Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
CALEB
For a wedding none of us wanted to attend, it’s bloody good fun. They’ve turned the reception into a nightclub and everyone is on the dance floor. The DJ is on fire and we are all quarter-to-drunk because we are never too far from a glass of something delicious. I’ve even managed to generate a few leads, because everyone who’s anyone is here.
Apart from Ariella. I watched her wander out a while ago. I would have followed, but she looked like she needed the alone time away from the noise and I decided to stay to keep my eye on Honey and Lara. It seems Lara made a few ‘friends’ the night before. Every time one of her victims would try to cut in to grab Lara’s attention, she’d expertly dance away to find Honey again, crushing one ego after the other. It’s not until Honey throws me a worried look that I grab Bryce and we both cut in. I get it – the last thing Honey wants is the attention.
Bryce is a fucking rock star. He steps up, grabs Lara by the waist, pulls her right into him and holds her still before letting her sway along with him. The attention Lara has drawn is so intensely focused on Bryce making her submit to him on the dance floor that it gives Honey and me the distraction we need to casually dance away to one of the hidden tables to take a break. Not that anyone cares – we’ve supposedly been a couple for so long, we’re old news.
‘I don’t think I can do this.’ Honey is panicking by the time we sit down. I understand. Lara can be a little too sparkly and Honey has found hiding peaceful and a source of comfort.
‘Breathe, Honey. Embarrassingly, it was only a few weeks ago that I realised that most things can be solved by talking. Have you told her?’
‘No, how can I? She’s a lot, Caleb. I know she’s loud and amazing and funny – and look at her, she’s beautiful. But she lives her life out in the open. I can’t do that. She could jeopardise everything.’
‘Trust me, I’m never more than ten minutes away from wanting to strangle Lara, and yes, she is a force of nature, but she is kind, loyal, trustworthy and absolutely dependable. She will fight for you and keep your secrets. She will tell you the truth but protect you from the consequences. She will bend the rules for you, including hers. And if you let her love you, the day that you regret that choice will never arrive – because I may want to kill her most of the time, but I fucking love that woman and, whether or not she admits it, she loves me too. And I don’t think we’d want to have it any other way.’
‘I don’t know, Caleb. I don’t think I’m ready and I’m not even sure if she realises how serious this is.’
‘Honey, you really have no idea what’s going on here, do you? Watch this.’
I whip out my phone and send a text to Lara.
Get your exhibitionist arse off the fucking dance floor and stop causing a scene. It’s making H uncomfortable. We’re on the back tables by the gifts.
We both observe Lara look at her watch and tap it.
K
Lara stops, hugs Bryce very suggestively and leads him off the dance floor in the opposite direction to exit the pavilion. The broken hearts she leaves behind slowly disperse.
‘She cares about you, Honey. Probably more than you know. Go back to the villa. Tell her.’
It doesn’t take long for Lara to appear.
‘Sorry we took so long, we had to lose the lechy eyes. Hunbun, are you all right? I’m sorry.’
‘Yeah. I think I’ve had enough. I’m going to head back to the villa.’
‘I’ll come with you. Make sure you’re okay. This dress is killing me and, besides, I’m sure I’ll be employed by the end of next week, so my work here is done. Shall I nick a bottle of wine? We can go back and watch a film.’
The smile Honey rewards Lara with as she stands makes my heart melt. I think these two might make it.
‘Nicely done, Bryce.’
‘Meh, I owe Lara several favours. We look out for each other,’ he says, then pats me on the back and walks away.
Honey and Lara have left me all warm and fuzzy, so I find my happy place.
Mason, you beautiful creature, where are you?
Having a chat with Dominic and a couple of others outside away from the noise. Come and get me when you’ve had enough?
Just as I start to cross the dance floor to retrieve my girlfriend, a very tipsy Melissa stumbles up, drinking champagne straight from the bottle even though she is holding a perfectly useable flute. I’ve been sticking close to the team and avoiding her all day. I was just starting to feel like I could get through her circus without any contact.
‘Wanna dance with the bride?’ She isn’t quite fully drunk yet, and all eyes are on her, so I can’t exactly decline. I wrestle the champagne bottle and glass from her and put them down on the closest table.
