I Hate You But I Love You More

Chapter 2

When I enter deeper into the backyard, I cannot keep the compliment from rising in my head. The scene is quite beautiful. Whoever decorated the Meldeevs garden truly outdone themselves. In better circumstances, I would have been beaming with joy.

Rows of white chairs are lined facing the arch. Beautiful white flower vines snake around the chairs as if naturally bound. Pink flower petals lay gracefully on the grass as though being laid to rest. Everyone seems to be dressed fancily with big hats covering their faces and lace gloves hugging their hands. Their small chatter holds excitement. An excitement that I lack but should have. None of them looks familiar.

"Nervous, child?" A woman whom I definitely don't know pops up beside me. Her eyes skim me from head to toe. The judgment can never be missed.

"I'm fine." I reply, my eyes briefly passing over her. I am not in the mood for gossip. I just want this wedding to get on with it. The faster it starts, the faster it ends.

"Trust me. It gets worse after the I do." She takes a swig of what I assume is liquor from a silver bottle. Believe me, I know. You don't say.

"Don't listen to Ms. Greggory. She has been divorced five times hence the negativity." Well you know what they say, experience gives rise to knowledge. Ms. Greggory isn't completely wrong. "We're ready to begin."

"Finally." I mumble before walking off in the direction of the guests. I meet mother at the start of the aisle. Since father isn't here, she is the one walking me down the aisle. Which reminds me, I'm doing this for father.

I loop my hand around hers and she gives me a nod. Mother proceeds to put my veil over my face. With my veil covering my face, I can barely make out the faces around me. Although I don't think the veil being off can make a difference because I truly know very little people here. They must be business partners and high people in society. I am not around much when it comes to my family's business so I can't put names to faces or even put faces to faces for that matter.

The traditional wedding instrumental begins and the nerves starts kicking in. You can do this, Khara. No, you have to do this. You need to do this.

I take a deep breath and make my first step forward. I will admit, mom being by my side is slightly comforting. If I trip and fall she'll be right here.

As I get closer to the alter, my eyes skim the spot for the groom. I wonder what's his reason for going through with this wedding? Surely it benefits him in some kind of way. I can't imagine why he will want to marry into a soon to be bankrupt business. What good will that do him? I've read up on Darson and turns out he is quite famous in the business industry. Number five to be exact. Darson himself is quite famous and I can see why. He doesn't have much pictures online. Most of them are faraway but mom did send a close up for me and it was decent. He didn't seem happy or attentive in that picture so I couldn't quite place his face. I do know he's attractive though and that's about it. He refuses to send information. His exact words were 'I am a busy man. After my business trip I'll attend to trivial matters.' Well technically he sent it through his assistant or something but what I did extract from that message is that Darson Meldeev is going to be a pain.

Mom and I finally stop at the base of the stairs where she hands me over to Darson. His hands are soft on mine and oddly enough I feel a sense of safety.

That is for a splitting moment for I am too busy tripping over this darn dress. Darson's hands plant firmly on both sides of my waist to stop me from face planting. I discreetly push his hands away and cover it all up by holding onto his hands in the end. "Are you always this clumsy?" He mumbles, his eyes slightly rolling.

"No, just at arranged marriages." I answer, also keeping my voice low. He discreetly looks over at the priest who is too busy scanning the crowd to notice our banter.