I look at him, then stare at the ring on my finger. It's so stunning. Should I risk my heart again? Should I trust this man not to hurt me again? What about our family? My parents? His parents? Lucas? They're expecting me to fulfill my duty. But is it the right thing? If I disobey them am I going to be happy? I look at Alexander again. Are we going to be happy?
"Love, we can just go back if you want to. I told you, I will never force you to do anything that you don't like." He stares into my eyes deeply like he's looking at my soul.
"Alexander, I..."
"Wait...uhm...before you say anything, I just want you to know that if you agree to marry me, I promise to be there to cheer you up when you are feeling down."
"I promise to listen to all your rants and frustrations even if my ear will bleed from it."
"What?" I frowned at him.
He smiled. "You talk too much, love."
I crossed my arm. "That's not going to win me over, you know."
He took my hands and hold it on his chest near his heart. "I promise to support your dreams and passions. I'll always be in front cheering for you. I will be your number one fan." He smiled.
"I promise I wouldn't complain or get mad if you prank me again." He said while giving me a straight face.
I laughed. "That was a long time ago. I would never do that again." He just gave me a skeptical look as I look at him innocently.
"I promise to give you a foot massage every other night."
"Why not just every night?" I asked curiously.
"That would be unrealistic, I know I couldn't keep that promise and it's too tiring, love."
"Be serious!" I giggled.
"I promise to say I love you when you start losing it."
"What? What do you mean?" I gave him a questioning look.
"You don't realize this love but you've always been a little crazy since you were young."
"Hey!" I smack him. "I am not!"
He laughs loudly like it's the funniest joke ever. I gave him my fiercest death glare.
"Ahem...I promise to make you laugh." I raised my eyebrow.
He pinched my nose. "I promise to always remind you of how much I love you, to give more effort into this relationship."
"I promise that you will never feel alone again, Cassy. I will always be by your side forever."
I didn't realize my tears are already flowing again.
"But I can't promise not to hurt you. I might do or say things that will make you cry but I will never hurt you intentionally Cassy. I'm not perfect. I am still a work in progress. And I will try my best to be better for you."
He gave a shaky breath. "So that's it! I've already exhausted all the promises in the world. I know people usually say promises are made to be broken. But if you will give me a chance Cassy and I'll prove to you that they are wrong." I felt like my heart is ready to burst with happiness.
"Oh, Alexander! How could I ever say no to you?" I hug him tightly.
He looked at me with wide smile. "Is that a yes then? Please say yes." His eyes look so hopeful and happy.
"Yes Ale...Ahh..." He didn't even let me finish with my answer as he picks me up and twirls me around the small room, laughing ecstatically.
He then puts me down and gives me butterfly kisses all over my face. "You don't know how much you made me so happy. I love you so much, so so much. I promise to make everything better."
"I love you too Alexander. I love you with all my heart." I said tenderly as I kissed him lovingly.
"I missed you, love."
"Me too, Alexander. Me too." If he's throwing caution to the wind then I would too. I've never rebel to my parents all my life but now, to hell with it. I love this man and I'm going to marry him.
That's why six hours later we're standing in front of a priest saying our vows. Though, this is not the wedding I dreamed of. I still appreciate his effort to make it beautiful and meaningful. The venue looks really well prepared. The pink rose petals were scattered all over the aisle, tea candles were lighted and are floating on the pool, yellow and white led lights covered the venue like fireflies, the archways were decorated with white hanging flowers. It really looks magical.
"I can't believe you're finally my wife!" He looks so happy. I think both of us look so happy. We can't even stop grinning at each other.
"How do you feel Mrs. Hartford?"
"Alive and ecstatic Mr. Hartford!" My smile is too wide that I think it might split in half.
"I'm sorry if this isn't what you imagine your own wedding would be. I did try my best to make it more to your own liking." He gave me a passionate embrace.
"Actually, I really like it. I did have a vision of a big glamorous wedding but then as I look at you, I don't think I could ever imagine a more wonderful wedding like this. You, Alexander...Us, being together makes this memorable. It looks like we're in a fairytale land. I love everything about it. I love the feel of intimacy in our surroundings. I love you Alexander. Thank you for taking care of me, for loving me."
