Since the office debacle, Sira had been down in the dumps. She'd hardly spoken at work and kept her head down.
Even text messages were being ignored.
Azul glanced over at her from the driver's seat of his car. She had her head propped up on her elbow and was staring solemnly out the window.
"Hey, cheer up. It's our wedding day! Isn't this the most important day of a girl's life?"
A small sigh escaped her lips, "Woohoo. I'm so excited to get married at a courthouse to a man I don't love as a sort of business exchange. How exciting." Her tone was flat with a tinge of annoyance.
"I know you're upset about what happened at wo-"
"I don't want to talk about it…" she interrupted.
Azul sighed, "Don't let it ruin today. Let's make it nice. We can enjoy it still even if it's not the wedding of your dreams, or we aren't in love. Let's get you a dress and go out to a nice dinner after. Hmm?"
Sira's mouth contorted, "I guess….."
"Let's see…..where are there wedding dress shoppes around here?" He looked around at the surroundings, trying to find one as he passed the various storefronts.
"Wedding dress shoppe?! Are you out of your mind?!" Sira shot up, completely shocked.
Azul winced, his shoulder coming up to try and protect his ear from her increased volume.
"Ouch…yeah. Where else would you get a wedding dress from?"
"We're just going to the court! Those dresses are like….thousands of dollars! Let's just go get a white dress!"
"Just because it's a courthouse wedding, doesn't mean you don't deserve to feel like a princess. We'll get you a pretty dress. It's still your wedding day."
"No way. I refuse! Let's just go there!" She pointed to a store up the street.
Azul pulled into the parking lot and stared at the small store.
"In there?"
"Yes, in there. Come on, let's go." Sira grabbed her purse and unbuckled.
"You don't want a grandiose dress for your wedding?" Azul questioned as he followed her to the door, holding it open for her as she entered the building.
"Nope! There are somethings I expected to have first with my first wedding, things that I cannot have now," She shot him a glance, "so I'd like to save an actual wedding dress for my actual wedding."
Azul nodded, understanding her reserves.
"Alright, whatever you want is what we will get."
The racks were filled with browns and oranges now that fall was beginning.
While the interior decorations of the store were cute and festive for the autumn season, Sira couldn't help but feel that it was a bit drab in there.
"It reminds me of your house."
Azul stared at her with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean? My house doesn't have this many clothes."
Sira shot him a glance as she looked through some of the racks, "I mean the coloring. It's soooo...non colorful."
With a look of confusion on his face, he furrowed his eyebrows, staring her down.
"What do you mean? My house is colorful. It's green and red, brow….n…." His voice trailed off as she looked up at him with her eyebrow raised.
"What…" he questioned.
"Yeah….I guess…." She said with a snicker as she looked back towards the rack.
"What do you mean? Tell your husband to be."
Sira picked up a white dress with floral shapes embroidered into it and inspected it before laying it over her arm.
"They're all dark colors though. You could say it's colorful in here too, right? Brown, Tan, Beige, White…..it's like your place….DARK red, DARK green~"
Azul watched as she selected two more dresses and placed them over the previous one.
"So you're saying my house needs a woman's touch? Hmm…if only I had a wife….to do that…" He pondered aloud.
Sira shot him a glance before heading to the dressing room.
He followed her, leaning against the wall outside with his arms crossed.
"You should be getting a REAL wife then."
Fabric rustled as Sira changed her clothes behind the wooden shutter door, piquing Azul's interest.
What kind of dress would she pick? What kind of dress did she like?
It was a simple store with simple designs, nothing extravagant or fancy, but her taste would still show through, wouldn't it?
As she he continued to hear the fabric rustling on the other side of the door, Azul found himself becoming a little anxious and nervous.
Finally, she peeked her head out, shielding her body.
"Go wait in the car. You can't see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding."
Azul pulled out his credit card and held it out for her.
"I can buy it myself…it's a cheap store, nothing too expensive. It's okay, really." Sira waved her hand, gently pushing his credit card away.
"You wouldn't be buying it if it weren't for me, so let me buy it for you. It's not expensive, so it shouldn't be such a big deal for you to accept, right?"
He grabbed her hand and placed the card in her palm.
"I'll wait in the car."
Sira glanced at the card as she changed, placing her clothes over the dress so it wouldn't be visible to him in the car.
After yanking off the tag, she grabbed the card and her bag and headed towards the cashier to pay for it.
Glancing between the cashier and the form of payment Azul had given her, she decided to go ahead and use it, she WAS about to be his wife after all.
Wasn't it a wife's duty to spend her husband's money?
She exited the store and got into the passenger seat of Azul's car, handing him his card back.
He raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you buy a dress?"
Sira nodded and patted her stomach, which did look a bit bigger than normal, "Yep, right here~ I had to make sure you couldn't see it~"
Azul laughed and started the car, "Well, then. Shall we go get married?"