The Next Week...

I tapped my chin thoughtfully, brows crinkled in concentration. I wiggled the first, then the other, and then both of them.

"What do you think about this one-"

"Shhh!" I shushed Harper causing a clank behind me. I turned to see her rubbing her head with a glare as I had caused her to hit her head against the dress rack when I shushed her. I ignored this and turned away once more to massage my temples.

"Think... think!" I urged myself, and then, "I've got it!" I shrieked mercilessly causing another clank and also gaining the attention of everyone in the bridal store. I paid no attention to them however and turned to Harper instead who was now rubbing her arm frustratedly as she threw a dress at me. I grinned nevertheless and ran over.

"Harper," I breathed in deeply, "I finally figured it out."

A humongous grin formed on my face as I shook a little life into her.

"Calm down, will you?" she scolded me harshly, batting my hands away. "I don't want you touching me for the remainder of today, you have already given me more bruises than I've had in a lifetime in these three hours."

I scowled at her but remembered my purpose and was soon bubbling with energy. "I finally got it Harp, I finally got it! There is absolutely no other explanation for him being there, in that elevator, than... he was hiding from someone!"

I waited for her to join in on my excitement but was disappointed as she showed nothing. She turned to me with a blank face.

"What. On earth. Are you talking about!"

I rolled my eyes. "Riddian of course! That's why he was in the staff's elevator and not his own! That's like the only explanation. Think about it!" I turned away and tapped my chin again. "He never takes any other elevator in the building except his own so why did he take another on that specific day? The only explanation is simple, he was hiding from someone, and my guess is that it was either that touchy, flirty lady from one of our most frequent client companies, or his father's secretary who has been trying to see him for quite a while now. " I wondered why...

Smashing a fist into a palm, my face contorted into one of irritation. I didn't have a problem with the secretary really, but it was that other first girl that I never really liked. The little thing was always touching on my boss, flirting to no end as if she had no standards.

I heard a cough and looked up to see Harper grinning at me. I cast a questioning glance her way.

"So you do like him as well!"

Crap! Did I say that out loud...

"No Harp, of course not, and we're not playing that who likes or doesn't like who game again... Now where was I?" I tapped my chin once more and began brainstorming, but a great sigh interrupted my detective work.

"What?"

"I can't believe you're still thinking about that. It happened on Friday, which was last week! This is Tuesday, and there is new stuff to talk about, like the fact that we still haven't found a good dress for me and if we don't, the next time you shop it will be for my funeral!" she snapped dangerously, shutting me up for good.

I frowned at myself.

Harper was right. We had been searching since yesterday for a good turquoise dress to match the theme of the wedding, and we still hadn't found a candidate. Yesterday wasn't even really a shopping day since we couldn't shop until after work and we had both worked late, so by the time we got off, most of the good stores were closed. Now, we found out that that didn't even really matter since we were currently searching the 'good stores' and we still couldn't find anything. So not only was the problem that we didn't have enough free time during the working week to shop, we couldn't find a good store also, and weekend shopping was out of the picture since Harper had other plans during that time.

I rose my hands in surrender. "Okay fine, I'm done thinking about it, even though you have to admit that that is an excellent explanation."

I shut it as Harper glared at me.

"And we're searching," I muttered before going to skim through a rack.

:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:

Two hours later we came up empty-handed and as we left the store, we realized that there was no choice left but to go out of town where we would hopefully have more luck. Neither of us had a car so Harper did the natural thing and forced Julian to drive us. He didn't have much choice in the matter since as I had mentioned, he was forced to do so, but he did have a condition about us leaving the office early so we could get it over and done with as quickly as possible. I thankfully didn't have a problem with that because a quick check to my boss' schedule reminded me that he had another meeting with his father's secretary that day, and Riddian suddenly, and very abnormally, remembered that he had a very important thing to do for the rest of the afternoon before he ran very suspiciously from the building. I got the afternoon off as well, since that was the natural thing to happen, but,

"Ha! I knew he had been hiding from someone!" I screamed at Harper as soon as she had joined Julian and I in the car for our little trip. She had cursed me to hell, but I was satisfied so it had no effect on me whatsoever. And as for Julian, who had been very puzzled by the weird exchange, we had to fill him in on what happened the week before, and though he was a bit weirded out every time I referred to our boss as 'Riddian', he was still pretty impressed.

"We're here."

Harper pointed up the unfamiliar street to a large building with "Bridal Cottage" printed on its front. I couldn't help the little chuckle that escaped me at the irony since it was nothing like a humble cottage. My company ignored me though and Julian parked before we all walked to the building.

That smell that always hits you when you enter a store hit me good as soon as we stepped through the doors. I breathed it in deep and then spoke humorously,

"Wow, never thought I'd be in here before the day of my own wedding shopping."

Julian scoffed.

"Good for you, never thought I'd be in here at all."

"Why? Don't you have sisters or so?"

