Till Time Do Us Part

Zia Scott tightened her grip on the bouquet of lilies as the sound of her beating heart was trying to devour her whole system. Her hands were trembling, the red aesthetic on her lips were starting to dry. With her slight movement, the silver sequins on her white gown gleamed as it reflected the sunlight. She felt restless. She could barely stand still as her sweat dripped on her forehead and her weakening legs underneath the heavy dress. She had lost count of how many times she repeated the breathing exercise to calm herself down. And given the situation, she was reminded about the time when she gave the valedictorian speech back in high school. She hates attention. But here she is now, about to be stared at by about a hundred sets of eyes in the next two minutes. Looking past her veil, she noticed that the people crowding in front of her slowly disappeared p

Edward Bartlett tightly clasped his hands in front of him as the doors opened and revealed the bridesmaids in their pastel blue dresses, Zia's favorite color. The band then started to play the song I Choose You by Ryann Darling. And even as the song was in the Blues genre, an EDM was playing inside Edward's stomach. His heartbeat rose to his throat as nervous sweats dripped down his forehead. Excited, overwhelmed and ecstatic. "You're my always, you're my forever, you're my reality..." As the singer began to sing the first verse, the twelve bridesmaids started to walk down the aisle in pairs. "...you're my sunshine, you're my best times, you're my anomaly..." And as the wedding planner had not seen the maid-of-honor in sight, she sent the little boy in. The little ring bearer walked in with ligh

"I'm not her kid." Zia crossed her arms. "She's keeping a kid in her house who is not her child?!" The man gasped, all the more surprised. "I'm her..." She stared hard at the floor as if searching for the answers on it. "Niece, yeah, I'm her niece...uhh...her father's cousin's wife's niece's father's mother's son's daughter." She smiled awkwardly. "She's babysitting a distant relative's child?!" He gasped again with hands still covering his mouth. "Tell me, what should I say so you'll stop getting surprised?" "Oh, sorry." He chuckled and crouched down to level with her. "What's your name, darling?" "I'm Zi--"  She was shocked how she almost blew her cover.

3:30 PM. The gates have opened for the dismissal of the primary school students. Edward Bartlett, a first grader teacher, had just walked out of the building to monitor the school gates. On his way to the gate, a little girl who was sitting alone on a bench caught his attention. The little girl was in a frilly blue dress staring down at her swaying little legs with matching blue doll shoes, and a blue sling purse beside her. He approached her. "Hello, little girl, where are your parents? Why are you alone?" And the blue hues of her eyes met his. Zia Scott's eyes quivered as the man she had been longing for two weeks had appeared before her. "E-ed...ward...?" His forehead wrinkled for a second but it then vanished and got replaced with a sweet smile. "You know me? I haven't seen you around before though. Can I sit

After dropping Zia Scott off her apartment and sending her to the door, Gray Stewart went back to her car parked right in front. However, as soon as she grabbed the door's handle, her gut grumbled. "I'm hungry." She looked around with her hand on her stomach. Walking a few steps on the right, she found a convenience store. She entered the store and grabbed a bottle of water and a tuna-flavored sandwich. As she made her way to the counter, a five feet blonde woman in a red fitting dress cut past her in a hurry. The woman placed her hand cart on the counter. Inside it were a few boxes of band-aids, elastic bandages, adhesive tapes, gauze pads and rubbing alcohol. When the woman handed her card for payment, the cashier swiped the card on the payment terminal; however, the machine made a beeping sound. "I'm sorry ma'am, your card was declined," the cashier said to her. "W-what? Why?" Contrary to the woman's bold clothing, her voice was surprisingly soft and a little bit high-pitched. "