Marry me with flowers

CHAPTER | 1

Wasn't the next step marriage? A promise of a relationship. A binding that kept her tied to me legally. Wasn't that what she wanted too?

I had seen Megan looking longingly at the wedding dresses when she was the florist for a few nuptials. And when Amber was stuck with the wedding arrangements, she had the glint in her eyes every time she helped her out. Naturally, I thought she wanted it just as much as I did and was too shy to bring it up, perhaps afraid of what I might say to that.

Did she not want to marry me? Was the glint in her eyes only for her friend's happiness? Did she have a commitment phobia?

"Stay right here. I'll go haul her ass right." Amber brought my mind back to the present. I hadn't realized that Megan had fled the scene leaving me alone on my knees with the ring held out for her.

I barely nodded as I stood up, putting the ring back into my pocket. It wasn't time yet, I consoled myself trying to get my head wrapped around the terrible spin that Megan stirred.

I looked around only to see many of Amber's wedding guests looking at me with pity written all over their faces. The camera men clicked photos of me and I could only imagine what the evening paper's heading would look like.

Damn, what was I thinking? Megan had already been tortured by these scavage media and this would pull her down even more. Perhaps, I should have talked to her first before I did anything like this.

But then again, ours was not an everyday love story. When I had met her, I had barely gotten over my last relationship. Having lost trust, I wanted to know that the girls I dated loved me and not my money. And I treated my Megan the same. I had written her letters proclaiming love to understand that she loved me and only me. But it had rebounded back and put us both into a spiral that took almost three years to recover. Megan had developed panic attacks while I gained a hot-headed reputation.

We had loved each other immensely, but we failed to proclaim it in words. At least vocally from my side. Megan? She had shrunk back into her shell scared that anything that she might do would upset the sanctity of what we had.

How could I have not seen this? How did I read all those signals wrong? Why the hell did I trust Amber and do it in front of hundreds of people?

"Sorry, man." Joe and Dylan, my best buddies came to my side, trying their best to hide me away from the clicking cameras. "I'll ask Steve to double the security and ask these photographers to delete what they clicked."

I was barely registering what they were saying while I mulled over the reasons why Megan rejected my proposal.

"I need to go talk to her." I muttered, still feeling like it was all my mistake to have brought up such pressure on her.

"Yeah, go ahead. We will take care of it here." Joe managed to say while I marched forward towards where Amber had gone.

It was crazy. Hadn't Megan told me she loved me only a few hours before the wedding? Hadn't she admitted herself into the hospital with a panic attack when I had flown to Greece for a project thinking that she lost me for good? Hadn't she asked me to stay with her forever that early morning months ago? Why did she not need me now?

I wanted answers. Even if she still stood her ground and said no to marry me, I wanted to know why she did what she did. If she was scared of marriage and wanted to remain as my girlfriend for infinity, I would take it too. Wasn't a marriage the same with a license? I did not care as long as it was Megan who would stand by me till I breathed last.

As predicted, Megan had run off to the room where I had found her earlier with Amber and Laura. When I neared the door, I could hear Amber giving her an earful. Despite the situation I was in, a small smile made it's way on my face.

"Come on, Megan! Be a little selfish!" Amber was saying. "You love him and he loves you! It's the universal truth. Why shouldn't you grab him before anyone else does?"

As a reply, Megan only sniffed.

"You know what you are going to do?" Amber asked. It was a question she wanted to answer herself. "You go right there and tell him a big yes. That man is waiting for you on his knee, Megan! Get up, go! Go!"

I knew Amber was literally forcing Megan to do something against her will. I wasn't ready to accept something that Megan wasn't really comfortable with. In fact, I had promised her that I would not want her to do anything that she wasn't comfortable with doing.

I knocked the door twice before I entered. As soon as Megan saw me enter, she rushed towards me. Her eyes were red and puffy. She was hardly breathing – hiccupping every half second. Shit, what was I thinking?

Megan clung to me like she was scared to lose me. "So... sorry... Miles... sorry." She kept on repeating. With her every sorry, her grip on me tightened.

I pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. I didn't know me proposing her would cause such havoc in her.

"Tell him now that you were out of your mind and you want to get married right now." Amber crossed her hands and looked at us, waiting for Megan to deliver what she just said.

"Amber," I partly sighed and partly warned. I knew Amber was just trying to help – both me and Megan. But this was between us and we had to deal with this together. I didn't want Megan to commit to something that she would regret every day of her life. "Could you give us a second?"

Amber rolled her eyes and before she could open her mouth to give a stern command to Megan, I started. "Please. Just make sure that the media doesn't go crazy, okay?"

"Okay." She said before going out and shutting the door behind her.

"It's difficult to get the demon out of Amber even on her wedding day, isn't it?" I tried to lighten the mood, but Megan had taken the situation and turned it into her worst nightmare.

"Megan? You, okay?" I asked, as she held me tighter still. If she clung to that grip, I was sure she could cut off my air supply. "Let's sit down, alright? And don't be sorry. It's me who has to be sorry."

"Miles..." she cried as I moved us both towards the small table and a chair. As she sat down on one chair, I took the adjacent one. Even the small round table couldn't separate us. "Don't... don't hate me... please."

We pulled apart and I took a moment to look at her and analyze how to approach the subject. I wiped off her tears which kept on flowing every time it was cleared.

"Darling, I don't hate you." I smiled at her. "No matter what you do, I cannot hate you. In fact, I love you. You hear me? I love you."

Megan put her head down and sulked. I pulled her hands to and kissed the top of her knuckles. "Megan, I don't mind if you don't want to marry. But I do want to know only one thing. Do you not want to marry me, or is marriage something that scares you?"

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A/N: So, what do you think? How many of you think she is actually scared? I can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter!