HIS CLAIM

2

Elsa

As soon as we entered the mansion, I looked around. In front of me was the beautiful beige marble staircase that led to two small separate staircases on either side to get to the top. With the black railing, a shining crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling right in the middle of the staircase, with tiny spotlights illuminating the rest of the ceiling, created a nice, exquisite appearance.

We passed by the staircase to get to the backyard, and a strong wave of nostalgia washed over me as I looked around. So many memories were made in this house, and even though most of the interior had been changed, there was still a sense of familiarity. I may not have stayed in this mansion for that many years, but those years were some of the bests in my life because, at that time, I had Tessa by my side.

Music and chatter reached my ears as we now stood at the entrance of the backyard, but still out of people's eyesight. We followed the stone path that winded around the corner to the right side of the house. I took a good look around as beautiful flowers and plants of all hues of color were on either side of the path. I had to admit that the gardener did one heck of a job because it felt like I was walking through a meadow with many beautiful colors.

I halted in my steps just before we rounded the corner to join the rest of the people.

"Just take a deep breath,Elsa You will be fine, I promise." I turned to look at Asher, and he gave me a reassuring smile while giving my hand a small squeeze. I tightened my hold around his hand a little, grateful that he was here to ease my nerves a bit.

"I know, it's just nervesness getting to me. It's been a long time since I've been here, and so many memories." I gave him a small smile in return. He pulled me a bit closer to him, which I welcomed because it did calm down my nerves that were increasingly building.

As soon as we rounded the corner, I let out a small gasp at the sight in front of me. I was stunned by how beautiful everything looked.

"Wow." I breathed out as took in the sight in front of me.

It was a big open space with massive trees surrounding the place. They have managed to wrap the trees around with light chains, lightning the whole place up, and string lights hanging from one tree to another, creating a form of a ceiling of light in the air. There were big round tables scattered around with fancy tablecloths, and vases with gold engravings, holding the white and soft pink Camellia flowers. If this was just the engagement party, I couldn't imagine how grand the wedding would be. And it definitely would be grand just by looking at the number of people present here.

"Yeah, I agree." Asher said as he also looked around the backyard.
"I'll just go and put this on the gift table. Can I get you something to drink?" He motioned his head to the far-right side where a bar has been set up with a bartender.
"Anything non-alcoholic would be great, thanks. I want to stay as sober as possible." It was not that I couldn't handle a few glasses of champagne, I just didn't want anything to mess up with my senses if anything went wrong. I am nervous as hell and do something crazy and I couldn't risk with that.

"Sure!  I will be right back." He said as he went his way to the gift table.

Shit, I was alone now. I should have gone with him but instead, I was now here, standing alone, and I didn't know what to do....Should I just go up and say 'hi, remember me?' kind of thing? Yeah, that sounded like an awful plan. I decided to look around to see if I could spot Tessa somewhere in the mass of people. What I didn't notice was that half of the people were already staring at me while I was in my own miserable bubble. I shifted my weight on my feet a little as I started to feel uncomfortable with all the attention on me.