Courting Trouble

Plans.

|Plans.|

It was almost a week into Malisha's engagement and the girl was still not used to the idea. Every morning for those five days she had woken up to a house filled chaos. Mrs. Sally Lenton, her mother, was now in full blown party planning mode and wherever Malisha went there was no reprieve. In the end, she resorted to hiding out in her newly refurbished, but she should have known. A couple of stairs were not enough to keep her mother away and she kept barging into her room, all the day long with this question or that about her preferences concerning certain matters in the party she planned.

How she did it, Malisha had no idea, since one had to take the elevator followed by a steep set of stairs in order to get to her room which was also happened to be on the third floor. At one time, she even opened the door, just to make sure that her mother had not set up camp outside her room.

As if handling a hyper mother was not enough, Nelly, her personal assistant had not given her much peace either. There was always something that needed to be done. If not that, there was always somewhere that they needed to be and most of the it left Malisha feeling exhausted and at loss with herself. Nelly also kept insisting that they pick a wedding date, saying that it would be much easier to plan a wedding with a singular date in mind. Malisha tried as hard as she could to wave her off, but her PA was as insistent as that proverbial fly that buzzed around her annoyingly and would not go no matter how hard she swatted at it.

She did not show it, but Malisha was really excited about everything. In fact, she would have enjoyed organising the party with her mum or even going shopping with Nelly had it not been for her pride that was keeping from doing so. It was a silly thing and she knew it. To be afraid of showing her eagerness, but considering her past with Duke and how much she had resisted him it felt like it was too soon. At the same time, another part of her had finally come to terms with her new reality. It was constantly waiting for the curtains to come down as she accepted her new life and embraced the roles that came with it.

"Come on. Its your time now. Most people go through this only once in their life time. Don't throw it away just like that for your ego or to prove a point to people who don't really matter." Her inner voice whispered and she kind of agreed with it. "I mean, what the heck! Why are you driving yourself to the ground with worry when you can just go out and enjoy yourself. Have fun for once."

"You know, you do have a point there." Bearing that in mind, Malisha jumped out of bed and moved to the baroche vanity set that was standing near her bathroom door. She pulled out one of the drawers, the middle one where she normally stored away all her documents and folders when they were not in use.

She reached in and pulled out a white envelope that was containing a purple folder. In it were all her ideas from the time she was six and plans she had thought up for her dream wedding.

"I have always wanted a church wedding, that I am sure of and I always imagined myself walking down the aisle to the slow beat of a wedding match ready to meet my dashing prince charming."

"Of course you did." Her inner voice quipped.

At six, she had imagined herself as a princess. However and with time that had eroded as tiaras gave way to wreathed flowers and bejeweled combs that now made up the more classy and elegant plans that she presently housed in her mind that day. Malisha thumbed through the pages until she finally found what she was looking for. She smiled happily to herself and put a finger between the pages for lack of a proper bookmark, before rushing out to find her mother and Nelly who she knew were already in the dining room organising the seating arrangements for the engagement party.

"Mom! Mom! Here," Malisha burst through dining area gasping for breath even as she placed the open folder on the table for all to see.

"My, my. Look what we have here. She finally decided to grace us with her presence. What changed your mind?" Her mother asked, taking off her glasses to looking at her daughter.

"Well," Malisha started with a shrug of her shoulders. "It's my wedding, right?" Her mother nodded. "So I thought, why not enjoy it!"

"I am glad you've finally come round and are now seeing sense," her mother joked and they all laughed at her expense. Despite the fact, Malisha did not take offense. Instead, she pulled out a chair  and sat beside them ready to explain her ideas.

"So, I was thinking we could do a combined indoor- outdoor affair right here at home.  Maybe in the garden and the courtyard by the pool and we can turn the main living room into a ball room..."

"That's a wonderful idea! That way we won't have to order tents or build that glass palace." Her mother interjected and Malisha had to smile at her enthusiasm.

"I'm glad you are seeing things my way. The best part is, we can also use the dining hall to serve refreshments like they did at those balls in the past. I mean, it's big enough to house over fifty guests, right?" Sally Lenton agreed even as Nelly continued to take down notes.

"How about the décor?" Her mother asked her.

"I was thinking a blend of the past and present. A little traditional while still keeping it modern." She paused as gears continued turning in her head. "What about cherry blossoms, we could build a theme around that, with crystals representing the modern and gold representing the old."

"I like it." Her mother said, nodding her approval.

"What about the cuisine?" this time Nelly chipped in.

"Leave that to mum, she is the foodie of the family."Malisha said before turning to her mother. "By the way, I was thinking that we should get you that event planner mum."

"Why? What for? I am perfectly capable!" she riposted as her daughter groaned.

"Mum, Nelly and I won't be around to help much that is, if the schedule she has planned out for me is anything to go by. Plus you don't trust Mishpa."

