The Troubled Billionaire

Chapter 51: The Reception

"Ten minutes." Zyljan muttered, eyes flitting around the decorated church, him being a bundle of nerves and a frustrated version of himself. Aiden, Austin, Paige, Dylan and I stared at him with mirth clearly palpable in our eyes as a series of laughter bubbled up in our throats. Zyljan's hazel eyes turned to us, a blank look plastered on his face. "Oh ha ha. This is amusing for all of you, I see. Sure, make fun of the nervous groom as he awaits for his bride. Terribly amusing."

With a lopsided grin plastered on my face, I looked at him, amusement still clearly dancing in my eyes. "Just relax, will you? Everything's going to be just fine."

"How can I relax? The whole ordeal is making me nervous! And I'm not even sure if I'm going to be married despite all this. For all I know, she could have ran away!" He ran a hand through his hair as he let out a frustrated sigh. "And why the fuck did I even agree to this stupid deal? I'm still twenty for fuck's sake. I'm too young to get married." When we looked at him with raised eyebrows, he looked horrified by the insinuations he know are going through our head. "Don't take that the wrong way because I genuinely would like to get married to Alyssa but not for now, at least. I would have liked to at least get to know her a little more before we're officially betrothed to each other."

My heart swelled at the genuine fondness his voice held when he talked about his bride. Even though my brother is popular among women and goes along with the attention the ladies are giving him, I know that he's still hoping that he could find that one girl who can make his heart beat for the first time — someone that he can genuinely and proudly say that he's in love with her.

But right now, I think he doesn't have to look for that anywhere else.

And yes, I understand his qualms about the whole thing. Getting married at twenty years old is pretty unsettling so I get why he's suddenly saying all of these things, just when he's about to seal the deal a few minutes from now.

"I say you just relax your nerves." Austin said. "I really do think it's highly impossible that she's backed out now."

Eyes filled with dubiousness, Zyljan flicked gaze to Austin. "But what if she did run away?"

Dylan snorted as he crossed his arms and regarded Zyljan with an amused look plastered on his face. "I can bet you the life of my sister—"

"Wow, thank you for making me feel incredibly safe in your presence." Paige glared at him.

Dylan just ignored his sister and continued talking. "—that Alyssa did not run away. The girl is as taken as you are. I'm pretty sure she would do anything to be here now and say your vows to each other."

"Please stop turning him into a sap." Aiden chorused. "I don't think I can handle another babble from him about his love life with the Bleu heiress."

I stifled a laugh at the disgruntled expression plastered on his face, knowing full well that all those talk irritated the hell out of him. Not that I blame him since I somehow feel the same way because Zyljan makes it a point to wake us up and whine at us at two in the morning. Why he doesn't just talk to us about that in the morning like a normal person, I have no idea.

Zyljan gave his younger brother a scowl. "Can you blame me? I haven't seen her for three days!" His scowl deepened as he straightened out his bowtie and dusted off some imaginary dust from his suit. "This traditional crap Mom and Sheryl are making us do is simply shit."

"Zyljan honestly. How many times do I have to tell you to watch your language?" The familiar voice coming from behind us made us all turn around to look at who it is. The second we did so though, I can already make out the ingenious face he's directing to Mom. I had to internally roll my eyes at his behavior. "And that 'traditional crap' Sheryl and I made you and Alyssa go through was necessary. It's bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding."