"Yes, it was beautiful. Brendon wanted me to go with your favourite colour, but I told him that you'd tell me to walk down the aisle nude." Lavender rolled her eyes, locking her hands behind Tristen's neck.
"I'm up for it." Tristen's face lit up like a light bulb, showing how serious he was for the idea. "I'm not walking down the aisle nude, Tristen!" Lavender laughed, slapping his chest. "So, what's the colour of our dress?" He asked, adjusting his hold around her waist.
"Yeah it's li- no. I cannot tell you."
"Why not?"
"I want to see your fresh reaction to it." Lavender said excitedly, tightening her legs around his torso as she brought her nose close to his.
They were both at Tristen's, in his room sitting on the bed in each other's arms. Lavender was straddling him while he rested his back on the cushiony headboard.
She kept her promise; spending the night at his place.
"That's understandable." He nodded. "Baby?" She spoke in muted tones, as she lowered her gaze. "Yeah?" His voice almost came out in a whisper as he felt her vaguely fidget herself on his sleeping tower. Tristen could never control himself whenever Lavender would get all touchy; when she'd change her tone into the one that hinted at her seriousness about something and lowered her gaze as she would project it into the words, 'Baby?'
He'd feel like she wanted to taste some spice and try his ways, but was too shy to admit it. So she'd give him such hints; touching her body to his in the right places. He loved it when she did that.
"Is it okay if I don't invite many people?" She asked, rather giving him the anti-climax. "Why so? Are you afraid because I'm a mafia?" He caressed her cheek. "No, it's just that..." She bit her lip. "I just wanted to save us the chaos. I want you to call me yours in front of the people who matter the most to us, not those who'd mainly come for the expensive food and alcohol." She explained.
"Ah, that's why?" Tristen let out a chuckle, lifting up her chin to bring her eyes to meet his. "I don't really have many people other than my parents, Claire, and Jim. And of course, you." She fluttered her eyes at him twice. It made him smile at her cuteness. "It's alright. I didn't plan on calling many people, either." He confessed. "Really? You must have a lot of friends, though." Lavender said in an envious tone.
"Not all friends are your well wishers. You may call them a friend, but it's also their job to prove that." He said, while putting a strand of hair behind her ear.
"That's right! I heard from Bates about you and your friend..."
"Juggy."
"Yeah, him. Is he really on to seek revenge?"
"Yes, he is."
"Tristen, tell me everything. Although Bates enlightened me with this topic, I want to hear it from you." Lavender said. "See, Bates is a loser who could not save his daughter from a person like Juggy. He is a very cunning person, and is known for his trafficking business. He knew it well that Bates would not get his money from his businesses back on time, so he asked him to pawn his daughter after Bates lost the bet." Tristen explained.
"What if he had refused?" She asked curiously.
"He'd have died, his daughter would've been sent off to another nation and all of his possessions would have been taken over by Juggy."
"Oh my god, that is so cruel!" She gasped. "Bates is a guy that we both know, in different ways, obviously. But when he came to ask for my help, I couldn't give him the money right away. 100 million is not that small of an amount." Tristen said. "Bates could have easily paid it off, given that he is rich too. But he was taken advantage of."
"Then, why did you help him?"
"You would've wanted me to do the same, right?" He smiled, tracing her jawline. "Obviously. Renee shouldn't have to suffer." She replied. "Honestly, I helped Bates because he had saved your life." Tristen confessed. "Him? When did he save me?" Lavender asked, her expression astonished.
"You told me that years ago, you were about to be hit by a car? Back in Bilsburg?"
"Yeah, but what has that got to do with Bates?"
"He pulled you out of the way, love."
"Don't tell me!"
"I can clearly recall it, because you are the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my entire life. I witnessed it all with my own eyes."
"YOU WERE THERE?"
"Do you remember an emo looking boy with ripped clothes and a cigarette in his mouth standing across the street that day?"
"That's very specific, I don't really..." Lavender trailed off, before her insight flashed the past in front of her eyes. "Ah! He threw away the cigarette right when I looked at him!" She said aloud, happy to have remembered it. "Wait, was that boy you, Tristen?"
"Indeed."
"Shut up, Tristen!" She slapped his chest, probably breaking a rib or two. Tristen sat there, gulping it down. Was she this strong from the start?