‘Of course.’ I force a smile. Thankfully it’s a fast track and we can dance at a distance. The good thing about weddings is that people tend to follow the bride and dance around her. It won’t take long before we end up in a dancing group. I plan to slip away as soon as a Whitney Houston or Beyoncé track comes on and sends all the women in the vicinity into a frenzy. Thankfully, the DJ is being generous with those tonight. It’s just a matter of time.
‘Are you having a good time?’ she asks over the music.
‘For an event that required our mandatory attendance, it hasn’t been terrible. Are you and your “chains” having a good time?’ I already know the answer.
‘The drink was helping me come to terms with it.’ She points to the bottle I confiscated, then grabs my hand and clumsily makes me twirl her.
‘You really don’t want to be doing this, do you?’
‘I had no choice.’ She shimmies away and shimmies back again.
‘You’re Melissa Chang. All you have is choice.’ I bring her back to me and twirl her properly.
‘That’s where I messed up.’
‘How did you mess up?’
‘Ask me if I come back from my honeymoon.’ She dances around me suggestively.
‘If?’
‘Did I say if?’ She feigns a shocked face. ‘I meant when.’
I leave it because, at this point, I don’t care. It’s her day and, as much as she doesn’t want to be here, she is making the best of it. Thankfully, after an unusually long hiatus, the DJ finally hits us with ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’. There is joyful screaming, and the women on the dance floor immediately gravitate towards Melissa. Perfect. Time to find Ariella and take her home.
The pavilion has several doors, so it takes me a few tries to find the right one. I spot Ariella standing with Dominic Miller, Kevin Wong and a couple of other people I don’t recognise. I join them. I don’t particularly want to stay, but she is talking passionately about expanding our Conscious Experience app and I love watching her when she’s like this. Dominic Miller’s jacket is draped over her shoulders as he listens, standing protectively next to her in his white shirt, black bow tie and cummerbund. It’s not a visual I like, at all.
‘Hey, congratulations, Kevin.’ I approach. Aari’s face lights up as soon as she sees me and I’m not the only one who notices. In fact, it’s so obvious it doesn’t bother me any more that Dominic’s coat is over her shoulders.
‘The infamous Caleb. Thanks.’ Kevin reaches out his hand and Dominic stifles a chuckle as I shake it.
‘The infamous Caleb indeed. How are you doing? Getting ready to head to London next week?’ Dominic asks, extending his own hand. I take it.
‘Yes. Should be a good trip.’
I promised Ariella I would grow up and, to be honest, it’s not very difficult after last night. Whatever that was between us created such a deep tie to her that I don’t feel the usual need to draw big, fat, red lines around her. Her heart is mine, we belong to each other and nothing is going to touch that.
I am introduced to the other two guys, who work in the same industry space as Kevin and Dominic.
‘Are you ready to go?’ Aari asks, hinting that she is.
‘Noooo, stay.’ The guys turn to Ariella together.
‘Yes, Caleb. Stay,’ Kevin directs at me instead. ‘I’ve got to tell you guys, Caleb is a big reason why I’m getting married today.’ He puts his hand on my shoulder. Shit, he knows. No, he can’t know. He simply can’t.
‘Why?’ one of the other guys asks.
‘Mel is absolutely obsessed with him.’ Present tense. What the fuck is going on?
Ariella slowly reaches for my hand and I see Dominic notice it. My palms start to sweat because this is not supposed to be in the public domain. I need to stop this but I don’t know how.
‘Oh yeah!’ Kevin continues. ‘She’s had him on her mind for so many years, it left space for nothing else. He’s had a massive impact on her and all he had to do was meet her once. She even went to London to find him. Thankfully, she also came back with you, Ariella, and you are absolutely delightful.’ He takes Ariella’s hand and kisses it. Ariella puts that polite smile on her face that, if you knew her, you’d easily decode as ‘get the fuck away from me, now’.
‘It was a while ago, I’m hardly responsible…’ I try to break his story, but he’s committed and mid-flow.
‘Oh, come on! Me, you, Dominic and Melissa sat at the same table at the Tech Awards, about three, four years back, remember? I think she told me you shared a car home.’
Dominic was there? Kevin looks like he’s telling a happy-go-lucky story, but he’s making it clear that he definitely knows. ‘Or maybe you put her in a car to take her home. It’s hard to recall. Either way, there was a car and she got home. Eventually.’
Okay. I relax. He’s not going to say anything. I know that because Zheng has been driving Melissa since she was six. Even when she went to Stanford, he moved to California with her and drove her around there too. I don’t believe she has ever been put in a car that isn’t hers, ever, in her life. He just wants me to know that he knows. I play along.