"Yea, that one is too cheeky rely on." Sally responded and they all burst out laughing. "And by the way, speaking of schedules,when is this wedding?"

"We have not discussed it yet."

"For heaven's sake Malisha! What do you people talk about if not important stuff like that?"

"Mother, Duke is a very busy man."

"That he is. But what about you? What is your excuse?"

"Mother! I have my stuff... Plus I needed time to digest all this."

"Goodness Malisha! No wonder the poor guy had to rush and make that press announcement. With the way you tend to overthink stuff, he must have been afraid that you would go and change your mind or something." At that Nelly sniggered and Malisha turned to glare daggers at her. "Malisha, please leave that poor girl alone."

"Fine mother." The daughter said as she stood up to leave, "I have a call to make anyway."

"Good because we need that date soonest possible and don't push it too far not that the Phaedra would allow it but make sure that you come back here with a date!"her mother called after her.

The call from Malisha came in after Duke's meeting with one of the parliamentary committees. He was seated on a sofa within his penthouse office sipping at a cup of coffee.

"Morning my love" Duke said into the receiver.

"It is actually afternoon." His fiancèe corrected him and he turned to look at his gold watch to confirm.

She was right of course as the watch was read four minutes past twelve.

"Okay, so what's up?"

"Really, I can't just be calling to say hi?" He shook his head even though he knew she could not see it.

"Nope. Not in my experience and more so, when you call me while I am still at work." Duke liked teasing her and Malisha always took the bait.

"Not funny Duke."

That sobered him up. Considering the last time that they had done that, things had not gone well. He had taken it too far and had almost driven her to quit on him.

"Fine...What's really on your mind though?" He heard her sigh from the other end of the line and could tell that she was really struggling not to comeback with a witty retort.

"We really need to talk!"

At that, Duke blanched. He once happy look morphed into a frown even as he set down his coffee to address her.

"That bad?" His heart was now racing. Malisha groaned out in frustration and the man could at least afford a smile. It was just his fear. It had set in once again and had ended up warping the meaning behind her words.

"No! I mean we need to sit down and talk about the wedding. Mother, Nelly even Dad won't give me peace about it. Apparently it is hard to plan anything without a date to go by."

"Oh I get you now. How about we talk about this over dinner? And this time I will pick you up myself so that you don't bail out on me again."

"ha ha very funny!" Malisha complained though he could still hear the light note in her voice.

"What?" He saidgrinning.

"You are impossible! You know that?" with that, she hanged up on him, but he kept on smiling even as he joined an amused Alfred by his desk.

Dinner in Veterum was always served at eight just as Society dictated. Which meant that Malisha had to be ready by seven otherwise it would not be looked upon as fashionable.

As with every other standard one could assume safely that Malisha had her qualms about it. A bunch of old croonies seated on their lofty thrones dictating how and when she could take her meals was not exactly Malisha's cup of coffee. However, she decided to lay this to rest. She knew Duke and his reaction if ever she made the mistake to bring it up to him. With his influence, he could potentially start a war between the Phaedra and Society. Especially with his newly found dislike that had blossomed right after Malisha had almost broken off their engagement on their account. She therefore did the wise thing and picked out her outfit for the evening, three hours ahead of time.

A long time ago, Malisha had realised that she tended to waste a lot of time dressing. For some reason, she could never seem to make up her mind about her what to wear. This was especially because of her kind of disposition that caused her to dress according to her moods, moods that were often subject to change every few hours or so. She could pick out a dress to wear the next day, only to wake up and find herself in a totally different mood that would make her change her original decision quite drastically. There was also that little known fact that sometimes she tended to forget her own clothes. She could never remember what she had in her closet and would normally spend hours searching except when she was lucky enough to have her mother come in and help with the process.

"What are you doing?" Her mother's voice came out from behind her, startling her badly.

"Mother! You scared me! "

"You could have heard me call out if you weren't too vested in whatever it is you sneaked out here to do." Her mother accused while walking forward to come and stand beside her.

"Mum, I am not sneaking around. I am just trying to pick out something for me to wear tonight."

"Aah... You have a date." she moved to take a look inside her closet.

"You could say that. You guys have been bugging me this entire week for a wedding date and I thought, why not grant you your wish?" Malisha told her even as her mother held out a red number. She considered it for a moment before shaking her head no.

"Too bold." she said placing it back where she had found it. "Anyway, what are you looking for?" her mother asked even as she continued to flip through her closet for something Malisha could wear.

"Something soft and feminine?"

Instead of replying, Sally Lenton continued to flip through her daughter's new collection. After fishing around for a while, she finally managed to convince her daughter to wear a white natural waistline silk dress that had blue flower prints and stopped right at her knees. The stylist in her accessorized with strappy red shoes and a matching clutch bag. She then helped her daughter to fix her curly black locks into a loose side bun, before stepping back to inspect her work. By the time they were through, Malisha had only ten minutes to spare and the duo walked out and down the stairs to await Duke's arrival.