"I couldn't sleep for nights after I saw you that day! All I could think about was you!" She whined complainingly. "Really?" Tristen smirked, finding a sense of contentment and satisfaction knowing that the girl he crushed on had felt the same about him. "I wanted to talk to you, when I saw you stand across the street. I was only thinking of an excuse when it all happened. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was for me to have you witness that?" She rolled her eyes. "Well, you're conveying a wrong emotion. I definitely think that it was not something to be embarrassed about. Scared or shocked can be the right word." He said awkwardly, scratching his neck.
"IT WAS EMBARRASSING! And to have Bates help me while you watched, how could I approach you? I didn't even know what to say to you after it all happened." She sighed. "Maybe go like, 'Hey, handsome. How about I get your number so you could buy me dinner?' " He smirked. "With that guy holding me as if I could not walk?" She scoffed. "Yeah, just hit him and run to me. I was all ready to hold you." He teased. "You're impossible to talk to." Lavender shook her head. "Don't talk, then. Just show me what you feel." He bit his lip, giving a quick glance at her exposed cleavage.
She caught him staring at her, getting the cue that she should start undressing. That's when Lavender realized something. Tristen was the same guy whom Lavender found to be attractive years ago losing hopes to ever see him again, and that same guy now knew how Lavender looked naked.
Her feeling for him at that time were very strong, and just the thought of him used to get her dripping herself. That realization hit her hard like a train, making her toes curl. "What's wrong?" Tristen asked, watching her rest her head on his shoulder. "Nothing, it's just that, you're the same guy who's now seen me naked. Those feelings are just adding up to my emotions right now and...." She bit her lip before licking them. "God, I'm getting butterflies in my tummy. I can't-" She blushed hard, recalling her past fantasies with the teenage version of Tristen.
"Ah, so you're fantasizing about our teenage selves now?" He smirked. "That's creepy if you put it that way." She giggled. "I just never thought this was all related and that our fates were sealed years ago. I can't believe it was you, Tristen!" She uncontrollably smiled.
"Awh, where's my hug at?" He smirked, mimicking high school boys. "God, Tristen! You're getting me excited, stop!" She strangled his neck with her arms, pressing her chest on to his as forcefully as she could. She let out a girlish squeal, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
Tristen was habitual to getting such excited hugs from her. "Lavender?" He murmured. "Mmh?" She replied without lifting her head off his shoulder. "If you could think harder and dig into the past, do you happen to recall what Bates said or did after he left with you that day?" He asked, giving a hint of jealousy.
"He did nothing, just asked for my number." Lavender answered without giving much thought. "And you gave him?" He asked, clearing showing that he was jealous. "I did not." She pulled back to look at his face. She was quick to catch it from his expressions, laughing her head off.
"You're jealous!" She teased. "No, I'm not." He shyly denied, watching Lavender go nuts. "Tristen Killings is jealous!" She teased. "Lav..." He whined lowly in embarrassment. Lavender could not hold her excited giggles back.
He pushed her backwards on the soft mattress to hover over her. "Disobeying me has its consequences, you know?" He smirked, pinning her wrists beside her hand. "Alright, I'm sorry." She bit her lip, looking away to suppress her laughter. "Ah, being naughty now, are we? Do you really want me to punish you that badly?" He tilted his head in the same direction to maintain their eye contact.
"No! I'm sorry." She innocently said, giving him a childish pout. "Too late. Bad behaviour must be always corrected." He smirked, pulling the string of her peach lace up front dress. Lavender could only stare with her lips parted slightly. Him undressing her like that, she was starting to like his perspective of intimacy. It was like she wanted to behave like a brat just for him to punish her.
He pulled the dress down her shoulders after loosening up the lace strings on her bust. He softly kissed her shoulder, her eyes fluttering shut. "Tristen..." She whispered, running her fingers through his hair behind the neck. She tugged on them to give it a gentle pull. Tristen smirked, realized that Lavender was finally comfortable with showing what she wanted.
He was taken by surprise when she made the first move this time. Else, it was always him. She rubbed her hand on his pants, giving him the friction he needed to get the blood flowing to his nerves. "Pleasing daddy?" He praised, lowering himself to kiss her. She shyly smiled as her cheeks blushed.
His hand made its way to massage her chest, getting soft gasps from her lips. While she was rubbing his shaft, her hand touched a solid object in his pants, which diverted her attention. "What's this, baby?" She gently pushed him back.
"Ah, right. Come here." He pulled back to sit on his knees. Lavender propped herself up on her elbows, sleeves falling down her shoulder, and slowly got out from beneath him. She watched him remove that object which happened to be nothing other than...
