A Wedding Day?

Nicolette sat at the vanity as a stylist showed her the different hairstyles she could use.

"None of these match me. None of these are sophisticated enough. I don't even have to see them to know!"

"Madam, with all due respect, you have turned down all 147 hairstyles I've shown you."

"Show me oriental," the stylist sighed, going through his bag and taking out another booklet.

"You call these oriental? Forget it. I'll have my brother style my hair. You are dismissed" the stylist rolled his eyes, leaving her dressing room. 'Perhaps I am being a little picky,' she thought. She allowed herself to be vulnerable to that man and decided to punish herself for it.

"Nicolette," Zayne opened the door walking in.

"Good, you're here."

"The stylist was telling dad about how you're an ungrateful woman," she scoffed.

"I was going to apologize but not anymore. What's so bad about wanting my wedding day to be perfect? It may not be a real wedding since I'm only here for my mission, but I still want things to go perfectly."

"You have mom's standards" Zayne laid her head back against the sink rinsing the gels and sprays from her hair. "He put so much fucking crap in your hair you can't tell when it's all gone."

"Do you really think I have mom's standards?"

"I would be lying if I said I didn't think that."

"Mom always did have high standards and drove dad crazy sometimes by nit-picking his outfit choices," she smiled. Zayne drained the water from her hair, brushing it out. "I always wondered what mom would think of my life choices."

"Aya Nicolette, you dumb girl, how dare you do something stupid such as this!" They laughed.

"That does sound like something she would say."

"Have you ever thought about wishing your eyes back?" Zayne asked, trimming off the dead ends.

"Somebody else has to wish it for me, and they can't be related to me either. Dad already tried"

"What's the point of basically being a Genie if you have these stupid frickin rules" he huffed in frustration.

"Everything needs to have rules, limits, something to keep balance. If I didn't have all these rules and limits, I would be overpowered. I could take over the world if I wanted to."

"So if I wanted to take over the world-"

"Not happening, Zayne," the curtain to the dressing room rustled, getting Nicolette's attention. Natalie held up the wedding dress that Nicolette had requested.

"I know you can't see it but trust me, the dress is just like you're picturing it, and it is absolutely gorgeous" Nicolette reached out and touched it feeling the fabric.

"At least they got this right," she felt along the embroidery, a smile on her face "not bad, but I definitely could've done better, and I can't see at all" after making sure her brother was gone, she slipped off her robe putting the dress on with Natalie's help "does it look good?"

"Are you kidding? It looks so good! Definitely better than those plain white dresses" she sat back down at the vanity, allowing Zayne to finish her hair.

"Do you want to wear makeup?" He asked unsurely.

"Only a small bit. I hate having layers and layers" Natalie touched up the makeup, only applying a tiny bit of lipgloss and blush.

"Your hair definitely looks better without all that horrible stuff in it. What do you think, sis?" Nicolette carefully felt every inch of her hair, not wanting to ruin the design.

"It's much better, thank you, Zayne" hearing the bells chime, Nicolette knew it was time.

"Are you anxious?" 'Anxious is an understatement,' this wedding meant a ton to her career.

"I'm fine, Zayne. Just make sure dad can walk me down the aisle in time." Nicolette ensured Zayne was no longer there as she slipped into the dress with Natalie's guidance.

"I'm already here" Atlas linked his arm with hers taking her out of the dressing room.

"You made sure he's not here, right, dad?"

"Even if that bastard shows up, I won't give him a chance to hurt you again" she walked with her father down the aisle, her insides twisting, the anxiety slowly creeping up.

"Nyx," she had almost forgotten that was her name to be used publicly. "Are you alright, Nyx?" She smiled

"No need to worry about me, just wedding jitters" Ein extended his hand, and she hesitated to take it. 'Everything from this point forth is going to change, Nicolette. You're now part of a dangerous mafia world,' she didn't know how to relax. Every part of her was saying back out that this mission wasn't worth it, but she couldn't allow herself to be humiliated. What would Zach think of her then? She shrugged off the horrible thoughts and placed her hand in his.

She could feel so many piercing glares on her back, probably from the women who were interested in Ein. 'In that case, come and take him for yourself,' she half meant it. The marriage officiant talked for what felt like hours, and Nicolette grew bored. Then, just when the officiant was about to finish, a gunshot could be heard going off in the crowd as guests screamed and scrambled to get away.

Ein took out a Kimber Micro Stainless. Scanning over the frantic guests trying to listen for the click of the trigger, she got an uneasy feeling.

"Ein, something is off."

"Just stay with the bodyguards, Nicolette" stay with the bodyguards? If anything, they would just get in the way. Making sure Ein wasn't fully paying attention, she took out a device that helped her navigate her surroundings and climbed up one of the marble pillars.

"Activate metal and material scanner," she held out her wrist, listening to the different types of materials she expected being read one by one by the watch. It wasn't alarming until one specific material was read by the watch. "Polymer 2 that's used on a G42. Who the hell brings that to a wedding? Locate Polymer 2" Unfortunately, finding the exact location is a bit more complicated than just finding the material itself. Another gunshot rang out to the left "they're moving."

Nicolette leapt from pillar to pillar, listening to each gunshot that went off. The location was not being pinged, and that irritated her. She held out her hand, moving it along to each shot. The quiet little clicks of a gun being reloaded came into reach, and she took out her dagger. 'One shot, don't miss' she threw the dagger toward the sounds and heard the gun fall to the ground.

