Mute lightning cracked the skies outside the clear window. Clouds had come to gather to be witnesses of the beginning of something beautifully chaotic.
Enthralled girls flared the veil behind her slender form before setting it on her hair-do. She stood before the mirror in a cream-white wedding gown—luxurious, elegant, and beautiful. However, her face was devoid of any emotions, and her eyes were closed.
She looked like a sensational sculpture.
Nevertheless, something was amiss. Her smile.
Earlier, before getting ready for the big event, the hired senior photographer had lectured her with utmost seriousness—"whatever you do the whole day—dancing, talking, romancing, fighting—make sure to keep smiling. Natural, candid photos are the best. So, don't forget to grin broadly. I want you to be prepared for some fantastic shots at all times."
The poor photographer was going to be utterly disheartened by the end of the day. The much-demanded smile was yet to appear on the lips of the bride.
Furthermore, if someone looked more closely, they could notice the lines of despondency around her eyes.
"You look stunning, Victoria—" one of the ladies was saying.
They only saw the shell. They admired the beauty of a mask.
"Thanks," her expression was still bland.
Others looked at one another in confusion but didn't dare raise any questions about her weird behavior.
The door to the room banged open. It happened so suddenly that all the women in the room jumped—including the bride. All eyes turned to see none other than the groom stride into the doorway.
His eyes were stony, and his face serious. It was clear that he had not appeared out of romanticism.
"Adi," one of the women gasped. "You shouldn't be seeing your bride before she walks to the alter."
Nothing changed on his face.
"Out," he boomed, and the women jumped again, except Victoria. Instead, she sighed. "Everyone except my fiance."
None defied him getting the sniff of trouble.
When the last person closed the door after them, Adi strode near Victoria. "Why do I hear you're going on another trip after our wedding?"
"It's because I'm. And I planned it six months after the wedding." Victoria didn't back off as his towering form stood in front of her and his rich perfume surrounded her. Instead, she lifted her chin in defiance.
His eyes narrowed. "You were supposed to get rid of your silly hobby."
"It's my job, not a silly hobby, and I love doing it—"
"Are you saying that clicking photographs in dangerous places across the globe isn't silly!" Adi snarled, cutting her off. "Are you seriously going to be this immature and insane even after getting married?"
Victoria's nose flared in fury. This douchebag had called her so many things at the last damned minute. Adi was a sadistic, dominant, super-crazy douchebag who was never going to change in his entire freaking lifetime.
"The silliest thing would be marrying you," Victoria spat out through gritted teeth.
It didn't matter that he was an Indian prince.
She didn't care that he could buy several billionaires in the blink of an eye.
Eyes narrowed, Adi inched his face closer. As he talked, she smelt the alcohol that he had guzzled before facing her. "Yet marrying me would give you some form of ownership over the company your dead mother had built. Good thing your father took over it pretty fast after your birth. Women are not built to be in authority."
"My father took over because my mother died," her insides were boiling by now, and she didn't know how long she would be able to keep calm. "And I suggest you refrain from voicing more bullshit about what women can and cannot do."
"Or what?"
She breathed in and out. Fire was on her tongue. "Or this marriage will be off." There she said it.
But damn, he dared to smirk. He thought it was an empty threat, "But sweetheart, that would make you lose the company. Your father will give it to your cousin." He paused to straighten with a smug look. "So, now, release yourself from your silly job, be my wife. And if you want to work, join my company. Be my princess, Ria..."
Oh, she hated that name. She hated how he drawled it. It made her skin crawl.
Taking a moment, she looked at the douchebag prince standing in front of her. "No," she declared simply, firmly.
And turned out it was not something that the prince expected to hear. "What?"
When she stayed quiet, he observed her face for a long minute. And he might have finally understood that Victoria could be blackmailed into getting married but could never be changed into a docile, trophy wife. And this fact, this realization might have shamed him to no end as his face slowly darkened like a thunderstorm. His eyes were like slits of fire.
"What did you say?"
She saw the muscle under his one eye tick and felt nervous inside. But, like always, she didn't show it. Instead, she firmly uttered, "You heard it."
That snapped something inside Adi at that moment. "You b*tch."
