An Autumn Affair

0• Prologue 🥀

"maybe love can conquer all."

•happy reading, my lovelies•

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Everything is still. Every breathing is exaggerated, as Zara Alicia Mitchell stands at the altar, her now frozen hands in Aaron Fitzgerald's hand. Every pair of eyes look at her expectantly. Her once fancy wedding gown, now seems like a burden she wants to take off.

The engagement ring on her finger is a nasty reminder of what went down four years back. She isn't ready for this. She will never be ready for this. Aaron is a nice guy. Too nice. He deserves better. If this were to go down four years back, maybe she would be okay with it, but she is broken now. And a part of her, a major part of her is with him.

And with him gone, she'll never get that part back. The part that could love carelessly, without thinking of the consequences. That part that he latched on like a leech, and she let him. She can feel Aaron's thumb stroke her frozen hand, trying to tell her- everything is going to be fine.

And that is when she decides. She cannot do this anymore. She lets her hands fall out of Aaron's as a loud gasp is heard. She meets his eyes. And with that one look, they both know it was a mistake. She would never be ready. She needs closure, she's never going to get.

She turns her head to look at her mother, Asifa Mitchell. The recently widowed woman, wanted to get her heartbroken girl married. She didn't want to leave her alone. After her husband Peter died this fall, she knew she needed another mans help to tend her daughters broken heart.

But now she can see how wrong she was. Zara didn't need another man's help to tend her broken heart. She needed only one man. The one Asifa thought she'd left behind in the fleeting pages of past, except Zara had never left him behind. And as much as Zara wanted to turn back and scream 'I do' for her mother, she could not.

She felt like she was cheating on herself, and in some twisted way, she was cheating on him. He was her infinity, no one else.

Zara took a deep breath and slid the engagement ring out of her finger and gingerly placed it on Aaron's palm. She whispered a bland 'I'm sorry' and ran out of the church, bunching her gown. She knew Aaron had a big enough heart to forgive her, and knew she was doing him a favour. She could never be completely his and he deserved better.

Zara ran to the resort near the church and climbed ten floor with her gown still on. On reaching the room she had rented for the wedding, she leaned against the door and broke down. She couldn't let this go on. It had been four years, and it was high time she moved on.

Wiping her tears, she fished out the necklace she wore, in place of a pendant there was a ring. A solid diamond ring, that she had close to her at all times, and beside that was a platinum band, her wedding band. Aaron never questioned her wearing them, because he understood. He understood that he wasn't the first man in Zara's life. It was him.

She clutched the rings tightly, and put them back where they belonged, close to her heart. Nadia, her cousin was getting married the day after, and Zara was going to attend the ceremony, and smile as if everything were normal. Nadia had stuck by her through thick and thin, the least Zara could do was reciprocate.

She got up, brushing her gown, and walked into the room to start packing. She was going back there. Las Vegas. Where it had all started, praying to god she doesn't come across him. Besides, what were the chances?

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Hello, my lovelies. How did you like the prologue? Please comment. The story will now take a time leap and go back four years. Stay tuned.

Love,
Elle.