“Congrats again. Enjoy the party afterwards,” the groom said before winking at us.
After getting our photos taken with the bride and groom we headed to mingle with the rest of the crowd. The party felt like any other normal party at any other normal wedding and that made me relax. Apparently, it wasn’t uncommon for couples on the island to get married the more normalized way that matched with the modernized tradition. I doubt that the couple that we met just now shared their first wedding night in a cave close to the sea.
“Wow, Knight! We haven’t seen you for so long,” a man said as he greeted Reiner.
He was probably one of Reiner’s friends from his school days. The other members in the crowd quickly gathered around Reiner and me. These people must be his friends as well. He had never mentioned any of them to me before.
“It’s good to be back. I know it’s been a long while,” Reiner said before smiling.
It was strange to see Reiner interacting with so many people at once, not that he was an antisocial person, but Reiner was more on the stern and silent side rather than the talkative one.
“Introduce your beautiful lady to us please,” a woman urged.
“Right. This is Natalia. We recently got married so she’s my wife,” Reiner said as he proudly introduced me.
My lip stick and my dress matches! Everything is going to work out great.
“Hi, I’m Natalia. Great to meet everyone,” I said politely before smiling one of my sweetest smiles.
“I’m so happy that you brought her along just like you agreed to,” the woman continued saying.
“Right. Umm…Natalia this is Charm. Charm this is Natalia,” Reiner quickly introduced us.
“I’m Charm. I’m one of Knight’s few good girl friends from his school days. Well, there weren’t many girls in the school. My father was crazy enough to send me there of all places…” she said before she started laughing.
“Happy to meet you. I’m Natalia. I just moved to this island so happy for tips about everything,” I replied cheerfully.
“Did you like the ring?” Charm whispered close to my ear.
The ring? Does she mean the wedding ring that Reiner gave me?
“Of course…” I replied as I waited for her to explain.
“Oh, my family trades diamonds, you see. So, I had the honor of helping Knight pick out the perfect ring for you. I hope you like it,” she declared proudly.
I see. This woman is the one who picked out such a large diamond for me. I smiled at her before I nodded my approval. She seemed genuine and honest, although I still wanted to know how much money she sucked out of Reiner for this ring.
“It looks good on you, I have to say,” Charm continued as her eyes fell to the massive rock on my ring finger.
“Oh, I love it! I can’t even start to tell you how perfect this ring is for me. Everything about it is perfect. Thank you so much for helping Knight pick this one out,” I replied enthusiastically, mindful that Reiner was right beside me.
Reiner went ahead and introduced me to his other friends and after sharing some small talk here and there, we were ready to excuse ourselves to head back home. Overall, I truly enjoyed the wedding and meeting his friends. They all seemed like nice people although I had to say that the various businesses that their families were involved in weren’t really the standard type. I bet I couldn’t complain much considering the nature of Reiner’s family business.
…
After a relaxing shower where I also washed my hair, I walked out of the bathroom in our bedroom while my hands worked busily at drying my hair with a towel. Reiner had already showered, and he looked very ready for bed as he lay on his side on our king-sized bed.
“Should I help dry your hair for you?” Reiner offered before he smiled kindly at me.
He’s spoiling me rotten more and more every single day.
“That would be beyond wonderful…” I replied as I sat down on the stool in front of my vanity table.
Reiner got up from the bed and approached me with a hair dryer in one hand. He started blow drying my hair and I couldn’t stop wondering why he was so good at it. The sound of the hair dryer was quite loud, so I decided to hold in my questions before I started asking them.
“Did you enjoy the wedding, or did you find it boring?” Reiner asked after he was done drying my hair.
That made me forget the question that I had in mind as I focused on answering his question instead while he started running a brush through my hair.
“Of course, I enjoyed it. I thought it was very fun and your friends were all a good sport,” I replied with a little laugh.
“Really? I’m not the close to any of them anymore…” Reiner replied quite regrettably.
“You’ve moved back now so I’m sure that you all can reconnect,” I said reassuringly.
“Maybe…” Reiner said passively.
It seemed like he had something on his mind although he continued to brush my hair for me. Thankfully, my hair was quite smooth, and no obvious tangles were present.
“Is something the matter?” I asked as I looked at him through the reflection in the mirror in front of me.
“Natalia…” Reiner said my name softly after a short pause.
“Hmm?” I made a questioning sound as I urged him to continued with what he wanted to say.
“Actually…there’s something that I need to tell you,” Reiner said as if he was about to confess that he had done something wrong.
“Tell me?” I asked as I turned around to face him.
This better not be something bad. Please…please…please…
“Do you…want to have a proper wedding?” Reiner asked slowly and hesitantly.
–To be continued…