chapter 39

Ailee shyly got out with the help of Alex who was kind enough to drop her here at the venue where Grace's wedding is being held.

Her long brown silky hair were tied in a stylish bun with the exception of a few tendrils curling around her small face. The white off shoulder dress fitted her perfectly from the waist and flowed freely after that. The makeup was minimal, highlighting her naturally beautiful skin and eyes colour. She wore ankle strap Mary Janes pumps that were covered by the length of her dress and finally some delicate pieces of jewellery.

She is sure to turn all the heads in there.

A week ago Evie came and spent the day with her and they went shopping for the matching dresses for the bridesmaids.

It was insane of her to plan it just a week before the wedding but thankfully it was done right on time.

"I know you're a big girl now but call me when you need, okay?" he asked tucking behind her locks.

She smiled gratefully and nodded.

"Take care Lils" he planted a soft kiss on her forehead and sat in his car. He gestured her to go inside and she walked inside in a good mood.

The closer she was getting to the area, the louder everyone's chatter got.

She fidgeted with the X of her bracelet, nervous to meet the faces she once knew so well.

"You made it!" Grace said, enveloping her in a bone crushing hug. She was getting her dress fixed in the corner when she saw Ailee entering.

"Yes. Congratulations" she said handing over the gift bag and the bouquet to her.

"Thank you but I thought I strictly asked for no gifts"

"That would have been impolite" she chuckled.

"You still hasn't changed and God damn girl you look absolutely stunning" she whistled.

Heat rushed to her cheeks and she shyly looked down.

" Thank you"

"My My is she who I think she is" came a voice of a man. She looked up and saw a group of people heading towards them.

On a closer inspection she realised it was Rafael and his group. Ailee used to hang out with them at canteen sometimes.

"Bro my 100 bucks?" asked Dwayne from the others.

" Wait why? What are we missing?" Evie asked, equally confused as she came and stood next to Ailee with a hug.

"Well we betted on her coming here or not and I won" he replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Ailee looked at them with a gaping face.

She wasn't hurt or anything because they didn't mean it in a bad way, that she knew, but it didn't exactly made her comfortable.

"Oh" she whispered quietly.

"You look beautiful Ailee. I mean you always were but now-" Dwayne started but was interrupted by Rafael.

"Yeah we get it Romeo"

" But seriously you look the best among all of us, except for the bride ofcourse." Giselle said.

"Come on let's go and click some pictures. Who knows when we'll meet like this again." They said and moved towards the stage where the groom was waiting for his bride.

___

She put her phone down after texting Xavier to pick her up.

He insisted on seeing her in the dress he chose so she complied and asked him to come after fifteen minutes.

Also her friends' conversations turned way too uncomfortable now. In the beginning it was nice and everyone was catching up with each other's lives but then Dwayne and the other guy next to him, Noah, started openly flirting with her, half of those went right over her head but by the looks that Evie was giving them, she knew that they were no good things.

Undoubtedly she had a great time with everyone but those two were making her anxious now.

"Please Ailee just one day out and you'll know that I'm THE perfect guy for you" he pleaded once again in that desperate tone.

He didn't even remember her completely few hours ago and now he wants to go on a date?

She had already met with Grace one last time and was ready to go now.

"I-I can't" she replied.

"Why? You can't a boyfriend..... or do you?"

Ailee remained silent and that was enough of an answer for everyone.

"You're just saying it to shrug me off, aren't you?" Dwayne scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Bro sit your ass down. Why would she go out with YOU anyway?" Rafael said in her support like he has been doing all evening.

And Dwayne was being his old self from school, always clinging to her or any other beautiful girl for his ingenuine reasons.

He sat down, nevertheless.

"I refuse to believe that she would do that. I mean Evie said it herself that she is still the same introvert from back then."

Evie gasped and looked at Ailee,

" No Lily I didn't mean it like that. I told them that you are still the same as before beautiful, kind, don't go out much, loves to paint and read but this asshole hung on that one part" she seethed.

