She Rises

Chapter 45

Haseya P.O.V.

Today is my birthday and I'm having mixed feeling about it. I mean, today was the day I was supposed to get married, and now, I'm celebrating with my friends and family. I'm happy about that. I can't even fathom the idea of being married at such a young age. I don't know why my parents wanted the arranged marriage. If they did so much, why did mom tell me to leave if I felt the need to? Unless, it was again, all my father. Either way, I don't want to dwell on that right now. It's my birthday, and I'm ready to celebrate it.

"Haseya! Come down for breakfast dear." I hear from downstairs.

"Coming." I yell back.

As I'm walking down the stairs I hear a little bit of chatter, more than usual. I come into the kitchen and there is my aunt, uncle, Riley, Evan, and Jace. Why is he here so early?

"Happy Birthday love." Jace says, walking over to me. Giving me a big hug.

"Thank you, baby." I give him a big hug.

He leans into my ear and what he says, reminds me of what today could have been and how grateful it's not.

"How are you?" He whispers.

"I think I will be ok. As long as you are here with me." I give him a small kiss.

"I love you, and I'm not going anywhere." He kisses me until we hear someone clear their throat.

I look up to see Ashlyn coming inside with Andrew, James, and the guys. Ashlyn comes running up to me, knocking Jace out of the way.

"Happy Birthday!" She hugs me till I can't breathe.

"Babe, she needs to breathe." I hear Andrew say, coming towards us.

"Happy Birthday Haseya. You're 18 now." Andrew says, while giving me a hug.

"Thank you, all of you." I give them all a smile.

"Wait, there is someone who wants to see you." Jace looks over to me, smiling.

I look at him, confused on who else could want to see me. I have everyone here.

"HASEYA!!" I hear a little girl's voice coming towards me.

"Lily!" I catch her and give her a hug.

"Happy Birthday! I had to come to. I wouldn't let Jacey come without me. I was just hiding. I wanted to surprise you." She gives me a small smile, I look over to see everyone chuckling at how Lily calls Jace, Jacey.

"Jacey?" I hear Andrew ask.

"Shut up." Jace says, a little redness on his cheeks.

"Awe, is Jace blushing?" I tease him.

"I am not!" He says, a little frustrated.

"Oh hush, all of you." I hear my aunt say, trying not to laugh, yet, I look over to see my uncle trying to cover his with his hand.

"Anyway, what now?" I ask everyone. It's only like 9:00 in the morning.

"Well, what do you want to do?" My aunt asks.

"It's your birthday. Let's do what you want to do." My uncle says.

"Well, since it's still early, and there isn't much to do, I know it's supposed to be a happy and special day, I need to get something off of my chest. I need all of you to know it. The only person that knows this, is Jace. So, can we all go sit down?" I ask everyone.

They all have confused looks on their faces, Jace is looking at me like I'm crazy, I don't think he has a clue of what I'm about to tell them.

"Everyone, this is supposed to be a day of celebration, and I'm so happy you all are here. But, I need this to come off my chest and I want you all to know this. Every single one of you. Especially my family. I know I haven't opened up to you very much, and I'm sorry about that. You all deserve to know.

"Back home, I had a best friend. His name was Bidziil, and we grew up together. "Aunty, you might remember him." I look at her.

"I do vaguely." She says, nodding her heard.

"We were so close, that my father decided that he should be my betrothed. Back then, I had no problem with it because I never thought that I would be here, where I am. This was decided when we were young. My 18th birthday, Nov 15th was supposed to be the day. Which is today. Back then, I had no problem marrying him. I mean, my best friend, I loved him, who wouldn't want to marry their best friend is what I was thinking at the time. Everything was already planned, and I was excited. I know I was young, but that's every girl's dream a wedding. Then, my mother passed away. I was 13 when it happened. I still had plans on marrying him, I mean nothing had really changed. I knew that I felt like I didn't belong, but I thought, maybe marrying Bidziil will help with that. Then, my father, he changed. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave. I felt so guilty about leaving Bidziil, I didn't even give him an explanation, I just gave him a hug goodbye and left. I left my best friend, I didn't give him a reason, I never even told him the way I was feeling, the way I felt like I didn't belong. I still feel guilty, and lately, I've been having dreams that I feel are warnings." I can start to feel myself tear up.

"Oh, baby." I hear my aunt come over, hugging me. I look around, seeing shock on everyone's faces. I know they don't know what to say to this.

"I know, this is probably a lot to take in. The dreams, I don't want to talk about right now. It feels so good to get that off my chest to all of you." I give them all a smile.

"Now that that's all done, how about we all go out for lunch?" I ask them all. A smile on my face.

"That sounds like a good idea." My uncle says.

"Sound good to all of you?" I ask.

They all nod their heads yes. I think they are trying to still wrap their heads around what I told them.

After we all get ready, we all get into our vehicles. We decided to ride with my family and go out to one of my favorite place, Golden Corral. I hope the rest of the day goes by good. I look over to Jace, he looks like he's at peace.

"Are you ok?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I'm good baby. I feel like everyone knowing everything, it has been a weight lifted off both of our shoulders. I'm happy you finally told everyone. I love you." He gives me a kiss.

"I love you too." I give him a kiss. By then, we have reached the restaurant, and we all pile out of our cars.

"Let's go eat!" I yell, pulling Jace behind me. I hear them all laughing at me.

"What? I'm hungry." I say as I start walking in ahead of everyone.

Oi Oi everyone!

How are you guys?

I know, I feel like I've been gone forever, but I was having laptop troubles, and had to get a new one.

I know this wasn't the best chapter. I just needed a filler, and I kind of got writer's block.

But, I'm going to try and make the next one better. I feel like I've lost the hang of my mojo.

Anyway, have a good evening/night everyone.

Love you all!