Chapter 7 — Seeing the future

Ramon:

I groaned as I stepped out of the plane, the sky above me rumbling with the promise of rain.

I hate England.

Always raining, no sunlight, and apparently, no beautiful women. This was hell on earth as far as I was concerned.

I spotted Aaro standing stoically beside his customary black Jaguar XF, his arms folded in a disapproving manner, his expression serious.

I rolled my eyes beneath my aviators and descended the stairs. Aaro always looked like something crawled up his ass and died. It was as if his face came in one setting, Dead ass Frown.

Our looks were where our similarities ended. We were polar opposites.

But we were brothers and as much as I hated being in this dreadful country, I have to be here, for support.

Aaro had so graciously gifted me the position of his best man at his wedding which was two days away and had basically bullied me to fly down from Italy.

I threw him a sour look "Stop frowning bro, the wind is gonna change and your face will be stuck like that forever"

He didn't respond, instead unfolded his arms and stuck his hands into his slacks.

He was pissed.

"Fine," I drawled, "I'm sorry I didn't come in sooner, I was busy"

"Busy? This is my wedding, it should be your priority, Ramon," he said, his voice like thunder.

"Want me to apologize again?" I asked dryly, already bored with this conversation.

He just scoffed and hissed curses at me in Italian. I flipped him off in return.

"Get in the fucking car" he seethed before stalking to the driver's side.

I slid into the car and was immediately engulfed in a warm fragrant hug. Strawberries and rosewater.

Astrid.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here" she breathed, joy evident in her tone.

I smiled, at last someone is glad I'm in England.

"Thank you Ash, you're a much better relative than my actual brother" I commented and she giggled, reaching out to stroke Aaro's arm at which he visibly relaxed.

"Don't pay him any mind, he's just cranky" she cooed.

"How is it that you're so relaxed and he's the one with a pole up his ass two days to the wedding?"

"Hey! Watch it Ramon!" Aaro hissed and I bit back a snicker.

Astrid let out a little laugh. "Easy, I'm laid back naturally and he's the uptight one. And besides, it's just a wedding, what really matters is that I'm getting married to the man of my dreams," she chimed, leaning forward to place a kiss on Aaro's suddenly red tinged cheek.

I love Astrid, not only is she smart and extremely beautiful (long, flowing red hair and bottle green eyes), she's also the only one who can tolerate my brother's moods. She's got him wrapped around her tiny pinky.

Anyone with eyes could see the true love that radiated from them and honestly, it made me kind of jealous. Don't get me wrong, I do not want to get married now (I'm just 25), but would it hurt to get a nice girlfriend like Astrid?

"Well aren't you two just two greatly unmatched peas in a pod?" I joked. Astrid laughed and Aaro shot me a dark look before putting the car into drive and pulling away from the tarmac.

Astrid and I chatted over the wedding preparations during the drive to Ascot, where they bought a house. The rain was pouring outside but the car was pleasantly warm. We had just pulled into the driveway of the house, and that's when I saw her, seated on the porch of the house, unbothered by the rain, speaking rapidly into a Bluetooth, her blond hair, shining in the low light.

Weirdly, as soon as I set my eyes on her through the foggy windshield of my brother's car, I knew right down to my bones, I was going to marry this woman.

Call it intuition.

"Who is that? Right there on the porch," I asked, pointing at the blond beauty, pacing up and down.

"Oh that's Sydney. She's my best friend and my maid of honor," Astrid answered lightly, smiling fondly "I think you'd really like her. She likes working too"

I chuckled softly. It was a well-known fact that I was the workaholic of the Camelio family. Well, if you were made CEO of the Italian base of operations for a company at 20, you'd be a workaholic too.

After fishing out an umbrella, I exited the car, Astrid in tow and Aaro bringing up the rear with my lone suitcase in hand, we all prodded through the rain and up the front steps.

To say I was giddy was an understatement, I was more than giddy. You would be too if you were about to meet your future wife. "Sydney!" Astrid yelled to get the blond angel's attention "I thought I said no work this weekend"

Sydney blushed guilty, her bright blue eyes shining "I know, I'm sorry. It was just one of my clients." She made a show of taking off her Bluetooth and beaming at Astrid, her smile rivalling the bright Italian sunlight, "But I'm all yours now."

"You better be," Astrid muttered.

Aaro smiled politely at Sydney before disappearing into the house. Seems my brother has yet to get over his antisocial tendencies.

Typical.

"Syd, I would like you to meet Aaro's brother, Ramon," Astrid all but pushed me forward as she introduced me.

When Sydney's eyes snapped to me, I felt the world closing in on only her. Everything around me melted away until it was only me and her in this single moment.

She smiled, softer and brighter this time as she offered her hand. "Sydney West, pleasure meeting you."

I took her dainty hand in mine, smiling at the sparks that erupted when we touched. "The pleasure is all mine."