WEDDING SPECIAL - Forever Started With You
Lia's POV
The morning of my wedding began with chaos.Not romantic chaos.Not movie chaos.Real chaos.The kind involving missing flowers, three crying bridesmaids, and Sofia threatening bodily harm against anyone who touched my dress.
"Stop moving."
"I'm literally standing still."
"You moved emotionally."
I stared at Sofia through the mirror.
"What does that even mean?"
"It means you're stressing me out."
A laugh escaped me.The sound felt strange.Everything felt strange.Because in a few hours, I was going to marry Adrian Monteverde.
The realization still didn't feel real.Maybe because I'd imagined this moment so many times.Maybe because a part of me never believed it would actually happen.Or maybe because the man waiting at the end of the aisle once terrified me.Now he was the safest place I'd ever known.
The thought softened something inside my chest.I looked down at the engagement ring resting on my finger.The same ring Adrian had given me months ago.The same ring he'd apparently purchased long before he proposed.A fact I only discovered later.Of course he had.
The man planned business acquisitions less thoroughly than he planned loving me.
—
The ceremony was held outside the city.A private estate overlooking the water.
Nothing excessive.
Nothing flashy.
Just beautiful.
White roses.
Soft music.
Sunlight spilling across the gardens.Exactly the kind of wedding I'd always dreamed about.Which should have surprised me.Except Adrian somehow knew my dreams before I spoke them aloud.Sometimes that was romantic.Sometimes it was slightly alarming.
Today it was both.
—
My father cried first.Before the ceremony even started.One look at me in the dress and he completely lost the battle.
I hugged him.
Then cried too.
Then somehow half the room started crying.Including people who had sworn they wouldn't.By the time the music started, everyone looked emotionally compromised.
Everyone except Adrian.
At least until he saw me.
—
The moment I stepped onto the aisle, everything else disappeared.
The guests.The flowers.The music.All of it.
Because Adrian was standing there.Waiting.
Black suit.Dark eyes.Completely still.
And suddenly he looked exactly the way he had the first time I met him.
Not cold.Not intimidating.Just completely focused.
Only this time, that focus belonged to me.His expression changed the second our eyes met.Small.Almost invisible.But I saw it.The slight break in his composure.The emotion.The disbelief.Like even now he couldn't quite believe I was real.And God.That look nearly destroyed me.
—
Adrian never looked nervous.Not during billion-dollar negotiations.Not during interviews.Not during public appearances.
Yet standing at the altar, waiting for me—his hands trembled slightly.Only slightly.Still enough for me to notice.
I smiled.
His expression softened immediately.There it was.My favorite thing in the world.The smile Adrian reserved for almost nobody else.The smile he once forgot how to wear.The smile he gave me anyway.
—
The vows were a blur.Not because I wasn't listening.Because I was overwhelmed.Every word felt too big.Too important.Too real.Then Adrian spoke.And the entire world went silent.
"I spent most of my life believing love made people weak."
His voice was steady.
Quiet.
Honest.
"I thought needing someone was dangerous."
A faint laugh moved through the guests.Mostly because everyone knew how wrong he'd been.
Adrian looked at me.
Only me.
"And then I met you."
The emotion in his voice nearly broke me.
"You became every good thing I never expected."
My vision blurred immediately.
Great.
Now I was crying again.
"Before you, survival was enough."
His eyes never left mine.
"After you, I wanted a life."
The silence around us felt sacred.
Fragile.
Perfect.
"I don't promise perfection."
His hand tightened around mine.
"I don't promise we'll never struggle."
A small smile appeared.
"But I promise there will never be a day you face it alone."
The tears finally escaped.
And honestly?
At that point everyone else was crying too.
So I didn't feel bad about it.
—
When the officiant finally announced us husband and wife, the applause felt distant.The cheers.The laughter.The celebration.All of it faded.Because Adrian looked at me like nothing else existed.The same way he'd looked at me for years.
Only now there was no uncertainty.No fear.No waiting.Just certainty.Forever certainty.The kind that settles deep into your bones.
—
The reception lasted late into the evening.
Music.
Dancing.
Stories.
Embarrassing speeches.
At one point Sofia gave a twenty-minute presentation about why Adrian had been obsessed with me from the beginning.Including photographic evidence.Apparently everyone except me knew.
Traitors.
Every single one of them.
—
Near midnight, I finally escaped onto a balcony overlooking the water.The air felt cool.Peaceful.Quiet after hours of celebration.A moment later, strong arms wrapped around my waist.
I smiled immediately.
"Hello, husband."
A soft laugh touched my ear.
"Hello, wife."
The words settled warmly between us.Neither of us spoke for a moment.We simply stood there together.Watching the lights shimmer across the water.Existing inside a happiness neither of us had expected to find.
Eventually I turned toward him.
"You look happy."
The observation earned a smile.
A real one.
The kind that still felt like a miracle.
"I am."
Simple answer.
Complete truth.
I reached up and touched his face gently.The same face that once looked permanently exhausted.Permanently lonely.Now it looked peaceful.Finally.And maybe that was my favorite part of all.
Not the wedding.
Not the ring.
Not even becoming his wife.
It was knowing the man I loved had finally found his way home.
—
Adrian kissed my forehead softly.Then pulled me closer.And beneath a sky full of stars, surrounded by the people we loved most, forever finally began.The way it always should have.
Together.