The cab stopped somewhere in 10 minutes, and they got out. Grace saw that it had stopped in front of an American cheeseburger restaurant."Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I don't care much about Italian food," Theo said and led Grace inside. The smell of cheese and meat patties hit her nose, and she realized how hungry she was.There weren't many people in the restaurant, it felt like the perfect place to sit and talk. They took their seats in a small booth for two. Grace was still quiet. She didn't know what Theo wanted from her. On any normal day, she wouldn't even have agreed to go with him, but she felt guilty for what she did to him and felt like she owed him an explanation, not any snappy rejections. A waitress came to their table and asked them what they wanted. "Just a double cheeseburger, coke, and fries," Theo said to her."I'll have the same," Grace said to the waitress. She wrote something in the little notebook she held and left them alone. "What did you want to talk
Eden's point of view:"So that's what happened," Grace said to Eden outside her hotel room. "Oh," Eden replied. She was not sure how she felt about it after Grace had told her everything that happened. What if Theo had forced Grace to do this after threatening her? What if Grace was lying so she doesn't worry. "Grace, are you sure that this is alright?""Yes. In fact, I feel happy about this. He was really nice and understanding about everything," Grace said and smiled involuntarily. Eden knew at once that she was telling the truth, with the way she smiled. "We, I just hope everything goes fine with you two," Eden said and pulled out her phone to show Grace the messages she had exchanged with Bennett the night before. "Not sure if it'll be like that with me.""God what an asshole. Do you want to go back to your room and talk about it?" Grace asked."Oh, not right now. Leo is still there.""Oh no, what about Georgia?" Grace asked disappointingly. Eden rolled her eyes and said, "Let'
Eden lay on her bed staring at the ceiling of her room, thinking about how she drove Leo away from her. She had feelings for him too, and she had thought about leaving everything behind and not going back home, and she had let it pass like a fleeting fantasy. She knew the responsibilities that she had on her shoulders could not be abandoned just like that. She owed it to Bennett, no matter how badly he treated her. Most importantly, she owed it to herself to get the best education that she was able to get. She thought that maybe after getting her college degree she would come back to Italy and look for Leo. If he was single and ready to give it another chance, she would love nothing more. But for now, she had to let him out of her mind. Eden got out of her bed and decided to go downstairs to get the free hotel breakfast. She didn't have much of an appetite so she had one small bagel with cream cheese and a cup of coffee. She went back upstairs, waiting for a message from Grace. She d
Later that day, Eden and Grace got lunch from a restaurant, and then went to a street market nearby. They stayed out talking and wandering around the city for a few hours until it was time to get ready for dinner. Naturally, Grace did Eden's make-up and then went back to her own room to change. Eden picked out a straight, full-sleeved, and boat-necked black dress that reached her knee. It was a plain dress for formal wear but it hugged her body very well. She paired it with a platinum pendant and black stilettos and straightened her wavy hair. Feeling confident, she walked out of her room and knocked on Grace's door to see if she was ready. Grace opened the door while trying to put on an earring, and asked Eden to come in. She was wearing a dark purple silk dress with thin straps and baby pink gems forming small flowers all over the dress. It wasn't too tight but still made her curves look very prominent. Eden let out a low whistle as she saw her. Grace turned around and looked at h
Eden stopped in her path and stood there staring at the man who was busy talking to his wife. It was the man she had kicked at the club in Pisa. He is their important business associate? A fucking pervert? Eden thought to herself.Bennett turned around to see that Eden was not moving with him. He looked at her with confusion and asked her, "What happened?"Eden broke out of her reverie and managed to give him a fake weary smile. "Nothing, let's go." She entangled her arm with Bennett's and walked with him to the table. Her mind was too occupied to think of anything other than the man. Grace and Theo had already seated themselves. It was a big round table with 6 chairs around it. Theo sat next to the man's wife, with Grace to his right. Eden quickly took her place next to Grace so she didn't have to sit next to the pervert, apparently Mr. Rogers. Bennett made a confused face at Eden's erratic behavior but took his place between Eden and Mr. Rogers anyway. "Hey, you must be Eden," Mr.
