Just Before He Said 'I DO'

Chapter 6

Antoinette jumped in surprise as the door was banged shut. She sat on an easy chair in a corner of the spacious parlor, fixing her acrylics dressed only in a little short and a crop top, with her curly short hair pulled up in a scarf.

“What the f**k…!” She yelled and turned quiet, watching her sister run hastily through the huge fancy parlor towards the stairs, wailing pitifully.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, nonchalantly turning back to her acrylics. Furthermore, she was no longer surprised whenever her baby sister returned home like that since she had seemed to adopt the habit three days ago when she was abandoned at the altar.

Antoinette tried to ignore her conscience as she had been doing since three days ago, but she could no longer take it anymore as she groaned and ran up the stairs.

“Ah, for f**k’s sake!” She swore and hastened down the hall towards her sister's room, where she was weeping loudly.

She gently knocked on the door and pushed the door open when she got no reply.

Antoinette stood still for some seconds before snapping at the sight of her sister hunched over the edge of her silk-covered queen-size bed, weeping uncontrollably.

“Ugh! Get over yourself, Vivi.”

No reply, more tears.

“You know, I have always wondered what you saw in him…since we were kids. He was such an obnoxious, detestable specimen of a man.” She sighed and moved across the spacious pink room to sit on the bed beside her weeping sister.

Vivienne's tears slowed to a stop at those words and glared at her sister.

“He isn't. He has just been misled by the words of that evil woman!” She sniffed loudly.

Antoinette gave her a blank look.“You are pitiful. It's been three days since you were jilted by that lover of yours, aren't you tired?” She asked dryly.

“I am not pitiful, and I am not tired. You're the one who should be tired of being alone!” Vivienne snapped, and her hands Immediately covered her mouth as she gasped when she realized what she had said.

Antoinette gave a little smirk as she studied her sister.

“Oh, I didn't mean that Toinette. I am so…”

“Why?” Antoinette c****d her head. “Why are you sorry? You are right, after all, as the businesswoman that I am, I don't have the leisure of chasing after men like you are doing…” She joked, playfully, nudging her sister who glared at her.

“…and besides, I still have to find him.”

“But, don't you think your Idèe fixe on finding him is getting a little out of hand lately?” Vivienne asked worriedly, unconsciously pronouncing ‘obsession’ in French.

Antoinette shot her a dirty look. “Don’t you think yours is getting a lot more bothersome these days?”

“At least I know where he is…but you don't. Don't you think it's time to give up now, maybe you were never meant to…”

Antoinette's face became livid, showing that the topic was a sore spot for her.

“Stop it. You, mother and father, may have given up on him, but I won't.” She snapped.

Vivienne became apologetic as she grabbed her eldest sister's hand. “I didn't mean that.”

Antoinette smiled at her. “Why did you run inside crying?”

Vivienne looked away sadly. “He threatened to get a restraining order against me if I should go close to him again.”

“That jerk,” Antoinette frowned. She pondered on the issue to get an idea. “If he is getting a restraining order, I suggest you get through to him through his parents.”

Vivienne's swollen face lit up with a beautiful smile and jumped onto her sister, giving her a fierce hug.

“Thank you, sis, you're the best. Surely worthy of being Renard's Empire strategist.” She said, showering her with flattering compliments.

“Yeah, yeah!”

“I need to go get changed, I am going out…” Vivienne announced and skipped happily into her closet room.

Antoinette's eyes widened in faked shock. “Now?”

“Of course. I also need to chase after my dreams. I am going to shop for some new clothes.” She yelled back from the closet,

The smile on Antoinette's face faded away slowly after her sister's departure.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she mulled over the conversation she just had with her baby sister.

She quickly snapped out of it as Vivienne returned to the room with numerous dresses piled on her arm.

She dumped them on the bed and started picking them up one after the other for her sister to help her make a choice.

She picked up a glamorous short golden dress that had frills down its sides. “What about this?”

Antoinette looked at the dress and seemed to suddenly recall something as she asked Vivienne a strange question out of the blue.

“Where is he?”

Vivienne stopped in her tracks. “Who?”

Antoinette smiled playfully. “When you were a little kid, you would always come running to me in tears…”

Vivienne raised an eyebrow. “Where is this headed?”

“…and why? Because Aurélien had beaten up Edgar!” Antoinette said, and they fell into giggles.