"I remembered you said you like to marry in a magical land with beautiful flowers and butterflies and cute bunnies. And since you're a princess you will only marry a prince."
I laughed so hard. "Do you still remember that? I was probably eight when I had that crazy fantasy of marrying a prince and living in a castle. Are you my prince charming then?"
"I told you, you were already a little crazy when you were young." He snickered.
"Hey, most young girls have that wild imagination growing up!" I defended. "But really, I'm touched that you still remember it. Thank you for this." I kissed him soundly on the lips.
"Now, our only problem will be our parents. I think they're the ones who are going to get crazy."
"I already called and explained that you're with me. I told them we will meet them at my penthouse tomorrow night." Alexander explained.
"We can prepare a dinner for them, then we can break the news. I will talk to them. You don't have to worry about explaining. I will fix this love. I promise!"
"How about Lucas?" I asked feeling worried about his reaction.
"Well, I guess I could call him now and explain everything. He will understand. And I don't think he'll get hurt. He will forgive us I'm sure. And don't worry he can move on quickly. I know him. He can easily find another woman as a replacement."
"Huh! And you? Will you replace me immediately if ever we don't work out?"
"What? No! That's never going to happen, love. I'll never let you go again." He slowly brought his mouth to mine and kissed me with all the passion and love he could ever give.
The next morning we flew back to New York to meet our parents. Our honeymoon was cut short but he promised we will have a longer one once this issue is resolved.
We arrived in his place and noticed that they already did a beautiful dinner set up in the dining room. Alexander told me Mrs. Rodriguez will prepare a sumptuous meal. I guess he's bringing out the big guns.
"Are you planning to make their stomach full before spilling the beans?"
He chuckled. "You know what they say a full tummy is a happy tummy and a happy tummy is a happy soul and a happy soul is a happy heart and if their hearts are happy they could easily forgive us."
I giggled. "And where did you even read those quotes?"
"Pinterest?" He smiled shyly.
I laughed so hard. "You're one of a kind, Alexander."
"I just want to make you laugh Cassy. You've been so stressed since last night."
"Oh, I'm just worried about their reaction."
"Don't worry too much love. They might react the same as Lucas."
"I'm happy that Lucas was really understanding about it though. I don't even know how he wasn't as shocked when I told him about our relationship. He even laughed at it. He even said finally. What was it all about?" I said in full wonder and skepticism.
Alexander just shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know love. I told you he can get over it easily."
"What? I don't think that's the reason. There's something fishy from the way he said it though.
"You're just overthinking things. Come on, love let's get change before they come."
We were sitting in front of our parents having dinner. They were talking and laughing like it's just a normal family dinner.
"So honey, how come you didn't inform us you were leaving that afternoon with Alexander?" My mother asked smiling.
Weird! Why is she smiling like she's so happy I just left without permission and in a wedding gown no less. Aren't they supposed to get worried or mad about that?
"Uhm...Mom I'm really sorry about what happened. There was an emergency that I needed to go with Alexander. I hope the owner wasn't mad that I left the boutique with their gown still on."
"Oh, don't worry dear. We already settled it with them."
I look at Aexander's mom and smiled. "Thank you Stella."
"So you said you want to tell us something?" My father interjected looking at Alexander.
He doesn't look really mad. He's quite calm for a man whose daughter was taken without their knowledge.
Alexander took my hand. "We're married!" He then raised my hand where my rings are which I was hiding from them meticulously.
I look at him with a glare. So much for being blunt.
I turn to my parents. I'm not sure if they were mad or happy because I couldn't find any emotion from them. And that's more scary. "Dad, Mom let me explain...I..."
"Oh, finally!" Stella squealed happily.
"Excuse me?" I asked feeling so confused.
"We already know you two are married dear."
"What? How?" I get more confused about the situation.
All of a sudden I heard a low growl from Alexander. "Ralph!"
I look at him. "Ralph? You mean he told them about our escapade in Vegas?"
"We have a lot of accomplices Cassandra and that includes Ralph and my dear daughter Georgina." Alexander's dad spoke.
