"He's here." I looked at the door in hearing Kenna's voice.
This is what it had all been building up to.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to face the two women who saved my wedding. "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you two."
"It was our pleasure." Molly smiled.
"I'm just really happy that you trusted with this. You look beautiful, Riley." Meera smiled softly and gently touched my shoulder.
"All thanks to you too."
This time neither of them said anything but instead their smiles got brighter.
The saree and the jewellery weren't the only surprises my fiancé had in store. Turns out he tracked down the only cousin of mine that I actually liked. The only family member I had really wanted to be a part of my wedding. But I hadn't even realised it.
As much as I loved the saree and wanted to wear it, I had no clue how to. So, I called my cousin who just so happened to be the owner of the world's most renowned luxury saree brand, Sinha Textiles. When I had called him in a panic, he'd confessed. Jonah had wanted to reveal the surprise to me moments before the wedding so that my brother could walk me down the aisle if I wanted.
I guess I was loud enough for his assistant, who was near him to hear it and offer her help. That way, he could see me when I was all dolled up and ready to leave and I would get to see his genuine reaction. Since, his girlfriend, Meera, was around too, she decided to come along with his assistant, Molly. They worked on me while the MUAs worked on Kenna, Erica and Kara.
Molly opened the door, revealing my forgot best friend. "Good you're re-" She cut herself off with a gasp. Her hands covered her mouth and her eyes got teary.
"Uh, Kenna?"
She ran to me and pulled me into a hug. "You look so beautiful. You look like a princess. No, no, a queen. Yes, a beautiful and powerful queen."
I giggled, "Thank you. It's all because of them."
She pulled back and looked at me. She rubbed a teardrop off her cheek and touched her forehead to mine. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes."
I hoped that she saw the conviction in my eyes. She smiled at me. "Your brother will come get you."
The three of them walked out.
"You becoming his wife doesn't mean I won't pull the trigger."
I turned around and raised an eyebrow at Kara.
"You pull another stunt with your dagger or anything else that risks his life, I will shoot you. I will make sure you feel immeasurable pain." There was no emotion behind those words.
"Are you threatening me?" I asked matching her lack of emotions.
"I'm telling you what will happen if you ever endanger my boss or my colleagues. Matt might not see you as a threat but I do. And I specialise in neutralizing threats."
"I will hold you to that, Miss Lopez. After this conversation, I want you to understand this very clearly. If you cannot deliver on your promise, I will hunt you. If I ever become a threat to him and you failed to neutralize me, remember that."
I understood where she was coming from, but that didn't stop me from feeling angry and hurt. Mainly because she was right.
I am a threat.
Luckily, before things could get anymore hostile, my brother showed up.
He looked at me and seemed to be taking everything in. A soft smile graced his usually cold face.
"I know I should have stayed back and seen you with the rest of the crowd, but I felt like I had special privileges." A new voice caught my attention and I broke into a huge grin.
"Deep Da!" I squealed in happiness as my brother's best friend grinned and walked towards me. He extended his hand for me to shake knowing that I didn't usually like hugs. I shook his hand happily and extended my arms asking for a hug. He looked surprised but obliged. I peaked behind him and gestured at my brother. "Babu Da?" He smiled and joined in the hug.
There was something so warm about their joined hug that I found myself sinking further into them. I'm pretty sure Deep Da cooed at me but I didn't care. They made me feel protected. They made me feel safe. A feeling I had been missing for so long.
Jonah's touches made me feel happy. Kenna and Jake gave me peace and warmth. But nothing could compare to the bear hugs from my two longest protectors. It felt like I was in my own little cocoon and no harm could ever touch me.
"We missed you too." Babu Da's voice made me want to cry. I didn't realise just how much I had missed them. It had been almost three years since I last saw them.
"Just give me a minute." A choked whisper came out of me and both of them wrapped their arms tighter around me.
They had been through a lot and I didn't really wanted to burden them anymore. Trying to give them space meant accepting more distance between us. Initially, it felt like swallowing glass shards but I had to do it for them. I didn't want to be a burden on them while they grieved. It was around the same time I found myself being more and more attached to Ian. That's why I hadn't asked them to join the wedding, I didn't know if I could look them in the eye after running away from them for so long. Yet, in the moment I had a feeling that if I hadn't run from them, my life wouldn't have been at this weird turn.
"Come on, Rai. We have to go." Deep Da gently nudged me.
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded and held on to both of their arms. "You want us both to walk you?" Babu Da asked and I nodded once more feeling like the little girl they always pampered and protected. They always knew what I wanted or needed without me having to tell them.
With renewed confidence, I walked with them till we reached the beginning of the aisle.
As we emerged out of the beautiful curtained flower arch, I seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. I never expected to feel so many emotions on that day. I had pictured Jonah and my wedding in a lot of ways but in neither of those scenarios did I think I would feel like jumping him then and there all the while walking in between my brothers like a little girl.
As soon as I saw him, I knew I was making the right decision. The best decision, in fact. There stood my fiancé wearing a red and gold Panjabi kurta, one shade darker than my saree with dark cream coloured dhuti. He looked every bit like a Bengali Hindu groom. As we approached him, I saw the twinkle in his eyes. It felt so real. Everything felt real. My brothers gave me to him with a stern, "Take care of her." He held my hand and walked me closer to the alter.
"Red is really your colour."
Good for my cheeks.
"Indian looks good on." I mumbled looking at Bennett who was saying some officiant things that I didn't care about.
"I know."
I had a feeling he wasn't talking about the clothes. "I'm half Indian."
"I know. We're doing the rituals the Christian way, that's why I wanted something to represent that part of you. The clothes seemed like a good idea."
"They were. Thank you."
"No, thank you. When your brother said that this would be more of a gift to me than you, I didn't understand. But now I do." The last part was a soft whisper that told me everything he didn't.
It wasn't like I was an innocent virgin but somehow the idea of doing that with Jonah made my heart race. I tried to focus on Bennett and what he was saying to distract myself from those unholy thoughts.
"Anyone who has any objections to the matrimonial union of this couple, please leave the ceremony."
I scrunched my eyebrows on confusion and turned to look at Jonah. He stared straight at Bennett with a smirk.
Whatever.
If anything, I was happy about that.
"That's not correct! I object to this wedding!"
Obviously.
I turned around to look at the obnoxious woman in the audience. Even though neither Jonah nor I had given the two of them an invitation to the fairly intimate ceremony consisting of a handful of both our friends and few close family members of Jonah, they still managed to get inside. No doubt Daniel's doing.
Guess not being Jonah's best man only pissed him off more.
"That little bitch." My maid of honour hissed from her place. Kenna sounded pissed off enough to attack and she would have attacked if Kara wasn't holding her back.
"Get out." Bennett announced.
"No! This isn't how weddings happen. There's an objection. You can't just continue it." Hayley screamed. She was the epitome of shameless audacity in her white gown and yellow and white flower crown.
"Who allowed her to come in like that?" Jonah asked irritatedly.
"Dreya." I signalled at one of my people sitting in the audience. She stood up and grabbed Hayley by her arm. Unsurprisingly, Ian was right beside his precious Hayley and managed to quickly free her from Dreya's grip. Dreya looked at me for further instructions.
"Dreya, Andrew, Zax, Levi, Seema, drag them out. Make sure neither of them enter until the end of the wedding."
With a nod, my poeple attacked them. As expected, Ian managed to subdue them with almost no problem. Hayley focused on Jonah. "Please, don't do this. You don't have to. I understand now. I was stupid. I promise you I will fix everything. Please, stop this madness. Let's just go home, baby. Please."
Jonah's jaw clenched along with his fists. I could see he was struggling. I hadn't expected him to be completely be over her, yet seeing him struggle to ignore her felt like a very annoying and prolonged pinch. He turned around and faced Bennett once again. " Let's do this."
Somehow that sounded like, "Let's get this over with."
All the positive emotions I felt, came crashing down. Once again, I was reminded that no matter how much we pretended, it wasn't real. What we were doing was simply a way to avenge ourselves.
I could hear footsteps and knew they were approaching us but I also knew that wouldn't be able to get too close. Not with Kenna and my brothers.
"Would you like to recite your own vows?"
I was about to say no but Jonah beat me to it. "Yes."
What the hell? He wrote his own vows?
Jonah turned to me. "I know our relationship has been full of ups and downs but you have been nothing short of a blessing in my life."
I didn't understand the point of him doing that. It was clear he wasn't as invested. The clothes and everything had already put up a pretty big show. Then the launch in half an hour would make an even bigger impact. The vows weren't that necessary.
"I know right now, you might not be able to believe that. I don't blame you. With everything happening around us, you might think this is nothing but just a big show. But it is not. It was supposed to be, but sometime in this last month, I realised that you were the one I wanted all along. Even before our conflicting engagement, you were a blessing to me. I had become a bitter man and lost interest on life. I was no longer living my life, but just surviving. Then you came into my life. As a nemesis. As someone who hated my guts and brightened up my world. I was no longer making elaborate plans to humiliate someone, but rather dumb pranks to see if you'd figure it out. If you would have that look of pride when you figured it out if you would be proud of me when you couldn't figure it out. Then you began retaliating and I was no longer just eating, breathing and surviving, I was having fun. I didn't dread having to go to gatherings and parties. I looked for to them. I looked forward to seeing you. When I figured out what happened that day, I felt a sort of relief and happiness that I cannot explain. I knew it was my only chance to make you mine. And I took it. Today in front of all these people, I vow to be yours heart, body and soul. Through happiness and suffering, in health and in sickness, through riches and through poverty. Till death do us part."
I didn't have to question the authenticity of his words as the horrible stench of rotten eggs filled the room. Murmurs rose as even the others seemed to be getting a slight wiff of something wrong.
His smile encouraged me. But before I could say a word, a loud screech silenced everyone.
The ground beneath us shook violently. The glass windows began to crack and shatter. It was when a ceiling fan broke and narrowly missed one of my old classmates, that panic ensued.
"Riley!" Ian screamed. I turned my head just in time to notice him throwing a dagger towards me. I managed to catch it just as it was about to fly past me. "Everyone, HIDE." He screamed causing most of the guests to scream and panic and push past each other to get to cover.
"Our guest is here." Hayley muttered under her breath.