Taking out a handmade boleadora, she listened to the unarmed shooter's heavy boots, predicting where he would be; she threw the boleadora towards the sound of his feet. A thud could be heard, and guests scrambled to get away from the man lying in the grass. Ein looked at Nicolette, confused and conflicted. 'How does a blind woman manage to gain two hits like that?" Ein's curiosity was peaked, and Nicolette wanted to avoid it.

"Nicolette, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" She jumped down from the pillar, and Ein caught her by surprise as she fell into his arms.

"Be more careful?" She didn't like it when he got all mushy and caring. It felt off for a mafia man.

"I was perfectly fine. You didn't need to catch me" she shoved him back gently. He looked at her, confused at the sudden change in her behavior.

"Nicolette, are you alright!?"

"Ah, dad, I'm ok. I should be asking you that."

"I'm alright, and luckily the bullets didn't hit anyone. Just mostly grazed a few people" why was someone at their wedding with a gun? She knew it wasn't unusual for enemies to show up at important moments, but this was entirely out of line, especially at her wedding.

"I'll have someone look into his identity, even torture him if we have to," Tom said, clearly annoyed about the situation.

"Probably for the best. I want to be prepared next time for this scenario."

"Do you want a redo wedding?" She looked at Tom.

"And listen to the officiant go over all that crap again? Hell no, we'll start from where we left off," Nicolette huffed as she fixed her dress and hair, trying to make it look as normal as possible. She took Ein's hand, going back to the alter.

"I don't understand how you could catch someone with your....disability."

"You want me to take you out next tough guy?" She pinched his arm.

"Oww, hey, no! Jesus that hurts."

"Eh, cry about it later. We have a wedding to finish, and frankly, I'm starving, and my feet hurt a ton more than I thought they could" the guests sat back down in their seats after the venue had been fixed back up. The officiant was going to continue from where he left off when Nicolette cut him off. "No need for the formal stuff. Just ask the basic questions before my feet die."

"Nyx Perra," she was never going to get used to that fake name "do you take Ein Wolfier to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"For the most part," Thomas cleared his throat, "eheh, I mean yes, yes, I do" Ein looked at his dad and rolled his eyes.

"Ein Wolfier, do you take Nyx Perra to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do"

"By the way, what's with the last name Wolfier?" Wolfier was by far one of the oddest names she had ever heard.

"Generations ago, somebody in my family decided it was cool and didn't expect their family members to be made fun of for the name" she laughed a bit, and Ein just smiled.

"Ahem," they looked at the officiant.

"May we please have the ring bearer approach?" Nicolette held Ein's hands as a little girl approached the altar carrying the rings on a pillow.

"Who's bringing the rings?"

"My niece Rylie she's Richard and Natalie's daughter."

"Natalie? I haven't heard from her in years, not since my dad and I had to leave town" Ein took both rings handing one to Nicolette "these better not be diamonds."

"Hey, I'm not that bland," he chuckled, slipping the ring onto her finger.

"Good, otherwise I'd scold you" finding his ring finger, she carefully slid the ring on. Ein lifted her hand, kissing her ring gently, causing Nicolette to blush. The venue started feeling a little warmer than it was a few seconds ago. Were her mind and her body betraying her? She's a young woman, so it wouldn't be odd for her mind and body to react in certain ways, right?

"If you wish, you may kiss the bride" Nicolette started to panic on the inside. Would he actually kiss her right here and now!? In front of her dad? Oh god, her dad... she could feel her mind going blank when she was tugged back to reality as Ein pulled her closer. 'Oh god, this is really happening!' she thought to herself. She dug her nails into her palm nervously, awaiting the moment he would kiss her.

She was shocked as she felt a soft kiss on her forehead. Why didn't he kiss her on the lips? Now she was starting to feel a little offended.

"Why did you-"

"I didn't want to scare you. You're nervous, and I want you to relax until you're ready to kiss me. I'm not going to do anything to you" was he really caring about her feelings? Why did men have to be so complicated?

"You don't have to be considerate of my feelings."

"I want to be. Relationships are mutual understanding and respect between partners. It's not a one-way circuit" just as Nicolette was about to say something, her watch started to ring. Quickly covering up her watch, she snuck through the crowd of people. Swiping she brought up the hologram of Zach.

"Zach? You are supposed to refrain from contacting me during this mission! You almost got their attention!"

"I'm sorry, Nicolette, but I needed to contact you. You're in danger in more ways than one."

"And how's that?"

"There was a meeting between some of the board members. I happened to eavesdrop a little and heard them talking about you killing the mafia king when the designated time was chosen" this was a kick to the gut. She had no intention of killing him unless absolutely necessary that would put her life at serious risk, not to mention that man may seem soft and low risk, but he was just holding back.

"Zach, this cannot happen. I cannot kill him, especially not right now! There's no way I could get away with that, even if I used some invisibility gadget. I'm the only one that's supposed to be close to that man, and I'm a complete stranger. They would figure out it's me before I can escape!"

"That's not the only situation" 'oh great, what else could there possibly be' she thought to herself, a bit irritated. "William is back in town, which I presume you are aware of."

"Oh, trust me, he already announced himself"

"He's looking for you. He knows you're back in town; he may not know who you are exactly or what you look like, but it won't take him long, Nicolette. You are in a horrible position."