Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
ARIELLA
It’s especially bright when I open my eyes the next morning. Caleb is awake with his palms crossed behind his head, looking up at the ceiling in deep thought.
‘Good morning, Black.’ I reach my palm across and place it on his warm chest.
‘I need to start behaving like an adult, Aari.’ He sighs deeply. ‘You may be my first actual relationship, but that excuse isn’t going to hold up for much longer with my bullshit.’ He drops his head to the side so his eyes can meet mine. ‘I know that you love me. I need to trust that you’re not interested in running away with…someone else. For us to survive, I need to share everything, no matter how frightening, because holding on to you dictates every single move I make. No one has ever really truly cared about me the way you do, and you deserve more than I give everyone else. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get here. I know you’ll disagree, but it’s time that I publicly break up with Honey. I’m done playing games. If I don’t change the way I handle things and grow the fuck up, I’m going to destroy us.’
‘How long have you been awake, beating yourself up?’
‘Not long enough. We’re in this mess because of me. So much of this could have been avoided if only?—’
‘I need to grow up too. I sway to your heartbeat, Caleb, and I must stop being scared of that. Also, please stop being hard on yourself. I know that you always try to do the right thing, even when your decisions are a little murky.’ I laugh a little.
‘A little? That’s generous.’ Caleb snorts and it makes me smile.
‘My decisions can be murky too. You fought so hard for us. You have never made me feel like I had to conform to any expectations with you and I’ve maybe taken advantage of that. I’m so sorry.’
Caleb leans forward slowly to kiss me softly and my mind empties. This is where I belong. When he pulls away, I open my eyes and see my favourite smirk in the world.
‘Before we both grow up and start behaving like sensible human beings, I’ve got to ask.’
‘We’re imperfect, but we try. That’s the main thing. Carry on.’
‘What the hell was that last night?’ His eyes are wide with excitement. I can’t help being sucked in and a huge part of me is delighted that we don’t have to act like grown-ups just yet.
‘I’m just as perplexed as you are. I really just had this deep longing to be close to you. Then we started breathing together and there was all this tingling in my body and I think I was meditating at one point and then I felt like I exploded.’ I giggle from behind my palm, embarrassed.
‘That has never happened to you before?’
‘You’ve got the orgasm monopoly here, Caleb.’
‘Nice.’ He grins, before attacking me with tickles.
‘I thought we were meant to be grown-ups now,’ I complain happily.
‘Maybe only when it counts?’
I pull my boyfriend’s face to mine and kiss him deeply.
The way Caleb and I connect is indescribable. This morning everything seems slower and deliberate, with a sense of permanence enveloping us as we carefully claim each other. We don’t bother to untangle ourselves as we indulge in a short nap.
We are woken by loud knocking on the bedroom door.
‘I demand you stop whatever nastiness is going on now. I’m coming in!’ After a generous pause, Lara opens the door to point at Caleb.
‘You. Honey is ready and waiting in the garden to beat your arse in training. And you.’ She moves her finger across to me. ‘Eden called to say Ruby will be here in an hour,’ she instructs.
‘I’ll jump in quickly before Honey.’ Caleb tosses the white sheets off him without a care in the world, forcing Lara to turn quickly.
‘My eyes, Caleb. I’m so young and I still have so much more to see,’ she complains. I don’t have the same issues. I could look at Caleb’s cute bum all day.
As soon as Caleb is safely in the shower, Lara demands I move over to his side before she lies on the bed next to me.
‘You whored yourself last night and you’re his again, aren’t you?’ she asks, giving me one of her judgemental looks.
‘I did and I am.’ I hide my face under the blankets, embarrassed.
‘What is it about that boy? Cats must look upon him with envy. He’s on his ninety-ninth life.’
‘I don’t know – but enough about me. How are things with Honey?’
Lara casts a glance towards the bathroom, then moves closer.
‘She gave me a little kiss on the lips before she got into her bed last night. It wasn’t a tongue-y one, just a quick goodnight one. It was nice.’
The happiness radiates out of her and I can’t help the joy that is bubbling inside me.
‘You’re a lot in love with her, aren’t you?’
‘No I’m not! Take that back.’ Lara pokes me in the ribs through the blanket.
‘Ow! I take it back.’