" It's okay" she whispered.

" If you do have a boyfriend then call him. He can't be better than me now?" He said reaching out to hold her hand but Ailee stood up and left to the furthest part of the garden.

She found Grace's baby cousin with a white rabbit and immediately went to them.

"It's so cute" she cooed.

"Yes her name is snow" she said, showing her dimples.

" And you are even cuter" she said, pinching her cheeks.

They both sat down on the bench and she told Ailee all about her pet.

She momentarily forgot about her sad mood and was very interested in knowing about the habits of snow.

"Coco" his calm voice called her.

Her head shot up hearing his familiar baritone voice.

A face splitting smile graced her face and she ran up to him and threw herself on him.

And he, like always, caught her with a small smile of his own.

When he came inside he expected to see her first or that it would be easy to find her but what he didn't expect was a dozen girls wearing the same dress he chose for his girl.

He was furious.

He wanted only her to wear that and to top it off she was nowhere to be seen.

He called on her phone only to hear it being answered by a man. Hence, a group of chatty adults hot on his tail. When they approached him, they gawked at him like he was an alien or something and when he asked them about Ailee they just pointed in this direction, wordlessly.

So the moment he saw her little figure sitting their quietly with a rabbit and a kid talking to her non stop. He stood there for a moment and observed her. Where others sat with their friends and families, gossiping and judging others, she was happily sitting with a damn rabbit and a kid finding it enough to have a good time.

"You're here" she whispered in his neck.

"I'm here" he replied and placed her gently on the ground.

"You look beautiful" he said and kissed her forehead while she blushed and looked down.

He held her palm and put her phone on it causing her eyes to go wide and look behind him.

There stood all her fourteen friends, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

Ailee sheepishly smiled looking at him and led him to them by his hand.

"Umm he-he is my boyfriend, Xa-" she said shyly but Evie cut her off.

"Romano DeVinci, girllll what!?" she whisper yelled.

Blood rushed to her cheeks and she nodded.

"Zai, my friends from school" she pointed at them with her hand.

"Uh Sir, I'm Giselle" she started first and then one by one they all said their names while he kept nodding again and again.

He wasn't sure he would remember all of them though.

Dwayne and Noah paled and stood there, embarrassed, after claiming to be better than her boyfriend.

"He is your boyfriend? You sure?" Grace whispered when Ailee brought him there to introduce them.

"Yeah of course" se giggled.

She was enjoying it too much. Will her parents react the same way? Asking every minute again and again?

"Let's go now" he said, putting his arm around her waist and she nodded with a toothy smile.

He led her outside and opened the door to the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.

The girls awed at his sweet behavior towards their sweet friend.

She waved at her friends for the last time before getting more comfortable.

"Phewwwwww" she removed her shoes and sat criss cross applesauce on the seat.

"Tired?" he asked, glancing at her form.

"Mhmm very much. I ate well and walked a lot"

He stopped the car at the red light and caressed her cheeks when her eyes were closed.

He put her legs on his lap and slowly massaged her feet.

She slowly opened her eyes and gave him a lazy smile with thumbs up. Suddenly, she took out her phone and clicked a selfie.

"We have such a little number of pictures Zai, we should do it more often." she said, looking intently in her phone.

He hummed and continued driving.

"What else did you do there?"

"Mmm.... At first I was very shy to talk to them but after sometime it was okay and I had a lot of fun with the girls. You know all of us have boyfriends now"

"Good. What about the boys, I saw some there with your friends," the actual reason behind him asking that question was that he noticed one of them kept looking at Ailee and she was trying her best to stay away from him.

"Oh.... well... they are friends.... Rafael is nice... but others don't get along well with me" her voice got quieter and quieter with each word.

"It's alright. Don't worry" He kissed her knuckles in a reassuring way. He understood his concern was right but didn't want to pry deeper, now that it was over.

He dropped her at her house and left after promising to meet again soon.

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