Forever & Always 3

3.5

The first night consists of them going out for dinner together.

Whilst they were all sitting around the table Hadiyeh and Talia were in conversation about wedding dresses as Talia asked for Hadiyeh for advice seeing as she was the fashion guru of the friendship group.

"I'll make it for you." She finally offered, seeing as none of the dresses online captured the true magnificence and elegance that Talia wanted.

"Oh hell no." Simon rejected the idea immediately, "you'll never shut up about how you designed our wedding garms!"

"Okay? And?" She smirked, "It's going to be your wedding!"

Talia slapped Simon playfully before turning back to Hadiyeh and JJ who were clearly busy in their own bubble trying to feed Jannah who had refused to eat.

"Only if you can," Talia agreed to the idea, "I know you and JJ still have loads of catching up to do."

"What?" JJ perked up at the mention of his name.

"Im going to be designing their wedding dress!"

She had realised that Faith and Ethan had gone awfully quiet at the mention of a wedding. She turned to Ethan kicking his leg from under the table getting his attention.

He shrugged. Clearly bothered by something.

That night as soon as they all departed from the restaurant Hadiyeh had made a mental note to call Ethan later and ask him what was wrong so the day after when the ladies and gents went separate ways Hadiyeh found it the perfect excuse to call Ethan.

The next morning, the girls and boys separated, the girls going to the spa and the men going to a boxing match, it was an undercard match and they hadn't even bothered watching the fight most of the time as they talked about their lives.

Hadiyeh and Talia were on one side of the line Ethan on the other. Faith was at the nail station getting a new manicure whilst Hadiyeh and Talia wife getting a foot massage.

"You haven't been the same since the beginning of the trip, what's wrong?" She had already skimmed through the pointless small talk.

"Nothing." He muttered, "well I can't talk to you now anyway, everyone's here."

"Alright, I and Talia will meet you back in the hotels coffee shop as soon as we get back."

A few hours later Hadiyeh was sat in the coffee shop whilst Talia had gone to entertain Faith and the guys talking about her wedding ideas.

Just as she had thought Ethan had forgotten about their arrangement he had appeared, looking distressed as he walked into the coffee shop.

It wasn't long before he found her and got seated at the table.

"Sorry, Faith was being clingy." He apologised.

"No need for sorry," she dismissed, "what's wrong with you? you haven't been the same since we left England."

He exhaled a large breath as he contemplated telling Hadiyeh about his dilemma.

"Faith's pregnant." He sighed, his statement short.

It took a moment for the confession to settle in Hadiyehs mind before her hand slapped onto her mouth suppressing the squeal.

"Congratulations!" She beamed getting out of her seat to hug Ethan, the only problem was he wasn't half as enthusiastic about the news as she was.

"What's wrong?" She turned to him again as he shook his head.

"Not important."

"But it is." She insisted, "tell me."

"Im not ready to be a father." He shook his head guiltily. He should be over the moon about having a child but he wasn't, he wasn't ready.

"Oh, Ethan!" She awed, embracing him as he sighed, "what does Faith think?"

"She's over the moon," he smiled, a hint of sadness in his voice, "she's keeping it a secret because of me."

"I can't tell you how to feel, even if you're not ready, you have to understand that becoming a parent is a big responsibility for both of you." She sighed rubbing his back comfortingly, "So you need to take care of Faith, especially now that she's pregnant."

He nodded, "what am I going to do now?"

"Stay on each other's side." She advised and he nodded.

Together they made their way back upstairs. As she exchanged words of comfort between them.

Arriving upstairs, Faith was the first to sense their arrival moving to hug Ethan, she sat on his lap as Hadiyeh took her seat next to JJ and Jannah.

"Conclude that dress?" Hadiyeh asked as JJ enveloped his hands in hers, with Jannah climbing onto her mother's lap.

"Yeah, this one, with this design and this tiara and those shoes." Talia pointed out the pictures.

Hadiyeh nodded taking pictures of her requests. Mouthing her a thank you for keeping everyone else busy whilst she and Ethan had a chance to talk. She saw Faith in the corner of her eyes bickering with Ethan over his disappearance with Hadiyeh. 

Written: several months ago 

Published: 18/12/2021

(A/N: There's drama cooking, if I do get round to updating this book again, there is definitely a few bits of drama popping. hehe ;)