‘Thank you,’ she responds forcefully, staring at the ceiling silently. Lara is in love. I struggle to keep my face neutral in order to hide the pure delight I feel. ‘And even if I was, it would only be a tiny, TINY bit,’ she admits, giving me the same dirty look I got earlier.
‘It’s some sort of admission at least,’ Caleb says, walking in wet, wrapped in a towel.
‘God, please, if you can hear me, I really hope today is the day Honey accidentally breaks something…’ Lara prays loudly, looking up to the sky with her palms together.
‘God, please, if you can hear me, I really hope today is the day Lara gets hit with so many feels for Honey that she writhes in excruciating?—’
The pillow hits Caleb squarely in the face. How it managed to land between his praying hands and face is a mystery.
‘What’s this?’ a sweaty, post-Honey Caleb asks, pointing at the thin, lacy underwear Eden delivered for me to wear today.
‘Lingerie.’ I start laughing because I know Caleb is going to make fun of me.
‘Why is it all orange, tiny and pretty? I quite like the passive-aggressive resistance of your usual. This one poses no challenge whatsoever.’
‘My dress is cut strangely, so if it slips a little bit and something shows, I’ll be all right.’
‘I suppose the silver lining is it’ll be easy extracting you from it later.’ He leans in to kiss me before heading into the shower.
I take my time getting into the asymmetrical fishtail dress Eden sent. She went for a bold, blue and burnt orange African print with large leaf details with holes everywhere. It’s so confusing, I’m on my fifth attempt getting it on when Caleb emerges.
‘Eden stitch you up again?’ He raises an amused eyebrow.
‘At this point, I’m comfortable with Eden doing whatever she wants – but she could at least send me instructions on how to get into the clothing she selects.’
‘Hold on. We can sort this out between us.’ Caleb approaches and takes it from me gently. It turns out I’ve been putting my foot into the armhole. When I get it on, it’s beautiful, but a little exposed because of the massive gaps between the leaves.
‘You don’t like it?’ Caleb asks, a laugh playing on his lips.
‘It’s pretty, but I asked her to make me blend in, not stand out!’
‘Well, I like it. It’s tempting.’ Caleb slips his hand up my dress so quickly he is halfway to his destination before I smack it away.
‘Stop it. You’re naughty. No.’ Thankfully, my phone dings. It’s a text from Lara letting me know that Ruby has arrived, enabling me to leave the room quickly.
‘Eden asked me to pop by quickly to see if the dress needs adjusting and to put a little bit of make-up on you,’ she explains. She’s wearing what looks like a huge bum bag and dragging a trolley case.
‘How is it going over there?’
‘It’s busy but we’re there. Melissa looks unbelievable and I’m not even done yet. Look at you. Eden will be pleased. It’s perfect. It’s the colour of the sea and flowers along the beach. Are you happy for me to do a deep-orange shadow on you and smoke it out softly with a dark blue? We can leave the rest of your face bare and just put some gloss on your lips?’
‘Mason! Get your beautiful behind in here, I need your bowtie-tying skills,’ Caleb calls from the bedroom, then pokes his head out.
The shock on Ruby’s face settles into confusion, then realisation, as she looks back and forth at us.
‘Hi, Ruby,’ Caleb calls happily. ‘Make-up time? I’ll leave you ladies to it.’
‘Is this what I think it is?’ Ruby whispers excitedly.
‘It’s exactly what you think it is.’ Caleb appears again. ‘And maybe quite a bit more.’ He raises his eyebrows twice before he disappears.
‘Ignore him,’ I plead, as I fail to control how joyful I feel.
‘Yes, ignore him,’ Lara announces, coming down the stairs in a short, delicate peach dress with a long tail, followed by Honey in an elegant, feminine, cobalt-blue fitted suit.
‘Ruby, think you could shove some make-up on us when you’re done with Aari? We’ve done our bases; we just need colour!’ Lara asks, plonking herself on the couch and shooting Ruby a charming look that makes it impossible for her to say no.
‘Sure!’
Today is going to draw similar reactions from a lot of people. Caleb’s interview with The Singaporean is still making the rounds on the internet. Samir has done everything he can to stamp it out, but social media is keeping it very much alive.
