Let Love Win

Chapter 35 - Zeek

As I stood at the alter and looked at the door waiting, for the rest of my life to walk down the aisle towards me, I knew this was exactly what I never wanted. I never wanted to have to give into my parents and let them plan my life out for me, let alone having them choose a so-called suitable bride for me. As if Shawna was more suitable than Hadley for mw to spend the rest of my life with. As if Shawna was better suited to run a kingdom when all she really thinks about is herself and how she can move forward in life. She does things without considering the consequences. She doesn't think about other people the way Hadley would.

Hadley. It's been over two weeks since our fallout and still I find that everything leads my thoughts back to her. She occupied every second of my thoughts when I was with her, and it feels like I think about her now more than I did then, if that's even possible. I started finding reasons not to fall asleep at night because I knew no matter what I dreamt about, she would always be there. Recently, I'd gone an entire 56 hours without a wink of sleep. And apparently I wasn't very good at hiding it because Brad said I looked like shit and forced me to lay down and catch some Z's. And guess who was there with me the whole time? Who knew love could do such crazy things to a man's head?

I saw a pair of hands flash by in front of my eyes and was woken up from my daydreams of Hadley in all her beauty, inside and out. I glanced back down the aisle and saw Shawna starting to make her decent to me. She was dressed in a traditional white wedding dress that was tight around her breasts and waist and poofed out like Cinderella at the bottom. The entire dress was covered in either sparkles or rhinestones. The veil covered her face, but not enough that I couldn't see the smug smile on her red painted lips. Her brown hair was pulled back into a bunch of curls and draped over one shoulder. Her pale skin nearly matched the colour of the dress and drowned her out completely. The only thing I could think of in that moment was how much better Hadley would have looked in the dress, with the contrast between her skin and the dress and how her lips would pop much nicer in the red lipstick. How her smile would have been a genuine one that I seemed to only see when she was with Mel or the boys, and—in the final months of our relationship—around me.

When she reached me, she looked directly into my eyes and smiled sweetly. I had to hold my breath to refrain from puking my breakfast all over the glistening dress. Her father placed her hand in mine and I grudgingly guided her up the steps to stand in front of me.

"Hi sweetheart," she whispered. I ignored her and just looked around the room at all of the grinning guests in the crowd. My mom really did invited the whole world and their mothers to the wedding. Shawna cleared her throat obnoxiously, pulling my attention back to her. "How do I look? I left my hair down just how you like it."

"When did I say that?" I asked bluntly.

"Well that orphan girl always had her hair down." In all honesty, it was only because Hadley looked good with her hair down. Or up. However she had, it she was always beautiful to me.

And there I went thinking about Hadley again. The more I thought about her and the time we spent together, the more I realized that she never wore white or curled her hair. Well, around me at least. Yet still when I looked at Shawna, I couldn't help but imagine what she would look like standing in front of me, dressed in white with her hair curled. Though, I couldn't picture her hair curled, simply because of the unique colour of her hair: blonde with black ends. Oh, what the hell? Her hair would look amazing in any style she decided to put it in.

"Anyways," she continued as if she'd been talking for a while. "I'm glad that your dad's plan worked. I'm really happy that you came to your senses."

"Wait, plan? What plan?" I questioned desperately.

"We had to get you to see what a mistake it would be if you continued seeing her. She can't lead a kingdom, let alone your kingdom that has been under such great leadership for decades."