@DEDICATED TO ALL MY DEAR LOVELY READERS
Starting today
I need to forget what's gone.
Appreciate what still remains and look forward to what's coming next.
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Travon's pov
"I'm begging you Travon, apologize to her. It's our last chance."
"To hell with her. She thinks she can take Gloria away from me just like that. Well she has another thing coming."
"Damnit Travon stop being so stubborn. You're ego will destroy our company and you may not give a shit about it but this is all that i have and i am not going to stand and watch you destroy what i've built through all these years."
"That won't be necessary because i'm leaving the company. Let me deal with this on my own."
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Gloria's Pov
It has been a week since the life shaking announcement, and since my last argument with mom.
Time seemed to go by so dreadfully fast as i stayed locked up inside my room unable to get out or run out here.
She left me no choice
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Flashback
'I am your daughter for god sake! How could you do this to me?'
'Edmund is a very good man Gloria he will keep you happy. I trust him.'
'What if i don't trust him? I thought you were the only person I could trust. But not anymore.'
'Don't you lecture me about trust Gloria Anderson. I've made my decision and you will stick to it. Even if i have to force you, i will.'
'I wish dad was here. He would have understood me. I don't deserve this Mom.'
End of flashback
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I have not spoken a word to her after that and i have no intention of confronting her either.
After what she's done to me? Never
I don't want to be anywhere in the house when she's present.
I'm sick and tired of people trying to congratulate me saying that i'm so lucky and i should be happy.
Happy does not mean marrying you off to someone you don't love
If that's what you call lucky, i don't want to be lucky
A knock on my door drags me back to the harsh reality, Mary our maid walks in with my lunch.
We have been following this routine for the past week and i hated myself for giving them extra trouble but i'd rather starve than share a meal with the woman i once used to call mom.
And though my phone has been ringing non-stop, i have not bothered to entertain any calls or text.
I just wanted to be left alone.
It's so sickening, how she thought she could take the most important decision of my life like it was nothing.
She thought she could marry me off to someone for the rest of my life just because she trusted him?
If dad was still alive, this would have never happened.
What hurts most is the fact that the people whom you once trusted and loved are the ones who end up hurting you.
I don't think i can open up my heart to anyone ever again.
Because i'm so tired of letting people ruin my life
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Anderson's residence NY, 17:00 pm
With the announcement of the engagement my world had been turned upside down.
There was no escape
Now it was time for the wedding.
My wedding, where i'm being forcefully married off to someone else
I really want to escape this harsh reality and if i had to shoot a bullet through my head to ease this pain.
I gladly would.
My eyes we're red and sore from shedding tears.
The preparations were still on, as i laid on my bed, my eyes swollen, heart shattered.
Anne, Shelly, and many others have tried to comfort me but the least reaction they could get out of me was a cold blank stare.
My mom, oblivious of all these was knee deep planning out the picture perfect wedding down the hall.
We still haven't spoke a word and i don't intend to because of what she had done.
Marriage is a sacred vow, and i don't want to be tied down to a guy i don't even like in the first place. This is so outrageous.
She has just managed to cut my bruised heart even deeper leaving a permanent scar.
On the other hand the conceited brat Edmund has send me expensive gifts which have been piled up in my room, in hopes of getting a respond, which is a luxury he won't be getting from me, even if it kills me.
I hate him with all of my heart, at least he had a choice to make, but he choose to be egoistic and irrational.
For which i won't be forgiving him anytime soon.
Twenty four hours later i will be walking down the aisle, and unlike any normal bride, i feel anything but thrill.
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I stare at the reflection of a completely different girl looking back at me.
Her innocent brown eyes had lost their usual vibrant colour, instead an empty cold pit was staring back at me, void of emotions, fears, sorrow. Just empty.
The girl in front of me, had long gone forgot how to feel.
Long gone buried her feelings along with her broken heart under the cold ground.
The bedroom door swung open as several people rushed in bringing in the cold chill, i sat rooted at my place unable to move, staring at the mirror blankly not caring less.
A hand came up to asses my hair. ''Disaster.'' He muttered.
They showered me, scrubbed, waxed, changed and all the things that woman had paid them to do as i survived everything without a single word.
It was not my wedding aisle that i was going to walk down tonight, it was the path to my grave.
Where i was going to bury the memory of my innocent days and the people i loved under the ground, forever.
She arranged this wedding in the hopes of relieving me of my sorrows, but she was oh so wrong.
Because it's where i will be swallowed in the depth of misery never to return back again.
What she took from me can never be restored.
''Excuse me if the bride is done, can i steal her for a moment?'' It was Anne i realised.
I was pulled up by my arm and led down the hall and through the back door as the cold air nibbed my skin once i was outside.
"Choose wisely. You deserve more than this." She whispered before leaving me and closing the door behind her.
I had no idea why she had brought me out here but i was too tired to argue and was rooted in my place.
After a second i was engulfed in a warm and tight embrace. A familiar cologne engulfed me. I sensed the strong smell of alcohol as well.
''You look breath-taking it breaks my heart to see that you are tying the knot with someone else. I've missed you, so much. I can't let you go. I love you.''
His breath fanned my neck and i found myself struggling against his hold, trying my best to resist it.
" You cheated on me, you abandoned me. Why?? I trusted you.''
