A Twisted Tale

A Wonderful Surprise

Meera's POV

I looked at the whole pile of dresses that I pulled out of my closet and sighed in frustration. Each one of the dresses looked elegant, expensive and undoubtedly classy. But none of them could pass my scrutiny. I wanted to wear something that stood out. I've always dressed for the kill and having a fashion designer for a BFF was a boon in my case. But none of the dresses here impressed me. Either I've worn them before or they're too casual for a wedding. My dilemma felt everlasting in this case.

Mark walked into my room, took a good look at everything sprawled out on the floor and discreetly took a step back. "Bloody hell! Your room is a mess. I don't even want to know what happened in here but I'm asking this out of pure curiosity, what the hell happened here?"
I sighed dramatically before plopping myself on the bed and said "Tomorrow is the wedding and I have absolutely nothing to wear! I mean, there's nothing that impresses me. I desperately need some help. Claire called saying she's busy with a client and that she would be free only by later tonight. And that's not enough time to shop for anything! Leave the shopping, I will have to look for accessories to go with it. That's another infuriating task. If I don't find anything to wear by tonight, then I'll look like a plain Jane at the wedding."

Mark was trying hard to hold back his laughter but failed miserably at it. He burst out laughing hard at me and said "God you women are so melodramatic! Not finding something to wear doesn't mean the end of the world. You'll find something by tonight. Trust me. And now, we have to get moving. We need to be at work."
The whole day passed by as a blur. Mark and I barely saw each other. I was so occupied with looking through an acquisitions document that I didn't hear my phone ring. When I saw the caller ID, I couldn't help but smile. "Hey. Remembered me after a week huh? I didn't know I left that bad an impression." I said.
"Oh you've made an impression alright but I'm worried I didn't make one because you didn't bother even texting me this whole time." Said Valerio seriously.
I was apologetic when I said "I'm sorry. I must look like a bad person right now but I was very busy for the past few days. Remember I told you that Charles and Martha were looking for space to start their animal shelter? I was busy finding them a suitable place to set it all up. It took me forever but I finally did it. Infact, I was thinking about you the other day."
"Oh. Now, I'm interested. What exactly was it about me that you were thinking of?" Asked Valerio with a smile in his voice.
"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come to a wedding with me? My friend Leah is getting married tomorrow and since it's a Sunday, I assume you don't have any plans? Also, I told you that I would consider your proposal. So this is another good opportunity for us to get to know each other. So, are you free tomorrow?" I asked expectantly.
Valerio chuckled and said "This is some very good progress. Here I was sitting and stressing that you have forgotten about my existence only to have you prove me wrong. Of course I'll be there. Anything to spend some more time with you. Now, I shall take you leave for I have a meeting to attend. Bye. See you soon."

I said goodbye and smiled at no one in particular when my phone rang once again. This time, I was beaming on looking at the caller ID. "Martha! How have you been?" I asked.
"Hey baby girl. I've been fantastic. Like always. You on the other hand will not be okay if you don't come home tonight, miss! Charles had to tell me about the proposal, Mark told me that you were still in Milan and Claire tells me now that you're back! I keep hearing things from everyone about what's happening with you but I want you to tell me all about it. If I don't see you at home for dinner tonight, I'll drag your behind into this house myself! While you're coming, bring Mark along. I haven't seen him this whole week. I can't believe my children don't want to see me anymore." She complained. I was smiling listening to her voice because Martha is very dramatic when she wants to get her way. Besides, she wasn't wrong about us not seeing her in a while. "Martha, I promise you that the two of us will be there for dinner. Happy?" I asked.
She was satisfied with my reply because she immediately went back to her work and let me do mine in peace.

As soon as the clock struck six, I got up from my chair. I almost purred like a cat out of sheer pleasure when I stretched my body. I walked up to Mark's office and saw that Sarah was still here. I gave her a smile as I opened the door to his office. "Hey, ready to leave?" I asked.
"Yeah. Let's go. I'm assuming mum called you and asked you to drag my arse home along with yours?" He asked smiling.
I looked at him sheepishly and said "Uh. Yeah. About that, you go ahead and I'll catch up with you later. I've got to shop for a dress and you know how particular I am about these things."
Mark gave me one of his secretive smiles as he said "What if I told you that I've already put someone on the task and that you will find your dream dress at home?" When he saw me widen my eyes, he said "I'm not saying anything until we get there. So let's make sure we don't get our arses dragged by her and get home quickly."

I inform Claire to join us at home for dinner and also to give me her expert opinion on Mark's choice of clothes for tomorrow. Claire was a very hard-working woman. She had the money to start her own clothing line but she chose to get some experience in the fashion world before making her big debut. Hence, she landed her internship with Stella McCartney. I asked her if she was willing to become a fashion designer herself but she always said that she wasn't ready for such a huge step just yet. So I stopped asking her about it and let her just prepare for what's to come next.

We arrived at the mansion about two hours later. One look at it and I broke into a wide smile. It had a large driveway leading to a garden and amidst the garden stood the building in all its glory. I still remember running around the garden with Claire trailing behind me. The entrance of the house led to a huge living room which had the cinema room attached to it. I immediately went into the kitchen and found Martha humming a tune while she was busy cooking. My mouth watered at the sight of Sunday roast. She knew it was my favourite. I called out her name and she turned around to face me with happy eyes. She came and engulfed me in a warm motherly hug, which made my eyes well up with tears for no obvious reason. I hugged for a few more minutes before letting go of her.  She parted my hair and took a good look at me from head to toe. "I've missed you darling. You look like you've lost weight. Haven't you been eating?" She asked me with concern written all over her face. I grimaced at her and said "I've been eating alright. It must be the work stress and the travelling taking it's toll on me." We spoke for a few more minutes before I retreated to my room to freshen up. I could hear Martha chiding Mark for taking this long to see his mum. I couldn't help but smile listening to the two of them.

By the time I came down, I saw that the whole family was seated at the dining table waiting for me. I took my place beside Charles and gave him a hug. There was Sunday roast, chicken and cauliflower, and mixed leaf salad for dinner. But then came the part of the meal that I enjoyed the most. Martha prepared blackberry tart for dessert. The conversations kept flowing freely throughout dinner. Mark kept giving Martha secretive looks which was unusual. After we finished our dinner, I offered to clean up but Martha shook her head and asked me to relax. She instead chose Mark to help her out. Again, strange.

Claire went back to her room to finish up her work and Charles too was in his study. I switched on the TV and kept flipping through the channels when I heard a soft whine.
My legs nearly gave out when I saw all four of my family walk in with a bull-terrier puppy in tow. I couldn't contain my excitement when they all screamed "Surprise!"