Second Chance

{Things are visibly changing, and it looks like Lily is at the forefront of this change}

_

Lily's stared him down, expecting and wanting an answer, but he didn't budge one bit. He just stared ahead, feigning to be in deep thought.

Lily knew what he was doing, but wouldn't budge either until he gave a solid answer to her question.

"What? Did you suddenly go mute?" She asked him, a slight mocking in her tone.

"And just so you know, I never wanted to get married." She looked away after her last sentence, memories of her parents' insistence on her marriage to Sebastian flooding back.

She had only known him for a year and had gotten to like the guy, even with his weird behavior that sometimes made her rethink their friendship. Yes, they were only friends, and as unethical as it sounds, even in their married life, they never crossed the line.

Before, she didn't mind marrying him as she assumed love would eventually blossom between them the more time they spent together.

Little did she know, those were famous last words for some people.

"Is he that ugly?" His voice snapped her out of her daunting thoughts, turning her attention back to him.

"Ugly?" She repeated the word, trying to correlate it with Sebastian, but of course, miserably failed

"Oh no, far from it. It's just that—"

"Do you think he's more handsome than I am?" He asked, cutting her off.

'What is with this guy?' She wondered, gazing into those spellbinding red eyes.

She had almost poured her whole heart out to him, and he...Why on Earth did he even ask that?

She frowned, a clear sign that she wasn't going to answer.

"That's not the point." She said, still frowning at the expecting look on his face.

"Point is—" She was about to ask when she suddenly recalled something.

Lily wanted to hit herself! How could she have forgotten to ask him about the heart-shaped clock, and everything else? She wanted to know how she'd somehow been brought back a day before her marriage.

"Uhm... Darien?" She called returning her gaze to him, simultaneously holding up the heart-shaped clock for him to see.

"What is this? And how I'm I here? Who are you? And also why do you call me Min—"

"Okay Mina, how about one question at a time." He said.

Lily didn't know why, but being called by that name sent pleasant shivers throughout her body.

"And how about all answers at once?" She raised a brow at him, clearly impatient to learn everything.

She heard him sigh, before completely taking off his black cloak and placing it beside him on the ground.

Lily almost gasped at the sight of him.

She would've never guessed that hiding behind that mysterious dark cloak, was an extremely sensual body, dressed in a dark-blue attire she was sure she'd never seen anywhere before.

The whole attire's durable-looking fabric seemed to be emitting a light blue glow.

The fitted shirt, which matched the pants, seemed to have been made just for him, and him alone.

Lily snapped out of her spellbound state, realizing she'd probably been staring for way too long.

She reluctantly moved her gaze from his drool-worthy physique, and up to his face.

She waited for a few minutes before he finally spoke.

"That," He said, pointing at the object hanging loosely around her neck.

"Is your time stone. As long as you're thinking of it, or maybe need it, it will be with you, no matter where you'd left it." He paused, looking back at her perplexed face.

"You're here because I brought you here, and as for your last question, I believe I already introduced myself." He concluded, relaxing further into the soft grass beneath him.

"Okay as confusing as all that info was, I don't believe that was my last question." She finally said after a few seconds of silence.

"You still haven't told me why you called me M—"

"I think those are enough questions for today." He said and in the blink of an eye, he'd already gotten to his feet and put his cloak back on.

"You should be trying on your wedding gown." He concluded

"I already told you didn't I?!" She said, getting a little enraged.

"I don't want to get married!"

"Then don't. Life's given you a second chance. Take it." He said and vanished in the next second.

________________________

About Three Hours Later

________________________

"Are you just going to sit there and stare at me?" Sebastian's voice pulled her back to existence.

His grey orbs watched her, patiently

waiting for her to speak.

He was quite astounded when she called him for an urgent meeting. She'd asked him to meet her at seven AM, at Velta park, and even told him that it was a matter between life and death!

He'd perceived quite a generous upheaval in her behavior that day. She had seemingly been transformed into a completely different person overnight. To say he was against this alteration would've been a complete lie. In fact, he appeared to like this recent side of her even more.

Lily cleared her throat, trying to calm her frantic heart. She wasn't exactly sure how he'd take in what she was about to tell him.

"I want to cancel the wedding." She said simply, nervously looking into his eyes.

A stunned look appeared briefly on his face but swiftly faded a second later.

"Alright." Came his reply, almost knocking the wind out of her. If it wasn't for the bench they both sat on, she would've most likely lost her footing due to utter shock!

"What?" She asked, wondering if she'd heard him correctly.

"I said alright, Lily."

"Just like that?" She inquired, visibly still leery. How could he just agree? She had already prepared a whole monologue just to persuade him, and here he was...

"Yes. What did you expect I'd say?" He asked, slight amusement shining in his eyes.

"Well, I didn't expect you would concede just like that!"

"Were you hoping I'd put up a fight? Is that disappointment I see in your eyes?" He teased.

"Well...Not really. I'm just surprised that's all." She answered, looking away from his gaze.

"I'm certain my family won't be too troubled about this. A certain someone might even commemorate, but, how are you planning to break this news to your parents?" He inquired causing a stampede to wash instantly over her.

She glanced at the now dark sky and celestial crescent moon, accompanied by a few twinkling stars.

"Now THAT is the real nerve-racking part in all of this."

❤️⏲️