Grace and Eden walked back out to the dinner table and sat with everyone to finish their dinner. They had decided to stay on their best behavior until the Rogers had left. Claire seemed like a wonderful woman to Eden, and it broke her heart that she was with a human trashbag. The rest of the evening went nicely and she tried her best to not give any reaction or a hint to anyone to make it look like she was uncomfortable. She was friendly and jolly with everyone. They finished their dinner and were on their desserts when all of a sudden Claire got excited and pointed out something. “Look, they’re dancing.” Everyone turned their gaze to see that there was a small dance floor in the restaurant and a few couples were dancing to slow music. “Allen, come on let’s dance.” She urged.“Oh, honey, you know I haven’t danced in so long,” Allen complained. Pretty sure you were asking me to come and grind on you in the club, Eden thought.“Allen, please,” Claire said with a pouty mouth and stood
"You bitch, you listen to me. I'm sure Bennett had told you how important I am. If you say a word to him, I'll make sure I destroy the Masons. And I'll make sure I destroy you," Allen said to Eden, threateningly stepping towards her. "I have tried to get reasonable with you but you can't understand shit. If I so much as feel him acting differently toward me, you'll see what I can do."Eden stepped backward and she bumped into someone. She turned around to see Bennett standing right behind her. "Mind if I steal my wife back?" he asked with an amused smile. Allen smiled charmingly and said, "This one's a keeper." He turned and looked at Eden "So happy to get acquainted with you, Eden."Eden smiled and said, "It's my pleasure." Allen smiled at both of them and left to go back to Claire. Bennett took Eden's hand and started dancing with her again. Eden looked at Bennett and said with a tired and weary voice, "Can we leave now?"Benett had a stern look on his face. He looked enraged when
Eden asked Grace if she needed some time alone, and went to her room to get changed into comfortable clothes. She felt like every interaction she had with Bennett was gradually becoming a bigger headache later. She told him that she would handle Allen but in truth, she had nothing planned. She was going to do nothing about it and hoped that Allen would forget all about it and she would too. Allen was a vile man and he deserved to suffer the consequences of his actions, but Eden decided she would not be the one to take revenge on him. She wanted nothing more than to finish her studies as soon as possible and leave this life of lies and deception behind. Eden heard a soft knock on her door, and she opened it to see Grace looking at her with concern. Eden gestured to her to come in. She wasn't in the mood to talk but realized she needed some company to think about something else. Grace asked her what happened and Eden told her in detail what Bennett and Allen said to her. Grace hugged
Eden let out a monstrous scream as Bennett held her hand. He could feel her nails digging into his skin but he knew he couldn't let go. "PUSH!" the doctor screamed at Eden. "PUSH! IT'S ALMOST OUT! PUSH HARDER!" Eden let out one last loud scream before it was over and she could finally take a breath. Her grip loosened on Bennett's hand and she fell limp on the bed. She heard the sound of crying and suddenly all her energy was back. Three years after their wedding, Bennett and Eden's daughter was born. The baby was wrapped into a clean towel and handed to Eden. There was still some blood on her body but Eden wanted to hold her before the nurses took her for a bath. "Emily," Eden whispered. "Her name is Emily." Bennett leaned in next to Eden with his eyes full of tears. He looked at his little baby girl like he had never seen something so delicate and precious. Eden's heart raced faster than ever when she saw Bennett pick Emily up in his arms. When she saw his tears and the smile
Three years later: Grace woke up and noticed something weighing down on her stomach. She turned her head around to see Theo sleeping peacefully next to her. The droof falling from his mouth and onto the pillow made her smile. She quietly reached for her phone on the nightstand and clicked a picture of him before kissing his forehead. She was up 10 minutes before her alarm went off so she turned it off and walked to the bathroom to get fresh, hoping Theo would get a few minutes more to sleep. When Grace walked out of the bathroom she saw Theo sitting up on the bed with his phone in his hands and his eyes wide open with shock. "Woah, that drooling picture isn't that good," said Grace. Theo didn't look away from the phone and kept staring at it. Grace got concerned and asked, "What's wrong?" "Nothing's wrong. I'm going to be an uncle," said Theo, his voice monotonous. "Wait. Wait. Wait. What are you talking about?" Grace walked over to him and sat next to him on the bed. "Theo." "E
Theo's PoV Theo looked at Eden and Bennett suspiciously as he stared at the ticket they handed him. "This doesn't make sense. You want me to come to your honeymoon?" "Yeah, of course. It's so much more fun when you're there too," said Eden. "I mean, yeah sure, I'll go. But are you sure you're okay with this?" Theo asked. "Theo, it's not like we're asking you to stay in the same hotel suite as us too," Bennett reasoned. "Alright. I could use a vacation after the last few days happened," said Theo and put the ticket in his pocket. "But promise me you're not going to make me feel like a third-wheel?" "Yes, yes we promise. Also, your ticket was a last minute idea so we couldn't get it in the same flight as us, but the landing time is only two hours apart so we'll see you there when we land," said Eden. "I know we're all thinking it but I'm gonna say it, this is all sounding very suspicious and weird but I've heard some good things about the nightclubs in Paris so I'm not going to co