‘Possibly.’ I exaggerate my nonchalance.
‘Anyway, I’m glad she got you here. You’ve been her little project and kept her busy for the last couple of years. Now you’re in Singapore, she can mark it as complete and move on to other things.’
‘I’m glad it worked out. He’s an incredible director of sales,’ Dominic adds to end the conversation, even though his expression tells me that he is enjoying this.
‘Oh, he definitely worked out. The very next day after he moved to Singapore to start this role, Melissa finally committed to our wedding date. Isn’t that nuts?’ Kevin confirms to Ariella.
Right now, all I can think about is going to find Melissa. I need to know what Kevin knows and if it’s going to be a problem for me going forward. I just need to get away without it looking like I am beating a retreat after the exchange with Kevin. Dominic gives me the break I need. He’s been unusually helpful this evening, albeit unintentionally.
‘Ariella, can we go for a twirl on the dance floor? I promise to be gentle with your boss, Caleb.’
‘Please return her in one piece,’ I say as I shake his hand again.
‘Well?’ Dominic asks Ariella.
‘Sure,’ she responds, not sounding sure at all, but she lets him lead her away anyway.
I nod my goodbyes to the others and walk in the other direction. When I am a safe distance away, I whip out my phone and text Melissa that we need to talk. We agree to meet at the altar in five. It’s as good a location as any, given the mockery she made of her vows earlier.
I quickly make my way over and find her waiting for me in the dark.
‘Kevin knows?’ I don’t waste any time.
‘Yes,’ she confirms, obviously irritated that she has to.
‘What the fuck, Mel. He’s telling everyone you’re marrying him because of me.’
‘What did he say?’
‘That you’re obsessed with me and?—’
‘Asshole,’ she spits.
‘Did you tell him?’
‘Of course not!’
‘Then how?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Of course it fucking matters!’
‘Caleb, I don’t want to?—’
‘Melissa! Tell me right now.’
‘Fine. He has pictures, texts and recordings. From Singapore and London. He knows everything. Even about our last night together. He said he’d release them if we didn’t come to an agreement with the prenup.’
‘He threatened you?’
‘No, dumb-dumb! I can take care of myself. He threatened you . Kevin and his felonious relatives can’t even consider that I might be engaging in pillow talk. Not that it would even cross their minds if I was a man. Thankfully I’m valuable. You, however, are dispensable.’
‘You married him because of me? Why?’ I soften.
‘Because I loved you, you fucking liability! I’d rather have you alive, running around rubbing Ariella in my face all over Singapore where I can keep an eye on you, than have you found dead, naked and alone, with some cryptic threat shoved up your anus, on Hampstead Heath.’
‘Kevin could do that?’
‘Kevin is an idiot. It’s the people Kevin might inadvertently inform, connected to his evil father, that might be a problem. Argh. I’m surrounded by so many stupid people.’
She paces back and forth. It’s out before I realise it.
‘Thank you.’
‘Shut up, you moron,’ she responds quietly. For the first time since I’ve known her, I feel her emanate a sorrow so deep that, if I don’t hold her, she will fall apart. I step forward, reach for Mel and pull her into my arms.
‘I miss my dad, Caleb. I feel so lonely without him and, contrary to what you may believe, he didn’t put me through medical school, residencies, years of no sleep, abuse and navigating egotistical God complexes only for me to become a common criminal. This is not what he wanted for me and it sure as fuck isn’t what I wanted for myself.’ And her admission is all it takes for Melissa Chang to burst into hard, heartbreaking sobs in my arms.
I hold her for as long as it takes for her to calm down and, when does, she steps away quietly.
‘Not a word about this to anyone, Caleb,’ she says angrily, wiping her tears.
‘Trust me, my legacy at this wedding isn’t going to be the guy that you cheated on Kevin with.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘You didn’t what?’
‘I didn’t cheat on Kevin. Today was our first kiss. That was revolting enough. Kevin and I have never slept together and we never will.’
‘I don’t understand. Then why…’
‘You’ll understand soon enough. I’d better get back to my wedding and my plan to make Kevin’s life the definition of misery.’
She straightens her body, hardens her face and gives me one last look.
‘Goodbye, Caleb. Look after yourself. And whatever happens, trust me, I’m going to be fine.’