Sophitz: A Week to Find Love

Chapter 43

Biana's P.O.V. 

"BIANA!" Linh shouted, then waved me over with both arms. We had just returned from the mountains to see that everyone had actually stayed the entire time. I thought it was a really sweet gesture and the couples who were supposed to get married today definitely deserved it. 

"Hey!" I greeted with a hug. "How are things?" 

"Great!" Linh responded. "Just one sec!" She stepped onto the platform with a great hop and ecstatically got the guests' attention. 

"Hello everyone!" she exclaimed. "Thank you for being so patient with us! This really has been a dream day, even though there wasn't an actual wedding because I got to see my best friend find her true love. And it was just... So, so, SO amazing. But now you're probably wondering what's going to happen next - and it's definitely not that this is all over just yet. In fact, this wedding is scheduled for next week on Saturday! I hope you can all make it because I would love nothing more than all of you there for the big moment!" 

The seated guests all cheered loudly and clapped and high-fived each other. 

"In the meantime, let's not let all this good food go to waste! Everyone is welcome to stay and just enjoy the party!" 

"Um... Sure," Dex replied from down below. "I think we have enough room in the budget for that." 

The guests cheered once more before scattering towards the tent holding all the food. Linh smiled at her fiance before jumping down to continue our conversation. 

"Yup, so everything is going pretty great!" she said once more. "And our wedding next week is going to be absolutely HUGE! I even convinced Sophie and Fitz to join us for a triple wedding. How fantastic is that?" 

"Super fantastic!" I agreed. It really was so wonderful to see all my friends so happy. "Can I be your bridesmaid?" 

"Of course!" Linh answered. "But we'll go more into that later. For now, I think there might be someone who wants to talk to you." She nodded in the direction of a guy sitting alone on one of the white benches. 

I nodded and willed myself to stay cool as I slowly made my way over to Tam. Once I reached him, I silently sat down and waited for a moment. 

"It's nice you came back," Tam finally said, breaking the silence. It probably didn't seem like much, but I took it to heart. 

"I'm glad to be back," I responded. And for maybe the first time in my life, I didn't have anything more to say. 

I was probably the most talkative person on the entire planet and I always loved a good conversation. But somehow at this moment, I was perfectly fine just enjoying the peaceful silence with Tam. For about a minute. Then I couldn't resist saying something. 

"It's great that everyone's getting married on Saturday," I told him. "It's going to be one huge party!" Tam nodded. 

"It really is great," he sighed. Yet his tone told me that he didn't think it was so great. 

"Is this about Linh?" I asked curiously. "Because remember what I said? She's never going to leave you - your family will only grow!" 

Tam shrugged. "I guess." He was quiet for a second before saying something further. "It's just... I don't know. Something." 

Something, I repeated in my head. What a perfect word. It could mean anything and everything. And right now, I took it to mean something between us. 

I slid closer to him across the bench until I was close enough to hold his hand. He tensed for a split second but then relaxed. 

"This is nice," I said happily. Tam turned his head to look at me with his silver-blue eyes. I cocked my head ever so slightly to the left as I leaned in closer until we were just barely apart. Then our lips met and my mind exploded. 

Okay, so perhaps exploded was just a tiny bit exaggerated to the average human being. But this was the first time I had ever kissed anyone! And I couldn't believe how magical it felt. Was this how all kisses felt like or just because I really, really, REALLY liked Tam?  

"I really, really, really like you, Tam," I blurted out after we broke apart. 

"Three reallys?" he asked with a slight grin. 

"Yes, and you know that thing they say..." 

"What thing?" he asked. 

"Three reallys equals love," I informed him. Tam scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. 

"But you just said three reallys," he reminded. 

"Yes, I did," I confirmed. 

"So... you love me?" 

"Well, that depends," I replied with a smile. 

"On what?" he asked, looking intrigued. 

"It depends on whether you love me back." I hesitated. "Do you?" 

Tam looked at me for a long time as if he was inspecting every single part of me. 

"I think I do," he answered. I covered my mouth to stop myself from squealing. This was turning out to be the best moment of my entire life!

"So what's the next step?" I asked. "Do we get married now?" 

"Married?" he repeated with a startled expression. I squinted my eyes in thought. 

"Is that not a normal thing to say?" I asked. It wasn't like I'd had a lot of practice with the outside world. In fact, I was only just beginning to learn about all the stuff in this world. 

"So you'd be completely fine if we just got married like that?" he asked with a snap of his fingers. I shrugged. 

"Well, I love you, and you love me, and what more is there to it?" I waited patiently for his response. Tam looked deep in concentration as he thought about what I had said. I wasn't sure if his reaction was going to positive or negative until the smallest smile began to appear on his face. The smile grew wider and he started to chuckle lightly; it was the first time I had ever heard him laugh. 

"Nothing," he replied. "There's nothing more to it at all."