Grace didn't regret her decision of sleeping with Theo, and after all he said to her she didn't think that it didn't mean anything to him. She just felt embarrassed that even after trying to show Theo her resolve, it only took one kiss for her to give in. "I didn't think you'd want to avoid me after what happened this morning," said Theo. He came closer to Grace and whispered in her ear, "I want you more than ever now." A chill ran down Grace's spine. She stopped herself from shuddering and looked away, trying to ignore the feeling. She didn't want Theo to think that she would fall for him again so easily, he needed to know that she can't forgive him this fast after everything that happened. "Yes, I guess too much stress can make people do or say certain things they wouldn't do under normal circumstances," Grace replied with a cold voice. Theo seemed to have taken offense to that. He shifted away from Grace and looked out the window, not saying a single word to her again througho
Grace's PoV: "The bride and groom may kiss now," the pastor announced and Bennett and Eden kissed each other. Grace watched them with tears in her eyes, she felt so happy that her best friend was finally happy. Of course she felt guilty for being late for bringing the dress. She remembered why she was late and quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. She looked over to the groom's side at the altar and saw his best man, Theo, standing next to him and smiling at Grace. She quickly averted her gaze and started clapping for Bennett and Eden. Everyone left the chapel to attend the reception ceremony at a different venue. Eden had forgotten her phone and asked Grace to bring it to the reception. When she walked out all the cars were filled up with only one left, but someone was already inside it. Grace thought she had already had a rough day, that person can squeeze one more passenger in the car. Grace opened the door and stepped inside the car, closing the door behind her. "I'm so
Eden paced around the room while her make up artist tried to get her to settle down. Grace was still not done with the dress and Eden was considering getting a readymade dress. It was an hour before Eden had to walk down the aisle with Buddy. He had offered to walk with her since there was no other father figure present. Eden picked up her phone and dialed Grace and it went straight to voicemail. She sat back down on her chair hyperventilating when she suddenly heard the door burst open. It was Grace standing with a dress bag and heavily breathing like she was just running. "Oh my God, Eden I'm so sorry. Something happened and I-" "It's fine, it's all fine. Thank God you're finally here, I was just about to go and buy a last minute resort," Eden said as she stood up and walked quickly towards Grace. "Can I see it now?" "No, close your eyes. We'll put it on you and then you get to see it," Grace smiled with excitement. "That wouldn't be very convenient but okay," said Eden. "Let's
"Okay, so we got the guest list done. Invitations will be sent out tomorrow morning, the venue is booked, flowers are decided and the caterers have been taken care of," said Grace. "Now there's only one thing left to do." "Grace, I really wish you didn't bother yourself, Sophia and Natalie with all these tasks. We have help doing all of those things. You should focus on your store," said Eden as she buried her nose in her laptop, staring at the previous year finance reports. "And I really wish you would stop working for just a couple of days so you could enjoy your wedding preparations," Grace urged. "You've done nothing but work since Bennett announced the date of your wedding." Eden sighed and looked up. "I've been working so hard because I'm going to get off work a day before the wedding, the day of the wedding and the day after. That's three days going without work, and I need to prove to everyone I care about the business too." "Eden, I know this is important to you, but no on
Eden wore a beautiful cream gown that went down all the way to her ankle with a slit that reached up her left knee. It had a heart shaped neckline and thin shoulder straps. Grace was wearing the same dress as her since both of them were bridesmaids at Sophia and Natalie's wedding. They waited at the altar as both their father's walked them down the aisle. Eden couldn't help but get teary as she saw the wedding happen. She didn't remember what happened the night they got wasted at Grace's house and she didn't remember saying anything to Bennett, or even calling him. "The brides may kiss now." Natalie and Sophie kissed each other and the applause erupted from the guests. Eden and Grace hugged them tightly before congratulating them. After the wedding, all the guests made their way over to the reception. Eden saw Grace getting in the car with Theo while holding his hand and smiled at the thought of them finally making up. Eden got in her car with Bennett and smiled at him when she
Eden's PoV Eden got back from a tiring day of work and went through the mail to see if she received any. She saw a purple letter that caught her eye. It said that it was for both Bennett and her. When she opened it, a wave of happiness washed over her. It was an invitation for a wedding. Sophia and Natalie's wedding invitation. Eden almost started jumping around with happiness and squealing with excitement. She picked up the phone and immediately called Grace to ask her if she received the invitation. Grace picked up the phone and started screaming loudly on the phone. Eden couldn't contain her excitement and started screaming too. She heard the door open and the sound of footsteps running towards her. "What's wrong?! Eden?!" Bennett yelled as he ran over to Eden and saw her grinning ear to ear with eyes full of tears. "Wha- what? I don't understand? What's going on?" "NATALIE AND SOPHIA ARE GETTING MARRIED!" Eden yelled. "I can't believe this. Oh my god of my god oh my god." R