Someone to Love

Forty-Five

The Day of the Wedding
Amara Christine Hayden (Bride)
I am not gonna be stressed out on my wedding day.
I am not gonna be stressed out on my wedding day.
I am not gonna be stressed out on my wedding day.
"You really are gonna push through with this?" My father said.
It's five in the morning, I barely have sleep and I am in my room having an argument with my father, who actually think talking to me literally four hours before the wedding is gonna change anything. I am really sleepy and I'm probably gonna get puffy later, I bet I'm gonna look bad in the photos. I should have just stayed with Lucas or better yet instructed everyone to never tell my room number to this man.
"Yes, I am. And no amount of yelling isn't gonna change the fact that I am marrying Lucas!" I said
"You know that I am opposed this!"
"I do know that very well. And I am not asking for your opinion. I know that the argument that we love each other does not stand well in your court but we both have ensured that we have a pre-nup and-"
"With or without pre-nup, he is still a Seo-"
"And so? What, you're gonna cut me off again? Fire me from my job? I don't recall ever seeing the line employee shall not marry from a rival company being in the labor code, heck even in the company handbook!"
"Are you two still fighting?" My mother said, she luckily dosed off asleep an hour ago. I'm pretty impressed that she wasn't woken up by the shouting. I'm guessing that Lucas is having a good sleep right now and I am here, I don't know, having a pointless argument. Well, not pointless, I have a point.
"I am not walking you dow-" he started
"Who says you are?!" I said
"Excuse me?"
"What, you are opposed to this wedding, certainly you cannot expect that I'm letting you go through all the trouble of walking me down, right?" Plus, we are not that close and I don't like you and you don't like me.
He just looked at me.
"You've been shouting at me for, three hours now, I haven't gotten my rest and I should be getting ready in an hour and here you are hating on this wedding! You are not walking me down the aisle."
He looked at me.
"You can't expect me to let you take part of an event that you don't want anything to do with." I said calmly.
"Ara, it's your wedding-" my mother started
"Yes, my wedding that he says he doesn't want to be a part of. He was never there for me, you two weren't, and quite frankly, you two should just be honored enough to be invited." I said as I poured myself another glass of champagne.
I sighed.
"I never really needed or wanted your money, Art and I never wanted it. And we would have gladly exchanged it in the place that you two would just spend a little time and affection with us. But Art is dead, and I would have loved it if he was the one to walk me down, but if it's not him, might as well walk alone." I said
"Ara-"
"Don't worry about what people are gonna say because Lucas and I talked about it and nobody is walking him down. Look, I don't mean any disrespect, Mr. Hayden, it really is enough that you are here in attendance. You don't need to stand there as my father if you don't want to, heck I'm not even forcing you to even call Lucas your son in law. Be there, sit down and maybe shed a tear or two, that's it. Act like you are for this marriage and act like you are there for me. That's it."
He just nodded subtly and left my room. If I knew that was the easiest way to shut him up, I would have done that three hours ago.
"I'm gonna go have a warm bath. Just have Katherine fix up everything." I said as I went to the bathroom and ran myself a bath.
"Miss Hayden?...Yo! Ara!" I woke up to someone basically banging the door, and yeah, I woke up in the bath tub.
"Yeah?"
"Oh thank god! Are you almost done with your bath?" She said
"Uh-" I barely had the bath.
"Are you just waiting for me?"
"Well, du-yeah." She replied
"Got it, hold on." I said as I stood up.
Katherine knocked on the door, and well, I let her in. I was in my bathrobe.
"Miss-" she started
"Are there people outside?" I asked
"Yes, the make up artist, hair, three photographers." She said
I turned on the shower so that they couldn't hear us.
"You okay?" She said
"No." I said as I did my skin care routine.
"Oh my god, you don't want to get married?"
"No, what? Fuck, no. I do. But I was basically up all night having an argument with my father. And I need you to ensure that he and my mother are just sat down the chairs or whatever the seats are."
"He still opposes this?"
"What do you think?!"
"Well, you have to get ready. I spent 20 minutes looking for you but who knew you were just here! I was close to knocking at Dr. Seo's door!"
"Oh, I bet he's having a good morning. I thought brides weren't supposed to have these kinds of mornings on the day of the wedding."
"They're not. And we have two hours to get your face and hair fixed and not to mention the photos. So, I really think we have to get moving." She said
I nodded.
"Do you have the silk robe?" I asked
"Yes, here. Put on your best panties, I swear-"
"Of course, I would!" I said
I went out and greeted everyone good morning and sat down on the make up chair.
