Betrothed for Rejection

Chapter 12: The Shopping Chaos

Standing in front of another designer store I frown, not exactly the feeling or expression any other girl would have, but I Ailey Vittorio, am truly tired and have made a vow to myself not to shop for at least two months.

On the other hand, Emma has made it her sole mission to shop till all the stores are left dress less, even if that is a word.

We had been shopping for the past three hours, the thought of just lying down on my bed and sipping on to Rina's ice tea was incredibly appealing.  I am pulled out of my havoc of thoughts when I almost walk into a mannequin, darn it, this clumsy behavior of mine is going to get me killed one day for sure.

That's when I saw the most beautiful dress that I had ever seen.

A purple colored dress hung beautifully on a mannequin. A diamond studded belt had carefully been stitched to the waist of the dress holding it in perfect shape. It was a V-neck sleeveless dress, which made me swoon. It was a dream to wear such clothing.
Slowly, I approached the dress and carefully and with great fear  touched it fearful of ruining it.
The material was soft and felt like a velvety silk under my fingers.

"My my... That is really beautiful... You should try that one on.." came the voice of my mother in law from right behind me.

"Oh... No Emma... I was just looking, its definitely not for me..."

But one thing was certain, Emma wouldn't take no for an answer and soon I found my self being hustled into the fitting room and the dress coming right after it.

With as much care I could provide, I tried the dress on. The moment I turned towards the mirror I had to do a double take. It had fitted me perfectly, despite my curvy and physically unfit physique; the dress made me look actually good. I mean I wasn't exactly a top model, I had baby fat especially on my shoulders and my belly.

The knock on the door woke me from my daydreaming and I smiled, thinking it was Andrea as she had volunteered to come with me and Emma and, they had no doubt bonded well, I brought my hand out and pulled her inside like I used to do when we both went shopping and had found the perfect outfit for each other; but no thanks to my luck it wasn't Andrea who got pulled in but out of million people it had to be the person who was not supposed to be there, Adrian!

I had pulled my own husband, in a compacted room and to my utmost shame, my bra hung on the door hook whereas I wore nothing under my dress.

My cheeks couldn't have reddened anymore and I looked up at him while he was full on staring at me as if he had never seen me before.

Slowly, his hand came up and he touched my chin with his two fingers, lifting it upwards. I stilled for moment lost in his ocean blue eyes while his fingers started lightly grazing my cheek. The touch of his skilled long fingers were making various knots in my stomach.

I closed my eyes when, I felt his hand on the back of my neck, this had never happened before, and truly the feeling was leaving me breathless.
"Umm... Wha-what are you doing here?"
I asked trying to move away, but somehow I couldn't.  As I finished my sentence I felt my hair loosened, that's when I learned what he had done, he had taken off my hair clip, which I had used to keep my hair up and away from my face.

"Now you look radient Ailey."

And once he had said this, he moved back and quietly turned and left me with a million confused thoughts in my mind.

Shaking my head I walked out. Too my annoyance Evelyn had also arrived on Mr. Vittorio's persistence and was sitting with Emma who kept on nodding her head out of courtesy to assure her that she was listening.

Adrian was standing in one corner busy with his Iphone, probably carrying on with his tight working schedule. The moment they saw me approach, with my hair still undone, the way he had left it; all four heads turned in my direction. Andrea and Emma beamed showing that they approved the dress, whereas Evie, well her distaste and annoyance could be measure from a 100 miles afar. Adrian looked up at me, although there was no hint of smile on his face, but his eyes still had that childish merriment I was coming unknowingly familiar with.

"Oh my... You look beautiful, Ailey, this dress is perfect..."

"Ya sure its nice, but it doesnt suit her physique, because she doesn't have one and secondly, her skin tone is too dark..."  Came the taunting voice of Evelyn after Emma's statement.

There was a pregnant pause and everyone was as silence as if being told they were going to die, then happened the most astonishing thing ever.

"She looks beautiful to me..."

All heads turned towards Adrian, and he turned his head back down to his Iphone ignoring our stares, when I looked back up, Andrea was smiling the cheshire cat smile, Emma was smiling with pride but Evie, well the look on Evie's face said it clear, Ailey be prepared for something big, you are dead, and for the first time I locked my eyes with hers and accepted her threat with open arms, because there is no way in hell I am going to let her walk all over me now.