"A ring casket!" Lavender gasped, covering her mouth. "Tell me if you like it." He said, as she grabbed it from her hand before he could even open it. "You got me a similar one!" She squealed when she saw that Tristen had gotten her the same kind of ring that she had given him, expect that the inscription was different.
"Let's see what you've got written for me." She smiled, looking at the ring closely.
Rose to my gun.
"Oh my god, seriously?" She scoffed, holding the dear ring with two hands. "I wanted to write that you're my most toxic addiction. But they ran out of space." He shrugged. "Tristen!" She giggled. "See, if I'm a bullet that hits your heart, you're the rose that fills my gun." He explained, putting it on her left ring finger before bringing his next to hers.
He had the ring on.
"You had it on all this time? I didn't even notice! Why didn't you show me before?" She exclaimed. "You know, baby..." He trailed off. He lowered his gaze for a while before looking back up. "You talk too much."
"How dare you!" Lavender started landing mini slaps on his chest, forcing him down on his back. She sat on his abdomen and held his collars in a way someone would when they fight.
Tristen went nuts. He fell so hard for it. "Why're you smiling?" She asked. "This is the first time I haven't felt offended when someone's grabbed me by the collar." He smiled, slowly encircling his hands around her waist. "Well no one else can, except for me." She smiled back, bringing herself closer to his lips.
It was an automated response from Tristen to connect his lips to hers, as they went back to what they were doing earlier.
The empty ring casket lied on the other of the bed with its white satin ribbon undone, as Tristen hovered over Lavender in the background in the blur. He reached for the light lamp beside his bed to turn it off, to do what was best done in the dark.
* * *
"We have the cards, right?" Lavender asked, turning to check the set of invitation cards. "Yeah." Tristen replied, casually driving the car with a hand on the steering while the other on her thigh.
With contacts that reached greatest lengths, Tristen had managed to get the invites printed for their wedding within two hours. Lavender and him sat along with the best event planner in the town, which was also his acquaintance, and discussed the theme that she had in mind. After a long day, they were both finally headed to Bilsburg at what seemed to be near sunset. They decided they'd spend the night at her parents' place for a change.
"You seem tense." He said, giving her a quick glance. "Yes, I'm nervous how they'd react. I mean, they're my parents, after all." She said, tapping her foot nervously. "They're already rooting for us, baby." He pressed her thigh to make her stop tapping her foot.
"I know, but..." She looked out of the window.
Lavender and Tristen were on their way to Bilsburg to meet her parents. They had to announce the good news and it could not be better than a surprise visit. Things were going quite well, abnormally fine for a few days. Jim had not bothered Lavender for any work, Claire was chill and mostly busy talking to Brendon, and there was no sign of trouble from Tristen's new enemy, Juggy.
"But what?" Tristen asked. "I just have this feeling that something bad will happen." She said anxiously. "Even if something does happen, I'm with you, right?" He said in a comforting voice. "Yes, that's right." Lavender smiled, finally calming down. "To be honest, you're always there for me when things go wrong." She sighed, relaxing in her seat.
"I'll wrap my arms riiight around you the moment things go downhill." Tristen smiled widely, keeping his eyes glued to the road. It made her smile, too. "How much more time till we reach?" She asked with her eyes shut, as if she did not know the directions. "Few more minutes." He replied raspily.
They were already in the country side and had a few more miles before they reached her parent's house. Bilsburg seemed quieter than usual and Tristen was the first to notice. He started to think that Lavender's gut feeling could be true. He knew he had a revolver on him, but still starting formulating plans in case things went wrong.
It wasn't quiet like that unless a mafia had visited the place. Bilsburg was not that big of a town, and had a population of around 400 people.
He pulled over to the side right in front of her old house. "Let's go, love." He shook her thigh to wake her up. "Yeah." She wiped her drool off and fixed her hair before getting out of the car. Tristen fetched the gifts and invites from the back seat while Lavender waited for him at the front gate.
"Shall we?" He asked, standing beside her. She took a few things from his hand to ease the load on him. "Yes." She smiled, as they approached the door. Lavender knocked on the door, nervously waiting for her parents to open up.
It took several minutes, but Lavender's mother did open up. "Mum! I'm engaged to Tristen! We're getting married in a month!" She happily announced while showing her ring, as her mother stared at her.
"We brought some gifts, too!" She grabbed the gifts from Tristen and shoved them all into her mother's hands. Mrs. Hills stood there silently, looking at their faces. "Here are the invites! Let's go in and discuss about my theme! You can add your ideas, too!" Lavender cheerfully gave her the cards. She realized something was wrong when her mother did not reply or gave any sort of an expected reaction.
