Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Since five in the morning, Rakia had been feeling extremely nervous. It started when she was getting made up until now. As her body was dressed in the wedding gown, she became even more nervous. Today, in a few hours, she would officially become Dashtan Al Ghani’s mistress until the deadline they had agreed upon. Rakia sighed nervously, she had finished her makeup a few hours ago, now she was just waiting for the marriage vow be completed and she would join Dashtan in the reception hall with the guests to show off this marriage contract. She sat dumbfounded in a small backless chair in front of the dressing table, since the wedding was in a star hotel, she was currently in a luxurious suite that Dashtan had specially booked as a bridal suite. Rakia looked at the decorations of this room which was fairly beautiful and elegant, but when she looked at the bed she immediately discarded all thoughts of doing something in bed with Dashtan who would officially become her husband in a few hours.

“Oh, God! Forget about the first night, there will be no first night for me and Dashtan after the marriage vows is done until we get divorced,” Rakia muttered as she stood up feeling annoyed, she also chose to pace in front of the dressing table with a nervous gesture.

“Ooowww... My God. You look...” Lizzy’s words disappeared when the woman opened the door to the room Rakia was currently in and stood in the doorway.

“Amazing,” she continued after finding the right word to complete her sentence of praise. Rakia winced to find Lizzy here, instead of with the guests in the ballroom and listening to Dashtan take his vows to make her his lawful wife in the eyes of the law and God.

“What are you doing here? You should be with the others down there,” Rakia said.

“I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t run away,” Lizzy said as she closed the door and went deeper into the room, instead of approaching Rakia she wandered around for a while looking at the luxurious suite.

“Oh, my God, Rakia... What have you done to marry a man like Dashtan?” Lizzy said as she gazed at the suite’s luxurious interior in amazement. Then she turned to look at Rakia who stood like a masterpiece of fantastic value with a puzzled look.

“I don’t know, Liz, I just....” Rakia turned down and looked at the carpet under her feet at the moment.

“Bla... Bla... Bla, you're just in love, is that it, you mean?!” Lizzy continued but with a wrong guess. Rakia sighed loudly, she had not told her best friend anything about her agreement with Dashtan and this marriage. She would do that when everything was confirmed to be going according to plan.

“I hope Ben regrets what he did by seeing you happy with Dashtan.” Lizzy said that earnestly, but it only made Rakia even sadder. The word happy might never exist in a marriage like the one she had with Dashtan. Rakia squeezed the front of her wedding dress for a moment at the thought that she and Dashtan would not be happy. A desperate thought crossed her mind, she wanted to run away from here but the other side said, it was now her turn to help Dashtan to achieve the man’s goal after he helped her settle the debt of her asshole ex-fiancé’s demands. Rakia’s hands left the dress she was squeezing, becoming twisted around each other. Lizzy who saw her best friend looking nervous immediately went over to her and said, “Hey hey hey. It’s okay, it’s just a wedding, you’ll be okay with him.” Lizzy’s grip on Rakia’s hand had a slight impact on the woman. Rakia nodded as she looked down then raised her face to look at Lizzy, then she gave the woman a tight hug. Rakia don’t know what would have happened if she hadn’t invited that woman at a time like this, she really would have run away from here and disappeared.

While they were hugging, the door of the room opened again and revealed Mr. Reynaldi in a charming and elegant black tuxedo. Rakia was surprised to see her father’s appearance that looked so different in her eyes. He and Lizzy immediately ended their hug and looked at their father in amazement.

“Dad... You look....”

“Terrible,” replied her father with a somewhat embarrassed face and humor. Lizzy giggled while Rakia chuckled.

“Terrible for the single ladies out there. Mr. Reynaldi if you weren’t so old for me, I’d be happy to ask you out,” said Lizzy with her mouth agape. Mr. Reynaldi laughed lightly while Rakia rolled her eyes with an indifferent expression.

“You look beautiful, sweet heart,” Mr. Reynaldi said as he stood in front of his daughter. He smiled fondly and it affected Rakia. This man was her first love despite all his flaws but Rakia could not deny that her father was the first love of her life.

“Come, you should join the others and your husband soon.” Mr. Reynaldi informed, Rakia was surprised for a moment.

“ Is it done?”

Mr. Reynaldi nodded then said, “Dashtan said it loud and well, he seems very ready to make you happy.”

Rakia on the other hand immediately rolled her eyes with a furious face at Mr. Reynaldi’s words.

“He's ready for his inheritance,” said Rakia’s mind which instantly snapped at the woman.

“I’ll go down first,” Lizzy excused herself. After a few minutes of Lizzy walking away, Mr. Reynaldi gave his arm to Rakia for her to hold. A loud sigh was heard from Rakia before she took her father’s arm. Then, they left the suite and headed to the reception room. The master of ceremony signaled the party’s small band to play music as the ballroom doors opened to reveal the bride her father was holding. As the doors opened, Rakia held her breath for a moment and the music of Christiana Perry’s A Thousand Years played instrumentally. The music accompanied Rakia’s steps to the reception stage where there stood Dashtan in an elegant black tuxedo. Rakia was amazed at the man whose good looks had increased tenfold. Her mouth suddenly went dry at the sight of the man who was somehow so handsome in her eyes. Without even realizing it, Rakia did not take her eyes in another direction to just smile at the invited guests present. Dashtan looked at Rakia with his angelic conquering smile. Rakia looked absolutely marvelous in his eyes in his aunt’s wedding dress. When Rakia and her father reached the reception stage where Dashtan was waiting for them, Mr. Reynaldi immediately handed Rakia’s hand holding his arm to Dashtan.

“Take care of her,” the man said in a voice that only Dashtan and Rakia could hear. Dashtan smiled as he took Rakia’s hand and said firmly, “I will.” As soon as Rakia’s hand was in Dashtan’s, the man took Rakia to the center of the reception stage where Lizzy came with a small silver tray on which were their wedding rings in a dark blue velvet box. Dashtan took the ring that he was going to pin to Rakia’s ring finger then took Rakia’s right hand and pinned the ring there, and Rakia did the same, with one breath she pinned the ring to Dashtan’s ring finger and there was a loud applause that filled every corner of the spacious room. Dashtan smiled at Rakia then without the woman being able to avoid it Dashtan kissed her right on the lips. The sound of whistling combined with the sound of applause. Rakia was momentarily carried away by the kiss but their signals seemed to connect so both Rakia and Dashtan immediately ended their kiss and turned to look at the invited guests with their best smiles.