My Brother's Bride

1. Memories: A Box Of Chocolates

☆★  CHAPTER 1  ||  Nikita  ☆★ 

"Catch me if you can!"

"Shut up Liam, you know I'm a runner and I have beaten you in running on sports day." I said while running after my best friend, Liam.

"That was nothing! I let you win on purpose!" he yelled, running faster and faster away from me.

"I swear I will- wait, Liam don't run any further! We're heading towards the sea!" I warned him, moving a few strands of hair that slipped out of my ponytail due to the strong sea breeze. He stopped running vigorously and slowly stopped. He was breathing very hard, panting and coughing.

"I told you; don't try to win me in a race. I always win." I said, patting his back. He stood up straight, not coughing anymore but smiling widely at me. His fingers ran through his thick messy brown hair. Oh, I love it when he does that. Yes, he is my best friend, and no, that does not mean I can't fall in love with him.

"Nikita, we are at the beach for a reason." He said pulling me towards the sea. "Noooooo. I don't know how to swim, Liam! STOP! PUT ME DOWN!" He lifted my feet off of the ground and carried me bridal style. I punched his chest over and over again but it was hard as a rock. Damn, those abs. He has to stop making me fall in love with him every time we are together.

We were immersed into the sea blue water. The water made my clothes stick to my body which isn't really an appropriate thing to happen at the moment. Oh fish, I thought to myself. Liam had let go of me. He shouldn't have because I can't really swim, I need to hold on to something!

"Liam don't let go of me!" I screamed, terrified.

"Owww! My ear! Have some mercy on me! I'm not that stupid, Nikita. I wouldn't want my best friend to drown. If you do, I wouldn't have anyone to bully." He said with a smirk.

"Listen, you better shut your ass- LIAAAAAAAAAM!" He let go off me and I was kicking in the water hoping I wouldn't drown.

"That's right. Now keep quiet and spend some time with your bestie will you?" He held my waist so I wouldn't slip and drown into the water. Oh how I wish he would hold me like that every second, of every day. But not in the water of course.

"You know, we still have a biology essay to complete plus some math homework. We should really go. I'm sure our parents will-"

"Our parents do not have to know that we are at the beach instead of doing our homework together. They're all working anyways. Why bother?" He cut me off with a strong point.

"Well, we won't tell them. Jai will." Jai was Liam's brother. Well, not exactly. Liam is adopted by the Acosta family after his parents died in a car crash when he was five. We never talk about it. It's a really sensitive issue. Everyone knows the truth that Jai and Liam are not brothers, though. You can figure it out by the physical appearance. Liam has brown hair while Jai has sandy blond hair. Jai was only a year older than both of us but Jai was really tall. Jai also had emerald green eyes while Liam had chocolate eyes.

"Shoot. You're right; we should go. Jai loves busting us. He's like the male version of Candace from Phineas and Ferb.”

I laughed. We both knew Jai would do anything to get us in trouble. He has this egoistic problem and doesn't really respect Liam as his brother which I find very offensive because Liam has always treated Jai like he was his real brother.

Liam helped me swim to the shore. I could feel the blazing sun heating up my skin.

"Hey! Look at this!" He said, picking up something shiny from the sand and gave it a little rub. No it wasn't an Aladdin lamp even though I could use some wishes right now. He stood behind me and our bodies were inches away. He pushed my pony tail to one side and began fiddling with the necklace he found. He clasped it around my neck and I. looked down to see a silver heart pendant resting on my chest.

"For my one and only, lovely best friend, Nikita." I couldn't stop myself and pulled him into a warm hug.

~

"Milo. Stop. MILO I'M AWAKE NOW, STOP." I shouted at my dog in fury. It only seemed like yesterday when Liam gave me that necklace that was still hanging around my neck. But that dream, or shall I say memory, was when we were sixteen years old. Now I’m working and he is too. I was mad at Milo for waking me up. I wanted that memory to last forever but after all, he's just a dog.

Milo jumped on my bed and started licking my toes. "Okay okay, I'm waking up, just stop! Haha, it tickles!!" I said in between laughs.

I didn't have to go to work today though. It's a Saturday! What should I do?

A ringing sound filled my bedroom. I found my phone buzzing under my pillow. It was a free line call and it was Liam. Oh that boy. Even though he is in Sydney and I'm in Liverpool he never forgets me.

I answered the call and put it on speaker.

"Good evening miss."

"Good morning, actually." I said while making my bed.

"I hate time zones."

"We all do. So how’s your day?" I moved to my table, arranging some novels.

"Forget all that. I have something really important to tell you." he said in a serious tone of voice, which made me curious.

"I'm listening."

"I'm getting married." And with that, a stack of books slipped out of my hand. I tried catching them but instead I tripped over one of them.

"Owwww. Darn." Milo came woofing back into my room. Married? With who? Where? How did this happen? We talk almost every day and he had never mentioned any girl. He can't just- I mean- I love-

"I was joking." Joking? Oh what in the world? I felt my cheeks burn and at the same time my hand itching to slap him hard in the face. I'm too used to doing that to him.

"I'm gonna slap you Liam! You gave me a heart attack!"

"Don't worry Nikita, you'll slap me soon. Real soon." Soon? What did he mean? He was in Sydney planning a white wedding. Liam is a wedding planner, he own a company called Wedding Bells. He always told me marriage is an event where two souls becomes one. He never really saw how his parents love each other and celebrate their wedding anniversaries but he sure has seen the love between Mr. and Mrs. Acosta.

Liam is going to see me soon. Question is when and where? It's been two years since I saw my best friend. That is if you don't count the Skype calls. I picked up one of the books I dropped-- only that it wasn't a book but a photo album. An album full of pictures of both of our families. Our families were very close. Did I mention that The Acostas live right next door? Well, they do!

There was a picture of me blowing the candles out on my cake at my birthday party. I think I was around eight years old then. At that time, I knew Liam for three years and we became really close. Beside it was another picture of Liam and I. Looks like we were rubbing cream on each other's faces! Ohh, I remember those moments! I got cream in my nose! I found myself laughing out loud in a room full of silence.

Memories are like a box of chocolates. You can't just stop at one chocolate after opening the whole box. True enough, I sat there on my room floor for a couple of hours looking at pictures that made my lazy Saturday much better  

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A/N: Helloooo. Just want to say, Feel My Heartbeat only has one more chapter till its complete. So this would be my new novel that i'm writing. Romance and Teen Fiction novel. Please read, vote, comment, follow and claim your subway cookie from me!

Dedicated this chapter to @Loveena because she's amazing in writing and always supports me in writing this novel and I think you guys should check out her Romance novel Sweeter Than Fiction. :)

I love you guys for reading! Thank you. :)