Someone to Love

Forty-Eight

Lucas
I think the celebration is going well, every guest is enjoying themselves and Mr. Hayden smiles from time to time, even my dad. Ara has been talking to a lot of people, and she's really doing well with my uh, former Korean colleagues.
I did some going around and talked with some people, some people I haven't seen for a while, some people I haven't seen at all but we're absolutely "happy" for me and Ara. Some asked what I do, those questions came from Ara's side of guests, even though it's pretty clear in the wedding invites that I am a doctor but still-
"You okay?" I was alone for a few minutes, enjoying my glass of champagne when Alice Hayden approached me.
"Oh, hi. Yes, are you enjoying the event so far?" I said, and I have said that many times today.
"Yes, quite. I heard that uh, your mother is the one who basically prepared all of this, yeah?" She said
"Yeah, she's very keen on seeing me get married after all my youngest brother got married first."
"Your brother got married first?"
"Yes, a few months ago. He's expecting, so-"
"Are you and Ara planning on having kids?"
Not at the moment.
"It's definitely on the list. But we kind of agreed on uh, focusing on us first and adjusting on married life."
"That's good, I really didn't peg Amara as one to have kids."
"Really?" I said as I took a sip of my champagne.
"And even the marrying type, especially one to marry for love."
And then I finally looked at her.
"Oh, don't get me wrong! Ara is many things. And it gives me great joy that she decided to settle with you. And when I say settle, I mean like settle down and not just you-"
"I get it."
"Take good care of her, Lucas. She might look strong, she might even push you away and say that she doesn't need you, she most likely doesn't but it's more likely that she does. Don't you give up on her."
I pursed my lip and before I could even respond, Ara approached us.
"Hey, Mum? You're not trying to scare away my husband are you?" She said as she linked her arm with mine.
"Eh, you know it's too late for that. Plus, I don't think I can change the mind of this one." Alice said as she patted my shoulder.
I smiled.
"If there's anyone that can change their mind, it's you, love." I said as I kissed her cheek.
"And how is that?" She said as she moved in to kiss me. Good heavens-
"Are you wishing that this event is done alrea-" Ara started to whisper.
"So much." I said
"Let's go." She said
"You wanna ditch your wedding?"
"We're married anyway." She said as she took a sip of champagne from my glass.
I wrapped my arms around her.
"You don't know how much I love you, Miss Hayden." I said
"Don't you mean, Hayden-Seo?" She said
"Wait, if that's going on, are you Mrs. or-"
"I don't know, probably Mrs.. oh my god, I'm a missus?!" She said
I kissed her forehead.
"My missus." I said
"Oh god." She said
"Hello, good evening everyone." And suddenly Mr. Hayden is onstage, holding a microphone.
"What is he doing?" Ara said
"Good evening, I'm Arch, uh, from the bride's side-" he was obviously nervous and shaking, well, he tried to keep the shaking at bay, but boy was he nervous.
"-I would say that I'm Ara's father but uh, she wouldn't be comfortable with that. I, uh, I really didn't expect that I'd be speaking tonight, I literally just stood up and found myself here-" he breathed
"Do you think I should go get him down? This is awkward-" Ara whispered.
"Let him be, love. I think this is the first time he's ever been nervous." I said
"-I never really thought that I'd get to see or even be at the day when Amara gets married but here I am today, at her wedding, a nervous wreck, giving a father's speech. Uh, we don't exactly have the perfect or even ideal father-daughter relationship, but uh-"
"Is he drunk?" Ara whispered but then she was looking at her mother, who just shrugged, obviously she has no idea what was going on.
"-but for what it's worth, I'd like to thank Dr. Seo, uh, Lucas for putting a smile on my daughter's face again. Ever since she met you, she had this glow, a glow that I haven't seen for a long time-" and then he was looking at me.
"Don't ever let it go away. Make it shine even more. Thank you, and well, welcome to the family." He said while looking straight at me, and I just nodded.
Then Mr. Hayden left the stage and went on to hug Ara, which was weird, I think she also found this weird. And we don't know if this was only done because of a show or something, but it's definitely a photo op.
And then he moved on to me.
"Would you mind if I call you Lucas?" He said, offering his hand.
"Not at all, Mr. Hayden." I said as I shook it.
I would have expected that his response be something like, please call me dad, or something along those lines, but he just smiled at me, didn't feel any sincerity, patted my shoulder and then went back to his table. Ara grabbed my hand and we went back on stage. I think she wants to prevent any more parental speeches from happening.
But then I noticed that my parents are looking at me and Ara.
"Why do I think that my parents are going up here in a few-" I started to whisper to Ara.
"Are the parents speeches required in your culture?" She said
"I don't think either of them sp-hold on, your dad started it."
"Ah shit, you're right."
"With what?"
And with that, my parents are suddenly on stage.
"Both." Ara said
I looked at Jae Kyung, who was just smiling at me, as if I'm in it in the joke or something.
"Is it just be or do they look proud?" Ara whispered
"I have no idea, I have never seen them proud of me." I said
"They're probably proud of you for marrying into a rich family." Ara said
I smiled.
"That makes sense, I mean, I'm not necessarily of use to them anymore."
So, my parents did a speech as well. I just looked like I was listening, or I hope I looked like that, I just want this to be over with. It's not that I'm not enjoying at my own wedding, it's just that I am still not a fan of parties.
"Wanna fuck?" Ara suddenly said as my father was speaking.
"Excuse me?"
She laughed.
"That's what you're thinking right?" She said
"Yeah, so bad." I said
"Then give out your speech and lets end this." Ara suddenly signaled Kate to come up, and then whispered something to Kate and then well, I guess she signaled the host that we'd be ending the ceremony.
"You can wait until we reach Paris right?" She said
"What?"
"It's a 12-hour flight-"
"Why did I choose Paris?"
S&C, well no, my father was actually kind enough to let us use the family jet, it wasn't as impressive as the Hayden's as my father or Jae Kyung uses this for business purposes. So we couldn't have sex on the plane even if we tried. Plus, Ara fell asleep as soon as we boarded. I could tell that she was tired the whole ceremony, she was happy but then the tiredness was more obvious, hopefully just to me.
I stared at the white gold ring on my finger, and I really can't believe that I just got married a few moments ago. And looked at my sleeping wife, all wrapped in her Hérmes blanket, which probably cost a lot but looks comfortable.
I fell asleep shortly after that, I didn't realize how tired I was and thank heavens the seats recline.
We were both very groggy and a bit cranky when we got to Paris. And we just crashed as soon as we got to our hotel room. We didn't even get to see the whole suite or even the hotel or at least appreciate what they've done to the bed, Ara and I just saw it as a bed and slept.
Yeah, we're finally married but we are tired as fuck and we haven't even gotten to that part yet.