• Rose In The Dark • (GxG)

Chapter Forty

Omniscient

"I think I like this one," the woman muttered half to herself, feeling the lace material of her corset bodice as she turned to see her body from the side.

"You said the same thing about the last one, Lani," her sister smiled. "I haven't heard a 'love' yet, she'll try on the next one," she told the expert.

Milan chuckled, turning on the podium before three grand gold-bordered mirrors to face her sister. "They're all stunning, Via."

"Yeah. But they're not the one," Octavia emphasized, looking up at her sister with admiring and adoring eyes. "Trust me, you know I'm right."

"Whatever," the woman rolled her eyes, wearing a smile as she turned back around. Eyeing herself again, she tilted her head while sliding her hands along her frame. "You think I should try something outside of the box?"

"I think you should do whatever your heart desires," Octavia assured just as the employee presented the next dress. "Go bold or go simple, just trust how you feel when you put it on."

Sighing, she stepped down from the podium to follow the bridal stylist into her spacious, velvet curtained dressing room. "It sucks when the person you're marrying is usually the one to help with this stuff."

Octavia chuckled, calling out as her sister went inside to change. "You can always just change your mind and call her!"

"I can't! We made a deal!" Milan called back from behind the towering lavender drape, hearing her older sister laugh more in response.

After another fifteen minutes of going through dress after dress and look after look, Milan found herself stunned at last. When leaving the dressing room to walk back up on the podium, she could feel a breath of surprise and approval scarcely leave her lips as her eyes took in her reflection in the large mirror.

Three of them, lined with gold, took up the entire wall. And in every one, every angle, she fell deeper in love with the gown clinging just right to her every asset.

"Oh honey," Octavia breathed out, her smile soft and knowing and in awe as she ambled up on the podium behind her sister. Clasping her hands together to press to her lips, her eyes swept the dress from head to toe. "Milan, this is beautiful..."

"I think so too," the stylist commented with a soft grin, for they all seemed to be captivated by the bride-to-be's reflection in the mirror. "Do you like it?" she asked with hope, now analyzing Milan's expression.

Speechless, lost in thought and awe herself, Milan blinked before glancing to the woman, then to her sister. Trailing her attention back to her reflection, she ran her hands down her bodice, loving the way even that felt. As if the dress was made for her.

"I love it..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After her first trial in a while, Noah didn't go straight home. And she purposefully didn't answer the phone for her fiancé either, knowing it might give her away before she was ready.

Responding via text instead, she kept her responses short while making sure her every plan for this evening was set completely in stone, leaving no room for any mishaps.

Months have passed since the couple's car accident. Although, despite their physical healing, their mental healing from such trauma has been taking its time.

Still afraid to get behind any wheel, Noah left her courthouse office, two hours after she was expected to. Fully expecting to hear about it when she arrived home, she rode in the back of her Lyft calmly, excited to see her lover anyway.