“I miss him too, though, I can barely recall his face,” Vivienne said wistfully, smoothening the dress. “But I do recall him having golden hair and eyes.”

***

“Babe, you're unusually quiet today,” Edgar said.

They were seated in the back seat of his car with his arms around her as the driver drove them to his workplace.

“I was just wondering…” She said quietly, avoiding his gaze.

“About what?” He urged her gently.

“About how nice it would have been if your parents could just accept me for who I am.” She said, looking down nervously while twisting her fingers.

Edgar went quiet for a while without replying, which made her wonder if she had spoken wrong.

She was about to apologize when he cut in with a smile.

“I will make sure they do. I will make sure they treat you as part of our family.” He promised and linked their hands with each other and brought it to his lips.

She nodded with a smile as she rested her head on his shoulders.

“Do you have any plans for the office today?” she asked after some minutes.

Edgar stared at her head curiously. “Why?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to know how much time I've got to spend with you today.” She replied, pouting her lips.

Edgar chuckled and ran his fingers through her straight black hair fondly.

“I am having a meeting with some representatives. Montgomery'Co is planning to buy a new considerable share that can help boost its finance by twenty percent, though.” He said offhandedly.

Rosalind's eyebrow furrowed as she lifted her head from his shoulder. “Oh? Which company will be willing to sell their shares in such a bountiful season?”

Edgar raised an eyebrow at her playfully as he teased her.

“And how would you know the finance business sector is in bountiful season?”

“Ah!” She exclaimed softly and pulled on her straight black hair to cover her face.

“Come on, I was just teasing you. Can't you tell?” He said and pulled her in for a kiss.

She pouted and turned away, pretending to be mad at him.

“I am sorry. But I just couldn't resist the urge to tease you!” He said and laughed as he opened the door and let himself out.

A dozen guards appeared ready to protect him against the onslaught of the paparazzi. His face was set in a frown as he marched to his office with Rosalind, the paparazzi trying to push through the wall of humans surrounding them.

“I really need to file a restraining order against these too.” He mumbled to himself.

***

“Your mood has been sour lately, and ‘gee’, I wonder why!” A girl said dryly as she sipped her morning coffee, while also staring down her brother.

“Not again, Léa.” He groaned and banged his head against the coffee table.

“I am your little sister. It's absolutely my duty to nag you when you are not doing the right thing.”

“And what is that right thing?” He asked mockingly, but she answered, her foreign accent bleeding through her words.

“To see her. Go see her, bro! You never know what may happen.” She said and bit into her croissant.

“What do you mean by what may happen? I am only here for her brother. We were friends in middle school.” He murmured, his golden gaze looking everywhere but at her.

“Ah, ah! So it has nothing with you beating Edgar up for her?” Léa asked playfully. “And I can still recall your downcast face when she was about to take her vows with someone else, and the look of relief on your face when it never happened.”

“Stop spewing nonsense, Lea, and come meet me outside. We need to get to the samples fast.” He stood up and combed a finger through his golden hair adjusted his suit, which sat well on his lanky tall frame, and strolled to the door.

“Brother, you can't leave me here,” Lea exclaimed and stood up to meet him.

“Or, I can,” he said and momentarily yanked the door of the quaint, novel Café shop, bumping into a mop of curly pink and blue hair.

The books in her hands fell to the floor, startling him as he bent down with her to pick the books up.

“I am so sorry?” He apologized over and over again.

“No, it's fine. I wasn't…” Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of his golden eyes. “I… Uh…hmmh!” she cleared her throat as she grew short of words.

He took her hand and assisted her up gently. “I hope I didn't upset anything?” He asked with a heart-melting smile.

“Uhh... Y…y…yeah, I…“ She stuttered.

“Have a nice day!” He waved and walked out with his sister, who had caught up with him.

She regained her senses and skipped excitedly to a table where two men were already seated and dumped the pile of books on the table.

“Why are you so happy now?” Blaine asked curiously.

“I met a guy, Anthony.” she squealed and held her cheeks dreamily.

“Oh, you mean the clumsy one that bumped into you? What's so…”

“He has beautiful golden eyes that seemed to stare deep into my soul and a very hot smile.” she giggled, twirling her medium-length pink hair around her fingers.

‘Golden eyes?’ Anthony looked lost in thought for a moment before shrugging it off.

“Let us begin, shall we?” he ordered in a voice that shook the daydreaming Bee from her reverie as she became serious.