''Love, i would never cheat on you. You left without a single word. You shut me out, you never gave me a chance to explain what happened. I've never been truly happy until i met you. You are the only woman i have truly loved and I've come to take you far away, i won't leave this place without you.''
''You've made a big mistake coming here, i'm not going anywhere with you. And i don't have any feelings for you.''
''I don't trust you love, do you really trust yourself when you say you don't have any feelings for me?"
''You're too late. It's already fixed. Let me settle in peace. Leave me alone.''
Rejection and hurt flashed across his face as if he had been stabbed with a knife, he dropped his hand and took a step back. Which stung like hell. Did i want to comfort him and wrap my arms around him?
''If that's what you want. Love, i want you to know that you will always be my one and only true love. What we had was real. I still hope that you will come back to me. My flight leaves at eight, if you finally decide to change your mind, my arms will still be open wide for you. I'll be waiting for you.''
My walls came crashing down as he left with those words.
I stood there alone.
Torn, shattered, broken, fragile.
All i wanted to do was to run after him and fall into his arms.
Taking it all in, i felt lost, stranded, it was the same feeling i had when i saw my dad's lifeless form, years back.
"There you are! We have been searching for you everywhere! The groom is getting impatient.''
They giggled as they grabbed my arm oblivious of my stiff posture.
'You will always be my one and only true love'
Do i want to do this? Am i going to marry someone being forced upon me by my sophisticated mother, who decided to entrust my life in his hands just because she found him trust worthy??
Does the fact that he came for me and is leaving tonight, bothers me?
Did i want to plead him to stay?
Did my heart flutter when he said he loved me, and he will fight for me?
Do i really trust my word that i don't have feelings for him anymore?
The walk to the aisle was dead like, my movements were robotic, like i had no life in me at all.
"You look beautiful.''
Edmund's compliment went unheard as i kept replaying his last words over and over again in my head.
" My flight leaves at eight.. I'll be waiting"
"I've never been truly happy until I met you. "
"Do you trust yourself when you say that you don't have feelings for me? "
"I'll be waiting. "
"You're the only woman i've ever truly loved. "
"Do you Edmund Grimani take Gloria Anderson to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward.."
" My flight leaves at eight.. I'll be waiting. "
"I'll be waiting. . ."
"Do you trust yourself when you say you don't have any feelings for me?"
"I've never been truly happy until i met you.. "
"I Do."
''Do you Gloria Anderson take Mr. Edmund Grimani to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse,..
"I'll be waiting.. "
"I will fight for you."
"My arms will still be open wide for you.. "
"Ms Gloria Anderson? "
"The flight leaves at eight.. I'll be waiting. "
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"Miss Gloria Anderson, do you take Mr Edmund Grimani to be your lawfully wedded husband? "
"No."
"I love Travon. I'm sorry. I can't do this. "
Lifting up my dress i sprinted down the aisle. The crowd gawked at me like I've grown two heads.
Anne gave me an encouraging smile as Shelly whooped for me
No one dared to block my path as i ventured out into the dark night, and took a cab to the airport.
Paparazzi trailed behind me like an army of ants.
I whizzed through the crowd and followed the lead of my instinct.
There was a strong pull calling me forward.
My frantic eyes searched him everywhere, every seat,every corner. A small doubt crept into my mind, what if he thought i was not coming and he left.
Don't give up yet. It's not over yet. It can't be.
I tried the ticket counter as well as i asked the lady behind the glass barrier.
''Excuse me? Can you please tell me if the flight to Milan scheduled for eight has moved out?''
''Please wait a second miss, yes, the flight already took off fifteen minutes ago.''
Suddenly there was a big lump in my throat. My knees felt weak and I thought I'd fall down.
"Thank you." I barely chocked out before composing myself , my knees threatening to give out beneath me.
The need to scream and cry out came up to the base of my throat but i walked ahead, zombie like, slumped down on the chair and hid my face in my hands as i held back a sniffle.
I wanted to curl up into a ball in the corner and cry my lungs out.
I'm so stupid, i deserve this.
You coward, you couldn't stand up for what you wanted most, now you've lost him.
He came back for you, but you were too selfish to admit your feelings, now see what you've done.
I let my ego and hurt get in the way and I've lost my last chance to find happiness.
"I'm sorry Travon. " I cried as i finally realized he was never coming back.
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After what felt like forever I got up from the chair and trudged my heavy feet against the floor. That's when I hear footsteps running towards me.
A few moments later I'm engulfed by two massive arms around me.
"I told you I'll be waiting for you. Did you really think i'd leave without you?''
My heart immediately started pounding and i see him hovering above me, his arms around me and I lean in to his chest. The sound of his heart beating like soothed me. I could go to sleep listening to his heartbeat.
"I love you Ms Gloria Anderson."
He got down on one knee and held out a ring to me.
My heart was beating profusely loud inside my chest.
"Ms Gloria Anderson, will you be my forever and ever. Till death do us apart? "
Tears ran down my cheeks as i smiled down at him.
"Yes. I love you. "
He claimed my lips as the media's clicks around us grew louder. I thought I'd lost him but I found him.
No wait, he found me. It is true, destiny will use all in its power to bring you to the person, when you love someone.
THE END
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A big Thank You to all the readers who sacrificed your precious time reading my book.