49

Next day Kara came out of her room only to see Rita hurrying off from here to there while sending instructions to the servants, telling them to fix this and that and not leave anything amiss. She looked around and found that relatives and Damon's aunts were already here but their faces did not look happy at all. Surprisingly Neil was also actively helping Rita with a smile on his face which surprised her even more. She had never seen Neil being happy while doing household works with Rita but this time must be something special.
"Aunty," she called out to Rita, "what are you doing? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Rita smiled up at her, "You forgot? Don't you remember we had rescheduled your engagement with Damon before his accident? Damon is almost all better now so even though we were thinking of pushing the function to a later day, he insisted to hold it today only."
The ground slipped from under Kara's feet as she remembered the date and the discussion they had when the first engagement had not been able to succeed because of James breaking everything. She had completely forgot about the engagement and moreover thought that Damon would perhaps decline the marriage after the huge fight he had with James on his own. Now she understood how big of a fool she was. 
She looked around the hall but there was no sign of James. She had fallen asleep with him being in the same room beside her while crying her eyes out but when she had woken up, there was no trace of him inside her room. Did he know about the engagement party being hosted today? She was shocked he was not here creating another tornado of anger upon everyone. She shivered at the mere thought of what he will do.
She was so lost that she even forgot she had been standing stock still in the same spot for a while and now someone was standing right behind her, breathing down on her neck softly. Her hand lifted up to hold the pillar beside her as a hand slipped in her waist from behind.
She turned around immediately thinking it was James but her eyes were met with a pair of dark, mischievous ones that looked down at her with amusement. Immediately she shivered and took a step back, only for Damon to take one further to close the distance she had created. She completely forgot what was on her mind and Damon chuckled softly at the expressions on her face. He lowered his face so it was close to her ear and whispered, 
"Were you so lost in my thoughts that you forgot the ceremoney and to change the dress as well, princess?"
Kara shivered before composing herself. She was used to Damon's closeness, but this time she felt a change in his touch that she was not used to. It was more intimate... loving, but in a different way than 'friends'.
"Damon?" she murmured, her eyes staring up at him in confusion. He was already dressed in a dark blue suit, his hair set in a good style while his eyes twinkled brightly as he stared at her.
"Mom has arranged for everything in the big guest room we have at the corner of the hall on first floor. She has arranged a gorgeous matching dress for you that's same color as my suit. I helped her with choosing." he winked at her with a proud smile. Then he bent down his head and touched the tip of her nose with his own playfully, "I think you are going to be the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen today. I can not wait to see you come down the stairs."
In front of Damon Kara was extremely calm. There was no change in her expressions but from the inside she was in a turmoil that was breaking her heart slowly in a million peices. Was this going to be the end of her relationship with James? She was getting what she wanted but she was not happy, and she clearly knew the reason why but she had no power to object.
"Kara," Damon touched the side of her face with the most sincere expressions she had ever seen on his face. He had always been playful with her, teasing her and making fun of her but in this moment all he had was an extremely pleasent, bright expressions that she had never expected to see on his face, "I am going to make you happy, alright?" he whispered.
Kara playfully tilted her head to the side and chuckled awkwardly, "What has gotten into you today? You are being weird."
His expressions did not change, nor did the look in his eyes. Instead he pulled her closer to himself and hugged her tightly. His face rested on her shoulder. Then after a pause of two seconds he turned his face towards her ear and muttered, "In these three years, everything has changed for me. I had never thought of marrying you in my whole life, or even seeing you that way, but when aunty and uncle died and they gave you to me, suddenly I had something I did not know how to take care of. A huge responsibility." he stopped speaking for a second, but felt Kara's fingers clench the end of his suit jacket tightly,
"But then as the days passed by, in those past three years you became someone I wanted to run to even when I had the whole world worth of work to do. I missed you so much. Each day felt like I was in the wrong place while I should be there beside you. My feelings changed from protectiveness to something that I had never felt for anyone else." he lifted his face up from her shoulder, and stared down at her with a look in his eyes that Kara had never seen him have for anyone else. He bent his head down and touched his forehead with hers. His eyes were closed while his lips whispered softly,  "I have fallen in love with you."