Sofia’s POV
“Here you go.” He murmured in a low voice as he tipped the water bottle upwards and held it towards my lips, completely ignoring my outstretched hand, and I parted my lips to give access to the flowing water.
Once I was done, he capped the water once again and I muttered a thank you to him.
He pushed to his feet and moved towards the entrance of the door and tapped on it, and then he walked back towards me and outstretched his hand to me. I didn’t hesitate one bit because at this point, I was already kind of used to it, and it always makes my heart flutter uncontrollably each time he does it.
I pushed to my feet as soon as he had taken a hold of my hand and before we could make our way to the entrance of the door, it got pulled opened by whom I’d guess was the driver, and as soon as I had alighted along with Luca, in the very next second, I got blinded by a lot of flashlights.
I felt his hand let go of mine in that moment and I felt my heart fly into my throat at that move.
He was leaving me to go myself? After promising to stay by my side the whole night?
Before I could start to turn around out of nervousness, I felt his hand come around the back of my body like a firm branch of tree, to band firmly against my waist, just as he pulled me into his side.
I puffed out a small sigh of relief as I relaxed into his side, pressing myself even more into his side, as we started to make our way straight ahead, and I could barely see where I was walking to, because of the amounts of flashlights going around us and flashing into my eyes.
After a few moments, we got to a spot where the paparazzi taking thousand pictures and trying to get us to speak couldn’t pass through, and so they remained behind, and on the sidelines, screaming hundreds of questions at Luca and I at once, with their cameras still going off a whole lot, as we made our way into the main premises or where we were headed to.
We paused outside and I stared as the two men standing outside bowed their heads at Luca and I, not knowing what it was that I was supposed to do, I waved at them and offered them a small smile as Luca led me past them.
We made our way forward and I sighted so many chandeliers in the sky of the huge ballroom at first, before my eyes started to lower and focus on the amount of people currently in here at the moment.
They weren’t up to the amount of people that had come to Luca’s and I’s wedding, but they were still a whole lot and I was really glad Luca’s was holding me firmly against his side, because I didn’t think I’d be able go walk into a room filled with so many people without fainting right at the entrance. I mean, I might have literally walked through so many people on my wedding day, but that didn’t mean that I could do it once again.
I never want to relive that day and I didn’t even think I’d be able to relive it if I wanted to. I mean, I was pretty sure the only reason I had been able to walk through the aisle, was because of I was scared of what my father would do to me if things didn’t go as he had planned that day, so I was literally left with no choice but to do it right or before prepared to die.
I jolted a little beside Luca when he suddenly stopped walking, and that was when I noticed the amount of gazes that were currently on us. Almost everyone in here was currently staring at us and if they weren’t opening staring at us, then they were giving us curious glances every now and then.
“Why’s everyone staring at us?” I whispered out as I felt myself squirming a little, as I slowly shifted my weight from foot to foot.
“That’s because you’re walking with me, and because this is the first time we’d be seen in public ever since we got married, that’s why they’re all staring.” He replied after a moment, lowering his head to speak slowly beside my head and I felt myself shudder a little, as his voice washed over my whole body slowly as soon as it penetrated into my ear.
“Oh.” I mumbled dumbly, as I started to feel really warm and heated, as it started to feel like his hand which was wrapped around my waist was currently searing into my skin through the light material of the dress.
“We’d be going to congratulate the celebrant in a few minutes.” He continued, but I was thankful that he didn’t directly speak into my ear this time.
I stared straight ahead as I tried to ignore the amount of eyes on me at the moment, as I took in the bride and her husband. They were both in white and the first thing I noticed after staring at the bride’s face for a long moment, was that she was a lot happier than I had been at my own wedding, which I felt was a really good thing because it was literally supposed to be a really joyful day for someone.
I watched as she stared into the eyes of her husband, as they both touched each other’s rings against one another’s, with small grains on each other’s face, and it was really obvious to figure out the fact that the woman wasn’t forced to marry the man against her own will.., because, come to think of it, no one would be looking this happy If she was being married off to someone she does not want to get married to.
I shook my head a little as soon as I saw the bride and groom start to move away from where they had been standing ever since we arrived here, and I felt Luca nudge my side lightly.
“We’d be moving soon.” He said.
“Uh, you said I was going to hand over the gifts to them, right?” I asked almost immediately, because he was talking about how it was almost time for us to wish them well and hand over our gifts to them, but I wasn’t with any kind of gift at the moment, nor was luca.
“Yeah.”
“Where is it?” I asked.
“Behind you, with one of the guards. He’d hand it over to you once it’s time.” He replied almost immediately and I turned my head around to quickly glance behind me, and indeed, my eyes landed on three bodyguards who were clearly Luca’s, and they were some feet away from us.
I had no idea they followed us all the way here in tne first place… which meant they came here in a different car?
“Oh, I had no idea.” I mumbled quietly as I turned my face back around to stare straight ahead, as my fingers started to play in the handle of my small silver colored purse.
“Can’t have you holding unto some gifts unnecessarily, now can I?” Luca murmured after a moment and I stared up at him and grinned a little at him.
A few minutes later, I sighted the couple starting to walk towards the direction where Luca and I were currently standing in. “They’re coming towards us?” I asked Luce almost immediately in a quiet voice, as my eyes took in the beautiful designs on the bride’s gown.
“They have to, it’s a sign of respect.” Luca replied and continued after a moment. “But we’ll start walking towards them as well, to meet them in the middle.”
And we started to make our way forward, before pausing after a couple of steps, because the newly married couple were before us as well. I smiled at the wife first and I watched as she shyly returned my smile. It was obvious to me that she was older than I was, definitely in her early twenties, compared to my eighteen year old self.
I listened as Luca congratulated the man just as his grip loosened from my body, as he stretched his hand out and clapped the man back, and the young man who had obviously been expecting a handshake, had stared excitedly and returned the hug instantly. They separated after a few moments and I watched as Luca started to whisper something into his ear for like a couple of minutes.
I was completely aware of the fact that all eyes were currently undoubtedly on us at the moment, and as soon as Luca had taken a step away from the man, I figured out that it was my cue.
“Congratulations Mr–”
“Mr Scott.” The man himself supplied instantly and I offered him a small smile before accepting the fancy bag from the guard who had been holding it, and turning around to hand it to the new groom. He accepted his gift and expressed his gratitude along with his new wife, and after a few more minutes, we were both going back to different sides of the wide room.
That was over, thankfully, and it had been easier than I had imagined it to be.
I thought to myself.
Now what?