Since Forever

1. The Preparation!

Ariel's P.O.V

If a stranger had a chance to lay his eyes on the place that was being decorated lavishly right now for my wedding that was supposed to be tomorrow, he would've held his breathe and whispered about how beautiful this place was and how lucky the couple marrying in it was.

But for me, this was one of those moments of my life where I questioned God's existence.

I was not being forced, I must tell you. The decision was entirely mine and noone, absolutely no one had any part in it. But that did not mean that I was happy about it. There are some decisions of your life, that you know are going to end up wrong yet you are forced to take them because of certain emotional waves behind you.

My father was on his last stage of brain tumor. He had, but only, a few days to live. And all he wished was to see his eldest daughter getting married. Lucky for my sister, since she did not have to get married in such a rush.

Since I had no boyfriend or anyone that I was seeing, my father asked me to marry his best friend's son, Lorenzo Malarkey, who also happened to be my ex bestfriend.

To be fairly honest, Lorenzo was the type of guy I would throw my knickers for and jump into bed with, but since we had a really rough past, all I wanted to do with him was punch him in his face or shoot him.

Before I could say anything, my father called Lorenzo and asked him for this one last wish that he wanted to happen before he could rest in peace. I was not hoping on it, but Lorenzo agreed and here I was, two days later, planning my own wedding, waiting to meet my groom to be, after 6 whole years since the last time I had spoken to him.

"Excuse me ma'am, would you like the peonies, and the hydrangeas over here?", A lady dressed in a white formal suit, with her hair tied up in a tight sleek bun asked me as I checked out the baby blue and pink colored flowers in her hand.

"Yes, make it lavish.", I ordered and walked out of the aisle that I was supposed to walk on tomorrow. I was not really a spendthrift person, even though my father had the bank balance of the entire country, but this time I was in no mood to do things subtly. I wanted to look like a princess for the paparazzi, because atleast that would help me coverup the fact that I was not at all interested to marry or even meet Lorenzo.

I despised him. And in the last six years, everytime my eyes fell on his pictures on the international magazines, all I wanted to do was burn them.

"Ari, there you are!", Sasha, my younger sister exclaimed, holding a beautiful tiara in her hands. It had exquisite stones embedded on it and it looked like a really good contrast option to the gown I was going to wear.

"Hey.", I greeted weakly as she pouted and hugged me. She was aware of my feelings and had even tried to talk me out of it, but I was in no mood to make my father feel unfulfilled before he passed away.

"You look like a crazy woman who is high on drugs.", She complimented as I rolled my eyes and walked beside her towards the resort we were staying at. It was a short notice for everyone but all of my friends and some of dad's business friends along with our relatives had turned up.

It was a huge resort in front of the beach where the wedding spot was being prepared by the event managing company that we had hired.

Lorenzo was currently in Sydney, attending to whatever illegal and life-threatening tasks that he did, while I prepared for the ceremony where we both had to participate equally.

I hadn't spoken to him, but my dad had assured me that he would be here by today afternoon, so I was currently just walking around, with my stomach in knots. Six years of not speaking with someone does that to you. And the day that we had last spoken was not a good memory either.

To be honest, I had no idea why he agreed to this wish of my dad. But I could digest it, since I knew he shared a bond with my dad, and though we hadn't spoken since the last few years, he had still been in contact with him.

A lot of times, I would walk into my father's room and catch him talking with him on video calls or something. Lorenzo was a busy man, but he took out time for the people he loved and maybe that was why I had agreed to do this.

Also, I planned to leave him once everything ended. And by that, I meant when my father was no more.

"I'll freshen up.", I assured Sasha as she nodded and left to walk towards the food court. I walked back towards my suite which was right next to the one where Lorenzo was going to sleep in once he was here.

From Lorenzo's side, his best friend Blake and Blake's family had already arrived yesterday. Lorenzo had no one else, except his runaway mother who was not picking up any of our calls, and a father who had passed away seven years ago. He was also not the type of a person who bonded a lot, so when Blake arrived, we all were quite impressed that there was someone he had actually decided to invite.

I opened the door to my suite and walked inside, keeping the card key on the holder beside the door. I was supposed to meet Lorenzo in an hour or so, and though this was not a very happy meeting, the least I could do was dress up decently.

So that is exactly what I did.

Wearing a silky dark brown bodycon dress, that had puffed up sleeves and was backless with strings holding it behind the back, I checked myself out. I pulled up my hair into a ponytail and just as I stepped out, my phone rang with my dad's name popping on it.

"Hey sweetie.", He greeted as I greeted him back, closing the door behind me and walking in the corridor.

"Yeah, I just left my room.", I informed him.

"Lorenzo's here. He's waiting for you in his room.", He gulped and I could tell from his voice that he knew I was in no mood to forgive Lorenzo or behave properly.

"Good for him then. He can meet me when he's done freshening up.", I said and before dad could say anything else, like 'go meet him', I ended the call. I was about to walk out of the lobby when a familiar voice called out my name.

"Ariel.", A deep voice uttered with a soft tone. I turned around to look at the person who had just called out my name and my heart stopped beating for a second.

Lorenzo was here, and he was standing in front of me right now.

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Song of the chapter :
Hard for me, by Michele Morrone

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