My worry disappears when Caleb emerges in his suit. Ruby has just finished putting a delicate and pretty arrangement of flowers on the side of my loosely pulled up hair.
‘You look very handsome, Caleb.’
‘I’ve obviously got to come through, as the hot one in the Ivory Bow delegation.’ That smirk. Still.
‘Obviously,’ Ruby agrees, chuckling, as she starts on Lara’s face.
‘Want to go ahead and meet the guys? They should be here by now.’ Caleb stretches out an open hand and nods to the front door.
‘Yes, please.’ I take his hand and follow him to where the guests are already gathering for Melissa and Kevin’s wedding.
‘This is weird, Ariella,’ Akiko mutters to me as we find our seats for the ceremony. She’s right. There are no flowers, no theme and no live music. There is nothing soft or romantic about it. The location in front of the water is stunning and everything is set up with absolute precision; but as someone who has worked with Melissa for the past few months, it still feels unusually cold to me.
‘She doesn’t care about this,’ Caleb responds to Akiko as he gently guides her to sit in front of him. Kevin is already at the altar, chatting with someone who is presumably his best man. He looks unbothered and relaxed.
‘Maybe Kevin planned it.’ Akiko frowns.
‘I think it’s chic,’ Bree comments as she takes her allocated seat behind Akiko.
‘I love how it’s all about hard angles and sharp edges,’ Sian contributes.
‘It’s probably a nod to her surgical life and Kevin’s IT company. Weddings. Brought to you by precision and efficiency. Dull,’ Jess responds with deep disapproval.
‘I don’t like it. It’s cold,’ Akiko protests. ‘We should have done this. It would have been so pretty.’
‘I wish we organised weddings. This is terrible,’ Jess agrees. ‘Ariella, can we do weddings?’ she calls out so loudly that a few guests around us hear her. I love Jess. Her incredibly creative bones always seem to be tingling with new ideas.
‘Ladies, can we talk about it at work?’ Lydia diplomatically shuts the conversation down, throwing a wink at Jess to soften her response.
The first bars of Tina Arena’s ‘Chains’ song start up. As the lyrics begin, Melissa appears alone on the white carpet leading directly to the altar, prompting everyone to stand. She looks stunning in the casual-looking strapless white top and shorts she has picked for her dress, with a simple long train attached at the back. She starts to slowly dance and sing down the aisle by herself. When the chorus hits, she extends her arms above her head, sings it at the loudest volume she can and encourages everyone to sing along.
‘I’M IN CHAINS!’ The guests, seemingly unsure at first, start to sing along as requested, hesitantly clapping along to the chorus. None of us from Ivory Bow are in a singing mood. Melissa takes the full four and a half minutes to make her way to the altar. The crowd bursts into applause, probably with some relief, when she gets there and stands next to Kevin.
‘There is more truth in that song than everyone realises. She’s clearly working those emotions out,’ Caleb whispers to me. I’m struggling to empathise.
‘She’s something.’ I’m not sharing Caleb’s need to analyse the situation. Not gonna happen. Caleb and I haven’t spoken about Melissa since our chat in the flat after Em accidentally told me what happened. My heart can’t take it. I know avoiding it is unhealthy but the alternative is to let the anger at Melissa rise to the top, and today isn’t the day for it.
‘Okay. Let’s get this over with,’ Melissa instructs the registrar, causing everyone to laugh.
The weirdness that no one else seems to pick up on doesn’t end there. The vows are short, and, while poor Kevin is the doting groom in love, Melissa seems bizarrely disconnected. During the vows, her ‘You finally dragged me here after all these years, so I suppose I’m stuck with you’ draws more tears from the audience than Kevin’s sincere and emotional ‘I do.’ When Kevin is finally asked to kiss the bride, Melissa jokingly ducks, before allowing him a quick peck on the cheek. As soon as they are presented as a married couple, Melissa turns round to the crowd and shouts, ‘Right, who wants to get really REALLY drunk with me?’
The guests cheer. ‘Chains’ plays again as they walk down the aisle, a dejected-looking Kevin following behind a dancing and singing Melissa. There are no speeches, we all get individual cake slices, so there is no cutting ceremony, and the first dance is Kevin and Melissa dragging everyone but each other onto the dance floor.