Next thing she knew, her mother threw all the gifts on the stony path along with the cards. Tristen and Lavender both stared in horror at her mother's behaviour. Mr. Hills came running outside when he heard the noise and stood behind his wife at the door. Without giving Lavender a chance to speak, her mother stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face.
Her not expecting it, she tripped on her heels and fell on Tristen's chest. He held her elbows to help her maintain balance. Mr. Hills looked at his daughter with pitiful eyes. "Mom? What's wrong?" Lavender gathered the guts to ask with tears welling up in her eyes. "Did you not like the gifts? Or, are you upset that I didn't ask you first?" She asked desperately, wanting to know what went wrong.
"Get lost." Her mother replied.
Her heart gave ONE loud beat under her ribcage.
"Mom..." Her voice trembled as her lips put on a pretentious smile. She tried to hold her mother's hands to show her concern. She knew that it had to be a joke, because nothing explained otherwise. "Never show us your face. Get out of our house. NOW." Mrs. Hills yelled, yanking her hands away before turning back to head inside.
"Mom, stop!" Lavender exclaimed, holding her mother's wrist. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM US MORE?" Her mother yelled, staring her dead in the eyes. Lavender shifted her tearful gaze at her dad in confusion, who simply lowered his head in helplessness and disappointment. Tristen kept his quiet, realizing something was very wrong. Lavender's dad would not meddle in the situation, so he thought it would be best to do the same and hear out the issue first. Maybe then, he could interfere to give a possible solution.
"Mom, why're you doing all this? Weren't you in favour of our marriage?" She asked, sniffling her running nose.
"Oh, my daughter, I asked you to marry a handsome man." She scoffed. "BUT I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO MARRY A MAFIA!" She yelled, sending Lavender into a shock. Mrs. Hills stared at Tristen with predator eyes for having lured her innocent daughter into what she thought was a love trap. Tristen was speechless. "Mom..." Lavender's voice trailed off as a tear rolled down her face. "I am NOT your mother!" Mrs. Hills screamed. "Honey, that's too much." Mr. Hills decided to interfere. "That's too much, David? Our daughter is marrying a mafia, isn't that too much?" She said offensively.
"Mom listen to me-"
Mrs. Hills gave another slap to her daughter in anger, leaving her speechless. "Okay, that's enough, Jessica. She's our daughter, don't abuse her like that." Mr. Hills held his wife's hands. "WHAT DID I DO WRONG, LAVENDER?" Mrs. Hills cried. "Did I not bring you up well? Did I ask you to chase mine or your father's broken dreams? Did I not support you when you chose to be a writer?" She sobbed while Lavender stood still like a statue.
"ANSWER ME!" She yelled.
"You did, mom." Lavender silently cried.
"THEN WHY DID YOU PUT US THROUGH THIS HELL?"
"Let's go, Jessica. That's enough. She chose her path." Mr. Hills motioned his wife to head inside. "After all, who are we to stop her?" He said in a heartbroken tone. Mrs. Hills went inside without another word while the three of them stood in their places.
"Dad..." Her lip quivered.
"Lavender, did you or did you not know that this man was a mafia?" He asked, stepping closer to his daughter. "Dad I can explain!" Lavender emphasized. "Did you, or did you not?" He repeated himself. Lavender stood silently, wondering what she should say.
Telling her father that she fell in love with him while knowing who Tristen was would definitely break his heart, but saying otherwise would break Tristen's. "You still have a chance, my girl. Tell me you did not know, no matter what your answer is." Mr. Hills said, trying to give her a chance to save herself. "We'll see who bothers you after that. I'm your father and no man can protect you better other than me." He said, rudely looking at Tristen, who lowered his gaze and accepted the situation as it was.
"I know him, dad. I know everything about him." Lavender said truthfully. Tristen shot his eyes at her, tearing blurring his vision. It was something he had expected, but hearing it out loud shook him.
She chose him over her family. That was all the justification Tristen needed for her love towards him.
Her dad looked at her in disbelief, wondering why she'd say that despite being offered a chance to correct herself. "Why, Lavender?" He asked, tearing up. "I love him, dad. He loves me back. He cares for me just the way you both do. We have it all figured out. We both love each very much." Lavender maintained her fake smile, despite her sobbing.
"Leave, please. If you have it all figured, leave. We have nothing more to do with you." He spun around to go back in. "Dad, please! Let's go in, sit down and talk it out!" She insisted, holding his hand.
"You can only come inside if you change your mind. That is, before getting married to him."