Chapter 113 Chapter 113
Cake flavors resurfaced, and seating charts caused emotional debates. Kevin tried to convince everyone the dance floor needed smoke machines. Shea threatened to revoke his snack privileges permanently.
It felt normal. Loud, warm, alive. The exact environment I never realized I wanted growing up.
When Mara finally stepped back and confirmed everything fit perfectly, relief washed through me so strong I almost laughed out loud. One of the biggest unknowns was officially solved.
“Are you ready to lock it in?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
Paperwork followed: payment confirmations, delivery scheduling, and storage details. The dress would stay at the boutique under security until the wedding morning. I signed forms like I was finalizing a life chapter, which honestly wasn’t far from the truth.
After I changed back into normal clothes, everyone relaxed into couches like we had just completed a marathon. Champagne appeared somehow. I didn’t ask questions.
“You’re glowing,” Michelle said, poking my cheek.
“I’m sweating from stress,” I corrected.
“Same difference,” Shea added.
I laughed, sipping the champagne carefully, letting the bubbles settle nerves I didn’t even realize were buzzing inside me.
Halfway through the celebration, Alina’s phone buzzed on the table beside her. She glanced down casually, then froze for half a second before smoothing her expression again. It was subtle. Most people wouldn’t notice it. I did.
“What happened?” I asked quietly once the others got distracted arguing about bouquet sizes.
“Nothing important,” she said quickly.
I raised an eyebrow. “That was a terrible lie.”
She hesitated, then sighed softly. “Just gossip. Nothing confirmed.”
“What kind of gossip?”
She tapped the phone screen and turned it slightly toward me. A blurry photo filled the screen. It looked like a screenshot from a random social media post. A caption sat underneath it, half speculation, half accusation, and all garbage.
It mentioned the Rhyland family, mentioned wedding drama, and mentioned Avani, which made my stomach drop slightly.
“Is she…?” I started.
“Trying to stir attention again?” Alina finished gently. “Yes. Probably.”
The post hinted at fake stories and family tension. It claimed that the wedding was rushed to cover financial disputes. None of it made actual sense, but rumors rarely needed logic to spread.
“Does Zaiel know?” I asked.
“Not yet,” she said. “And I’d like to keep it that way unless it becomes real damage.”
I stared at the screen for a second longer before handing the phone back.
“She won’t ruin this,” I said quietly, mostly to myself.
“She won’t,” Alina agreed, squeezing my hand. “She already lost her place. She just doesn’t know how to stop fighting ghosts.”
The moment passed quickly. The cousins pulled us back into laughter. Cake tasting resumed, champagne refilled, but the rumor sat quietly in the back of my mind like a small shadow trying to stretch larger than it deserved.
By the time we left the boutique, the sun had started setting again, painting the street gold and pink. I stood outside for a second, breathing the warm air, letting everything settle.
“Are you okay?” Hannah sat beside me suddenly.
“I am,” I said.
“She’ll keep trying, you know,” she said carefully.
“I figured.”
“Are you still staying?”
I turned toward her fully. “Yeah. I was never planning to leave.”
She nodded once, satisfied, then walked toward the car without another word.
The ride home felt calmer than the morning. I leaned my head against the window, watching the city blur past while replaying the mirror moment in my mind. The dress, the smiles, the quiet certainty that I had chosen the right life, not just the right man. When we reached home, the lights were already on inside. Zaiel was home.
The second I stepped through the door and walked in sight, he looked up from the couch, and something in his expression softened immediately, like he had been waiting without realizing it.
“How was it?” he asked.
I smiled slowly, kicking off my heels and walking toward him.
“It was perfect,” I said.
He pulled me into his arms like the answer physically relaxed him, and I buried my face against his shoulder, breathing in the scent that always made everything feel steady again.
For a moment, I thought about telling him about the rumor, about the post, about Avani trying to claw attention from the shadows again.
Instead, I just held him tighter, because tonight felt too peaceful to let ghosts sit at our table. And for the first time since the engagement started, I felt completely ready for the next step waiting ahead of us.
I didn’t notice the first weird thing right away because the impending wedding had turned normal life into chaos anyway. Between planners, work deadlines, family calls, and dress fittings, everything already felt slightly overwhelming. Small things slipped through easier when your brain was juggling twenty details at once.
The flowers showed up on a Tuesday morning.
I walked in, balancing coffee in one hand and my tablet in the other, when I spotted them sitting in the center of my cubicle like they owned the place. White lilies mixed with pale pink roses. Expensive arrangement, professional wrapping, and zero card visible at first glance. I stopped mid-step.
For a second, I assumed Kai sent them. He didn’t usually do grand gestures like that, but wedding stress made people unpredictable. I smiled automatically, already feeling that warm flutter in my chest. Then I noticed the card tucked low between the stems. I set my coffee down slowly and pulled it out.
You look beautiful when you concentrate.
There was no name, no company logo, and no handwriting I recognized. Just printed text on clean white cardstock. I stared at it longer than I meant to. The message wasn’t aggressive; it wasn’t threatening. I just felt… personal in a way that made my skin itch slightly.
“Are you going to smell them or interrogate them?” Selena asked from the doorway.
I jumped slightly and turned toward her.
“Someone sent flowers,” I said.
She walked over immediately, eyes lighting up like she loved drama more than oxygen. “Your husband?” she asked.
“I thought so.”
She grabbed the card before I could stop her and read it out loud. Her smile faded slightly.
“That’s… weirdly poetic,” she said.
“Maybe he’s trying something new?” I offered, even though my stomach felt uncertain. She tilted her head. “Even if he’s not the mysterious romantic type, maybe it's because your wedding is so close,” she said hopefully.
“Maybe,” I replied halfheartedly.
“Well, if you know his style and this isn't it, maybe it was just a spur-of-the-moment thing,” she said.
She had a point. I placed the card back between the stems, trying to shake off the weird tension crawling along my shoulders.
“It’s probably nothing,” I said.
She shrugged. “Probably.”
But she glanced at the flowers again before leaving, and that didn’t help the uneasy feeling settling in my chest.
The second thing happened two days later. I got a call during lunch break from a blocked number. I normally ignored those automatically, but something about the timing made me hesitate. I answered while walking toward the staff kitchen.
“Hello?”