Tangled Hearts

Chapter 3

Aurora Woods

The car ride with them felt excruciating long. Amelia took the seat beside Grayson while I took the seat behind and Grayson was the one driving us to the venue. Amelia was busy scrolling through her phone while I pretended to scroll through my phone as well so that I would not appear as a weirdo who was trying to take occasional peeps at Grayson.

Thankfully, we arrived to the shop within an hour and the shop was empty from the looks of it from the outside. As we entered the shop, almost everyone present in the shop came forward to greet us. Grayson must have booked the whole shop so that Amelia could choose her dress in peace.

We were served with tea and some refreshments while Amelia took off around the shop searching for a dress of her liking. I was just about to take off to find Amelia when Grayson spoke, "Do you have something on? If so, you can go ahead. I'll inform Amelia for you."

I shook my head at his question, and replied, "No, it's fine. She's choosing a dress for her big day, I will stay until she's done choosing." With that, we sank into silence again.

Thankfully, Amelia finally found a dress of her liking as she ran to the place where we were sitting excitedly, and exclaimed, "I found a dress! It's so damn gorgeous, you've got to see it." She gestured for both Grayson and I to look at the dress she picked out. The dress was indeed beautiful, for which it was an off-shoulder one, satin layer on the inside and lace layer on the outside, with the ends decorated with small pearls.

Grayson looked at her with so much adoration in his eyes, as he suggested, "Why don't you go and try it on?" Amelia nodded her head rapidly, as the shop assistants guided her into the fitting room and drew the curtains up. Grayson then turned towards me, "You should pick out a dress too, Amelia would love to see you dressed up beautifully for her important day."

Just as I was about to respond, the curtain opened, revealing a beautifully dressed Amelia in her chosen wedding dress. Grayson's attention immediately shifted to her, whose eyes curved into a smile as he looked at her.

"Gray's right, Aurora. You should pick a dress for that day too. Moreover, you've declined to be my bridesmaid, so all the more you should pick out a nice piece of dress." Amelia chimed in as she continued admiring the dress on her body.

There was no way for me to continue declining their offer because it would just seem as though I was not happy about their wedding. That was the last thing that I should be doing to make them feel that way. Reluctantly, I nodded my head as one of the shop assistant showed me the way to pick out a dress of my choice.

I ended up picking a white dress which stopped at the bottom of my knees, a slit up till the middle of my thighs, with  two thin straps sitting on both sides of my shoulders. The dress hugged my body and fitted like a piece of glove, I was fine with it since it was not too revealing. Despite my repeated protests, Grayson ended up paying for my dress.

Upon getting home, I tiredly tossed my bag and placed the dress on the couch, as I took off my slippers and crossed my legs on the couch for more comfort. Unlocking my phone, I searched for Grayson's number before keying in the amount which the dress had cost him. He had no responsibility of paying for my dress, even if he was going to be part of the family very soon. Transferring over the money, I stood up from the couch as I took the dress with me and hung it in the cardboard.

Just as I was about to step into the bathroom for a shower, my phone buzzed. The caller ID showed Grayson's name. I answered the call.

"Why did you transfer money over to me?"

"You have no reason to pay for my dress. I appreciate the kind gesture, but it didn't sit right with me." Whenever I had to talk to him, there was always a feeling of someone squeezing my heart tightly, as though they want me to die of suffocation.

The line went silent for a while, but his voice came back, "All right, I will respect your wish. Regarding the wedding cake, Amelia had proposed new changes again. I can talk it out of her if her requests are getting too handful."

"Yeah, she sent me a list of things to be adjusted. It's all right, there's still time for changes. I will send you guys the updated design again once I'm done with it."

"Thank you, and sorry for the repeated changes."

"It's okay, I'll get going first." With that, I immediately hung up the call and let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding until the call ended.

Taking a glance at the time, I quickly headed for a shower and spent the rest of my evening making amendments to the wedding cake as per Amelia's request.