Chapter hundred and five

Oliver

When Suzy asked for my help in securing a venue, I should have refused immediately and shut down the idea.

“Absolutely not. It's not happening.” I insisted. “Besides, it's not like the venue is totally ruined. Your event planner assured you that everything would be prepared before the wedding.” I added in hopes of convincing her.

I wasn't about to host a wedding in my house. A place that was supposed to be a safe haven from all these shenanigans. The last time I hosted a big party, I'd almost lost a priceless pendant.

Granted, I gained something much more priceless, I gained the attention of a very beautiful woman, but that's beside the point. I'm not going to host a wedding with god-knows how many guests attending. Just imagining the guest list made me shudder. I can't have that much people in my house again.

“The pipe burst and the whole place is flooded. There is no way she'd rearrange everything within a few days. We need a new venue.” Mum added from her seat, a few feet away. Her fingers gently wrapped around the wind glass.

She arrived a few minutes ago and quickly joined in on persuading me to agree to their ridiculous demand.

“It was one pipe. The woman sound confident in her words. I'm sure she's dealt with emergency like this before. She's supposedly the best, right?”

I made sure Suzy called the event planner and put the phone on speaker. The woman didn't sound so alarmed about the supposedly urgent situation. She was confident she would get everything ready before the wedding.

But Suzy was extra paranoid. She was adamant on the change of venue. She didn't want anything to jeopardize her wedding. She was a true believer of superstitions and think it might have been a bad omen. The idea to use my house only came to her when I showed up. I was already coming here today.

“We can't always trust these people. They're humans too. What if she makes a mistake and ruins the wedding? I really think we should listen to Mo-eum.” Mum said and twirled her glass.

For some reasons best known to her, she has been avoiding my gaze since she got here. I wasn't exactly keen on talking to her either.

“That a burst pipe is a bad omen?”

The words sound ridiculous as I repeated it. Neither of them replied me and just stared. I drew a long sigh. It was impossible to win against them. Not when they ganged up against me like that.

“If it was such a bad omen, why don't you hold the wedding reception here, or at the manor. It's pretty spacious and Mum is the only one who stays there. You can host it in the backyard, or in the banquet hall , I'm sure it would turn out grand.”

Judging by the looks they exchanged, I was certain this option had already been discussed and discarded.

“The aesthetic of the manor is not matching the theme of the wedding. We already talked about it.”

I refrained from asking what the theme of the wedding was. That would be my second strike.

“So use Ethan's house. Or the Carson's mansion.”

I knew they'd be better off trying to convince me than Xavier. He'd shut down any talk about it without a second thought. I would have done the same if I hadn't forgotten that wedding in the first place.

“Ethan lives in an apartment.” Suzy said and scrunched up her nose.

Remember what I said about my cousin's love for being low-key, he doesn't live in a huge house like the rest of us. He has about three houses in the city but he doesn't live in them. He prefers his apartment uptown. Although he owns the building, he lived like any normal tenants.

“Use his other houses. No one lives there except the workers maintaining them. You'd throw a magnificent reception.”

Suzy's fingers tightened around the glass in her hands. Mum threw one glance at her before turning to me, this time she was holding my gaze.

“Is there a reason we can't use your house?” She arched an eyebrow.

Yes, mum, there are plenty of reasons. But I wasn't about to list any of them. I sighed defeated. It was the least I could do after everything. After all, the only normal thing in our family are Suzy's endless marriage.

“I’m just not certain that the hall would accommodate all of your guests.” That was my last ditch of getting out of this ridiculous situation I had willingly threw myself into.

“Oh, it will. They're just about fifty guests in attendance. Mostly family members. Not a lot of people were invited to the reception.”

I was quite certain that they were more than fifty guests. But still, I breathed down and said,

“Send the event planner to get started on the hall's decorations.”
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I made my way into the house, halting when I reached the living room. Dallas was perched on the couch watching TV. She was so engrossed in what she was watching that she hadn't noticed me yet.

I took light footsteps towards her, careful not to startle her. She was watching a local fencing competition, a bowl of popcorn clutched tightly to her chest.

“No, no, take a hit at his shoulder. His shoulder… Oh God, now you're dead.” She was talking as if the competitors could hear her.

“Should have just taken the shoulder hit?” She mumbled.

I stood at the corner, watching her closely as she watched the game. Not exactly watching when she's pointing out each of the player's mistakes. At a point, she dropped the bowl of popcorn and stood before the TV, her arms angled at her sides.

Her posture was comical, but I bit back a smile. I refrained from reminding her that it was a local competition and not the Olympics. The players seem to be about 13 to 15 years old. They were amateurs.

Soon after the match ended, she slumped back on the couch with a sigh. That was when she noticed me standing behind her.

“Oliver?” She strode towards me, a smile on her face.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“For a while now,” I pulled her into a tight embrace, relishing in her sweet scent.

“How was your day?” She asked while guiding me to the couch.

I drew a long sigh, not finding the suitable word to describe my day.

“How about you tell me how your day went first? And what all that was about.”

She had been tiptoeing around the topic of her career ever since what happened with Atlas. This was the first time I've seen her openly enjoy the sport since then, aside from when she sparred with Lisa.

“I don't know.” She sighed. “I just wanted to watch some TV and found myself watching… that. It felt so comfortable that I didn't know how to stop. I don't know what got into me.”

I took her hand in mine gently.

“Do you want to fight again?” I asked directly. There was no use being careful around the topic when she was finally opening up.

She stared at up to me. The question seem to have caught her off guard. Her shoulders tensed. After a few seconds of silence, she started talking,

“I really don't know. I've spent so much of my life training for Olympics and being Atlas's student that I…” she took a sharp breath as if the next word would burn her.

Her voice lowered when she finally spoke again, “...I don't know who I am. I went into the sport because I loved it. It didn't take long for me to adapt and be the best. I loved how people praised me. I loved being the first. But now, I'm not sure I want that spotlight anymore.”

She paused before chuckling,
“And honestly, my obsession to be the best is what led me to Atlas in the first place. If I hadn't been so blinded by my Olympics dream, maybe he wouldn't have gotten to me. Maybe I'd have went down another career and be successful by now. And maybe, my mum would still be alive.”

She removed her hand from mine and rose from the couch. I immediately sprung up after her.

“I know it's stupid to think like that despite knowing her death was a murder, but sometimes I can't help but think she'd still be alive if she wasn't on her way to the airport that day.”

She stared ahead at the fireplace, her eyes seem lost.
“It's like everything bad that has ever happened to me is somehow related to the sport.”

I walked close to her and wrapped my arms around her. I said the only thing I could think of that would comfort her.

“It also brought me to you, Martha.” I said, purposefully using the fake name she gave me when we first started our training months ago.

She spun around and stared at me, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

“It brought me to you. And you, Dallas Valencia, are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You're the only source of light in my darkness. My entire world revolves around you.”

I pulled her closer to me with one arm and cupped her cheek with the other. Her eyes glistened with tears.

“I want you to think about that each time you think of the sport. Not Atlas. Not Lucien. And not how it contributed to your mother's death. I want you to always think about us sparring on the piste and how you'd knock my ass out everytime. I want you to remember that your obsession with being the best is what brought me to you. It doesn't matter if you don't wish to go back to the piste. You'll always be my best instructor.”

I sealed her lips with a kiss, promising her without words that I would always be by her side, because Dallas might not know this, but she was my world. With or without those three words.