[20]

Wedding bells were ringing.

I mean, bells were literally ringing.

Mida made everyone carry around small golden bells that we were supposed to ring whenever she-the bride-walked by. She planned that while she was walking the aisle at the church, the bridal train would ring the bells.

I know, the idea was dumb. But there was no telling Mida that. Guess I was going to have to suffer through the constant ringing.

Asides from the walking down the aisle part, the other part of this wedding I was looking forward to was seeing Parker. It had only been, like, ten hours, but it felt like I was going to burst with giddiness if I didn't see him soon.

My hands hung frozen in Mida's hair. Previously, I'd been trying to rearrange a pin, but thoughts of him consumed me. And now I was like this: frozen in place.

All this felt too good to be true.

"You're thinking about Garth again, aren't you."

I quickly removed my hands from Mida's hair and brought them to my sides, snapping out of my reverie. Mida's perfectly drawn eyebrow only arched the more, topped with a smirk on her lips to complete the look.

A defeated huff escaped my lips, and my shoulders hung low, back arched. "I'm acting weird, aren't I?"

She only shrugged and stood up, pushing the chair back. "It's weird, but it's cute," she told me, smoothing out her already smooth wedding dress. Her gaze came up, locking with mine, eyes sparkling. "It's what love does to a person."

"We're not in love," I corrected, an index finger held up in the air. "We're just testing things, seeing where this takes us."

Mida deadpanned, "yeah, sure. I totally believe you."

I felt my eyes go wide. "I don't love Parker, Mida. Not yet. We've not gone that far," I tried to convince her. It was too soon to tag what we shared as "Love." I'd only gotten into this relationship yesterday!

Mida waved a hand dismissively at me, telling me she didn't believe me, but she wasn't going to argue on her wedding day. She stepped away from the dressing table, into the middle of the room, and twirled. The white lace fabric of her dress twirled with her. One of the sequins on the top caught the light of the chandelier above us and reflected the light straight at me.

She grinned. "How do I look?"

"Fantastic," was my automatic reply.

Really, did she expect me to tell her anything other than that? On her wedding day?

Every average woman's dream was her wedding day, so when that day came, the woman tried her best to look perfect. That's why no one could ever be ugly on their wedding day. No one.

Her eyes gathered moisture, but she was quick to flick it away with a manicured finger and blink rapidly. "I'm so happy right now. It's finally happening!"

"It is." I smiled, then looked at my watch, eyes widening when I saw the time. "But, you're going to miss it if you don't get a move on right now," I muttered. I raised my gaze. "Where's your maid of honor?"

Mida arched her brow and placed a hand on her lip, scoffing. "Huh, I kinda expected her to burst in by now. It's like her signature move or something."

"You do the same thing, Mier-"

I was interrupted by the sound of the doors being thrown open and someone hurrying in. Simone looked out of breath when she stopped in front of us. Her hair looked slightly ruffled up, and her lips looked swollen. The only thing that looked in place about her was her dress. It was a simple knee-length fitted white dress with a huge flower at one side of the waist.

She became the maid of honor without me knowing, actually. Mida must have spoken to her about it the night before today. You know, since Elle went bonkers.

"Sorry," she wheezed. "I had to rearrange myself."

Mida shut her eyes and nodded knowingly. "And why was that?"

"I got attacked," Simone lied, "by the apocalyptical robots."

"Yeah, sure." Mida and I chorused, then rolled our eyes together.

So, that was an obvious lie. From the way she looked, who she got attacked by was Marcus. And by the attack, she meant make-out session.

For some reason, that made me miss Parker more.

He was probably running around with the groom or something.

"Is something wrong?" Simone asked me, snapping me out of my daze again.

I quickly put on a smile to mask my emotions. "Nope. Nothing. I'm great." I blurted, then grinned. When the both of them refused to take their weird looks off me, I cleared my throat and straightened my posture. "I should get going. I need to get the wedding car ready. And I need to get to the venue before the both of you so I can make sure everything is ready."

"That's not what I would like to be doing if it was my cousin's wedding." Simone puffed out air, then laughed. "It must suck."

"It sucks," I told her. "It really sucks. But I've got a job to do and a reputation to keep up. So, I'll see the both of you at the wedding." I gave them a small smile, proceeding towards the door.

"If the job's too hectic," I heard Mida call. I turned to her on instinct. The skirt of her dress was bunched up in her hand to keep the front up. "You could let it go. You've already reached the end of the wedding. I'm sure everything will go fine."

Judging by her expression, she was being genuine. And I knew she was right. I'd put a lot of resources into this: intellectual and material. Even if I decided to enjoy the rest of the wedding and let go of work, the wedding had a high chance of going according to plan. But I'd never been one to take such risks.

So with a wider, more confident smile, I said, "I wouldn't be America's number one wedding planner if I were a quitter, now, would I?"

Simone's blank expression stretched into a wide smile. "You sound like me." Mida eyed her.

"If she sounded anything like you, I would jump off a cliff."

"Hey!" Simone snarled. "Sounding like me is a blessing."

I chuckled at their banter and exited the room. Simone and Mida were never going to change.

The hallways were packed with people, mostly the bridal train and some men in suits rushing around. Some ladies fretting about their hair, and others complaining about their heels. Hopefully, Simone would be able to round them up in time. For now, I had to get to the church.

I walked into someone. Literally. The two of us almost met the floor. But he grabbed onto my arms in time to steady me.

"We need to stop bumping into each other like this," he laughed.

I looked up at the familiar face of Marcus. "Marcus! What are you doing here?"

He raised a brow. "Er... I'm part of the wedding party."

"No, I mean, why are you still here? And where's Shawn?"

"He and Garth went somewhere, not sure where they went. I was actually looking for you," he said, a hand searching his pocket. "He asked me to give something to you."

When he pulled his hand out of his pocket, he emerged with a white piece of paper. Marcus held it out to me, and I took it.

"Garth said you shouldn't open it until the church wedding's over." Our gazes held each other, with my hand hovering in the air. Note in it. "He said it's important that you read it after the wedding," he finished, walking away.

When he was just a few meters from me, he stopped. "He also said I should do this."

He winked, laughed at my dazed expression, and went away.

My gaze went to the note in my hand while I wondered what was in the nite that was so important. And where did Parker go with Shawn?

Even with some of my questions unanswered, my heart beat faster in anticipation. Whatever it was, I couldn't wait to see Parker again.