"You okay?" the make up artist said
"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep last night! I'm really so psyched about this." I said
"Well, we all are! I mean, look at that dress!" She said
"I know, everything is perfect. So, can you please make sure that I do?"
She smiled.
"I'll make you even more perfect." She said
So the photographers took photos of the dress, the invites, the shoes, the rings, me getting ready and everything.
"Mis-"
"Katherine, I'm getting married today and I can't have my maid of honor calling me frikin' Miss Hayden." I said as the make up artist did my eyes.
"Right, before the wedding I have to be your secretary first, so gonna need the gift for Dr. Seo?" She said
"Ah! It's in the safe. The green one. Hurry back." I said
"Yes-"
"And thank you, Kate." I said as I opened my eyes and looked at her.
"I really can't believe how big this wedding is gonna be." The make up artist said
"Ah, well, neither do Luc-Lee Kyung and I. What we originally wanted was a small intimate wedding. But it turns out he came from quite an influential family here in Korea, and this is the idea of small."
I looked at the wedding dress through the mirror, thank heavens that it was obviously better than the one I wore to my almost wedding with Will. And it really matches the ring. And don't even get me started on the shoes, I had eyes for a particular design but sadly, they weren't available yet in the US, so I called in a favor with my friend, the shoemaker himself, Christian, and he had it shipped pronto to the US.
"Ara?" My mother said as she entered the room. My face was done and the hair is almost finished.
"Mum?" I said, and well, she already had her make up done, obviously she didn't want to squeeze in whatever I have here but she was surprised probably with the way I turned out.
"Oh my goodness, my baby." Hopefully the shock on her face was captured by the photographer.
"I know, right? I actually look like someone who is actually getting married." I said
She walked and stood in front of me.
"You look so much better than the first one. Oh." She said as she looked at our faces side by side.
"Could I take a pho-" the photographer started but I just nodded.
"Are they doing your hair?" She said
"Yeah, it's next."
"Um, I was thinking that you put this on." She said as she handed me a jewelry box.
"It has been with my family for generations now, worn by the Richards girls, and as the only living Richards in the family, I pass it on to you." She said as she opened it.
It was a hairband, with about twenty four 6-carat diamonds and I think the same size for the sapphire stone in the middle.
"It can be your something old and something blue at the same time." She said
"Thank you." I said as I hugged her.
"I didn't give this to you on your first wedding ceremony, because I figured he's not the one for you. And that one probably would have ended in divorce, I mean-" she said, obviously implying that William was in fact, gay.
I smiled.
"But, you have to return this to me after the ceremony because you're off to your honeymoon and I'll be back in New York, and I have to put this back in." She said
I nodded.
With the hair and make up done, I don't have anything left to do but to wear the dress itself. And fuck, I look like a fucking princess.
"Ara?" Katherine said, she was now ready and looking like my maid of honor.
"Yeah?"
"I got a little something from Dr. Seo." She said as she handed me a blue paper bag.
"Oh my god, I didn't think he'd give me anything." I said
"Well, he did." She said
I looked at the paper bag with an HW insignia imprinted on it.
"I really wish he would be more subtle." I said
"Says you who just wrapped the gift with the paper carrier that came from the store." She said
I took out the box, which is Lucas' gift from the bag. And like the one I gave him, he had a note stuck on top of the box. He didn't have fancy stationary like I did, which is sorta understandable because I don't think he's a huge fan of personalized trinkets.
The envelope had Hangul letters on it, which I think is my name in Korean.
"Uh, what does this mean?" I asked the make up artist.
암알아 핻엔 서
"It means come on, come on." She replied
"What?"
"Don't you think it means her name?" Katherine said
"It reads, am-al-a haed-en seo."
"It says your name." Katherine said
I nodded.
"Okay, don't open it, the photographers can take photos of it. I need to get in my dress. I'm reading that letter in my dress. Give us 10 minutes."
"You do know you just left them out there with possibly a diamond." Katherine said
"I do, I'm actually trusting that way however, they're not just gonna experience my wrath when that goes missing-"
"You don't even know what it looks like." She said and I stopped removing my robe.
"Go get it." I said
"I thought so." She said as she placed the paper carrier on the table.
"You're the best. Now, help me get in this dress."
"Oh my god, you actually lost weight?!" Katherine said as she zipped up the gown.
"What?" I said
"Okay, when we had the fitting a few days ago-"
"Kate, this gown was rushed. They had to make some adjustments. I think I might have actually gained some." I said as I stared at myself at the mirror.
"I think you should open up whatever Lucas gave you." She said
"What?"
"Anything from Harry Winston should be worn." She said
Kate handed me the carrier.
It was a necklace box so naturally, I would expect a necklace.
"Oh my-" I said as I opened it.