"I do," he nodded my way, "five actually, though that shouldn't matter since this is a store for brides and bridesmaids and I will always be in those for the grooms and groomsmen. If it's not me who is getting married, I will still have to be there to make sure that my brothers-in-laws-to-be don't try anything funny, you know?"

Harper looked at him blankly.

"What could they possibly do Julian?" She rose an eyebrow as he shrugged.

"That's for me to hope to never find out, but for now, let's just try and hurry this up shall we?"

I wasn't about to argue with that, but it wasn't as though there was a need to since a young man and woman approached us immediately with the names 'Eli' and 'Darcy' pinned to their tops.

"Yes please!" Harper exclaimed even before they asked if they could assist us, and then they were off to the white less part of the store with Julian hesitating to follow.

"Oh come on Jul, let's just go."

:*:*:*:*:*:*:

"Harper, let's go!" Julian called out from beside me. We were seated on a couch situated right in front of the changing stall Harper was using, and I had to admit, it was a very nice store they had here. The furniture and decor were nice, and the atmosphere was comforting. Seeing that I would be out of a job in only a little over four months time, I could probably start working on an application from now-

"Katherine," Julian pinched me.

-and that is not what I was supposed to be thinking about.

I looked up to see Harper in another dreadful dress, looking even more hopeful than she had been in the last one.

"How about this one?" she asked fearfully. Julian glanced at me and smiled widely before shaking his head firmly.

"Nah."

Harper, groaning, threw her head back and marched back inside.

"Sorry hon, but if Julian doesn't like it then your sister definitely won't," I tried comforting her, but she only groaned and demanded for another dress from our helper, Eli. He didn't complain one bit though. I had no doubt this was a normal day in his life, so I didn't even comment.

I looked back casually at the magazine in my hand and then glanced at Julian. "So, when are you gonna get some balls and ask Harper out?"

His head flew in my direction.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb."

"How did you know?"

"Because I am not dumb," I sighed exasperatedly, looking back to my book.

"I don't know Katherine, I always muster up the courage when I'm not around her and then when I come close, I only become fun friend Julian and never ask her." He sighed sadly.

"Well, I can't force you to ask her, but I can blackmail you, so if you don't tell her how you feel and ask her out, I will tell her for you." I turned the page with a smile on my face as Julian almost popped a jaw muscle.

"You wouldn't-"

"Don't test me Julian," I sang. "If I can call the Remoras' first born and block-headed son Riddian, then I can and will-"

"Okay fine! I'll tell her soon."

"Today."

"What? At least give me until tomorrow," he begged. I looked him up and down and then smiled.

"Okay, you have until tomorrow."

I could see him sigh in relief, but then,

"And-"

Here we go again.

"-what about this one!"

We looked up. Harper stood before us in a sleeveless dress this time, as opposed to all the other sleeved ones she had tried before.

"Harper-" I watched Julian try to let her down easy, but the sight was causing my eyes pain so I decided to take this one.

"Harp, it looks horrible. I know we can do better than this! Come on! Eli, where are you even finding this stuff? She looks like a taco wrapped in a kimono!"

I grabbed my magazine again and fanned her back into the stall.

"Will we ever get out of here?" Julian wondered out loud.

:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:

Three hours and seventeen minutes later, the words we had all been waiting for finally popped out of each other's mouths.

"Guys, I think this is it."

"It's perfect!"

"Finally! We can get out of- ouch!"

I glared at Julian who was busy rubbing his cheek in pain. He cleared his throat and glanced my way and then turn back to Harper.

"You look beautiful." I watched as Harper's eyes lit up and Eli came around to help her up unto a stand, in front a huge mirror. She stared down at herself and smiled brightly.

"Yeah, this is the one." She ruffled the bottom of her dress and spun slightly to get a better look of herself. The top section had a sheer illusion and sparkly jeweled lace, while a tulle look finished it off going from just above her waist to the floor. It really was beautiful, but somebody had to glance at their watch to see that it was already sometime after ten pm, and their favourite show had already started on TV, so they asked that we hurry along. It wouldn't have been surprising if it had been either Julian or myself, but it had been the assistant, Eli, and we had given him a difficult day so we decided to give him a break.

"You can get changed and one of your friends can meet me at the cashier to make this quick," Eli added before leaving us.

"Julian, be a doll would you?" I smiled over at him. He rolled his eyes but didn't complain as he followed Eli as asked.

"Thank you!" Harper called after him gratefully, but then surprised me when she jumped off the steps not two seconds after, saying, "Now get this bitch off me."

I couldn't help smiling.

Author's note

Hi there my readers! I apologize for the long wait but I have been experiencing some writing problems recently and so it's been hindering my updates. Thanks for reading and supporting this book anyway and I'll try to get the next chapter up (and much more interesting) as soon as possible. Thanks again for continuing to read:)

❤️S4_angel