Emerald
"Miss Dawson, Mr Huxley has arrived," Marianna informed me and my heart skipped a beat for a few long seconds. I was already mentally preparing myself to meet with him today and I already made up my mind that I would just go with the flow and pretend but now that it was time, I was feeling very nervous and unsure of myself.
After the last conversation I had with Brian, I don't think that it'll be easy to feel comfortable around him anymore because he said some things the last time that still played vividly in my head and I just had a strong feeling that marrying him is only going to take a toll on me mentally and drain me emotionally.
"Tell him I'll be down soon," I said to Marianna who simply nodded before leaving.
I quickly texted Mia to start heading to the bridal shop so she could meet both Brian and I over there. I couldn't go through this day all by myself so I decided to invite Mia to join me so that at the very least I'd have someone to talk to.
After texting Mia, I head downstairs and lo and behold, there he was, my soon-to-be husband, whose beauty was breathtaking but unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to appreciate his beauty because I couldn't stand him and his horrible personality.
"Hello Emerald," he greeted me as soon as he saw me and I almost scoffed at how gentle he sounded.
"Did you have to go as far as reserving a dress fitting on my behalf?" I asked, not bothering to respond to his greeting.
"Is that how you were taught to say good afternoon, sweetie? Aren't you being unnecessarily rude?" he responded, earning an eye roll from me.
"I only greet people that I consider human and unfortunately for you, I don't for a second think you're worthy of my politeness. Now, answer me. Why did you have to fix a dress fitting without consulting with me first?" I responded harshly, and a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
"I believe you should understand that I'm allowed to do whatever I please and since I can't afford my soon-to-be bride to look tacky and cheap on her wedding day, I needed to take time out of my busy schedule and just to make sure you choose a befitting dress," he remarked.
I scoffed. "Has anybody ever told you that you have a knack for saying the most ridiculous things? What makes you think I can't pick my own dress? And by the way, this wedding is nothing but a sham so I have no reason to put in any effort into a dress that I'm going to end up throwing away," I said, reminding him not to do too much since any of this isn't real anyway.
"Regardless of the genesis of our marriage, my family and I still have a reputation to uphold and you might not be able to relate to that now but as soon as you and I get married, you have to put in mind that whatever affects your reputation will directly affect mine and if your dress is tacky, it'll only make me look bad. Now, enough chit chat and let's get to it. I don't have all day to waste," and with that, he got up from where he was seated and walked away and I reluctantly followed behind him.
****
The car ride with Brian had to be the most uncomfortable ride of my entire life because not only was his presence annoying to me, the things that he just kept saying made my blood boil all through the ride.
I was so thankful when the driver stopped in front of a place I assumed was where I was getting my fitting and I didn't even waste time before getting down from the car.
The first thing I did when I got down was look around to see if Mia had arrived and when I didn't see her, I started to panic thinking that she had bailed on me and left me to deal with this asshole on my own.
"Why do you keep looking around? Is there someone you're waiting for?" Brian's voice asked from behind me.
"It's none of your business," I responded harshly and he scoffed.
"Alright then, suit yourself but you better be in there in five minutes because I have better things to do and I cannot let you waste my time," he instructed.
"I'll take as much time as I need to and if you cannot be patient, feel free to leave. I didn't ask you to do this in the first place," I retorted and he looked like he was about to say something but he refrained and proceeded to go inside on his own.
As soon as he left, I called Mia and she picked up almost immediately.
"Mia, where are you?" I asked desperately, hoping with everything that she didn't bail on me.
"I should be the one asking that question, silly. I've been in here for over ten minutes now and there's still no sign of you or your hunk of a husband," she replied and I'm confused.
"You're inside already? They let you in?" I asked.
"Well, of course silly. I told him that I was here to pick a dress for my friend and that I had to wait for her inside and they let me in as soon as I mentioned your fiance's name," she answered and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Speaking of your fiance, he just came in right now and I'm assuming that you're outside already so get in here quickly while I'll get busy introducing myself. Bye," she quickly informed me and before I could tell her not to speak to him until I arrived, she hung up on me.
I hurried inside because I wasn't too sure how Brian was going to react to my friend and I would be very mad at him if he dared to disrespect her. I didn't trust him to be polite anyways so I needed to make sure he doesn't get the chance to show just how rude and horrid he is.
I walked into the place and almost immediately, I spotted and unsurprisingly, she was with Brian and her mouth was moving quite a lot while his face just seemed uninterested to me. I hurried toward them and Brian was the first to see me coming before Mia turned and saw me as well.
"Hey beautiful," she greeted, attempting to hug me but I grabbed her hand quickly before pulling her away from Brian and walking in whatever direction that my eyes met first.
"What the hell, Emerald? Why did you just pull me out like that?" Mia asked and I frowned at her.
"Well, what else was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to leave you there with that guy that looked like he didn't want to be having a conversation with you?" I asked and she looked like she was confused by what I said but before she could even respond to me, Brian's familiar voice chimed in.
"And what exactly makes you think that I didn't want to have a conversation with her?" he asked and I reluctantly turned to look at him.
"If you did, you wouldn't have had such an uninterested look on your face," I retorted and he shook his head.
"I think you need to get yourself checked up or something because you're not in your right state of mind. You know what, let's just get to why we're here and just so you know, you're heading in the wrong direction," he responded before turning in the opposite direction and had to urge to scream but I resisted it.
"Do you realise that you just acted like some crazy woman?" Mia whispered.
"What do you mean? Didn't I just save you from a very awkward conversation?" I asked as quietly as I could since I didn't want Brian to overhear our conversation.
"There was nothing awkward about our conversation and I don't know what you saw, but he wasn't being rude to me and we weren't even talking about anything important. So, just relax and stop overreacting 'cause it's worrisome," she explained and I'm both confused and surprised but I didn't say anything else because we had already gotten into the elevator with Brian.
"Mr Huxley, a pleasure to see you again, Sir," a lady I assumed was in charge greeted Brian as soon as she saw him and something about what she just said caught me off guard.
"Did she just say, again or did I hear wrongly?" Mia whispered and I'm thankful that I wasn't the only one who found it quite strange.
"Maybe he's been married before," I replied with a shrug.
"I didn't see any indication that he'd been married before though," she mentioned and I furrowed my brows in confusion.
"Did you look him up online?" I asked.
"Well, duh! You don't expect me not to look up on the man that you suddenly have to marry. I got curious," she replied innocently and truthfully, there was nothing wrong with what she did since I did the same thing as well.
I also did not see any record of him being married previously so I couldn't help but wonder what the lady meant by indicating that this wasn't her first time meeting him. I realised I was thinking too much about it since they could have met anywhere besides here and even if it was here, it wasn't any of my business.
"Oh, you must be the bride!" she exclaimed excitedly when she finally noticed my presence and I had to force a smile on my face so I didn't seem rude.
"Hello," I greeted politely.
"Oh, hello, my dear. It's so lovely to meet you. I'm Catalina Robles and I'll be helping you pick out the perfect dress for your wedding. Be rest assured that you're in great hands with me," she blurted out proudly and I almost rolled my eyes at her.
"Thank you," I managed to respond when I saw Brian glaring at me from behind her.
"Now dear, let's get started on what is about to be one of the best experiences of your life, only second to your wedding," she chirped happily and before I knew what was happening, she pulled me by my arm and dragged me with her.
"Help me," I mouthed to Mia, who had an apologetic look on her face but for some reason, she didn't make any attempt to follow me at all.
What a traitor!