𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒

Bonus 1

Cleo Edwards

Xael was pacing around.

At least that was what the group chat which included me, Xion, Sven, Zach and Leander said. I wasn't sure whether to believe Xael was pacing since she never let the wedding stress get to her and was always as cool as a cucumber, so I took it upon myself to check on her.

After doing a last-minute check on the wedding reception, making sure the seating arrangement was according to Xael and Orion's plans and the decor was proper, I informed Lanier, Orion's father, to keep an eye and then knocked on Xael's bridal suite.

When Sylvia opened the door with an exasperated expression, the gut feeling in me started beeping with alertness. Immediately I started looking around if anything important for the ceremony went missing but I could find none.

"It's about the wedding cake," Sylvia said and I knew I had to rush to Xael.

One of the elements in wedding planning that Xael and Orion took the longest to decide on was the wedding cake. They couldn't decide which flavour had to be eggless and how many tiers had to be eggless. After almost three weeks of discussions, and several drafts on their cake, they came to a final decision.

As I carefully skipped over all the items on the floor, I found Xael pacing around in her silk robe with frustration and Mia, the makeup artist, who was clueless about how to put makeup on someone who was walking around.

Xael was speaking in her calmest voice. "Olivia, what do you mean your transport vehicle broke down?!" Looking at the look on Xael's face, I knew the response was negative. "You can't deliver the cake?" I could hear a no and letting out a sigh, Xael spoke back. "I'll send someone then."

When Xael finally kept the phone down after texting someone to pick up the cake, Mia smiled like she saw the first rays of the sun after a heavy thunderstorm and continued with the makeup.

After taking in several deep breaths, Xael saw me and I gave her a wave. "Are you alright?"

She shook her head. Instantly I went to her side and hugged her to the side. I kissed her hair and squeezed her fingers. "It'll be alright, boo."

"I think the wedding stress has gotten to me." Xael smiled while dabbing the tears on her cheeks with a tissue. "Maybe we should have hired a planner instead of doing everything on our own."

"It's all part of the pre-wedding jitters, babe. You'll be fine within fifteen minutes."

"I'll be fine." Xael let out a breath. "I wonder how Orion is doing?"

"You haven't seen Orion since the morning?" And Xael said, "No." This time my jaw dropped.

Xael and Orion were the couple in our friend group who were the first to move in together. The first time we all visited their apartment after their housewarming dinner, I was shocked to see how good their apartment looked.

There were photo frames around with their pictures with their families, some pictures just of them from college and some teenage pictures. Everything was so impeccably arranged and so domestic that Sven jokingly went around searching for wedding rings from the looks of how Xael and Orion acted.

Both of them sent texts throughout the day or had video calls if they weren't together. So imagine my surprise when I heard that they had done neither of these from the morning. I was stunned.

Zach, just entering the suite with Xion spoke, "Both the moms gave them strict warning saying no texts, no video calls and no seeing each other as it was bad luck."

Wrapping an arm around my waist, Xion added, "Yesterday night, when this was instructed, you had to see Xael and Orion's faces, these twenty-five-year-olds were so scared from the strict voices of both their mothers."