I rolled over to the left side of the bed as the rays of morning sunshine fired through the window, but it was completely cold and empty, notifying me of the lack of my lovely girl's presence.
I groaned unhappily as I buried my face into her pillow, taking in a deep breath of her comforting scent of warm spices and tart fruits to ease my nerves.
My mother insisted on making Belle and I sleep separately the night before the wedding for some sort of wedding tradition and ended up whisking my girl away to my parent's house last night before I could even protest. To make it worse, she also wasn't allowing me to see Belle at all today until Belle walked down the aisle because apparently, it is "bad luck" to see the bride before the wedding.
I sighed at the memory of her words, knowing that I wouldn't be able to see Belle until noon.
I just wanted to spend all day with Belle. I didn't see why we had to follow such absurd rules. They were just superstitions after all.
In the midst of my melancholic thoughts, a small knock rang from my door before it quietly creaked open.
I looked up from the pillow, softening when I caught sight of Theo's sleepy figure in the doorway.
His hair was sticking up every which way with his pajamas hanging lazily off one of his shoulders. He yawned as he trudged slowly toward our bed and asked sleepily, "Dad? Can I stay here until we have to get ready?"
I chuckled softly at his messy state. "Of course you can."
I leaned over the edge of the bed and easily swept him off his feet with a single arm, lifting him straight onto our elevated bed.
He nuzzled up against my chest, yawning again as he settled into the crook of my arm. "When is everyone else going to come over?"
I gently brushed his hair out of his eyes and hummed, "Maybe in about an hour."
He nodded. "Grandpa said that I would be bringing the rings to you during the ceremony. I hope I won't accidentally drop them."
I laughed silently, unable to handle his overwhelming amount of cuteness. I reassured him, "I'm sure you'll do fine, honey, but if it's okay if you drop them too. Nothing would stop me from marrying your mom anyway."
He hummed softly, accepting my answer as he slowly dozed back off to sleep.
I held him carefully in my arm as I reached over to grab my phone. It was still early, so I wasn't surprised that he was still sleepy. But I was much too awake to go back to sleep. I had gotten so used to having Belle by my side that I found it awfully difficult to fall asleep last night.
I unlocked my phone, smiling when I found a message from Belle.
"☀（ 'Ｏ｀）～Good morning, Metri! You're probably not awake yet, but I just wanted to send you a message. Isabella already came over with yummy soufflé pancakes and is helping me with my hair and makeup right now. But Mom said that I couldn't send you pictures because you weren't allowed to see me before the ceremony. (⋟﹏⋞) Anyway, I am rambling, and Isabella wants me to put my phone away now. I love you, Metri. I can't wait to see you later! "
I chuckled quietly as I scanned through her message. Her emotions were all over the place, like a rollercoaster racing up and down and in loops.
Snapping a quick picture of Theo sleeping in the crook of my arm, I replied with the following: "We can't wait to see you too, my love. I think it's because you were gone last night, but both of us seemed to have had a bit of a difficult time sleeping last night, so Theo is catching up on a few quick z's before the other guys come over."
Within minutes of my message sending, a bubble with three dots immediately appeared from Belle's side of our chat. "He's so adorable! Please tell him his mom said hi when he wakes up later and that I saved a big chocolate chip cookie for him from the breakfast that Isabella brought over."
I smiled at the message. She really was already the perfect mother for our children.
But before I could type out a reply, a notification banner popped down from the top of my phone, notifying me of the visitors waiting at the front door with a snapshot of Sebastian's obnoxious face plastered up against my camera. I sighed disappointingly at the childish acts of my so-called fully grown friend and typed out a quick reply to Belle, "Will do, darling. Sadly, I must go now before Sebastian ruins our front door. Remember to stay hydrated while getting ready and not to work too hard. No one will mind if we are a few minutes late to our own wedding."
In less than a second, another adorable message popped in, "Hai Hai, Metri! I won't forget. Don't worry so much about me and focus on having fun with the boysヾ(^_^)"
I chuckled softly. "See you later, love."
Turning off my phone, I carefully detached myself from Theo and slipped on a pair of sweatpants before making my way downstairs. Even as I was descending the stairs from the second floor, I could already hear Sebastian's incessant whining from outside my door.
I shook my head as I opened the door, revealing my brother, dad, and the ever-so-energetic so-called "best friend." Let's just say Sebastian was more than just upset when I told him that I wasn't going to have a best man for the wedding.
Belle didn't have many close friends, so I thought it would just be better to omit it altogether. To begin with, our ceremony was going to be very small, consisting of just my family, Sebastian, and Isabella, who had been helping Belle set up this entire wedding. Although the reception was going to be a bit bigger with the families attending as per my mother's request, I liked the idea of a small private ceremony. It felt more special.
Before Sebastian could jump onto me, I pushed him aside and asked my father, "How was Belle doing before you left the house earlier? Mother wasn't pushing her too much, right?"
He brushed my questions off as he stepped into the house, shrugging his coat off along the way. "Your little lady really does know you quite well. She figured that you would ask such a thing and told me to tell you that she would apparently withhold affection for a week if you pestered me."
I grimaced at his words. Normally, I wouldn't be all that threatened by such a statement from Belle, but recently she had been having such strong mood swings between wanting to cuddle every minute of the day to focusing so hard on her books that she'd completely forget that I was there before apologizing profusely and asking for my attention again later. I wasn't quite sure what was the cause of her mood swings anymore, so I really didn't want to test it.
