Chapter 66 Withering Promises
HER wedding is being planned like a business deal.
Lena couldn't help but compare it to the first time she got married. Her wedding with Danilo was rushed too, but she didn't feel suffocated like this. Danilo gave her a chance to choose not to marry. He considered her feelings, her opinion, her wants. And that was why she ended up falling for him.
But this...this wedding. It was rushed. It was planned to be perfect. Too perfect and scripted.
Lena couldn't breath for the couple of days that followed.
The last talk she had with Lucian lingered in her head painfully. She let go of him, but it was still hard to accept. Her decision was forced. She regrets it every single day.
"What do you think about this design, Miss Lena?" The wedding planner pointed at one dress on the brochure.
Lena was seated stiffly on the velvet couch, beside her was Viktor, checking the brochures of the perfect wedding venue.
An extravagant theme for a forced wedding.
Lena couldn't even process everything that's happening.
The wedding planner was patiently talking to her even if she was barely listening. She would nod at everything, like she's instructed to. She didn't say anything at all. Viktor was the only one talking.
The wedding planner kept on talking, suggesting ideas, giving comments. But Lena's mind was wandering somewhere far. Somewhere...she finds peace in. Memories of her moments with Lucian and Angel.
Meanwhile, Lucian was leaning against the railing on the second floor, watching Magdalena seated like a doll. A cigarette stick was between his fingers, smoke curling lazily around him like ripples on water.
He couldn't help but grit his teeth every single time his father touches her back, her waist, or her hand.
He wanted so much to grab her hand and drag her out of that scripted picture. It was so hard to see her being forced like that, but he couldn't do anything, because that would mean forcing her too.
"That's bad for you." A little girl's voice reached Lucian's ear.
He blinked and looked beside him. When he saw Angel standing beside him while hugging her doll, Lucian immediately dropped his cigarette. He stepped on it and picked it up again before pushing it inside the pocket of his pants.
"Why are you here? I thought you're doing your assignment?" Lucian asked. He wanted to touch her soft hair, but his hand reek of cigarette.
Angel took a deep sigh and looked at her mother. "I want to see Mama."
Lucian slowly sat on the floor. He rested his back against the railing and looked at the little girl standing beside him. "She's talking to the lady with a notebook."
Angel looked at Lucian again, her eyes were sad. "I dreamed of Mama last night. She was crying."
Lucian's lips parted. He was stunned as he stared at Angel, unable to answer.
Angel faced him, her eyes were curious. "Do you know why Mama is always sad, Uncle Lucian?"
"Why would she be sad? She has you," Lucian answered, although he doesn't really know how to answer her.
"But you're also sad," Angel said as her little hand touched Lucian's head, like she was comforting him. "Mama always touches my hair when I feel sad and I'll feel better. But when I touched Mama's hair, she didn't feel better."
Lucian gave her a gentle smile. "I feel better. I'm not sad anymore."
Angel's eyes widened and twinkled in happiness. "Really?"
Lucian nodded and smiled again. "Yes. You have magic."
"Uncle Lucian," Angel called when Lucian glanced at Magdalena downstairs.
"Hm?" He hummed and turned to her. "Do you feel sad? I can't touch your hair now because my hands are dirty."
Angel's lips trembled, like she was about to cry. Her eyes even gleamed with warning tears.
"Why aren't you eating with me at s-school?" Angel asked, her voice cracked. "You're not b-buying me ice cream anymore. Are you angry at me?"
Lucian was shocked, but he immediately shook his head. "No! No, of course not. Why would I be angry at you?"
Lucian panicked. He knelt in front of the little girl and gently hugged her.
"I missed you, Uncle Lucian," Angel whispered, making Lucian's chest tighten.
Lucian squeezed his eyes as he gently caressed the little girl's back, completely forgotten about the cigarette smell.
"I'm sorry," Lucian whispered, voice low and cracking. "I'm so sorry, brat."
It was hard. Lucian and Magdalena weren't the only ones suffering Viktor's manipulation. Angel is affected too, and Lucian couldn't accept it.
He's been trying to restrain himself. Viktor is replacing him in Angel and Magdalena's lives. He was taking his place and was controlling everything.
That night, just like the past nights, Lucian climbed Magdalena's balcony, with a flower in his hand,
He hadn't been leaving the flower on the floor like he used to. He was putting it on the hidden corner of the balcony because he doesn't want to hurt Magdalena more. Dealing with his father is already suffocating for her. So, he was just waiting.
He was waiting for Magdalena to go to him and ask him to take her away from here. He was wishing and dreaming that every night as he watches Magdalena in her sleep from outside of the balcony.
It was creepy, but he couldn't help himself. He just can't stop himself from wanting her.
"I'm still waiting, baby," Lucian whispered as he stared at Magdalena through the glass door.
She was sleeping, but it didn't look peaceful. Exhaustion was visible on her face. Dark circles were around her eyes.
Lucian swallowed hard, kissed the flower in his hand before he put it on the hidden corner with the other withering flowers. Seeing them hurts Lucian. They were obviously untouched and unseen. That only means one thing. Magdalena hadn't been opening the glass doors.
He stared at Magdalena again, his eyes were longing. "I'll wait for you, baby. Even if it takes ten or twenty years. Or even a whole lifetime. I'll wait. Until you can finally call my name in public."