"I don't understand. So you're not mad at us?" I look at each one of them.
"Of course not honey. Why are we going to get mad?" My Dad said looking so content and happy.
"But I was supposed to marry Lucas and I disobey you. I'm a disappointment."
"Hey, love. Don't say that. It's actually my fault. I'm the one who pursued your daughter."
"You'll never be a disappointment to us. We love you honey." My mom said smiling lovingly.
"Actually, this is all planned. The engagement was just a ruse."
"A ruse? That's a very long ruse Dad. Seven years?" Alexander said dryly.
"We wanted to make it appear real. We couldn't make a mistake in this. For generations our ancestors have always wanted our families to be bound in marriage but for the past generations they could only produce men. This time when our family did produce a daughter, we were so happy to have a firstborn female in our family. And we have a chance to marry her to the Collins. For years we waited for the new Collins and then you came along son. Lauren and Henry were having difficulty having their own." John explained.
"Yes and we almost lost hope, but then a miracle came, you my dear daughter was our miracle. You don't know how much you made us so happy." My father said affectionately.
"But why did you plan to marry me with Lucas?"
"Well, we knew that if we tell you both that you are arranged to be married, you'll probably kill each other. We've seen how you two fight. You're like dogs and cats fighting every time you see each other." My mom interjected.
"Oh! But I've always noticed how caring my son to our lovely Cassandra. I knew he already had feelings for her." Stella's always been a romantic at heart.
"That's why I always make sure you two are together." She said excitedly like a teenager seeing her crush for the first time. And it made me smile despite it all.
"Honey, don't be so excited. Our son doesn't look happy." John pointed out. I look at Alexander and his face looks really red.
"So you made a fool around us? You really did a good job playing with our feelings."
"Alexander!" I reprimanded.
"No Cassy, I was heartbroken when I knew they chose Lucas to marry you instead of me. I thought I wasn't worthy of you."
"If we didn't do that you'll never going to marry Cassandra. We helped you realize what you were missing. We knew about your trip to Italy. We knew you weren't there just for business." Stella said.
I groaned from embarrassment.
"I couldn't just let you make my daughter like a kept woman Alexander."
"Oh my God, Dad!" I wailed.
"I will never let her feel like that. I know I've been stupid and acted like an asshole but I would never intentionally hurt Cassy sir. These feelings are new to me and I had difficulty admitting to it. I'm still adjusting to these changes but I assure you my intentions with Cassy are pure and unadulterated."
"I love her and I will do my best to make her happy. I just couldn't believe you played with us."
"I'm sorry son we thought you wouldn't take her seriously."
"And Lucas? Does he know about this?" I asked.
"Yes, he knew about it. We were not supposed to be talking about marriage that day when we visited them in London. It was just a simple dinner with their family. But your mother thought that it's a good idea to fake an engagement."
"And what's good about faking an engagement with someone else for that long mother?"
"Well, first Cassandra here will adjust to the idea that someday she's going to get married. Secondly, she will never avoid you since you're not her supposed betrothed. Third, when the time comes that you will know about the false engagement, you will realize how in love you are with her." Stella was all smiles feeling proud of her scheme.
"What? I don't think that makes sense mom. I already realize I was in love with her when she offered me her...ouch.." I stomped his foot and glared at him discreetly so he will stop blubbering. It would be embarrassing if they knew about my proposal to Alexader.
"What offer honey?" My mom asked curiously.
"Well...uhmm..." I'm really going to kill Alexander for this. "I asked Alexander to help me fabricate a lie about my visit in Italy. I just really want to enjoy myself without someone tailing me around. I'm really sorry mom, dad." I made an excuse which is actually a half-truth.
"Oh, honey. We know we are very strict with you. We are just scared something will happen to you again. We apologize if you already felt suffocated. And I think we need to apologize to the two of you too, for playing with your lives." My mom said looking so apologetic.
"We should just forget about all this and move on. Cassandra and I are really happy now." Alexander looks at everyone at the table.
"Oh, give me a hug darling. This is truly a happy occasion." Stella stood up and hug his son.
She gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "Mom!"
We all laugh. This night couldn't get any better.