𝑰 𝑹 𝑰 𝑫 𝑬 𝑺 𝑪 𝑬 𝑵 𝑻 (18+)

one.

H A R R I N G T O N

"Congratulations to the happy couple!" Hands and champagne glasses went up in celebration. Though April and her fiancé Spencer seemed to be the happiest in the room. After eight years of dating, and a few breakups in the mix he finally got the nerve to pop the big question. April had been hoping for it from the moment they started dating and she knew it was zealous but she'd also known that he was the enigmatic one.

I could never grasp the sentiment and believe me I tried to understand it. My aunt and uncle had it, Dad felt it with Mom, and now April fell victim to the same fate. If it hadn't been for her relentless doting, I would've thought she'd made it up. Never mind my parents being the only example of love triumphs all—something so romantic it was defined as a rarity but it wasn't. At least it never seemed to be.

How rare could a once-in-a-lifetime romance be if  three couples found it in each other? Luck I presumed, at least that's what my mother always called it. She thought herself to be lucky that she and my father crossed paths, which, in their world wasn't an unlikely meeting. Still, him falling in love with her was never guaranteed and she was blessed to know love with my father.

I could look across the room at my three brothers and see it in them. Hell, when I looked in the mirror I saw it in myself but I didn't think I had the makings to be a wife in the same way the women in my family were. All outstanding yet still I felt like I would never measure up. I was only twenty-two but part of me felt as though I'd never find it. That person who made me want to defy all logic and rationality if it meant the chance to be with them.

"Thank you guys for coming, and thank you Em for helping me plan. You are my best and favorite cousin and I love you to bits." Everyone raised their glasses to me while my brothers booed. In the end, all I could ever be was happy for her. I didn't get it and maybe that was fine for now.

"Congrats April, you deserve it." I downed the rest of my drink and swiftly grabbed another from a passing waiter. I was on my third glass with no intent to slow down especially now that my night turned to that of introspection. There was a time and place for thoughts as such but clearly, my imagination knew nothing of social cues. A trait I could blame my ever-curious mother for.

"How many drinks have you had," Dawsyn walked to my side with two flutes of champagne in hand. Her hair was disheveled from dancing, blonde strands sticking to her face while her cheeks flushed pink. She hated being sweaty, so I patted her neck and forehead with a napkin before answering.

"Think this is my third why?" The blonde frowned and handed me another drink while her eyes shot to the opposite side of the room. "Take another, Jae is here."

It took a minute to find him in the crowd but once I did time seemed to slow. I could hear Daws talking next to me but her words sounded like they'd been stuffed into a blender. I hadn't seen Jae since the summer of our high school graduation and he spent the two years after that in China to visit his birth parents. I'd heard from my mother that he cut ties with the Serra name after a falling out with his aunt and uncle. His only link to America and the reason he was classed as a trust-fund baby today.

I finished my drink and took another from Dawsyn, "What is he doing here?"

For a long time, I didn't think he would come back. He preferred being home, always had, but his parents wanted him to stay here in Seattle for better opportunities. His aunt, formally known as Julia Tang married a successful businessman in the States nearly twenty-five years ago making her the partial owner of her husband's empire. She'd offered to take Jae and given her sister's new advantages, Jae's mother saw no reason to refuse. The only condition came from Wilson Serra and that was if they were going to raise him like their own, Jae would have to adopt the last name Serra.