Suddenly, he was raising a fist. Gasping, Victoria ducked in time. The punch fell on the vase behind her, which broke, making humongous noise.
The prince has shifted into a madman, or perhaps, he was actually just that.
She had had only a few moments to brainstorm before he could regain his posture and calculate where to aim his fist again.
The door was far. She glimpsed at it.
She realized there was only one way to gain extra seconds to get out of the room unscathed.
Straightening fast, she dropped all the strength in her body to her right knee and brought it up lightning-fast between his legs.
There was an audible thud and a pained groan.
She hoped she had broken something.
And she heard him mumble and curse her, "I'm going to kill you, b*tch."
"Not today," she muttered and ran out of the room.
But as she was sprinting out of the room, she heard him bellow after her, "B*tch, your father has your bank cards."
Shit.
"You'll come back into my arms."
Disregarding his parting declaration, she picked up her dress to her knee and ran out under the raining sky. It was as if the skies cried for her uncertain future, for the war that she had welcomed to conquer something that meant the world to her.
But the more she ran, the more she realized how alone she suddenly was in this entire freaking world.
Her mother had long left her to remain in the world of the stars. Her father was so conservative and materialistic that he was probably going to disown her after today. He even had her bank cards and, right now, was perhaps removing all her hard-earned money just to trap her in a corner.
To top it all, the madman prince was going to chase her, for sure. After all, she had broken his precious dick.
She didn't realize when tears had begun streaming down her face until the rainwater mixed with them had her vision get blurry.
Her feet splashed on the wet ground.
A blur of something zoomed closer to her. It had appeared out of the blue. Something like a wall ran into her. Only seconds later, she found herself laying sprawled on top of a flailing man on the hard street.
The light drizzling slowly increased into a downpour.
"What the hell!" She heard his deep voice as he slapped away layers of her dress. But the thin material of those layers was rain-sodden and stubbornly went back to remain stuck on him.
"Move, woman!" There was urgency in his tone and his labored breathing that matched hers. Either he was running away from something just like her, or he was running after something. And perhaps, she had removed him from his path, albeit temporarily.
Nevertheless, he was warm. And as her face had naturally come to rest on his shoulder because of the fall, it felt safe too.
She didn't want to move. Yet she knew she needed to.
So, a bit unwillingly, she lifted her face at the same time as strong hands gripped her arms. And shockingly, the world proved to be a small place as the face that stared back at her was not of a stranger. And the voice that mumbled her name still excited her the way it had so many years ago. Her name felt like a blessing on his mouth.
"Victoria!"
With widened eyes, she stared at him. "Victor!"
So, the namesakes met again.
Yet as the surprise wore off from his eyes, she observed bitter emotions settling in them instead.
What did she expect?
That was her creation, her doing. It was the cost he had to pay for wanting to be a part of her wrecked life.
He disengaged from her and scrambled to his feet like she had some contagious disease.
She sat slumped on the hard ground, scuffling with the wet layers of her uncomfortable dress as he looked at her.
And then, as it rained harder than before, the sadness—the exhaustion from her heart came out in the form of a sigh from her mouth. But even that sigh went unnoticed by the world. The rain gulped it down, and the droplets reacted—turning colder than death.
~
Word Count: 1533
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A/N
Hello everyone!
How are you all? So here's the beginning of the sequel of Rain Again. *screams in excitement
Did you like the prologue?
Do you like Victoria's character?
What are your feelings about our pweensh - Adi? ;) *your colorful words are always exciting in the comment section
I hope you're as excited as me with this story. So, the prequel and sequel both will go forward to tell the tale of these characters' drama-filled universe.
Victor and Victoria have a past. And obviously, there's massive drama in that past.
We'll read about the other characters too, soon. Stay tuned to even the other books of the Rain series (Rain Again, In the Rain, And Then It Rained).
By the way, would you like a bonus chapter on top of all these books in Rain Again, especially where I would write about Ellie and Neil? :) Lemme know.
Please don't forget to vote and comment! Fan/follow to get notified of my updates. Share the story! Follow me on Insta! Wattpad has sent me a lovely, surprise gift! I love all the items in it. Photos will be posted on Insta! Keep an eye on my profile there.
Love,
Lara.