I decide to slip away from the main party in the glass pavilion to the garden outside. I spot Caleb in the thick of the dancing, taking turns with different guests. When our eyes meet, he gestures for me to come over. There is no way I am getting on the dance floor. My fury at what Melissa did to him has been intensifying all day.
I blow him a subtle kiss, shake my head, mouth, ‘I’m okay’ and continue my journey. The further I get from the noise, the calmer I feel, so I walk through the surrounding garden and end up alone on the beach. I make my way to the deserted water’s edge.
‘Had enough of our circus?’
The voice startles me and I turn round quickly. It’s the groom. He nods respectfully before introducing himself and stepping forward. I feel a little ambushed.
‘Kevin Wong.’
‘Ariella Mason.’ I nod back.
‘I know. You’re impossible to miss.’
I’m not sure if he’s trying to be charming but he is making me uncomfortable. I take a deep breath to calm myself down, and step back.
‘Congratulations,’ I say, as a way of ending the conversation.
‘I’m not sure that’s the word I’d use. My wife is beautiful, but she’s mean.’
‘You’ve been married for less than four hours and I’ve only just met you, MrWong. Congratulations are all I have to offer.’
‘MrWong?’ He laughs. ‘Dominic did tell me that you were…painfully polite.’
‘I can live with that.’
‘Are you not enjoying the party?’
I don’t know where the conversation is going and why he is so far away from his own wedding reception, so I tread carefully.
‘It’s noisier than I am used to.’
‘Go to a lot of quiet weddings?’
I have no intention of indulging Kevin Wong. ‘No, just different. The groom disappearing mid-celebration is new.’
‘My wife litters the entire wedding ceremony and breakfast with indications that she’s a prisoner in my dungeon and that’s the bit that’s new?’
‘MrWong, I don’t mean to be abrupt; but?—’
‘Melissa and Caleb aren’t done with each other. You should know that.’
‘Haven’t you just exchanged vows with one of them?’
‘She’s Melissa Chang. I know what I’m getting into. I’m not sure you do.’
‘Thank you for your thoughts, MrWong.’
‘I can see how you’ve driven Dom nuts.’
‘It was enlightening to meet you, MrWong.’ I shut down the conversation immediately and turn to make my way back to the glass pavilion. I’d rather deal with the noise and the people than be alone with Kevin Wong.
‘Enlightening? Ouch!’ Kevin calls as he speeds up to catch up with me. Just before we reach the pavilion, he reaches out to stop me, with what seems like concern. ‘I think you’re going to be okay, Ariella Mason; but, just in case you aren’t, please stay close to Dominic. Ah, speak of the devil.’ He looks towards the pavilion. I turn to see Dominic emerging from the glass dome.
‘Look who I found wandering out on the beach by herself!’ he shouts to a surprised-looking Dominic.
‘Don’t believe a word he says.’ Dominic calmly makes his way towards us. I muster a smile for him as I walk up to meet him.
‘Dom.’ I give him a hug, genuinely relieved to see him. Kevin was beginning to scare me.
‘Dom, eh?’ Kevin teases as he slaps Dominic’s shoulder. ‘All I got was MrWong.’
‘People get what they deserve, Kevin,’ Dominic lightly teases Kevin before he steps in front of me slowly and uses a hand to secure me safely behind him. Kevin gives me a final smile, then walks back into his sham wedding.
‘Are you okay?’ Dominic asks. ‘You looked a little shaken.’
‘Yes, thank you. He just came out of nowhere, that’s all.’
‘Okay. Good. Lara’s having a great time, by the way. She has most of the men at the edge of the dance floor right now, salivating at her dancing with Honey. If only they knew. I might hire her after all.’ He winks at me conspiratorially.
‘Knew what?’ I panic. I trust Dominic but the fewer people know about Honey, the better.
‘Christopher told me about her affair with a client’s girlfriend and a few other offences when I hinted that I might hire her. Not that it changed my mind.’
‘You’re going to give Lara a job?’
‘I’m thinking about it. And no, I’m not doing it for you, although making her happy makes you happy, which makes me happy. She’s difficult to ignore and very convincing.’
‘Thank you, Dom.’
‘You’re welcome. Come on, let’s get back to the party.’