My brother and Sebastian walked in behind my father, eyes widening when they took in the interior of our house.
Gaël's jaw went slack as he took in sight. "You really fixed this place up... It was practically falling apart when we visited as kids..."
I nodded "Belle really likes historical novels, and I thought that she would like how much this house resembles a castle."
Sebastian whistled lowly, "She's really got you all wrapped around her little finger."
I rolled my eyes as I walked over to my father, collecting his coat from him. Noting how he kept looking around, I told him, "Theo is still sleeping if you're looking for him. I think he had a bit of trouble sleeping last night, so he's resting in our room right now."
He flushed ever so slightly but quickly hid it by turning his head away and awkwardly cleared his throat, "I-I wasn't looking for him. I just wanted to give the rings to him."
I perked up at the mention of the rings. "May I see the rings?"
I had sent in the ring that Belle gave me into the shop to get cleaned before the wedding, so my left hand had been feeling a bit empty these last few days.
He pulled them out of his pocket and placed them into my hand.
I popped open the cover, revealing the rings. The heirloom that Belle gave me had been completely transformed with the deep cleaning, revealing a thin matte band along the edges of the ring bordering the intricate engravings weaving along the center. It had a new shine to it that made it look completely new.
The thin white gold ring to the side of it had a similar pattern, but instead of having a thin band with engravings, it consisted of strands of white gold that mirrored the woven pattern of the engravings on my ring, similar to how vines could get interwoven indefinitely with an end.
"It's beautiful, son."
I nodded at my father's words, glad that he had thought so too.
I had ordered a custom wedding ring for Belle with the intention of having it match her family heirloom that she entrusted to me. It turned out just like how I imagined, and I could only hope that she would like it too.
I closed the cover and handed the box back to my father. "Why don't we go upstairs? I had the tailor leave our suits in a guest room on the third floor. You can take a look at them while I wake up Theo."
He nodded silently as he looked over at our spiral staircase.
"It's the third door on the left," I called out to him before disappearing up the stairs to go find Theo.
It didn't take much effort to wake him up after Sebastian's loud voice boomed into the room, jolting him right out of his sleep.
I patted his head softly, trying to calm him down, and explained that everyone else had just arrived.
He nodded sleepily as he attached himself to me, hooking his chin onto my shoulder.
With a bit of effort, I eventually managed to get him to brush his teeth and wash his face. I brushed his hair briefly before letting it go and opting to do it later after he got dressed into his suit.
Now that he was a little bit more awake, he held my hand and walked by himself instead as I guided him downstairs to meet with the others on the third floor.
By the time we arrived, my brother and Sebastian were already halfway out of their clothes that
with their shirt left completely open.
But Theo didn't pay much mind to Sebastian and opted to walk up to my father, greeting him with a sleepy bow and quiet "Good morning, Grandpa." His adorable greeting practically shot an arrow through my father's old heart.
My father immediately took to him, slipping the little one out of my arms and scurrying off to the side of the room to dote on him.
I eyed the two worriedly as my father held a half-asleep Theo up to a rack of suits, blabbering about something. But I didn't have time to be concerned about them for long before I was suddenly slapped on my back, making me turn around to glare at the culprit.
Sebastian grinned at me, "Congratulations, man! You're actually getting married to your Belle today!"
Though I didn't love his method of expression, I did appreciate the thought and ended up replying blandly with a simple "thank you."
Narrowing his eyes at me, he dragged me away from my father and son over to my tuxedo. Pushing me toward a chair, he huffed, "It's already bad enough that I am not allowed to be your best man or even throw you a bachelor party. Can you at least be a bit happier for me on your wedding day?"
I rolled my eyes as I leaned back into the chair. "I am very happy. You have no clue how much I've been wanting this..."
My eyes drifted back to Theo as my words trailed off, softening as I watched him explore his little outfit in fascination. I will finally have both Belle and Theo as my family... To finally be able to say that they are officially part of the Nikoloas family...
However, I was immediately jolted out of my trance by another slap on the back of my head. Sebastian muttered lowly, "You're like a whole other person when you're around those two... I never thought I'd see the day when you could smile like that..."
I turned away from him bashfully, not realizing that I had unconsciously let it slip out.
Trying to change the subject, I cleared my throat awkwardly and stood up from my seat, grabbing my tux from Sebastian. "I can get dressed without you and don't follow me in the bathroom."
He held his hand up in surrender, letting me go into the bathroom by myself.
Glancing back at Theo to check on him one last time, I stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
Setting the tux aside, I got working on cleaning myself up. Brushing my teeth. Washing my face. Shaving. Fixing up my hair. A dash of cologne.
Once I was satisfied, I slipped out of my sweats and started changing into my tuxedo. Angelo was really good at his job, getting all my measurements down to the tee.
Every single piece hugged my body perfectly despite my unusually broad frame.
Straightening out my tie, I glanced at myself through the mirror. Clean shaven jaw line. Hair perfectly gelled up. Not a single crease in sight.
I released a sigh in relief.
I wanted to look good for Belle. I wanted her to like how I looked.
When I walked out of the bathroom, I found the others waiting right outside of the door, all already changed into their suits.
Today's the day.
The day I finally get married to my Belle.