion.”

I hated how cowardly I sounded there. What was I so afraid of? It wasn’t a definite fact that Frazier would show up tonight. He had left Columbia and gone to Oxford, surely he wouldn’t be at Columbia’s reunion, right? Since technically he hadn’t graduated from Columbia.

“You definitely should go, boss!”

I lifted one brow and let silence fall for a few seconds. “Why do you sound so excited? Do you guys plan to drink the leftover champagne like you did last month at Jess and Colton’s wedding?”

“No!” Charlotte replied too quickly then sighed. “It’s not that. I just personally think that you need a break. You’ve been working too hard lately.” I was about to argue but she kept going on. “This week alone we had two kid birthdays, one sweet sixteen party, and three weddings. Is this the FSR thing going on again?”

“What FSR thing?”

“The Frazier Shawn Ronan thing. You know when you somehow remembered him and you tried not to think of him too much so you drowned yourself with lots of work, took up too many jobs, and all.”

While I could omit to tell the truth to Tyler or Mey or Norma or even Jess, I couldn’t hide anything from Charlotte. She was working for me and thus knew everything about work. It wasn’t hard for her to notice the change in me when it came to workload.

“It’s not a thing,” I denied.

“Yes, it is. It’s okay though, I get it. It’s hard to move on from your ex. I’ve hardly been able to do that myself.”

“He’s not my ex,” I argued again.

“Whatever he is, he’s important if you’re still affected by the thought of him after all these years.”

This time, I ran out of missiles to tear down her big wall of declaration.

* * *

I found my eyes drawn inexorably towards him, and was glad that he was looking down at the dainty brunette girl who was hanging onto his every word because it gave me a chance to study him better. After all, it had certainly been a while.

For starters, he looked better than what I had in my mind, the slithering image that came every now and then every time I was reminded of him.

Tall and lean, with broad shoulders sheared in an expertly tailored jacket. I sighed. He was mesmerizing and I quickly became aware that I was not the only female in the room to be fascinated/found him attracted. With his classically sculpted features, bronzed skin thanks to the sunbathed him during summer, and gleaming dark blonde hair, which was cropped short to emphasize the proud tilt of his head, he was breathtaking. Honestly, I didn’t remember him being this good-looking. Yes, I’d said previously that he had the movie star jaw and Chris Hemsworth’s haircut but what I saw in front of me was more than that. It was more than what I could see on the surface, I knew him. I knew — well, maybe not. Perhaps I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. People changed and it seemed like he had as well.

“Hey, Autumn!” Someone shouted my name and I turned around to see Ishita Asmi Malhotra walking next to her long-term boyfriend, Irwin towards me. Believe it or not, they’d been together since that first week of college when they first met. Sometimes college relationships did work.

“Ishita!” I threw my arms around her and held her for a moment before pulling away to look her in the eye. “How are you?”

“I’m doing good! Irwin is here!” She motioned to her boyfriend who originally came from Perth, Australia. Irwin leaned forward and gave me a hug. “We’re trying to find a place to live now that he got his work permit and found a job. How are you, girl? I heard you’ve been busy with your business. How’s Sev?”

“I’m good. Yeah, it’s just the season, I guess. Lots of weddings and events. Sev’s great. He’s very talkative though and keeps asking me questions that I need G****e’s assistance to answer.”

“I’m so glad I don't have kids. I don’t know what to do with one.” Ishita gave a fake shudder and I laughed. She then leaned forward as if she was about to share a secret. “Frazier is here, you know.”

Irwin seemed to figure out that we girls needed time to chat. “Okay, how about I grab another glass of champagne for the two of you?”

I nodded and mouthed my thank you as Ishita continued, “He’s really here. I know I told you that there’s no way he’d be here but he is and he's not alone.”

If I hadn’t just seen him with my own two eyes a few minutes ago, I would’ve told her she was seeing things. “I know. I saw him.”

Ishita gasped and slapped my shoulder lightly. “Did you talk to him?” asked her, wide-eyed.

“No.”

“Yeah, maybe it’s for the best.” Ishita turned to glance at Frazier and his companion over her shoulder before turning back to me. “That brunette girl looks feisty.” Her brows furrowed and she gave a double-take at the brunette then stared at me as I drank the bubbly liquid from the tall glass. “And looks a bit like you.”

I choked and had to cough it first before I could form some sort of reply. “No, she doesn’t. She looks like a model and I look like a mom. Well, I’m a mom now so that's not an insult to moms or anything. But like you get what I mean, she’s super gorgeous while I’m-I’m-I’m just me.”

“Give yourself some credit. You look gorgeous!”

“I have to agree,” said a familiar voice I would recognize everywhere. I quickly turned and was greeted by his usual charming smile.

“Tyler!”