Chapter 125 The wedding has to happen in America.

Chapter 125 The wedding has to happen in America.
"Aria? When did you get here, kid?" Indra walks over to his daughter waiting in his office.

"Been here a while, dad. You were in a meeting."

"Oh. All alone?"

Aria shakes her head. "Dominic is here. He went to the bathroom."

Indra nods.

"What is this about? Why come back to Indonesia?"

Aria smiles at her dad's question. She does not want to say it first. That is Dominic's business.

"Let Dominic tell you, dad. It is not my place to talk about it."

Indra squints at his daughter.

A few minutes later, Dominic walks into the room. He looks a little surprised to see Indra already there.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Indra," Dominic says and shakes the older man's hand.

"Afternoon. Now that Dominic is here, can you tell me what brought you both back?"

Indra looks at Dominic then Aria then back again. Dominic gets it. He sits down next to Aria.

"So here it is. The reason we came to Indonesia. I want to ask for your permission. I want to marry Aria."

Indra goes quiet. His face goes blank.

Seeing her dad react like that makes Aria nervous right away.

"What do you mean? You want to marry Aria after you married her mother?"

"Dad, look..."

"Quiet, Aria. Your dad is not asking you."

Aria shuts up.

Dominic saw this coming. Of course Indra would ask about that.

"I am sorry about that. I..."

"Sorry?"

"Dad..."

"Quiet, Aria!!"

Indra looks a little angry.

"Dominic, I do not blame you for wanting to marry Aria. But give me a good reason. What is your real goal here with a mother and her daughter. You used to be Aria's stepfather."

I never saw it that way, dad.

"Same difference, Aria. Whether you saw it that way or not, Dominic is your ex stepfather."

"Maybe I made the wrong choice back then. I did not want to lose the motherly love Helena gave me. So I held onto it through marriage," Dominic says. Calm.

"I have not had a mother's love since I was little. I am half Japanese, half American. My father left us. I was born when they were still dating."

"Her family got mad when they found out about the pregnancy. One reason only. Because my father is Japanese. My grandfather wanted her to marry someone from the same background."

"Long story short, my mother kept me. Raised me. Hoping my father would marry her. But she found out he married someone else."

"She got kicked out of the house because of her choice. Again she wanted to keep me safe. Then when it was just us two, I found my mother hanging from the air vent in the place we lived. Right in front of me. She was kicking and fighting when her foot slipped until she could not breathe anymore."

Dominic tells all of this without showing much emotion. This story hurts him. A lot. But he needs to fight for something. So he shares his pain.

"About my marriage to Helena. I did not realize that what I felt was just a son's love for his mother. I do not regret that marriage. Because of it, I met Aria. The love that now drives me crazy when I am away from her."

Aria looks at Dominic. Her eyes get wet hearing what he says about her.

"I do not regret the way God brought me to Aria. Because I know that behind all my pain, there will be something happy. Something so big I can not measure it."

"And now I want your blessing. You are Aria's real father. Let me marry her," Dominic says. This time his face is dead serious.

Indra looks at his daughter. She looks back at him with wet eyes.

Indra lets out a long heavy breath. "Sweetheart..." He looks at Aria.

She looks back.

"Your dad wants to talk to your man alone. Just the two of us."

Aria looks at Dominic. He nods and stands up. "Then I will wait outside," Dominic says.

After Dominic leaves, Indra walks over to his daughter still sitting on the couch.

"Aria."

"Dad. I have never asked you for anything. I have never dated anyone my whole life. You know that, right?"

Indra nods.

"And now that I found my person, it has to end like this? I have to lose him because of some label?" Aria looks at her dad, pain all over her face.

Indra lets out another heavy breath. "Your dad is not saying no. But this will affect your life later."

"Affect it how, dad? I just..."

"People know Dominic as your father."

"But they do not know what happened after."

"That is exactly the problem, sweetheart. Because people do not know the whole story, everything will be hard. They will say you stole your own mother's husband."

"I do not care."

"Aria..."

"Dad. You taught me to ignore what people say. You taught me not to worry about their talk. I have done that. After we marry, Dominic said I can keep going to school and we will live in America. So no one will know."

"You want to get married in secret?"

Aria shakes her head right away.

"Why would we do it in secret?"

Indra looks at his daughter. "It is not that I doubt how serious you are. Not at all. The reason I want you to keep it quiet is only until you finish college."

"What do you mean?"

"Your dad says yes. But..."

"Ahhh thank you dad..."

"Aria, I am not done talking."

Aria sits back down.

"Your dad says yes. You get married in America. I will come there."

Aria nods. She agrees with what her dad said.

"Now go get your future husband," Indra says.

Aria runs out the door to grab Dominic.

When she gets outside Indra's office, she sees Dominic waiting with his head down.

"Dominic?!"

Dominic lifts his head when he hears her call his name.

"Baby. How did it go? What happened?"

Aria does not answer. She stays quiet. That makes Dominic even more nervous.

"Dad is waiting for you inside."

Dominic looks at Aria. "Did something happen?"

Aria shakes her head. "Dad wants to see you inside," she says again.

Dominic finally gives in. He goes into Indra's office and sits down when Indra tells him to.

"Can you keep one promise?" Indra asks.

"Yes sir. I..."

"From now on, call me dad. It is weird. I know. Because you used to be married to my ex wife. But now you are going to marry my daughter. So call me dad."

When Dominic hears this, tears just fall from his eyes. He does not know why he is crying. He does not know why the tears come without him telling them to.

"Da... Dad," Dominic says. Nervous.

Indra nods.

After that they talk about what Indra already went over with Aria. The wedding has to happen in America.