Happily Letter After

Chapter 4

I woke up to the sound of my alarm...it was 9:07 already, I must have snoozed my alarm for a good two hours. Thankfully, it was Saturday so I didn't have to go to work.

As my mind woke up, all the incidents and talks of yesterday came back to me and I sighed. Suddenly, an idea came to me, what if I could make Mr. Ayers refuse for the marriage and then maybe workout a new deal to help my father's company.

But I was too afraid to gamble my father's company on a 'MAYBE'. I would have to subtly ask Mr. Ayers the outcomes of this idea.

With my heart a bit relaxed after this idea, I started to plan my day. I had to go meet Mr. Ayers in the evening and there was a lot that I had to do: hair, makeup, dress, salon. I had to look presentable in order to make him believe that I was in agreement. And who knows maybe he would turn out to be a good person and understand my predicament.

I got up from my bed to first decide what I am going to wear.

"Owww, Owww...Owww," I groaned after I stubbed my toe on the foot of the bed while I was on my way to the closet.

Darn it! I limped to my closet and finally after half an hour, I was able to decide my complete attire.

I got ready, had my breakfast, answered a few work mails and then went to the salon. It was late afternoon when I was done at the salon, so I decided to grab a bite nearby before heading home.

It was already five when I reached home and I had to meet Mr. Ayers at seven o'clock. I had approximately an hour and a half to get ready which means I had no time to waste.

I went to the bathroom and quickly took a shower, then put on the dress, did my makeup and hair. I was ready at exactly half past six. I took out my cell phone to check the meeting place when I realized it wasn't mentioned in the text my father sent. Last night I went to ask him about it but hearing everything made me forget about it.

As if on cue, my phone buzzed with a text message from an unknown number.

The car is waiting for you at your doorstep. I'll be waiting for you. - N. Ayers

For a second, the initials made me think about Naimish but his last name wasn't Ayers and that hope died quickly.

The message made me smile, apparently "Mr. N. Ayers" would like to keep his name a secret till we meet. It was fine by me. I took my clutch and went down to the waiting car. When I opened the door all I saw was a large bouquet, it was so big that it completely covered the person holding it. There had to be at least a hundred roses in the bouquet.

It was the most beautiful arrangement of roses I had ever seen with nineteen different color roses. NINETEEN!! I didn't even know that roses exist in so many different colors and exactly in the center of the arrangement was a rainbow colored rose. I was officially impressed by Mr. N Ayers's efforts and felt a bit bad about my already planned refusal.

"Mam, Mr. Ayers had sent these for you and the car is waiting outside." I heard the man, holding the flowers, speak. Apparently, I will have to wait a bit longer to meet Mr. Ayers. I took the bouquet from him which was very heavy and went inside to keep them on a table. Then I took a picture of this beautiful bouquet and told a house staff to keep the flowers in a vase filled with water.

Then I quickly went outside to another surprise. Mr. Ayers had sent a limousine to pick me up, the chauffeur opened the door for me and I got inside the car. When seated inside the car, I noticed a single Juliet Rose beside me with a note below it.

I was amazed by the Juliet rose, these were one of the most expensive flowers in the world and my favorite. How did Mr. Ayers know that these were my favorite flowers?

I gently picked up the rose admiring the beauty of it. Then I picked up the note and opened it.

" The beauty of the most beautiful flower pales in comparison to yours. - N. Ayers"

I was so lost admiring the Juliet Rose, the bouquet and the note that I didn't even realize when we reached the destination. It was only when the chauffer opened the door for me that I got out of my thoughts.

I put the note in my clutch and picked up the rose. When I got out of the car, I saw a path lit by string light posts and the entire area in my view except that path was covered by trees. The sun had already gone down so the only light was coming from the light posts and the full moon. The weather was cool, gentle breeze was blowing and everything seemed so perfect. I had a feeling that this was going to be a night to remember.

Seeing all his efforts made me feel really bad about what I was thinking of doing. But at the same time, it raised questions, "Why was he putting in so much effort for our first meet? How did he know about my favorite flowers? Did he know me from somewhere?"

The chauffer told me to follow the lit path, his voice brought me back from my questioning thoughts. I thanked him and headed to meet the mysterious Mr. N Ayers.

The pathway led to the most beautiful place I had ever seen, one that you see in movies. It was a raised wooden area over a river. The whole place was decorated with flowers, candles and lights with a table and two chairs in the middle. And there at the edge of the surface stood the man himself.

He was dressed in a navy-blue suit, his back facing me. He was tall, around six feet and had a lean-muscled back, he seemed fit like he exercised daily. His hair, as dark as the night, teased the nape of his neck.

He must have sensed my presence because he turned. And the world stopped when he did, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I stared at him, still not able to believe he was right there.

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Can anybody guess who Anna saw? Was he real or just her imagination?

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I hope you all liked this chapter. If you did, don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT. I would love to read your comments.